Ypsilanti Farmers & Gardeners collection grows

This fall, you’ll find 11 new voices in the Ypsi Farmers & Gardeners Oral History Collection. 
Through September 28, you can listen to interview clips in an exhibit on display at YDL-Superior.

The Ypsi Farmers & Gardeners Oral History Project (YFGOHP) is a YDL digital archive sharing the 
stories of Ypsi’s Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) and/or working-class food growers.

“We are so excited to get to share more stories from Ypsi farmers and gardeners,” said project lead 
Finn Bell. “The new narrators have such important reflections on how growing food is a way of 
ensuring cultural legacy and community resilience.”

As the collection grows, it becomes clear how connected the gardening community is. Linda Mealing 
and Melvin Parson, two of the project's original narrators, have since passed away. In a 
celebration of Linda’s life, a friend played her interview from the Ypsi Farmers and Gardeners 
collection to show how much joy she displayed in the interview.

“Losing two narrators from the first round, Linda and Melvin, was devastating,” Bell said. "But we 
hope that their oral histories are one small part of how we can continue to learn from them and 
honor their legacy.”

Hear all the interviews at history.ypsilibrary.org/ypsilanti-farmers-gardeners.

If you have questions about the project, please contact Finn Bell at fmcbell@umich.edu. This 
project was made possible with grants from the Arts Initiative at the University of Michigan and Michigan 
Humanities.