Records of the Cache la Poudre River History and Culture Oral History Project

In 2006, the Colorado State University Archives and Special Collections department received oral history transcripts from an expeditionary learning classroom project by Pioneer School (now Polaris Expeditionary Learning School) in Fort Collins. Matt Strand, the supervising educator, realized that there were few sources relating to local citizens who had a unique relationship with the Cache la Poudre River. As part of a collaborative effort to capture a variety of perspectives on the Cache la Poudre River, the major river in Fort Collins, Strand incorporated oral histories into the learning experience.

With the assistance of parent volunteers, Strand began a program to train his seventh and eighth grade students in the classroom on the technology and interviewing process. Students then interviewed 36 'narrators'. The citizens interviewed included water commissioners, members of historic families, activists, farmers, and recreation specialists. Following the interviews, students created spiral-bound notebooks of each 'narrator' interviewed and labeled each audiotape by 'narrator'.