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Amana Colonies

Stories

Fledgling federation

Ten housing groups speak with a unified voice ...

Amid all the hoopla of 4th of July celebrations earlier this month, a small and very special community celebrated its own beginnings 150 years ago. I grew up in that community and was honoured to participate in a special programme presented to over 350 community members. My sister and I talked about the legacy of the Amana Colonies in our lives and told stories that illustrated how our connections to the community persist despite our long absence from it.

The History Project is also about telling stories. We'll start with stories from the co-op housing movement, but other stories may slip in now and then. We hope the documents we add or the stories we write will prompt you to contribute your recollections.

The goals for the History Project are to:

It's time to sort through the dozens of boxes in the basement that contain books, magazines, binders, briefs, reports, and other materials from our combined 60+ years of involvement in the co-op housing sector.

Of course, not everything we scan is going to end up in the History Project, but there is material that is 'public' in nature and which maybe one or two people would like to read. We'll make those items available as we scan them.

My Amana visit reminded me how important stories are in shaping families and communities. Don't expect academic research here. Our stories will be based on personal recollections and we won't be following a chronological order.