A five-year oral history project run by the North Otago Museum will continue after the Waitaki District Council agreed to continue funding it, but at a reduced level.
The project, which has interviewed up to 10 people a year throughout the district, was in jeopardy after the council proposed in its draft long-term council community plan not to continue the $10,000 funding required.
That drew objections, including one from the New Zealand Historic Places Trust, which said it was a valuable resource for interpreting the district's history.
Now, the council has decided the project will continue, but at a reduced level, by providing $5000.
The interviews are stored at the North Otago Archives and are available to the public.
They add to the district's recorded history, with people telling of their own and the area's history.
One of those involved in the project, Nathalie Brown, said much of the information obtained in the interviews was not available in written form.
If North Otago did not have the project, then first-hand accounts would not be available.
An example she quoted was Bulleid's department store (now Farmers) as it was from the 1930s until taken over by Hays in 1959.
Brothers George and Vic Bulleid were in their 80s when their oral histories were recorded in 2004.
They provided information on the store layout, names of staff, shop fittings and even a description of the financial and stock-taking systems which enabled the store to survive through the Great Depression.
