Akron-Summit County Public Library

This collection is a result of a collaborative oral history project between Akron-Summit County Public Library (ASCPL), the City of Akron and members of Dr. Gregory Wilson's History 485/585: History, Communities and Memory class at the University of Akron in the fall of 2008. The project was undertaken to document events that took place in Akron and across the county in 1968, as well as northeast Ohio residents' recollections of those events. Nineteen brief (5-20 minute), walk-in oral history interviews were conducted by ASCPL employees Judy James and Cheri Goldner and by Dr. Wilson at four of the City's Lock 3 Live concerts in August. An additional nineteen interviews with select individuals were conducted from August through November by Special Collections staff, Dr. Wilson and the students in his class. ASCPL and Dr. Wilson's class also worked with the Summit County Historical Society, the TV Dinner Club Museum, and librarians at the Akron Beacon Journal and the Capital Planning Division of the City's Department of Planning and Urban Development to mount an accompanying exhibit at the Akron History Exhibit at Lock 3. The Akron Beacon Journal also provided images for a virtual exhibit on Summit Memory, the county-wide collaborative online scrapbook administered by the Library.

From the guide to the Times They Were A-Changin': Akron Remembers 1968 Oral History Project, August 2008-November 2008, (Akron-Summit County Public Library Special Collections Division)