By Marisol Mastrangelo
Special to Inside
The Lincoln Park Community Research Initiative (LPCRI) launched its Spring 2005 Program, "Voices and Visions of Lincoln Park," at the DePaul University Student Center on May 4. The program debuted an oral history project video, which featured recollections, observations, and stories from various community members who have witnessed Lincoln Park’s development during the last 40 years.
This project was the first of its kind, said Fran Casey, a member of LPCRI advisory board who oversaw the production of the film.
"We wanted the opportunity to capture the stories before they weren’t around to be told," she said.
The video focused primarily on the Sheffield Garden Walk, a community summer festival that features self-guided tours of neighborhood gardens, architectural landmarks, live entertainment and food. It acted as a prism through which the development of Lincoln Park could be seen, said the directors of the Voices and Visions of Lincoln Park.
The Garden Walk, which has been in existence for 37 years, emerged around the very time the urban renewal and gentrification processes were occurring in the community, said Thomas Fuechtmann, executive director of Community and Government Relations at DePaul.
According to Charles Suchar, a member of the LPCRI advisory board and a sociologist at DePaul, the story is captured from the perspectives of individuals who lived in the area and understood the issues on a daily basis, so it is a collective rendition of a history of the neighborhood.
Key residents from around the community who were former aldermen, shop owners, neighborhood organization coordinators, church affiliates, and lifetime residents provided the commentary. This included the voices of Eric Carpenter, Judy Casey, Vi Daley, Rev. Dominic Grassi, Polly Kelly, Bruce Longanecker, Reverend Munster, Marty Oberman, Erich Teske, and Ted Wrobleski.
"I was definitely a part of this whole thing and I loved every minute of being a part of the development of this neighborhood. It’s part of me, it is what I am," said Kelly.
The video highlights varying factors of the community development, including the role of neighborhood organizations and their impacts in the community as well as demographics and dynamics of the Lincoln Park neighborhood transformation.
Many of the video participants noted a similarity woven through their stories in regards to the history and how the neighborhood and events were remembered.
"[There was] extraordinary unanimity, I was struck by the coherence in our accounts of what happened," said Carpenter.
Following the film, eight of the video participants engaged in a panel discussion with the audience members where they expressed concern over the current lack of community involvement by new residents and applauded the efforts of the production.
"We need to teach the new families and residents coming in to take some ownership in their community. Otherwise it's going to really hurt and that’s what this video shows," said Rev. Grassi.
"I think of this program, and the interviews, as a pilot project," said Wrobleski. "There is so much that can be found out about the neighborhood from interviewing various people."
"I think the experience of doing the oral history project is a duty and the results show that we should continue to do more," he added.
The video took 18 months to shoot and was edited by DePaul students Gina Telaroli and Daria Jolan.
The LPCRI was founded during the DePaul Centennial (1998-1999) as a celebration of the partnership between DePaul and Lincoln Park for over a century. It is a joint effort between Lincoln Park neighborhood organizations and DePaul to preserve the documents, artifacts, and memories of the history of the community. Their main objectives are to collect archival documents, present lectures and forums, and sponsor research. The LPCRI is located in the Richardson Library. Voices and Visions of Lincoln Park was their 12th production. |
