Story Corps Coming to Ybor City

NPR's Story Corps is coming to Ybor City to record oral histories with local residents.

"StoryCorps To Collect Interviews In Tampa" (Tampa Tribune, December 11, 2008)


Oral history projects have been completed in Ybor City before, beginning in the 1930s when the WPA recorded stories and life histories of cigar workers.

Florida Folklife from the WPA Collections, 1937-1942

Old Seminole Heights, New Documentary

Last night was the premiere of "SEMINOLE HEIGHTS: An Intimate Look at the Early Years," a documentary about one of Tampa's historic neighborhoods. Produced by Suzanne Prieur of the Old Seminole Heights Neighborhood Association and written and directed by Gene Howes of Cigar City Pictures, this 50-minute film played to a sold-out audience at the Tampa Theatre. Yep, sold out. A documentary. About a historic neighborhood. No, it is not a little theater. It's a very involved bunch of people who live in Seminole Heights.

It's a good documentary (and I'm not saying that just because I make a brief appearance). I thought they did a good job of balancing the places and personal stories, and bringing in connections between what was going on in the world at large and what was happening locally. The story moved along at a good speed, and the images were amusing. So, if you get a chance, buy a copy of the DVD -- proceeds will help pay for the next documentary to be produced, covering the years after 1945.

(photos: crowds and marquee at the Tampa Theatre for the premiere of the Seminole Heights documentary, April 17, 2008)

USF Libraries and YouTube

The University of South Florida Libraries Special Collections Department and the Florida Studies Center have several videos available on YouTube, including several oral history podcasts from the 2007 Florida Folk Festival, "Tabaco con Ideologia," "Eye of the Beast" (radical student culture at USF in the 1960s and 1970s), and an interview with Raymond More, owner of La Segunda Bakery in Tampa.