“It’s a testament to the power of storytelling and of connecting and having conversations with other people,” said Sarah Steiner, a subject specialist at Hunter Library.
Steiner began collecting oral histories for an LGBTQ+ archive in 2018. The oral history archive is a collection of different subjects being interviewed about their lives and experiences in Western North Carolina.
The project began as a fun way for Steiner to escape feelings of burnout. Her plan was to become trained in conducting oral histories and interview local drag queens.
“I’ve always felt like drag performers are pillars of the queer community. They almost bring a sort of spiritual community experience that has always been really inspirational for me,” Steiner said.
Steiner began by collecting seven interviews with local drag queens when Travis Rountree, an English assistant professor, began working at WCU.
“I’ve been called the Johnny Appleseed of queer archives,” Rountree joked.
While working on his masters, Rountree worked with the Appalachian State University’s Special Collections. He then worked with the LGBTQ+ archive while getting his PhD at University of Louisville. As a part of his teaching, he brought students to the archive.
“It was really fascinating because at that moment I was like, ‘oh, y’all are uncomfortable,’ welcome to the identity of being queer and uncomfortable,” Rountree said. “It was a great moment for all of us to learn together about what it feels like to be in a queer moment.”
Rountree worked for two years as a Writing Program Director at Indiana University East. There he got a grant to start an LGBTQ+ archive which included oral histories.
When Rountree came to WCU, he and Steiner connected and discussed how to continue the oral histories.
“We got a grant to hire a student worker to help us make a website and flesh it out and get more oral histories,” Steiner said.
As the archive expanded, Rountree incorporated oral histories into his English 101 classes. As students prepared to conduct interviews, the COVID pandemic hit.
“All the interviews were done by Zoom,” Rountree said. “Some were better than others. That’s the nature of oral histories– some work and some don’t.”
Steiner continued to manage the archive through the pandemic. As people returned to campus, the archive continued to grow and gained notoriety among faculty.
“I remember hearing on Blue Ridge Public Radio a feature piece about the archive here,” said Katharine Mershon, a philosophy and religion assistant professor. “We decided it would be really fun to bring the tools Sarah has learned from the archive into my class religion, gender and sexuality.”
Mershon was the first faculty outside of the project to reach out to Steiner about discussing oral histories in class.
“I prepared a little slate of interviews and I talked about how things have changed over time,” Steiner said. “The students were so into it and said they wanted to do an interviewing assignment.”
Mershon saw that conducting interviews was really beneficial for students.
“Going through this process has been a confidence builder for students. They were really scared, they got training and then they were successful,” Mershon said. “There’s also the impact of getting to hear another person’s story.”
Mershon emphasizes to students participating in interviews that it is okay to disagree with subjects but to listen to and understand the different perspectives.
“This gives students the opportunity to approach these topics that are in the cultural conversation from an academic perspective,” Mershon said. “Which I think takes some of the charge away and gives them a chance to actually approach these materials without being afraid of saying the wrong thing.”
The benefits of the interviews are shared on both sides.
“[Those interviewed] say that it’s really meaningful to share their stories. It’s cathartic to share their stories,” Steiner said.
Oral histories have formed relationships in many ways. According to Steiner, many students stay after interviews to talk to the person they interviewed for hours.
For Rountree, a connection he saw was when he collected recordings of a ballad singer in Boone. Years later he used the recordings for a lesson at NC State.
“I had a student named Isaac,” Rountree said about using the ballad singer for one class, “He came up to me after class and he said, ‘that’s my great grandfather and I have never heard his voice before.’”
The LGBTQ+ archive also led to Sylva Pride. Rountree founded Sylva Pride in 2021 and invited Steiner to serve on the board with him.
According to Rountree, the relationship between oral histories and pride are mutually beneficial. There are signup sheets at Sylva Pride for people to be interviewed and older subjects that are interviewed are told about Pride and encouraged to attend.
Items from every Pride have been kept in the LGBTQ+ archive with the oral histories.
“This is not history that lives on a shelf, this is history that’s in the streets,” Rountree said.
In showing how life has changed throughout the years, the oral histories have showed the evolution of LGBTQ+ tolerance.
“I’m a middle-aged bisexual woman and back when I was a teenager and coming out– my coming out experience was terrible,” Steiner said. “It just wasn’t really culturally accepted either by the straight community or the queer community. It really existed in this liminal space where it was hard to find acceptance. It’s been incredible for me and really validating to hear that a lot of other people in my age bracket had similar experiences. And it’s been amazing to see how that’s changed.”
The results of the 2024 election have raised concerns in the LGBTQ+ community. According to Rountree, this uncertain political climate makes projects like his even more important.
“This project saves lives, Sylva Pride saves lives, Blue Ridge Pride saves lives,” Rountree said. “We are showing folks that they are not alone, that they are worthy, that there’s people here who support them and will be there for them.”
Steiner plans to broaden the oral histories project, though she doesn’t want to lose sight of where it all started.
“I’m soon going to be expanding it to be an oral history archive with locals who live here,” Steiner said. “Thinking about all the colors and flavors and types of different people who live here in this very interesting rural community that we have here.”
Steiner is always looking for new people to interview. Anyone interested should contact her email, sksteiner@wcu.edu.
“I would really love to hear from anybody in the region who would like to be interviewed. Young and old, any background, history, lifestyle. That would be great,” Steiner said.
