The University of Lethbridge’s Centre for Oral History and Tradition (COHT) has played an integral role in a project that has been recognized with a national honour.

The Picture Butte Museum and its Coyote Flats Pioneer Village has been awarded the 2015 Governor General’s History Award for Excellence in Community Programming.

The Governor’s General award recognizes community projects that tell stories about Canada’s past in unique and innovative ways. Coyote Flats was selected as the 2015 award recipient for an oral history project that saw seniors share their life stories and memories on video.

“Local high school students interviewed more than a dozen seniors about their connection and memories to four historic buildings at our pioneer village – a school, a church, a mail-order house and a train station,” explains project coordinator Kimberley Lyall. “Additionally, we also interviewed another approximately 40 seniors and captured their life history and memories on video.”

The project resulted in not only a growing collection of oral history videos, but also an ongoing partnership with Picture Butte High School and the U of L’s Centre for Oral History and Tradition, numerous opportunities for seniors to mentor youth, and increased appreciation within the community for its own history.

“Local high school students interviewed more than a dozen seniors about their connection and memories to four historic buildings at our pioneer village – a school, a church, a mail-order house and a train station,” explains project coordinator Kimberley Lyall. “Additionally, we also interviewed another approximately 40 seniors and captured their life history and memories on video.”

“The stories told by Picture Butte seniors not only commemorate local heritage but also create links between generations,” says Janet walker, president and CEO of Canada’s History Society, which administers the award. “”Hearing seniors’ stories about being a child or teenager long ago provides today’s students with insights into themselves and their own lives.”

The Centre for Oral History and Tradition was launched in 2013 as a means to advance research disciplines pertaining to oral history in the academic world, but also to collaborate with community organizations across southern Alberta to help preserve, study and understand the region’s oral history.

Coyote Flats Pioneer Village will be presented a gold medal by His Excellency the Right Honourable David Johnston, Governor General of Canada, at Rideau Hall on October 16, 2015.