This project centers around interviews with professional and/or personal acquaintances of Elinor and Vincent Ostrom. Every interview explores a unique relationship with the Ostroms and the continuing impact of the Ostrom Workshop at Indiana University. Elinor (Lin) and Vincent Ostrom founded the Workshop in Political Theory and Policy Analysis in 1973.The Ostrom Workshop has been the catalyst for worldwide collaboration in the field of public policy and environmental issues. "Coming Together" is an interdisciplinary exploration of the legacy and impact of Elinor (Lin) and Vincent Ostrom. Major topics include; academia, "the commons", cross-disciplinary collaboration, Elinor Ostrom's Nobel Prize, the Ostrom Workshop, political science, political theory, and the Workshop on the Ostrom Workshop (WOW) conference. The project was created to assist in the dissertation research of Sara Catherine Clark, who was a doctoral candidate within the School of Education, pursing a Ph.D. in History, Philosophy, and Policy in Education, at Indiana University Bloomington. Sara Catherine Clark's dissertation was completed in 2019 and is cited as follows: Clark, S. C. (2019). Elinor ostrom: A biography of interdisciplinary life.
Brett Frischmann is a law professor at Villanova University. Frischmann met Elinor Ostrom in Chicago where she gave a guest lecture at the Illinois Institute of Technology. He reflects how Elinor Ostrom influenced his research and her strengths as a mentor. He then discusses how Ostrom's work with the commons and methodologies will be looked at in the future. As an affiliate faculty member of the Ostrom Workshop, Frischmann is able to discuss his vision for the Ostrom Workshop going forward.
Charlotte Hess was the Director of the Library and Information at the Ostrom Workshop from 1989 to 2008. Hess begins by recounting the way the library started and the way it developed, including what it was like to create the library catalog for the Workshop. Hess also talks about connecting the Ostroms' work and the International Association of Common Property. Later, she discusses editing Vincent Ostrom's book The Meaning of Democracy and the Vulnerability of Democracies: A Response to Tocqueville's Challenge (1997) and Vincent Ostrom himself.