BOONE— Jennifer Cohen-Jordan and Leila Weinstein spent part of their summer in Plains, Ga., to conduct an oral history project for the Jimmy Carter National Historic Site (JCNHS) located there. Both are graduate students in the Appalachian studies program at Appalachian State University. The project was funded by a grant from the U.S. Department of the Interior’s National Park Service.While they didn’t get to interview the former president or his wife, Rosalynn, they did meet the couple, and through interviews with others gained insight into the community, social history and residents’ opinions of the 39th president of the United States.

Graduate student Jennifer Cohen-Jordan, right, poses with former President Jimmy Carter and his wife, Rosalynn, in Georgia.

“The Jimmy Carter National Historic Site was interested in collecting a variety of information about Plains and Archery, the community Carter was born in,” Cohen-Jordan. “That (freedom) really opened up doors for me in terms of what I could investigate,” she said.

Cohen-Jordan, who was the primary interviewer, audiotaped the interviews while Weinstein videotaped them. They explored a variety of topics, from integration and the changing demographics of the area to peoples’ personal relationships with the Carters.

The students prepared for the project by reading materials at the JCNHS that weren’t available in Boone. They also conferred with park representatives on questions to ask, and were briefed on the individuals they were to interview, Weinstein said.

They talked with 17 people in interviews that ranged from one to four hours long.

“One of the really interesting things that surprised me, was as an outsider how accepted I was,” Cohen-Jordan said. “I felt very welcomed by everybody that I talked to. I was really surprised at how much people opened up to me during these interviews. People shared very intimate and personal things. They laughed and they cried.”

Leila Weinstein monitors the camera while residents of Plains, Ga., are interviewed for an oral history project for the Jimmy Carter National Historic Site.

For instance, Cohen-Jordan and Weinstein heard differing viewpoints from black and white residents in Plains regarding Civil Rights issues and integration during the 1960s. While most white residents thought desegregation in their small town had gone smoothly, black residents had a different view. “I talked to one black woman who said that her children had been spat upon as they walked to school,” Cohen-Jordan said.

Sybil Carter, the widow of Billy Carter and sister-in-law of Jimmy Carter, talked candidly about her husband’s problems with alcoholism and his death from pancreatic cancer. “That was a fascinating interview,” Weinstein said. “She was very open and a very interesting person.”

People were asked about their relationship to the Carters, their thoughts when he ran for presidential office, whether they were involved in the campaign and what the community was like during Jimmy Carter’s years in office.

“I learned a lot about Jimmy Carter, about community dynamics and information about the area that I didn’t know beforehand,” Weinstein said of the interviews.

Like many small Southern towns, Plains is seeing its population dwindle as young adults move away for better economic opportunities. The population was estimated at 614 in 2005, down from 637 in the 2000 census. “Young people are moving out to go to school or jobs, so there is an aging population in Plains,” Cohen-Jordan said. But when she asked people how they thought Plains had changed over time, most said Plains wasn’t changing and thought their children will return to their hometown someday.

The oral histories collected for the project will be archived in the JCNHS and made available to researchers. The information may also be used in interactive exhibits and Web sites related to the historic site.

“I feel good about the project. We recorded a lot of valuable information,” Weinstein said.

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