NATCHEZ — Registration is now open for a free oral history workshop that will take place from 8 a.m. until 1:30 p.m., Thurs., July 21, at Copiah-Lincoln Community College, 11 Co-Lin Circle.

The workshop will be conducted by Louis Kyriakoudes, director of The Center for Oral History and Cultural Heritage at the University of Southern Mississippi, Hattiesburg. The event is sponsored by Co-Lin and the Natchez Literary and Cinema Celebration.

“The workshop will teach people how to conduct oral history projects in order to record all sorts of important information,” said Carolyn Vance Smith, founder of the NLCC and director of the oral history project.

Techniques from the workshop can be used by historians, teachers, writers, students and the general public, Smith said.

“In particular, we want to focus on capturing first-person stories of the Great Mississippi River Flood of 2011 and its impact on the Natchez area,” she said.

“The flood is one of our area’s biggest natural calamities. Thousands of fascinating flood stories are being told. They need to be saved while memories are fresh. We’ll begin conducting interviews immediately after the workshop,” Smith said.

Free handouts and a free light lunch are included with the workshop, Smith said.

Registration, which is required, can be done by e-mailing Linda Bailey of Natchez, project assistant, at fourb@bellsouth.net or by calling her at 601-442-4824. Deadline to register is Monday, July 18.

Teachers wanting continuing education units can earn free of charge one-half unit for five contact hours. “They should indicate they want CEU credit when they register,” Bailey said.

Digital equipment for both the workshop and the interviews will be on loan from the University of Southern Mississippi’s oral history center, Smith said.

“We’ll make copies of the interviews and place them at Co-Lin’s Willie Mae Dunn Library for research purposes.”

The original digital recordings will be sent to USM’s oral history center, where they will be transcribed, permanently stored and available for scholars and the general public.

During the workshop, Kyriakoudes will discuss the definition of oral history, its use as a research tool, the planning and developing of an oral history project, the art of listening, a description of the collections at USM’s Center for Oral History and Cultural Heritage suitable for use in the classroom and in the community, interview strategies (preparation permissions, equipment, interview role playing), data management, digital audio editing and podcasting, Smith said.

The oral history project relates to the 23rd annual NLCC, Feb. 23-26, Smith said. The conference theme is “Legends, Lore, and Literature: Storytelling in the South.”

Several people who will be interviewed for the oral history project will share their stories in person at the NLCC on Feb. 25, Smith said. They include David Gardner, Louis Guedon, Anthony Hauer, Carla Jenkins and Lee Jones, all of the Natchez area.

During the afternoon of July 21, Kyriakoudes will conduct a second oral history workshop at Natchez High School, where public school teachers will gather July 18-22 for teacher academies.

The oral history project in Natchez is partially funded by Co-Lin, the NLCC, Natchez-Adams School District, The Center for Oral History and Cultural Heritage at USM, the Mississippi Humanities Council, the Mississippi Department of Archives and History and the Mississippi Oral History Project, funded annually by the Mississippi state legislature.