{"id":30731,"date":"2024-04-01T07:16:13","date_gmt":"2024-04-01T11:16:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/?p=30731"},"modified":"2024-04-02T15:19:38","modified_gmt":"2024-04-02T19:19:38","slug":"furman-engaged-student-historian-gathers-stories-from-the-woodlands","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/furman-engaged-student-historian-gathers-stories-from-the-woodlands\/","title":{"rendered":"Furman Engaged: Student gathers histories from The Woodlands"},"content":{"rendered":"

For Bryant Garrison \u201925, The Woodlands at Furman<\/a> has become a special place. As this year\u2019s American History Book Club<\/a> Research Fellow, he\u2019s spent months collecting oral histories from residents of the retirement community just off Furman University\u2019s campus.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve always been drawn to older people and their life experiences and their wisdom,\u201d said Garrison, an accounting major<\/a> on the pre-health track<\/a>. \u201cThe Woodlands residents add a richness to the Furman community. It\u2019s an extraordinary collection of people.\u201d<\/p>\n

The oral histories will eventually become part of the oral history collection<\/a> of Furman University Libraries, said Garrison, who will discuss his project at Furman Engaged<\/a>, Furman\u2019s annual campus-wide celebration of engaged learning experiences, on April 12.<\/p>\n

Garrison, who grew up near Greenville in Six Mile, South Carolina, had already followed his love of local history into volunteering with the Greenville County Historical Society by the time he took a class taught by Courtney Tollison \u201999, Furman\u2019s Distinguished University Public Historian. The student impressed Tollison so much that she asked him to join her in a research project on the history of Bald Rock<\/a>, a scenic overlook in northern Greenville County.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe did great work,\u201d Tollison said. \u201cThe sources were difficult to come by, and we engaged in some very creative measures to put together that history. Bryant is an exceptional student, and working with him represents the best of what The Furman Advantage<\/a> can be, in terms of its potential to impact students, faculty and the community.\u201d<\/p>\n

When the Woodlands oral history fellowship emerged through the American History Book Club<\/a>, Tollison knew that \u201cBryant would be perfect for this,\u201d she said. Working with Marion Strobel<\/a>, the William Montgomery Burnett Professor of History, and Ezra Hall<\/a> \u201919, director of philanthropy and engagement at The Woodlands, Garrison and Tollison started building a list of interviewees.<\/p>\n

The list includes Peg van Bergen, a former United Nations translator, and her husband, Harry, who owned the company that installed the carillon in Furman\u2019s Bell Tower; and Ronn Carroll, an actor who shared the stage with Ethel Merman on Broadway in \u201cAnnie Get Your Gun.\u201d<\/p>\n

Many notable names from Furman history are also on his list, such as Carl Kohrt, former Furman interim president; John L. Plyler Jr., son of the namesake of Plyer Hall; and Hazel Harris, professor emeritus of history who helped establish the Child Development Center<\/a>.<\/p>\n

As part of the library\u2019s collection, Garrison\u2019s work will provide \u201can opportunity for future research,\u201d he said. \u201cIf someone wants to do a history of college bell towers, then I have the history of the people who installed them.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s contributing in a very meaningful way,\u201d said Tollison. \u201cThe Bald Rock research and the oral histories he\u2019s conducting at The Woodlands are going to benefit scholars well into the future.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the process, Garrison has also sharpened his own communication skills, which will benefit him in the professional world, he said. And immersing himself in Greenville\u2019s history has helped buttress his resolve to stay in his hometown for the long term after graduation.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I got into my history research, I was surprised by the network of people around me \u2013 how deep it was and how interconnected everyone\u2019s stories are,\u201d said Garrison, who plans to enter a master\u2019s degree program in accountancy right after completing an internship at a local accounting firm next summer. \u201cBuilding those relationships where I intend to live has been really meaningful to me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

Furman Engaged Is April 12, 2024<\/a>\"\"<\/a><\/h3>\n

The Furman Advantage guarantees students the opportunity to participate in high-impact engaged learning experiences. Furman Engaged is a day dedicated to highlighting these diverse and immersive learning experiences. Learn more >><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

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As part of Furman Libraries\u2019 oral history project, the work Bryant Garrison \u201925 is compiling will benefit future generations of scholars.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":265,"featured_media":30986,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20,42,30,55],"tags":[1945],"class_list":["post-30731","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business-and-accounting","category-history","category-top-stories","category-undergraduate-research","tag-furman-engaged"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30731","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/265"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30731"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30731\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30986"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30731"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30731"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30731"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}