OHC Volunteering Experience
My name is William Yin and I am a volunteer at OHC. I lived in Oberlin a few years during high school and have always had an interest in history. In 2014 I graduated from the University of Washington with a BA in History. Currently I am working on my commercial pilot license out of Lorain County Regional Airport.
I started volunteering for OHC in fall 2014. My first project was to write a feature article for the World War II Memorial Garden south of Finney Chapel. The project involved photographing the memorial and research. The Oberlin College Archives helped me with my research by providing correspondence letters and photographs. I was able to dig through the abundant information and write a brief history for the War Memorial. The final product, along with some photographs, was posted on the Oberlin Heritage Center website. (Link to World War II Memorial Feature)
My second project was transforming an old database of photographs and descriptions from an internal server to pinterest.com. Most of the the photos are taken within Oberlin City limits, documenting people, architecture and events. I learned much about the city’s history through this project. It is fascinating to see how businesses and people transform with the passing of time. I came to the realization that we are all transient beings that are just a slowed down form of light, radiating energy to our surroundings. I take pride in documenting local history and making it more accessible to the public, so that more and more people could reach out for their common past.
