On the first Sunday of each month, lodge history book project chairmen and advisers are invited to join topical webinars hosted by national organizers. Past topics have included "Getting Started: Gathering Resources" and "Interviewing for History;" the webinars are very much focused on covering the topics that are relevant to lodge historians.
The first call was on March 2nd of this year. Participants were welcomed by National Chairman Ray Capp, who talked about the important work lodge historians are doing in the lead-up to the 100th anniversary. Next, participants heard a presentation on gathering historical resources from committeeman Bill Topkis. Topkis spoke on assembling a research library, creating key lists, and gathering artifacts. Towards the end of the call, an open question and answer session was held.
The second webinar took place on April 6th. The topic of interviewing for lodge history was led by national communications key volunteer Nick Ochsner. As a television journalist, Ochsner expertise in all things interviewing proved invaluable.
Ochsner went over the who, what, how, and where to ask for interviewing. Other points of interest were the necessary materials for holding an interview, how to frame an interview when doing video interviews, and tips on how to interact with your interviewee. Overall the goal was to teach us how to get the most out of our interviews while being respectful of people's time.
The team also had Vice Chairman of Recognition, Awards, History, and Preservation Michael Thompson join and share words of encouragement and appreciation for all the hard work that is being done in order to preserve the story of lodges around the country.
Upcoming webinars include the following topics:
- June 2014: Summer Camp: Unique Opportunities to Perform Research
- July 2014: Dealing with Sensitive Issues: Lodge Mergers, Segregation, and Lodge Politics
- August 2014: Writing Approaches
If your lodge hasn't submitted the contact information for their lodge historian chairman and adviser, they should do so via this link. Each month the Historian Gazette e-newsletter is sent to those contacts that have been submitted and this is how call-in information for the webinars is distributed. If at any time you have questions about the lodge history book project, send an email to @email for an answer.
As we head into 2015, our history becomes an important part of our celebration. Almost 100 years ago, the Order of the Arrow came into existence. Now, we look back and remember.