The Youth Document Durham and Durham Works program records span the years 1995-2008 and document the process of training young people in Durham, North Carolina schools to use photography and other arts, oral histories, and writing to record the histories and members of their communities and the local issues affecting the students' lives. Although the vast majority of the projects focus on Durham, there is also one project based in South Carolina. Topics explored by participants, both interviewers and interviewees, include crime, food cultures, jobs and education, music, racism, technology, teen violence, work cultures, and tobacco cultivation and its social context. The collection is divided into four series: Interviews, Photographic Material, Project Files, and Additions.
The bulk of the collection is made up of hundreds of interviews conducted by junior high and high school students with community members, but there are also many program publications, project curricula, and administrative records for those years. The contents of each series is described in full below. There is also a Community Stories database that houses the complete information for each interview, including descriptive notes on certain interviews, and restricted information. For access to this database, please consult with a reference archivist.
The Interviews Series forms the bulk of the collection, and houses the materials generated by the student projects. Each session was organized around a topic which usually would be repeated in subsequent years, such as "Durham Works" or "Old Five Points." Folders usually house one set of interviews conducted by one or more students, and contents typically consist of one or more cassette tapes of the oral interviews, consent forms and other documentation about the interviewees, and writings by the students that came out of their experiences as interviewers. Some interviews have been transcribed. Original audiovisual materials are closed to use; viewing or listening copies need to be made before contents can be accessed. Folders are arranged in number order as assigned by Center for Documentary Studies Staff; they are not in chronological order. An alternate listing at the end of this collection inventory groups boxes by project title rather than folder number order.
In addition to oral histories and writings, the students also produced many images of their subjects and their communities. Photographic prints and negatives of their work are housed in the Photographic Materials Series. Students also produced poems and drawings, and these are chiefly found in the Project Files Series.
Supporting program materials - curriculum guides, notes on staff meetings, staff guidelines, assessments of outcomes - are found in the Project Files Series. Also housed here are additional photographic images, mostly of the project students and staff, CDs with final projects, and the many publications that came out of the Center for Documentary Studies program. These booklets contain mostly interview transcriptions but also include photographs, drawings, annotations, and poetry. Also included is a retrospective collection of Youth Document Durham participant photos and essays, edited by Hong-An Truong and published in 2005.
Later accessions to the collections are found in the Additions Series. These items consist of audiovisual materials, photographs, and some printed materials. In addition to the Youth Document Durham project, related projects included in the Additions series are the Youth Treatment Court, which seems to have been a division of Youth Document Durham, and the Connect Program, which included projects from Old Five Points as well as special group projects for youth.
Acquired as part of the Archive of Documentary Arts at Duke University.
Part of the larger Community Programs department in the Center for Documentary Studies, "Youth Document Durham" was a summer program that brought together young people, ages 12–16, from diverse Durham and surrounding communities to document their lives, local history, and contemporary social issues through photography, oral history, and narrative writing. Many of the students are African American or Hispanic and their topics often highlight social conditions and race relations in African American and Hispanic communities in their neighborhoods. Topics explored by participants, both interviewers and interviewees, include crime, food cultures, jobs and education, music, racism, technology, teen violence, work cultures, and tobacco cultivation and its social context.
For four intensive weeks, students learned the skills to create photographic bodies of work with a manual camera, the techniques required to process film and develop prints, interviewing skills, computer-based audio editing, and how to write narration reflecting their experiences. They also made decisions about how they would explore their group's topic; they chose who they might want to interview, where and what they would photograph, and what project or event might reflect their work so that they could then share their ideas, stories, and photographs with the larger community. The program produced public forums, web sites, exhibits, and publications. The Youth Document Durham program received funding support from the City of Durham and the Triangle Community Foundation, through the Quintiles Give Back Fund and the Fund for Women and Girls of Durham. Originally called "Community Stories," it is sometimes referred to it in this way in the collection.
Also part of Community Programs, Durham Works was an after-school career exploration program that encouraged young people to focus on questions about education, jobs, and the world of work. Using cameras and tape recorders, middle-school students met with community members who were working in jobs that the young people found intriguing and appealing. Their documentary work was presented back to the community in various ways, including exhibits, videos, art installations, and posters.
Processed by Paula Jeannet Mangiafico, Katy Terrell, Aaron Thornburg, April 2009.
Encoded by Robert Carlson, Paula Jeannet Mangiafico, Katy Terrell, Aaron Thornburg, June 2009.
Updated by Meghan Lyon, October 2011, and Paula Jeannet Mangiafico, October 2013.
Accessions 2009-0005, 2009-0086, and 2011-0178 are described in this finding aid.
