Capturing Oral Histories

We had the privilege of sharing some historic conversation in front of Mardy Murie's house with conservation superstars Bill Meadows (past president of The Wilderness Society), Jan Murie (son of Louise and Adolf Murie), Bob Krear (biologist, WWII Tenth Mountain Division soldier, and member of the Muries 1956 Sheenjek expedition), and George Schaller (biologist, world class conservationist, and member of the Muries 1956 Sheenjek expedition).

Here's one of the conversations we recorded. It's 7 minutes long. If you you want to watch it "full screen", click on the lower right of the movie. Full screen may slow down the loading.

Steve Duerr did a great job of helping to orchestrate and coax great stories from these folks. Bob Krear's friends Chelsea McKinney from the National Conservation Training Center (NCTC) in Washington D.C., and her husband Todd used my video camera and theirs to capture several conversations from various angles. Tad Krear (Bobs nephew) was also present.

Our archivist Anna Barker was able to track down this photo. Jan Murie was absolutely right. The Wilderness Society sign did hang from the fence at the entrance to the Murie ranch.