COHA is sad to share the news that oral history author, educator, and pioneer Valerie Yow passed away on Thursday, May 23, 2024, at the age of 89 in Oxford, MS.
Valerie was born on June 29, 1934, in Greensboro, NC, and graduated from UNC-Greensboro in 1956 with a BA in English where she studied with the poet Randall Jarrell, who was a great influence on her future career as a writer and oral historian. From there she went north to study for her PhD in European history at the University of Wisconsin which she received in 1967. Living in New York’s Greenwich Village in the 1960s, Valerie was active in the civil rights and peace movements. After a move to Providence, RI, she studied at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, and received a Master of Psychology degree at Boston College in the early 1980s.
Her book, „Recording Oral History: A Guide for the Humanities and Social Sciences“, now in its third edition, was selected by The American Library Association for its list, “Outstanding Academic Titles” for both the 2006 and 2015 editions. Through the years Valerie’s many articles have been re-published in „The Oral History Reader“ and in „The Handbook of Oral History“.
More information here.