Archives provides DVD sets to local schools

A copy of the set was given to community members representing all of the county high schools and to Colbert Heights High School Tuesday evening.

“Danny McDowell approached me with this idea one day because he saw the need of getting our seniors on film in their actual words describing our history in Franklin County,” said Chris Ozbirn, director of the Franklin County Archives and Research Center.

McDowell said he realized the importance of the project through conversations with his own parents.

“My dad used to tell me stories about all kinds of things,” McDowell said.

“One day, I thought ‘when he’s gone, these stories are gone.”

That’s when he decided to personally film both of his parents sharing their stories.

“I sat down and filmed them for about an hour and half one day and the battery when dead,” he said. “I kept thinking that I would do it again sometime, but I never did.”

Ozbirn took McDowell’s idea to a film group at Northwest-Shoals Community College who put the plans in motion.

“It turned into a 20-disc set,” Ozbirn said. “The first 19 are all raw footage interviews of Franklin County people. “This is something we needed desperately so we can hang onto our past.”

Vina history teacher Richie Hester told the Franklin County Seekers of the Past Tuesday that one of the best projects students could have is one where they work on their family tree.

“This will help all of our students,” Hester said.

The discs are being sold for $35 per set at the Franklin County Archives and Research Center.