As you may have noted, I believe history is public property (This is NOT the same as believing any fool has a right to come in and convert the historical data to twistory, which I think is beginning to happen in Bethlehem. Except, I fear, in this case the efforts at twisting are being made by people who know all too well what they are about. I am convinced they also know it is wrong; otherwise, why not have a press conference and celebrate the glorious new historical dispensation?)
And just what IS this GNHD? To me it seems to be an attempt to write the contributions of a large class of Bethlehemites--those who lived on the South Side, had "funny names and strange religions," and whose role it was to help supply American soldiers and sailors with the weapons and equipment to win two world wars--an attempt, I say, to expunge these people from the history of the city.
Not that there is anything new about such attempts, and variations on them. Take the case of the vanished oral history. Heaven knows, it should NOT have vanished. If history is in part public property, it is also more intimately the property of the people who experienced it. But it seems that the South Side residents who were involved in this project are not to be allowed access to their own memories.
What was involved was a a rather large oral history project run by at least two (possibly more) Lehigh teachers. The project was done--it may be close to 30 years ago now--and no one seems to have a definite answer on where it even is, let alone its current state. Is it at Lehigh? In Harrisburg? In Pittsburgh? All these suggestions have been made.
Wherever it is, if it still exists, is it in usable state, with paper transcriptions? Or has technology been allowed to pass it by, so it can no longer even be listened to? If it can be listened to, why can't the people to whom it is of the greatest possible interest--the interviewees and their families--listen to it?
If anybody knows the answers to these questions, please share your insights.