“Amplifying Unheard Voices from the Inland Empire,” a Pfau Library preservation project supported by a John Randolph Haynes and Dora Haynes Foundation, has culminated in the transcription of 144 oral history video interviews, which are now available to the public via CSUSB ScholarWorks.

Begun in fall 2024 and led by Eric Milenkiewicz, head of Special Collections and University Archives, the project captured in written form the lived experiences of individuals who have participated in the Bridges That Carried Us Over Project, a community-based initiative documenting Black history in the Inland Empire, and the South Colton Oral History Project, which documents Mexican American life in South Colton during the 1890-1960 era. 

“Eighty-six Bridges Project interviews and 58 South Colton History Project interviews — totaling 133 hours — were transcribed and uploaded as part of this project,” said Milenkiewicz, who served as principal investigator on the grant, overseeing all operations and the budget, working with the vendor, and performing quality control on the final product. “A project of this scope has many intricacies, and the team of dedicated staff and students working on it did a masterful job in preparing this content for online discovery and display.”

CSUSB student M. Camacho Nuno, an intern at the Pfau Library, contributed significantly to the project, completing written summaries of all 144 interviews.

"The chance to see history preserved and accessible to the public in real-time is an experience unable to be fully put into words,” said Camacho, who plans to attend library school after graduating this spring.  “By keeping people's stories alive, future generations will see the human side of history that is not acknowledged enough.”

Library Services Specialist James Knight III, who also worked on the project, processed the videos, transcripts, and written summaries for inclusion in CSUSB ScholarWorks.

Currently, a total of 157 Bridges Project interviews and 95 South Colton Project interviews are online through CSUSB ScholarWorks.

“By delivering these interviews online and improving access to them we hope to amplify the histories of the Black and Latinx communities in the Inland Empire, providing students, scholars, and the general public with a rich opportunity to learn,” said Milenkiewicz.

For more information, contact Milenkiewicz at eric.milenkiewicz@csusb.edu.