LEWISTON – Using the tools of cultural anthropology, folklore and documentary photography, students at the University of Southern Maine’s Lewiston-Auburn College recently created a “portrait” of their college community that was exhibited at the school.

The students who worked on the project were enrolled in a course titled “Oral History and Documentary Photography” with instructor Mark Silber, PhD, cultural anthropologist and author of several oral history and photo-documentary books, including “Rural Maine,” “The Family Album,” “Racing Stock,” “Sumner 200” and “Where is Rumford?”

Working as a team, class members had to select a representative sample of people who have an association with the college, (students, faculty, staff, alumni) conduct, edit and transcribe interviews and take photographs of documentary quality.

As Silber noted in his syllabus, “Creating a portrait of a community necessitates that students have some theoretical background in several fields – history, anthropology,and photography … it also necessitates that students have some real, practical skills” (recording, transcribing, how to use a camera and other equipment).

Students began by defining who really made up the college community. They made an enormous diagram of the many categories of people who comprise the community. Then came the challenge of choosing whom to interview, and each student had to pick three people to interview.

While most of the students found the interview process to be more involved and time-consuming then they had anticipated, transcribing the interview was for some the most daunting part of the project. Transcriptions ranged from five to 31 pages.

The editing process followed, which required each interview to be condensed into 500 words or fewer. Because an oral history is different than a formal paper, students had to refrain from correcting spoken language idiosyncrasies to retain the personal qualities of their interviewees.

Cheryl Donahue of Bowdoinham said, “It really made us think of what community really is – especially the LAC community. Everyone has a different perspective as an individual and where you are in relation to the whole. We came up with quite a collage – and one that will continue to grow.”

The project can be viewed on the college’s Web site at usm.maine.edu/lac/oral history/home.html. The course will be offered again with Silber during the summer session from 1:30 to 3 p.m. Mondays and Wednesdays, July 7 to Aug. 18.

There are no academic prerequisites, although “infectious enthusiasm and abundant willingness to work hard in a team setting are desirable.” For more information, contact Silber at [email protected].