The Shaker Lakes Nature Center Oral History Project was sponsored by the Academy of American History, a grant project funded by the U.S. Department of Education's Teaching American History program. The series was initiated by Nature Center founding member Nancy King Smith, with interviews by researchers, students, and public school teachers in collaboration with the Center. Interviews cover a variety of topics relating to the creation of Shaker Lakes and the Nature Center, as well as to the broader issues in wildlife preservation and environmental education.
Although the Shaker Lakes were man-made (serving as a major part of the development of Shaker Heights), the park quickly became a favorite spot for amateur naturalists from throughout the area. In the 1960s, as the encroaching highway system threatened to destroy the Lakes, a grassroots movement sprang up in their defense, gaining the attention of the nascent environmental movement in the US. After successfully rolling back highway development through the Lakes, the activists used the momentum to form the Nature Center at Shaker Lakes, with the mission of protecting the park lands in perpetuity and educating students and other citizens on environmental issues.
Submissions from 2008
Billie Smith Interview, April 2008
Hope Adelstein and Stanley I. Adelstein Interview, April 2008
Submissions from 2006
Barbara Morgan Interview, 30 June 2006
Burt W. Griffin Interview, 30 October 2006
Edward J. Fritz Interview, 6 July 2006
Jack Ulman Interview, 11 July 2006
Kathleen L. Barber Interview 20 June 2006
Kay Fuller Interview, 27 September 2006
Laura Gooch Interview, 11 July 2006
Martha Eakin Interview, 05 June 2006
Martha Eakin Interview, 21 June 2006
Nancy King Smith Interview, 28 June 2006
Phil Hart Interview, 29 June 2006