Meet our team

Tiffany Trimmer

Executive Director 

Staff Member since June 2017

She/Her/Hers

OHP’s mission is to create, preserve, and promote oral history as a mechanism for understanding our community’s memories and shared experiences.  As Director, I’m responsible for our day-to-day preservation work which includes being a project manager for our digitization efforts, fundraising, and collaborating with Murphy Library’s Special Collections, Cataloging, and Digital Collections units to make it easier for researchers to access the parts of our collection we have donation and consent forms for.  

My job also includes a second really important component: leading OHP’s educational efforts.  In this capacity I created an upper-level oral history course where students helped me design, and launch, OHP’s new “College Life: What We Remember” oral history project, and then created a curriculum based on it for sections of FYS 100 (First Year Seminar) that I teach here at UWL.  Thinking about the most effective ways to help students learn through oral history also led me to collaborate with OHP’s previous Director Julie Weiskopf as guest editors on a forum of articles, “Oral History Informing World History,” in the journal World History Connected.

The other part of our educational mission involves OHP’s role as a professional development site where CASSH students build career-ready skills while helping us preserve and interpret community history.  Since starting at OHP I have mentored 24 students working for us as Digital Preservation Technicians, Copyeditors, and Web & Social Media Developers.  Working with OHP’s student employees is my favorite part of my job.

Website and Social Media Developer

Staff Member since June 2023

Senior

Major: Communication Studies: Organizational and Professional Communication

Minor: Communication Studies: Digital Media Studies and Design

She/her/hers

I was hired by OHP to assist with the development of the “College Life: What We Remember” project. Since then, I have worked on creating and designing OHP’s website, embedding audio clips, and publishing blog posts. To accomplish this, I also work on editing audios and keeping our production files organized. I have really enjoyed having a role in the process of publicizing our work and gaining experience in the world of web design. Also, from my time at OHP, I have been able to greatly expand on my professional communication skills, as I engage in weekly meetings about the progression of my work.

I am very passionate about my minor, Digital Media Studies and Design. I love the challenge and practice of designing a website and having a role in deciding how our project will be presented to the public. The interviews from “College Life: What We Remember” are incredible and provide such valuable information for students, faculty, and those who care about UWL. It’s important to me to find ways to connect the gap between our work and the public, so that this piece of UWL’s history can be enjoyed by all. I have been happy and excited to create an online space to accomplish this goal.

OHP has also been a great space for the development of professional skills. The “College Life: What We Remember” project is the first to be produced and publicized by OHP in this way. There is no preexisting template for us to follow and we’ve all had to practice a great deal of adaptability as we move forward. One of the goals of OHP’s College Life project is to eventually create individual profiles for each interviewee on our website. Last summer, I played with designing these profiles, finding what looked and functioned best to fit OHP’s needs and wants. For example, we wanted to implement the images given to us by a couple of interviewees on their profiles in the form of a slideshow. The images were all different sizes, so I created multiple different slideshows experimenting with different methods of resizing and cropping the images to see what version looked best. This process required great adaptability, as I often changed directions, edited my work, restarted certain aspects, and received constructive feedback.

Digital Preservation Technician

Staff Member since June 2023

Senior

Major: History: Public & Policy Emphasis

Minor: Professional & Technical Writing

I joined OHP to work on our “College Life: What We Remember” project.  I make transcripts, indexes (subject matter guides), and blog posts for our latest collection of interviews with UW-La Crosse alumni. I also conduct research in Murphy Library’s Digital Collections and in Special Collections (campus archives) to help contextualize oral history interviews.  Examples of recent research projects have included figuring out the timeline for the appearance of the blue emergency lights on campus and how campus safety concerns changed over the 20th - 21st centuries, and what kinds of primary sources exist to document how UWL professors create learning environments for their students. The information I gather and analyze about topics like these helps my coworkers and me create transcript footnotes and blog posts that enhance the “College Life” oral histories.

I’m also an embedded research assistant for OHP’s version of FYS 100 (First Year Seminar).  Helping to create teaching materials that support the FYS students and working with them in the classroom connects to many of the tasks we do as preservation techs at OHP.  In Summer 2023, we analyzed the “College Life” oral histories to locate relevant interview content connected to FYS course themes including college studentness, involvement, and career readiness. Then, in Fall 2023 we met with FYS students in the classroom and helped them figure out what kind of information they needed to find for their final projects. We then conducted research in Digital Collections to provide them with additional information they could use as primary sources.  Working collaboratively to come up with ideas and researching information are a few of the tasks we do as preservation techs that can be seen through working with first-year seminar students.

Digital Preservation Technician

Staff Member since May 2024

Senior

Majors: History: Regional Emphasis & Biology: Biomedical Science Concentration

Minor: Chemistry

My job at OHP consists of creating indexes (subject matter guides) and transcripts for oral history interviews. I also do extensive research to be able to identify and contextualize individuals, locations, events, etc. that are discussed in the oral histories. Furthermore, I am tasked with digitizing interviews that were recorded on (or transferred to) cassette tapes so that they may become accessible to an online audience. I was hired to assist with completing necessary work for the Stories From The Flood and La Crosse Syrian and Lebanese Immigration collections, as well as work on the “College Life: What We Remember” project.

I was a student in Dr. Trimmer’s HIS 200 (Historiography and Historical Methods) course in Spring 2022 where I worked with the John Haddad oral history to produce a paper identifying the relevant evidence in that oral history, pinpointing its strengths and limitations, explaining its historical context, and recognizing specific narratives and analytical lenses through which to view and interpret the oral history. This paper is preserved in the UWL archives. Also in Spring 2022, I was simultaneously enrolled in Dr. Trimmer’s FYS 100 (College Life: Past-Present) course. This course allowed me to conduct research on specific aspects of UWL’s history, strengthened my familiarization with oral histories (since some oral history interviews were used in the course), and allowed me to create a list of proposed interview questions that would eventually be used towards the “College Life: What We Remember” project. In Spring 2023, I took another class by Dr. Trimmer, HIS 300 (Topics in History – Oral History), where I organized, conducted, and transcribed an oral history interview with Wayne Barrett for OHP’s “College Life: What We Remember” project.

I am particularly interested in local history, as well as automotive history, communication history, and the history of science and technology. Working for OHP has helped me to better develop my research and contextualization skills, as well as provide me with an environment in which I am able to effectively collaborate with others.

Digital Preservation Technician

Staff Member since February 2024

Junior

Major: Broadfield Social Studies Education: History Concentration

I first heard of the Oral History Program (OHP) as a student in Dr. Hardy’s HIS 200 (Historiography and Historical Methods) course in Spring 2024. I was convinced to join when OHP alumni Isaac and Julia came into my class and described the value of oral history while completing a semester-long project. My main role in OHP is to transcribe, research and write indexes (subject matter guides), and bring various oral histories from Murphy Library’s Digital Collections back to life. Right now, I am working with the nearly 20 hour long oral history of esteemed professor, George Gilkey, conducted by OHP founder, Howard Fredricks. The interview from 1985 spans the entire life of Gilkey, highlighting his childhood, time serving abroad, college life, all the way up throughout his time at UWL and retirement.

I wanted to work for OHP to get more involved in facilitating access to the rich history of La Crosse, Wisconsin. OHP has taught me numerous valuable skills, including collaborating with a team, personal accountability, digital literacy, and most importantly communication. Conversing with fellow OHP interns and Director Trimmer is a key portion of the job in being able to handle and internalize review. OHP is a challenging job with the expectation of respecting every single oral history and their importance in understanding our past. The experiences associated with OHP will absolutely help me as a teacher in my future career, being able to handle whatever is thrown my way. My experiences and time at OHP have also helped me hone in my research skills.

I am especially fascinated by the “College Life: What We Remember” project due to the many continuities that can be seen throughout the years about what exactly it means to be a college student. Being able to understand and analyze the phenomenon that thousands of students go through every single year makes the college experience much less intimidating. The work done at OHP is extremely important and special to me as it brings out untold but nevertheless fascinating stories from people that deserve to be remembered! Those such as OHP creator, Howard Fredricks, where without him none of this would be possible!

Digital Preservation Technician

Staff member since February 2024

Junior

Major: Broadfield Social Studies Education: History Concentration

The work we do at OHP is essential in preserving the history of the individuals who came before us here at UWL. My work at OHP so far has consisted of creating indexes for the “Bridges to Baccalaureate” program and the “College Life: What We Remember project.” The “Bridges of Baccalaureate” is an eight-week immersive research program that allowed low-income students from diverse backgrounds to gain experience in science-related fields. It helps students transition from two-year to four-year undergraduate programs. UWL participated in the program until 1998.  As a Broadfield Social Studies student, listening to interviewees describe their educational experiences and challenges is a great learning opportunity. I reviewed interviews and transcripts, completed research to fill in gaps within stories, and collaborated with my fellow interns to create indexes for the OHP collection. During my time at OHP, I have faced several challenges which I have had to use my new skills to overcome. I have developed my ability to use library catalogs to find additional information about locations, people, and businesses mentioned in oral history interviews. The kind of work I do at OHP promotes adaptability and critical thinking, both Eagle Advantage skills that future employers search for in new hires. 

I’m also serving as an Embedded Research Mentor in a section of FYS 100 (First Year Seminar) that OHP’s Director is teaching.  Oral history is a core research source for many professions, and sharing knowledge of indexing, and using primary sources to find research and other valuable skills is beneficial to all college students. For example, stories that are documented in the “College Life: What We Remember” project still relate to the current first year college experience. Oral history draws connections between those who lived before us, and what we experience today. The methods I have worked on during my time with OHP have made me a stronger academic writer and provided me a chance to get more involved in the history of La Crosse. 

Digital Preservation Tech

Staff Member since September 2024

Freshman

Major: History

I was connected to the Oral History Program (OHP) through the Federal Work-Study Program. I met with the OHP Executive Director, Professor Tiffany Trimmer, and started working for OHP. So far, I’ve only finished transcribing the Oral History interview of Edwin Hill, the University of La Crosse’s first Special Collections (Campus Archives) Librarian. OHP has been refreshing to work for and is already providing me with the communication and problem-solving skills I will need to be a successful Historian. 

I’m originally from La Crosse so it has been enlightening to learn about our city’s history and the impact that people have had on the UWL campus and the city. Working on the Edwin Hill interview has been very special for me, he truly has the most unique perspective on life and his impact on UWL is immense.