Women of Bethel: An Oral History Project collection
Scope and Contents
The Women of Bethel: An Oral History Project Collection was created from the summer of 2024 through the spring of 2025 and spans .5 cubic feet of textual materials, an external hard drive and videos on the Digital Library website.
The Women’s History Month Devotionals at the front of the box are copies from 2000, 2001, and 2003 yearly publications out of the four-year span.
The Interview Permissions folder contains permission forms for the interviewers (Chris Gehrz, Ellie Heebsh, and Sam Mulberry) governing use of videographic, photographic, and textual resources.
The Interviewee folders contain printed interview transcripts, biographies, interviewer notes, lists of questions, and/or other additional personally provided materials pertaining to each of the following women:
Alyssa Hamre Kontak
Amy Dykstra
Avis Soderstrom
Barb Barnes
Barb Martin
Beth Peterson
Bethany Opsata
Carla Dahl
Carole Çragg
Carole Spickelmier
Deb Harless
Deb Sullivan-Trainor
Donna Johnson
Eleanor Edman
Gretchen Hunt
Jeannine Brown
Jessica Henderson
Judy Moseman
Julie White
Kathy Nevins
Katie Bonawitz
Laurel Bunker
Liz Burd
Marion Larson
Miranda Powers
Nikki Daniels
Patrice Conrath
Peggy Kendall
Penny Foore
Sara Shady
Sherie Lindvall
Sherry Mortenson
Stephanie Williams O’Brien
Tricia Brownlee
The Women’s History Month Devotional Revival 2025 contains a complete printed copy of the new devotional created and disseminated on Substack by Chris Gehrz and Ellie Heebsh in March 2025.
The Miscellaneous Materials folder contains interview notes, project announcements, a blank permission form, and preparatory project materials from Chris Gehrz, Sam Mulberry, and Ellie Heebsh.
The external hard drive contains a copy of all video and audio files of the Oral History interviews.
Dates
- 2024-05 - 2025-03-31
Creator
- Lindvall, Sherie (Person)
Conditions Governing Access
This collection is open to researcher use.
Historical note
In March 2024, Doctor of History, Chris Gehrz, along with his colleague Sam Mulberry, and their student, Ellie Heebsh, applied for the Edgren Scholars grant. Dr. Gehrz’s blog post on the award reception notes:
“One of Bethel’s most distinctive programs is the Edgren Scholars, named for university founder John Alexis Edgren and inspired by his core belief that 'the relation between teacher and students should not be that of superior and subordinate, but one of real friendship and helpfulness, remembering that One is our Master, and we are all brethren.'" Each summer, the Edgren Scholars program supports teams of faculty and students as they collaborate on research projects.
Their research, “The Women of Bethel: An Oral History Project,” focuses on the stories and experiences of women at Bethel University from the transition onto the Arden Hills campus to the present day. From June to August, the trio interviewed 34 women from across Bethel departments of study and organization. Their work culminated in the production of over 19 hours of documentary-quality oral histories on film and audio. To cap off their research, Chris Gehrz continued his historical research in his larger sabbatical project, while Mulberry and Heebsh worked to provide the film, audio, and edited transcripts to the Archives for preservation.
Additionally, the trio held a presentation in March 2025 as a culmination of their project at Bethel University Library's Primetime, with several interviewees returning to share their stories with the public. Footage of their presentation and an eight minute video shown have been retained by the Archives. As a small continuation of their work. Gehrz and Heebsh created a 25th Anniversary special Women’s History Month Devotional from interviewees, professors, staff, alumni, and current female students.
Extent
.5 Cubic Feet
Language of Materials
English
Arrangement
The order of folders is retained from the alphabetical by first name order created by the researchers. All folders of interviewees contain some or all of the following documents in this order:
Archival Permissions Form
Biographical Note
Interview Transcript
Interview Anticipatory Questions and Interviewer Notes
Interviewee Resources (e.g. CV, Bethel Memorabilia, Interview Notes)
Three copies from the Women’s History Month Devotional Collection were taken and added to the front of the box. General Permissions for the Interviewers are also contained in one folder at the front of the box. All other miscellaneous materials collected appear in one folder together.
Custodial History
Interviews were conducted from June to August of 2024. In the following month, Chris Gehrz provided Interview Permissions forms as well as access to the folders of Interview Transcripts and Biographical Notes. Sam Mulberry sent all edited and unedited film and audio recordings via external hard drive to the Archives. Ellie Heebsh collected and provided all her personal interviews notes to the collection as well.
The Archives received all collection materials in person by August 2024 and arranged all collections materials from September 2024 to April 2025.
Existence and Location of Copies
Digital copies available on the Digital Library
Creator
- Lindvall, Sherie (Person)
- Nevins, Katherine (Person)
- Soderstrom, Avis (Person)
- Barnes, Barbara (Person)
- Cragg, Carole (Person)
- Harless, Debra (Person)
- Edman, Sagrid Eleanor (Person)
- Kontak, Alyssa Hamre (Person)
- Dykstra, Amy (Person)
- Martin, Barbara (Person)
- Peterson, Elizabeth (Person)
- Opsata, Bethany (Person)
- Dahl, Carla M. (Person)
- Spickelmier, Carole Lundquist (Person)
- Sullivan-Trainor, Deborah (Person)
- Johnson, Donna (Person)
- Hunt, Gretchen (Person)
- Brown, Jeannine (Person)
- Henderson, Jessica R. (Person)
- Moseman, Judith (Person)
- White, Julie (Person)
- Bonawitz, Katie (Person)
- Bunker, Laurel (Person)
- Burd, Liz (Person)
- Larson, Marion H. (Person)
- Powers, Miranda (Person)
- Daniels, Nikki L. (Person)
- Conrath, Patrice (Person)
- Kendall, Peggy (Person)
- Foore, Penny Witzenburg (Person)
- Morenson, Sherry (Person)
- Shady, Sara L. H. (Person)
- Brownlee, Patricia (Person)
- O'Brien, Stephanie Williams (Person)
- Gehrz, Christopher (Person)
- Mulberry, Samuel Pahl (Person)
- Heebsh , Elizabeth (Person)
- Author
- Ellie Heebsh
- Date
- March 2025
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
Repository Details
Part of the The History Center: Archives of Bethel University and Converge Repository