WEST MONROE – The City of West Monroe and West Ouachita Senior Center will host a special public presentation of the West Monroe Oral History Project on Tuesday, April 16. The presentation will be held at 5 p.m. on April 16 at the West Monroe Convention Center. This is a complimentary event open to the general public.
In honor of the City's 140th birthday in 2023, an oral history project was developed in partnership with the West Ouachita Senior Center, the University of Louisiana at Monroe (ULM) and KEDM Public Radio.
The project consisted of 12 West Monroe residents being interviewed by ULM faculty members. Each of these residents shared stories and recounted moments of West Monroe's history, dating back from the 1940s to present day. A 30-minute video has been compiled using clips of these oral histories. The video will be shown at the April 16 community event and feature remarks from Dr. Jeffrey E. Anderson, the Associate Director of the School of Humanities at ULM.
The full-length version of each oral history video will be available on the City of West Monroe website in the near future. KEDM will air highlights of the oral histories during Morning Edition and All Things Considered and will post longer versions at KEDM.org and in podcast form.
The project was funded in part by a grant from the National Trust for Historic Preservation and a grant from the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities, the state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Any views, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in the information produced does not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities.
For more information, contact the West Monroe Mayor's Office at (318) 396-2600 or email mayorsoffice@westmonroe.la.gov