PBB Oral History News
The Michigan Oral History Association Conference this year (oct. 8-16) featured a series of presentations on “The Michigan PBB Oral History Project: Four Perspectives on the Benefits (and Challenges) of Collaborating to Make History from Memories”
Roundtable Abstract: In 1973 one of the largest episodes of food contamination in U.S. history began to unfold in Michigan. The Michigan Chemical Company (owned by Velsicol Chemical Corporation) in St. Louis, Michigan, accidentally shipped a fire retardant (polybrominated biphenyl or PBB) in place of a livestock-feed additive to state feed mills. Thereafter, PBB entered into the human food chain via contaminated farm products and exposed millions of Michiganders. The Michigan PBB Oral History Project* documents the history of the PBB mix-up through interviews with community members—farmers, chemical workers, Pine River residents, consumers, public officials, researchers, and activists. This roundtable presentation will explore the multifaceted and collaborative components of the Michigan PBB Oral History Project from the perspectives of an oral historian, archivist, graduate student assistant, and graduate researcher to highlight the opportunities and challenges of collaborating to document, preserve, and interpret community memories.
Presentations:
“‘These stories, they stick with you’: The Michigan PBB Oral History Project” by Task Force Secretary and professor at Central Michigan University, Brittany Fremion
“Preserving PBB Community Stories: A Graduate Student Assistant’s Perspective of the Michigan PBB Oral History Project” by Candy Deforest
“Contaminated Consumption: The Forgotten History of PBB in Michigan, 1973-2019” by Nikki Brabaw, Task Force board member
“PBB in the Archives: Challenges and Advantages in Building a Manuscript Collection to Support the Michigan PBB Oral History Project” by Marian Matyn Archivist in the Clarke Historical Library, Central Michigan University
Here is a link to the conference site, where there are links to each presentation” Michigan Oral History Association Flipped Conference (umdearborn.edu)