Lyle Oral History Phase 1: Organizations and Churches

Metric: Spark interest about Lyle history in the Lyle community
Indicator: Number of new research leads and contacts
Outcome: Exceeded. Throughout the interview process many community members were contacted and started speaking to each other about Lyle history. The final presentation was well attended with many people staying more than an hour after its conclusion to discuss Lyle history and share photos and stories. Many more people are thinking about and becoming involved in Lyle history than before the project was undertaken. One attendee at the presentation said she talked to people about Lyle history that she's been meaning to talk to for years.

Metric: Expand MCHS capabilities and experience to include oral history archive creation, distribution and storage
Indicator: MCHS undertakes additional oral history projects in the future
Outcome: Achieved. While it is a little early to measure yet, MCHS now has the necessary equipment and future projects can use this project and its materials as a starting point. Already one person has approached MCHS with ideas about an oral history project she'd like to work on. Future projects will build on the lessons learned during this project and will be easier to start.

Metric: The interviews will help fill in holes for timeframes not covered in past Lyle history books
Indicator: Interviews provide quotable passages and reveal possible new topics for further research
Outcome: Achieved. A number of topics were covered that were not previously documented in Lyle history books such as the closing the the Bethel Alliance church, activities of the volunteer fire department and the breakup of the Trinity Lutheran Parish.

Metric: The oral history interviews will help the community of Lyle document its history for its 150th anniversary in 2020.
Indicator: Use of the interviews by people or organizations performing ativities related to the 150th anniversary of Lyle.
Outcome: Achieved. There are many passages and interesting stories in the oral history that will be useful for a planned book for the 150th anniversary of the town of Lyle.

Metric: This project will make all the interviews publicly accissible at MCHS in both video and text transcription formats. Copies will be archived according to current standars to ensure long-term availability.
Indicator: Number of people requesting access to the oral history interviews
Outcome: Achieved. All materials are publicly accessible. It is too early to tell how many people will be using them but their value will grow in the years to come as the oral history documents organizations and churches that will no longer exist in the memories of community members.