Hidden files continue to go ignored

One of the shining jewels of the University of South Dakota is hidden in a basement, slowly falling apart.

Located in the basement of Dakota Hall, the Oral History Center is home to South Dakota’s most valuable interviews and transcripts dating as far back as the mid-1800s.

These audio clips and written interviews include some of the greatest hallmarks in American history, specifically in the Great Plains region. For USD students and faculty, the center is a fantastic outlet for references, projects, research and internships. The archives give direct insight to the experiences and accounts of notable individuals throughout American history, ranging from first-hand police reports to memoirs of Native American tribes.

Jennifer McIntyre, a USD graduate, works full-time in the OHC and is currently in the process of moving the archives to a digital format with two 1970s reel-to-reel machines.

“It takes a while, but it’s necessary,” McIntyre said as she demonstrated one of the machines.

The archives library is a tight space, serving as both an office and a research lounge. The walls are lined with wooden bookshelves with thousands of audio reels stacked neatly in rows. An adjacent storage room holds more archives, some in the forms of transcripts, or audio clips on paper, again stacked on wooden shelves.

Across the hall is another library which holds historical texts, journals and other documents surrounds a large table where students can spread out and study.

Owned by the university, the OHC is primarily operated by the Department of Native Studies. Its current location used to house the American Indian Studies classes, but after a severe mold problem the department was moved and the OHC remained, McIntyre said. Much like a ghost college, the basement is nearly deserted; however the mold is still present, which could serve as an issue for the OHC in the future.

The flooding of summer 2012 left residue throughout the basement corridors, and while none of the archives were damaged, the phantom presence of moisture in the air will gradually hurt the collections, McIntyre said. In response to the air and antique composition of the archives, the OHC is in the running for change in the near future.

While McIntyre said the mold is a problem for the OHC, Garth Giles, director of operations and maintenance, said he hadn’t heard anything recently about a mold problem in Dakota Hall. He said facilities management installed dehumidifiers in the basement of Dakota Hall in summer 2011 due to the flooding. The dehumidifiers act as alarms that alert facilities management if mold or wetness is detected.

The organization of the archives presents a serious problem for the condition of the collections and even OHC workers, McIntyre said. Wooden shelves are not an ideal setting for oral archives because over time, the wooden surface can damage the reels of some audio clips. In addition, the gases that are emitted from the archives from contact with the wood can be hazardous to people who spend hours on end in the OHC.

“The temperature and humidity rates are not ideal in the basement. The quality of some interviews has gone down over time,” McIntyre said. “There are a lot of changes that need to be made. We need funding to move the archives into proper storage. It’ll take time, but if we don’t get into a more stable location things will start

to deteriorate.”

There has been talk of moving the OHC to a permanent location in East Hall where the archives could be organized on metal shelves and have more room to breathe. These oral collections are worth millions of dollars, so it’s essential that USD keep the archives in healthy conditions to better serve students and faculty alike, McIntyre said.

Open Monday to Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., the OHC presents a great deal of resources for both USD and the Vermillion community. University students and faculty are given three free interviews per semester; this includes both audio and transcript format. Further use begins at 10 cents per page for transcripts and $5 for audio.

“The transcripts are easier to use because you can just scan them,” McIntyre said. “However the audio clips give more depth to the interview because you hear a voice and you can detect emotion in the person.”

The university doesn’t intend on parting with the collection. When asked about the American Indian Research Project, a collection of 2,400 recordings from Northern Plains Indians, McIntyre said that USD makes rigorous efforts to make sure the AIRP remains on campus.

“There’s a special bond of trust between the interviewers and the Native Americans who were interviewed. It makes perfect sense to keep such a large collection at the University of South Dakota,” McIntyre said. “There are also great resources available for Native students who want to re-learn or brush up on their native languages, and even in some cases, listen to interviews from their own family tree.”

The OHC is something of a hidden gem on campus. Many students didn’t even know it existed, like Hannah Birkowitz, a sophomore.

“I know I’ve only been at USD for a year now but you’d think I would’ve heard about it (OHC) by now,” Birkowitz said. “I know where I’m going for my history projects now, though.”

Senior Timothy Dunn was surprised Dakota Hall even had a basement.

“After four years, I think I went into Dakota Hall like three times. Never knew there was a bottom level, let alone an entire library,” Dunn said.

For students or faculty interested in learning how oral interviews work, the OHC will give a presentation April 10, 2013, to give a better understanding and key insight to South Dakota’s most prized interview

collection.