Istorima: A Unique Archive of 18,000 Greek Oral Histories

 

Istorima:  A Unique Archive of Oral History & Heritage

Published by The National Herald, June 29, 2024, page 11

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Several years ago, we were lucky enough to get permission from The National Herald to repost articles that are of interest to our group.

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ATHENS – After five years of systematic research documenting and collecting stories from all over Greece, Istorima, the largest-scale collection of oral history in the country, continues its activity and is enriched with a renewed website with updated series and collections. Its more than 18,000 stories make up a unique archive of oral history and heritage, from every city, island, and village in Greece.

Istorima.org is a blend of journalism and history, and functions as a modern cultural digital ‘library’ wherein thousands of oral accounts, which would otherwise be lost, are collected and presented.

Podcasts, collections, and tributes are the media through which people of all ages recount their personal stories from today and yesterday, detailing emotions, memories, culture, traditions, customs, historical moments, and events of today. These profound experiences connect us to those around us and help us all understand our world.

Istorima is a non-profit organization created in 2019 by the journalist Sofia Papaioannou and the historian Katherine Fleming, with a founding donation from the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF), as part of its Recharging the Youth Initiative. Through the donation, which ends in June 2024, more than 700 young researchers working in their places of origin and residence, discovered storytellers, highlighting those stories that make each region, and each person, special. To date, more than 18,000 accounts from 7,000 parts of Greece have been collected and presented at https://www.istorima.org/en and https://archive.istorima.org/en with the assistance of a large team of sound technicians, curators, and lawyers.

With the completion of five years, the wide-ranging archive of 18,000 stories hosted at archive.istorima.org will be transferred to the National Library of Greece (NLG), thus fulfilling the vision of the SNF which supported Istorima with its founding donation, from its creation and for the first five years.

The archive transferred to the NLG is essentially the online platform which hosts all the stories that have been collected, recorded, and reclaimed. The records consist of 49 thematic sections which include memories, traditions, legends, experiences but also achievements, expressions of human nature, and imprints of the collective memory of each place. 

The entire record is open and accessible to all.

At the same time, istorima.org is renewed with a friendly and easy-to-use layout, where oral stories evolve into podcasts using advanced media and technology. The user may listen to original podcast series and collections, or explore themes based on emotions, geographical region, historical periods, and subject categories of interest, and browse the Istorima archive. The user also is also able to create their own account to further personalize browsing experience and share their favorite podcasts easily and quickly across all social media and streaming platforms.

The map posted on Istorima’s website reflects the scope of the study that has been done in the last five years. Each narration becomes interactive, and every person is a protagonist. The storytellers take us on a journey throughout Greece, but also around the world from Vancouver to Japan, Iceland, Patagonia, where stories unfold, new and old, entwined with tales of courage, love, loss, and triumph.

SNF Programs Co-Director Alexandros Kambouroglou said: “We are very happy that this important work that has been produced over the last five years by hundreds of young people, who found employment in their country and highlighted the stories of their communities, now passes into perpetuity, with the donation of the Istorima Archives to the National Library of Greece (NLG), custodian of the knowledge and history of our country. We hope that Istorima’s stories will be a constant source of inspiration, knowledge, connection with others and understanding of the world.”

Sofia Papaioannou, Istorima cofounder, said: “The value of Istorima will be seen more and more as the years go by and we will look for the narratives and the emotional memory of the country. We are very happy for the community we are creating, for the work of the hundreds of researchers, the effort of our excellent team and of course the thousands of stories retrieved from all over Greece. The project we started five years ago exceeded our expectations in every way and highlighted the value of stories and the power of one story to change many others. Stories never end as we continue our work and invite you to become a story too, and to be part of Istorima.”

Istorima co-founder Katherine Fleming said: "Our incredible team has proven the value – now more than ever – of real human contact, of hearing life as lived by real people, in their own voices. The thousands of stories we have saved will be a living testament to Greece's history and to its ongoing, lived present. Over time, with the passage of generations, the Istorima archive will be an ever-more invaluable resource for the people of Greece."

Links with the Local Communities 

Istorima fosters ties with local communities and contributes to the preservation of local culture through joint actions and partnerships. Material from istorima.org is now found in local museums, such as the Historical Folk Museum of the Lyceum Club of Greek Women in Syros, and the Kosmas Folklore Museum, Arkadia. Moreover, Istorima has collaborated with the cultural project Transiens Nostrum with reference points in Rhodes, Syros, and Venice. 

At the same time, Istorima has developed educational actions with schools, such as the Krioneri High School, involving the process of collecting stories and creating podcasts.

Istorima further collaborates with public broadcaster ERT with stories hosted on ERTflix and ERTecho. 

Istorima was awarded at the 26th Thessaloniki Documentary Festival with the Best Podcast Award for ‘There Never Was a Phaethon’ by Istorima researcher Renata Kotti-Dobrets and created by Maya Filippopoulou and Effrosyni Kyriazi. It is a shocking personal story that reveals the truth about a secret mission in Cyprus. In addition, the ENS Louis Lumière Special Mention of the French Institute of Greece was presented to the podcast ‘Amorgos: Looking for My Place’ by Charis Pagonidou.

Istorima sustains the emotional memory of a society, through the stories of everyday people. The researchers are young people exploring the history of their homeland. Anyone who has a story to share can become a narrator. The human voice of History connects us all to people and places, and helps us to better understand ourselves and our world. 

More information is available online: www.istorima.org.