The Ypsi Farmers & Gardeners Collection Grows

This fall, you’ll find 11 new interviews in the Ypsi Farmers & Gardeners Oral History Collection. Through September 28, you can listen to interview clips in  an exhibit on display at YDL-Superior.

The Ypsi Farmers & Gardeners Oral History Project (YFGOHP) is a YDL digital archive sharing the stories of Ypsi’s Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) and/or working-class food growers. Hear all the interviews at history.ypsilibrary.org/ypsilantifarmers-gardeners.

“We are so excited to get to share more stories from Ypsi farmers and gardeners,” said project lead Finn Bell. “The new narrators have such important reflections on how growing food is a way of ensuring cultural legacy and community resilience.”

As the collection grows, it becomes clear how connected our local gardening community is. Linda Mealing and Melvin Parson, two of the project’s original narrators, have since passed away. In a celebration of Linda’s life, a friend played her interview from the Ypsi Farmers and Gardeners collection to show how much joy she displayed in the interview.

“Losing two narrators from the first round, Linda and Melvin, was devastating,” Bell said. But we hope that their oral histories are one small part of how we  can continue to learn from them and honor their legacy.”

If you have questions about the project, please contact Finn Bell at [email protected].

This project was made possible with grants from the Arts Initiative at the University of Michigan and Michigan Humanities.