Background on the East Marshall Street Oral History & Memorialization Project
The Humanities Research Center’s Health Humanities Lab was founded by Gender, Sexuality, and Women's Studies Department faculty member Chris Cynn and began awarding research fellowships in the fall 2022 to graduate and undergraduate students interested in the inter- and transdisciplinary study of health and healthcare inequities. From 2022-23, Lab Director Chris Cynn worked with five undergraduate and one graduate lab fellow in collaboration with the Office of Health Initiative’s History and Health program to develop publicly accessible educational modules related to equitable access to care.
From 2023–24, Chris Cynn and History Department faculty member Michael Dickinson supervised two postdoctoral fellows, Daniel Sunshine and Maggie Unverzagt Goddard, who oversaw five returning and five new undergraduate fellows and one graduate fellow focusing on the East Marshall Street Well Oral History and Memorialization Project. From 2024–26 project co-directors, Chris Cynn and Michael Dickinson worked with nine undergraduate fellows, two additional students, and four graduate students to continue the project, which was completed in 2026.
The East Marshall Street Well Oral History and Memorialization Project has focused on amplifying East Marshall Street Well Family Representative Council priorities around memorialization and education, including through:
- Creating a publicly available repository of oral histories related to the East Marshall Street Well
- Participating in conferences and events
- Organizing public symposia
- Disseminating information about the Well through the display of educational panels
- Producing of this website
Community activist, historian, and African American Studies faculty member Ana Edwards served as the primary interviewer for the oral history archive. Student fellows then processed the interviews which have been uploaded onto a publicly accessible VCU Library repository developed in collaboration with The Workshop, Special Collections and Archives at Cabell Library, and the VPM+ICA Community Media Center. In addition, student fellows programmed a traveling exhibit on the EMSW Project, designed a walking tour, researched institutional policies on human remains, and participated in community events, conferences, and other outreach and education activities with EMSW Project Family Representative Council members.
Health Humanities Lab student fellows received stipends for their participation in a vertically integrated project that emphasizes mentoring, professional development, and experiential learning. The East Marshall Street Well Oral History and Memorialization Project has been supported by the VCU Quest Fund, the Medical College of Virginia Foundation, a Vertically Integrated Project grant from the Office of the Provost’s Transformative Learning Fund, a Division of Community Engagement Grant, and an Impact Award. It has received additional funding support from the Humanities Research Center, the College of Humanities and Sciences (CHS), the History and Health Program in the Office of Health Initiatives, the Office of the President, and the Honors College.