Teacher Resources
Shenandoah National Park Oral History Activity
This activity is built for a high school US History classroom and is a free resource to use in the classroom to get an up-close look at the 1930s in Virginia, this would help teachers and students get an idea to understand and analyze how different aspects of this area were viewed during this time in American history.
This oral history activity and the rest of the site will show the perspectives at the time about the park overall and specifically about the ‘mountain people’ while containing references to culture during the 1930s.
The purpose of this oral history activity is to get students to think critically about the oral histories and their purpose. This activity is to aid teachers in their teaching about 1930s American history and to promote historical thinking skills through analyzing oral histories.
Linked and below is the Oral History Activity.
(SNP033) George Corbin, transcribed by Victoria M. EdwardsRecords an interview with George Corbin, who leads a party of researchers from the National Park Service (NPS) and the Potomac Appalachian Trail Club…
Records the reminiscences of Beulah Atkins, who grew up in Beech Spring, Virginia prior to the establishment of Shenandoah National Park in 1934.…
Records the reminiscences of Harold Baugher who grew up in Swift Run, Virginia, in the 1930s, on a farm that became part of Shenandoah National Park.…
Oral History Resources:
The Shenandoah National Park Oral History Collection consists of 135 interviews of people who were living in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia prior to the creation of the Shenandoah National Park. Most of the interviewees resided on land that was claimed by eminent domain by the commonwealth of Virginia and subsequently turned over to the US government in the 1930s.
Library of Congress Oral History and Social History Resource