"Oral history is the collection and study of historical information about people, families, important events, or everyday life using audiotapes, videotapes, or transcriptions of planned interviews."
An overview of what oral history is and its importance in preserving the history of individuals and groups.
Definition of oral history: This includes understanding the nature, purpose, and scope of oral history as a field that involves collecting, preserving, and interpreting narratives of people's experiences and memories.
Types of oral history interviews: This includes different types of interview techniques, such as life story interviews, eyewitness accounts, group interviews, and focused interviews.
Ethics and consent in oral history: This involves understanding ethical issues that arise in the collection and dissemination of personal narratives, such as informed consent, confidentiality, and privacy concerns.
Interview preparation: This includes aspects such as selecting the interviewee, preparing questions, building rapport, and setting up the interview environment.
Interview techniques: This includes practical aspects of conducting oral history interviews, such as active listening, asking open-ended questions, maintaining focus, and capturing details.
Equipment and recording: This includes understanding different recording devices and techniques for capturing, transcribing, and preserving oral histories.
Analysis and interpretation: This includes methods for analyzing and interpreting oral histories, such as thematic analysis, narrative analysis, and reflexive analysis.
Preservation and accessibility: This includes strategies for preserving oral history collections, such as digital preservation, copyright, and access to archives.
Using oral history in research: This includes examining how oral history interviews can be used as primary sources in research projects, such as historical research, social research, and cultural studies.
Community-based oral history: This includes examining the role of oral history in creating community memory, identity, and advocacy, as well as developing collaborative research partnerships with local groups and individuals.
Narrative Introduction: This type of introduction focuses on storytelling and sets the stage for the rest of the oral history by providing context and background information.
Biographical Introduction: This type of introduction focuses on the life and experiences of the person being interviewed, and serves as a way to introduce them to the audience.
Historical Introduction: This type of introduction provides a historical context for the oral history, explaining the events that led up to the time period being discussed.
Geographical Introduction: This type of introduction provides information about the location or region where the interview takes place, and may include information about the interviewee's connection to the area.
Chronological Introduction: This type of introduction discusses the timeline of the interviewee's life, and may provide background information about their childhood, education, and career.
Cultural Introduction: This type of introduction focuses on the interviewee's cultural background, and may include information about their ethnicity, religion, or customs.
Emotional Introduction: This type of introduction explores the interviewee's emotional state at the time of the interview, and may discuss their feelings about the events or experiences they are recounting.
Philosophical Introduction: This type of introduction explores the interviewee's beliefs and values, and may provide insight into their worldview and perspective on life.
Political Introduction: This type of introduction discusses the interviewee's political views and involvement, and may explore their thoughts on current events or historical political developments.
Literary Introduction: This type of introduction focuses on the interviewee's literary or artistic achievements, and may provide background information about their creative process or inspiration.
"These interviews are conducted with people who participated in or observed past events and whose memories and perceptions of these are to be preserved as an aural record for future generations."
"Oral history strives to obtain information from different perspectives and most of these cannot be found in written sources."
"Knowledge presented by Oral History (OH) is unique in that it shares the tacit perspective, thoughts, opinions, and understanding of the interviewee in its primary form."
"To preserve memories and perceptions of past events for future generations as an aural record."
"Often preserved in archives and large libraries."
"In Western society, the use of oral material goes back to the early Greek historians Herodotus and Thucydides, both of whom made extensive use of oral reports from witnesses."
"The modern concept of oral history was developed in the 1940s by Allan Nevins and his associates at Columbia University."
"Primitive societies have long relied on oral tradition to preserve a record of the past in the absence of written histories."
"Professional historians usually consider oral tradition to be any information about past events that witnesses told anybody else."
"Oral history is the collection and study of historical information about people, families, important events, or everyday life using audiotapes, videotapes, or transcriptions of planned interviews."
"Oral history strives to obtain information from different perspectives and most of these cannot be found in written sources."
"Knowledge presented by Oral History (OH) is unique in that it shares the tacit perspective, thoughts, opinions, and understanding of the interviewee in its primary form."
"These interviews are conducted with people who participated in or observed past events, and whose memories and perceptions of these are to be preserved as an aural record for future generations."
"Oral history complements written histories by providing a different source of information, often capturing details and perspectives not found in written sources."
"Preserving oral history data ensures that memories and perspectives of past events are not lost and can be accessed by future generations."
"Oral history enhances our understanding of the past by incorporating personal experiences and subjective accounts, which offer unique insights into historical events."
"Oral history interviews are often preserved in archives and large libraries."
"The early Greek historians Herodotus and Thucydides made extensive use of oral reports from witnesses."
"The primary objective of oral history is to collect and study historical information about people, families, important events, or everyday life using various mediums."