Center for Development History

About Center for Development History

The Center for Development History (CDH) is an initiative to record and retain the lived experiences, lessons learned, and history of international development professionals who worked with international NGOs, humanitarian relief organizations, firms, and universities. We conduct oral history interviews with development practitioners with at least 20 years of experience. The transcripts and audio recordings are designed to be used by researchers, scholars, graduate students, journalists, pracitioners and policymakers. The collection offers a truthful, accurate picture of the work of international development and foreign aid from the perspective of non-profit partners. Our collection is hosted by James Madison University Library Archives. We collaborate and partner with similar oral history efforts, as well as universities with public history and development history programs, and continue to seek additional institutional partnerships. We seek interviewees/narrators with experience in a wide range of development sectors, such as education, health, agriculture, and economic growth. As our collection grows we anticipate holding public events that address key topics of development, focusing on the history and future of development. The Center is co-founded by Jerrold Keilson, an experienced development professional, and Dr. Michael Gubser, a Professor of History at James Madison University and development consultant. Our team of volunteers includes Hunter Swanigan, Director, Research and Collections; Katya Verkhovsky, Director, Operations; Michael Zamba, Director, Communications, and a core group of volunteer interviewers, reviewers and librarians.

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