Real Stories From a Hudson Valley Boy | Memoirs by Bruce Whistance

Описание: A conversation with author and local historian, Bruce Whistance, about the value of memoir in building a more nuanced view of our moment in time for the historical record.

Bruce Whistance has lived in Ulster County since 1954 in the towns of Hurley, Ulster, and Rosendale, and has a Master of Science in Computer Science from Union College. He has had a diverse employment background including jobs as a farm worker, filling station attendant, restaurant waiter, factory worker, teaching assistant, electronic engineer, and IBM programming manager. Working with the family antiques business he developed a keen sense of history and has served on the Historic Preservation Commission in the Town of Hurley. He has partnered with his wife Gail in creating exhibitions at the Hurley Heritage Society Museum.

About a year ago, Bruce challenged himself to write one of his life stories each week with associated photographs. After he had accumulated forty-three of these accounts spanning his 73 years of life, some featuring high drama, members of the local Bruderhof Communities organized them into a short-run, informal publication. He continues to write a weekly story, and as of this week, has written a total of sixty. There has been an enthusiastic response to the Bruderhof book. 

In this Zoom call, Bruce tells us how he got started with this project, how he approaches writing the stories, how he uses photographs to support the narrative, and what he sees as the short- and long-term value of memoir writing. He believes it has value not only as entertainment for both author and reader but also as an enduring record of family history and as a primary source for historians in the future.