Graduate School of Library and Information Studies
Continuing Professional Development Program

Oral History and Its Digital Preservation for Libraries:
Brown University Project to Restore and Preserve Nikita Khrushchev's Dictions, 1966-1971

by Irina Lynden and Allynn Wilkinson
Brown University

Wednesday, October 23, 2002
5:30 AM - 7:30 PM
The Galanti Lounge, University Library
University of Rhode Island, Kingston, RI

Dr. Lynden and Ms. Wilkinson will dicsuss the fascinating history of the meoirs of Nikita Khrushchev, dictated by him from 1966 to 1971. Under the threat of confiscation, his son Sergei made two copies of the original tapes, one of which was smuggled to the United States in the 1960s. Until 2000, it had been stored at the Harriman Istitute, Columbia University, where it went unused for nearly thirty years because of its fragitlity.

In 200, Sergei interested the Brown University Library in a prject to digitize the dictations, organize them and put them in original order, for further use and preservation. This presentation will give a comprehensive analysis of the Project, with special attention to the technology and software used, the search tools created for the Memoirs, and the unique problems posed by this Project. The presentation will include a demonstration.