NATCHEZ &8212; Sabrina Bartley and Brett Brinegar are on a mission to make sure the undocumented stories of Natchez-area senior citizens aren&8217;t lost forever.

Brinegar, the city&8217;s grants coordinator, is now searching for about $15,000 to fund an oral history project Bartley&8217;s Senior Citizen Multipurpose Center would spearhead.

Bartley said that money will cover equipment, such as cameras and computer equipment, that would be used to record interviews &8212; first with center patrons in their 80s and older, then with senior citizens throughout the community.

Those interviews could be conducted by staff at the center and perhaps local students, Bartley said.

The goal is for the center to maintain a library of taped interviews and written transcripts of seniors telling of events in their lives and their perspectives of events such as wars or the Great Depression.

Such first-hand accounts give a more well-rounded account of history than one can&8217;t get from a history book alone, Bartley said.

&8220;These are tidbits that often aren&8217;t included in written history,&8221; she said. &8220;They make history sparkle and come alive.&8221;

Bartley hears such stories every day, but so far she and her staff have only been able to write down a few from center patrons in their 90s and even as old at 103.

Now it&8217;s just a matter of getting the money to purchase equipment. Brinegar said one option would be to invest some of her budget in databases showing what private foundation is available for which uses.

When it comes to applying for specific grants, &8220;I hope to have something going by the spring&8221; to get funding for the oral history project, Brinegar said.