UH Memories Project documentary selected as film festival finalist

Gulf Coast Film & Video Festival honors Center for Public History and UH libraries collaboration

The film, The University of Houston: War and Growth, 1939-1950, is a finalist for the best short documentary in the Gulf Coast Film & Video Festival, which will be held in Houston September 13 -15.

The film is part of the UH Memories Project, a collaboration between the Center for Public History and the Digital Library in the UH Libraries.

It was co-directed and co-written by Dr. Kathleen Brosnan, who at the time was an associate professor of history and associate director of the Center for Public History; Michele Reilly, head of digital services for UH Libraries; and Lori Paredes, a public history graduate student.

Additionally, the film is narrated by Marisa Ramirez, a senior UH media relations representative and a CLASS alumna who graduated with a degree in English.

The UH Memories Project is a full-length, multi-part documentary film that documents the history of the University of Houston and how it and the City of Houston have grown together.

The University of Houston Alumni Association provided financial support for the project during the 2012-2013 academic year. Additional support was provided by the Houston History Project under the direction of Dr. Joseph Pratt, the NEH-Cullen Professor of History and Business.

Dr. Pratt appears in the mini-documentary, The University of Houston: War and Growth, 1939-1950, that follows UH through its 1939 move to its current campus, the years of World War II, and the postwar changes associated with the GI Bill.

The short film can be view in its entirety on the UH YouTube channel: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WzmEagxtWv4