What could this idea change?
Preserves useful community memory, credits collaborators and confronts gaps or changing standards rather than presenting an uncritical anniversary narrative.
M-T1-PS-12 · Theme 1
Rotary History Story Project
Researches and interprets the club's local history through sourced records and oral accounts, connecting past service to present community learning.
Where this idea came from
- Playbook entry
- M-T1-PS-12 · Rotary History Story Project
- Theme
- Theme 1: Attraction & Visibility · Subtheme PS: Public Storytelling
- Source material
- Existing checked Theme 1 guide
- Linked playbook entry
- M-T1-PS-12 · Rotary History Story Project
Could this work in our club?
- Residents, schools, historians, members, alumni and partner organisations interested in local civic history. Use when the club has records, artefacts or long-term contributors at risk of being lost.
Before you start
- An agreed historical scope, research question, audience and interpretation standard.
- Inventory of club records plus access arrangements with libraries, archives, Traditional Owners or partners as relevant.
- Oral-history consent, copyright, cultural protocol, privacy and retention procedures.
At the end: Give contributors copies and access details, record corrections without silently rewriting history, and schedule a review for newly available evidence or changed permissions.
Before your club says yes
Does the idea fit?
Talk with the people it is meant to serve and check that the need is real.
Who can say yes?
Name the person or group that can approve the work, spending and any safety arrangements.
Are people protected?
Check privacy, consent and safety. Collect only the information you genuinely need.
Can everyone take part?
Check the language, format, place, technology and cost for barriers.
Are the facts and permissions right?
Check names, claims, images, quotations, partner references and Rotary branding.
How will we learn?
Note where things stand now, check in at 30, 60 and 90 days, and decide what to do next.
Worksheets for your club
Open them online, print them or change them to suit the way your club works.
Communications and content planner
Use this worksheet to prepare clear messages and check the facts, permissions and approval before sharing them.
Open worksheetWorkflow and minimum-data register
Use this worksheet to map each step and keep only the information the club genuinely needs.
Open worksheet