Use Restrictions

Access to the Oral Histories is governed by agreements with the interviewees. The copyright interests in this collection have been transferred to the James Madison University Special Collections Library. For more information, contact the Special Collections Library Reference Desk (library-special@jmu.edu).

Access Restrictions

Collection open to research. Researchers must register and agree to copyright and privacy laws before using this collection. Please contact Research Services staff before visiting the James Madison University Special Collections Library to use this collection.

Preferred Citation

[identification of item], [box #, folder #], Ang Buhay sa Nayon, Life in the Valley Oral History Project, 2007-2015, SC 0026, Special Collections, Carrier Library, James Madison University, Harrisonburg, VA

Acquisition Information

The oral history interviews in this collection were recorded in 2014 by Hannah Moses and Luz M. de Tablan. Interviews were donated to JMU Special Collections in the Spring of 2015.

Processing Information

The video interviews were transcribed by Hannah Moses and edited by Annie Swain. Additional edits of the transcripts by the authors are reflected in the online versions. The author-edited and original-edited versions are available in the JMU Special Collections Reading Room. In two instances, accompanying biographical information by the author is included online and on-site. In one instance, access to the video interview is only available on-site.

Bio/Historical Note

Ang Buhay sa Nayon - Life in the Valley Oral History Project, 2007-2015 is an oral history project partnership between James Madison University and the Filipino American Community of the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. This project is also Hannah Moses' thesis project for her Master's in Local, Public, Regional History from JMU. The website for her digital thesis project can be found here: http://sites.jmu.edu/lifeinthevalley/

Moses began recruiting interviewees at the Harrisonburg, Virginia International Festival on September 27, 2014 and the interviews were completed in the Fall of 2014. For this project, fifteen Philippine-born Filipino Americans and two US-born Filipino Americans shared their life stories in a total of twenty-three interviews. Luz M. de Tablan, the founder of the Filipino American Community in the Shenandoah Valley, worked with Moses to interview Filipino individuals for the oral history project.

As of 2015, there are 1,110 Filipino Americans living in the Shenandoah Valley with the majority residing in the northern counties. Those who volunteered for the project live primarily in the southern portion of the Shenandoah Valley. This collection contains the stories of those who came to the United States between 1963 and 2010 and sheds light on the rural immigrant experience. The collection was officially opened to the public at a reception honoring the interviewees on April 25, 2015.

Scope and Content

Ang Buhay sa Nayon - Life in the Valley Oral History Project, 2007-2015, is comprised of video recordings, transcripts, photographs and a scrapbook documenting twenty-three oral history interviews from seventeen Filipino Americans from the Shenandoah Valley region of Virginia. The interviews were conducted during 2014 and edited and transcribed in 2015.

The project employed a life narrative approach where interviewees were asked to tell their life story and were then asked follow-up questions. Transcribing, editing, and reviewing took place in the Spring of 2015.

All interviews were conducted by Hannah Moses, and some interviews also included Luz M. de Tablan as an active interviewer. In some cases, interviewees wanted to conduct a second interview. Please see the transcripts for details about the interviews including length and date of interview as well as information about each interviewee including age, place of birth, and the date each individual arrived in the Shenandoah Valley.

Please note that video recordings and transcripts for each interview are available for use in the JMU Special Collections Reading Room.

Arrangement

Interviews are listed alphabetically by interviewee's last name.

Related Material

Moses, Hannah. "Ang Buhay Sa Nayon - Life in the Shenandoah Valley" Masters Thesis Project. http://sites.jmu.edu/lifeinthevalley/

Subjects and Indexing Terms

• Filipino Americans -- Shenandoah River Valley (Va. and W. Va.)
• Immigrants -- Shenandoah River Valley (Va. and W. Va.)
• Scrapbooks
• Shenandoah River Valley (Va. and W. Va.) -- History
• Shenandoah River Valley (Va. and W. Va.) -- History -- 20th century
• oral histories (literary works)