Ruth Edmonds Hill

Ruth Edmonds Hill
Ruth Edmonds Hill in 2015
Born	Ruth Edmonds
Other names	Sister Ruth
Occupation(s)	Scholar, oral historian, oral storytelling editor, journal editor, educator, historic preservation advocate
Spouse	Brother Blue

Ruth Edmonds Hill (March 5, 1925 - April 15, 2023) was an American scholar, oral historian, oral storytelling editor, journal editor, educator, historic preservation advocate. Her oral history office is part of the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University. She is an iconic figure among oral storytellers, particularly in the United States but also abroad, and has advised storytellers' organizations. Her spouse is Dr. Hugh Morgan Hill who is also known as Brother Blue. Ruth Edmonds Hill is sometimes known as Sister Ruth. Ruth Edmonds Hill is the daughter of Florence Edmonds of western Massachusetts, whose life story is chronicled and has been critically analyzed as part of African-American oral history. Hill has degrees from Simmons College and the University of Massachusetts Amherst.^[1]

Hill is most widely known among oral history researchers for conducting the Black Women Oral History Project at the Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of American Women at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study which has often been cited within related fields of study in journal articles, dissertations, and in panel discussions and has been acclaimed as a pioneering work in its genre.^[2]

Hill has also made oral history field recordings, including guided interviews, of Cambodians, Chinese Americans and other ethnic and sociolect communities, traveling widely in research as well as conference participation.^[3]

After the death of her husband Brother Blue in 2009, Ruth Edmonds Hill hosted Memorial Tributes in the Blue Circle community of artists, ministers and educators formed during his lifetime and from his joint opus with Ruth Edmonds Hill, most recently in 2010.