Reflections: oral histories at uva email format

Reflections seeks to chronicle a more personal and inclusive history of the University of Virginia by collecting and sharing the stories of University students, staff, faculty, alumni, and Charlottesville community members who have contributed to its rich and complex institutional narrative. With the ongoing participation of members from across the University and Charlottesville communities, we hope to encourage an intergenerational transfer of knowledge and a more comprehensive, diversified collection of stories that enrich and carry our University’s history forward. Inspired by Monticello’s “Getting Word” oral history project and UVA President Teresa Sullivan’s remarks about an “intergenerational transfer” of knowledge at the National Symposium for Slavery, Public Memory and the Built Landscape, our project began in Fall 2017. Known as the Bicentennial Oral History Initiative, we initially collected stories from the Alumni Association and Darden reunions in 2018 and 2019, and received generous support from the UVA IDEA Fund, Bicentennial campaign, and Office of Student Affairs for those efforts. In Summer 2019, we rebranded to Reflections Oral Histories in order to better align ourselves with the goal to provide a platform for marginalized narratives.