In Their Own Voice: Documenting Concord’s Immigrant Communities

Our featured guest, Bill Bailey, will talk to us about his efforts in the 1980s to document immigrants’ voices in Concord. While serving on the Concord Historical Commission, Bill Bailey set out to conduct nearly seventy interviews with immigrants from Ireland, Canada, Norway, Italy, Russia, and Poland. Bill is the former History Department head at Concord Academy, where he taught and inspired students for 35 years from 1967 through 2002. He is a graduate of Columbia College and has a master’s degree in history from Columbia University. In late March of 2020, Bill returned to Concord after living in New York City for nearly two decades. We invite you to listen and learn more about his important documentation project.

We will have time to discuss common themes as well as how this informs how we (as Concordians)  welcome the newly arrived. What do we want to offer?