ROHO is developing a new project on the legacy of the West Coast craft cocktail, which will feature long-form oral history interviews with bar owners, bartenders, craft spirit distillers, and cocktail historians.
The project will record life histories and focus on themes of community, gender, labor, ethnicity, storytelling and myth-making, dissemination of information, geography, culinary influences, and popular culture. ROHO is launching a logo contest for the project and is accepting submissions from May 1 to May 30, 2014; the winning design will be announced on Monday, June 2. The logo contest is in preparation for a crowdfunding campaign that ROHO will run to offset the costs of the project which will launch on June 3.
ROHO is looking for designs that capture the essence of the role of storytelling in cocktail culture. Submissions should include vector-based mockups in full color, black and white, reverse, banner size, and thumbnail sizes for Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and SoundCloud.
The winning logo will be used on our website, social media outlets and all project-related printed material. In addition to being credited as the logo designer, the contest winner will be invited as a VIP guest to all project-related events and receive a $250 gift certificate to either Amazon, craft spirit store Cask, or San Francisco restaurant Bar Agricole. While UC staff are welcome to participate in the contest, they are not eligible to receive rewards.
ROHO was established in 1954 and is the second oldest oral history program in the United States. There are ten subject areas for which there are over 4,000 interviews archived in the collection with people like Ansel Adams, Warren Hinkel, Ernest Gallo, Robert Mondavi, and Dorthea Lange; the vast majority of our interview transcripts are available online.
Submissions and questions should be emailed to Shanna Farrell at sfarrell@library.berkeley.edu
FAQs
Q: What is oral history?
A: Oral history is the collection and analysis of historical information through first-person narratives about specific topics, themes, or events. These narratives are documented through recorded long-form interviews, which often take the life history approach, wherein the narrator works from the beginning of their lives to the present.
Q: How is it different from journalism?
A: Oral history aim to contextualize history and is a highly collaborative process between the narrator and the interview. Oral history interviewers ask open questions that illicit longer responses and interviewers often take cues from the content of the narrator’s answer, whereas journalists usually ask topical and pointed questions for shorter interview sessions. Furthermore, oral history interviews are expected to be archived and added to the historical record for future use, while journalistic interviews are often not heard by anyone but the interviewer.
Q: How did I listen to your interviews?
A: ROHO’s interviews are archived in The Bancroft Library (TBL) at UC Berkeley. Audio and video files of most of our interviews can be requested through TBL though transcripts of the vast majority of our collection are available as PDFs on our website and accessible at any time.
Q: Why can’t I listen to or watch the interviews online?
A: Unfortunately, the audio and video files of our interviews are very large and would take up most of TBL’s broadband. However, you can request these audio and video files of the interviews at TBL or read the transcripts on our website. We also have clips from a selected series of interviews (which change monthly) available on our SoundCloud account.
Q: How can I connect to ROHO?
A: You can follow what is going on with ROHO through our website, newsletter, blog, or our various social media outlets like Twitter, Facebook, SoundCloud, Instagram, and YouTube.
Q: How do I donate to ROHO?
A: You can donate here. We truly appreciate your support.
Q: How many people will this project include?
A: We hope to include at least thirty individuals, but would like to interview as many people as possible.
Q: Who will be interviewed for this project?
A: We have conducted a four-hour interview with cocktail historian David Wondrich, completed pilot interviews with Jennifer Colliau of Small Hand Foods, Claire Sprouse of the United States Bartender’s Guild, and Rhachel Shaw of Hog Island Oyster Co, and a short interview with bartender Dale DeGroff. We have spoken with several high-profile bar owners, bartenders, and craft spirit distillers who have expressed interested in being interviewed for the project.
Q: Will I be able to listen to or watch the interviews?
A: You will be able to watch and listen to clips from the interviews on our YouTube and SoundCloud pages when the interviews are complete. You will also be able to request the audio and video files of the interviews at The Bancroft Library and read the interview transcripts on our website.
Q: How long will this project last?
A: We anticipate this being a multi-year project and do not have a project deadline.
Q: What kind of logo are you looking for?
A: We are looking for designs that capture the essence of project and somehow related to oral history/storytelling and craft cocktails. The rest is up to you.
Q: What should I submit?
A: You should submit your design in the following formats:
-Vector-based (for Adobe Illustrator)
-Full Color
-Black and White
-Reverse
-Banner Sized
-Sized for social media outlets like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and SoundCloud
Q: How do I submit a logo?
A: Logos should be submitted to Shanna Farrell at sfarrell@library.berkeley.edu.
Q: How will I know that my logo was received?
A: You will receive an email confirmation from Shanna Farrell within 24 hours of your submission.
Q: When will the contest winner be announced?
A: The winner be announced by Monday, June 2 2014.
Q: How do I donate to the project?
A: You can donate to the project through ROHO’s website. We truly appreciate your support.