Oral Histories

Oral histories are “the systematic collection of living people’s testimony about their own experiences.” Oral histories are not “folklore, gossip, hearsay, or rumor.”[1] Oral histories are created in several formats: audio recordings, video or film, and are sometimes turned into written transcripts. A professional historian or professional interviewer performs many steps to capture an oral history:

1. Formulating a central question or issue.
2. Planning the project by considering: end products, budget, publicity, evaluation, personnel, equipment, and time frames.
3. Conducting background research and collects proper documents and forms for release of oral history.
4. Interviewing the person. The interviewer can supply the interviewee with a set of questions to help guide the interview and prevent rambling or off topic narratives.
5. Processing interviews.
6. Evaluating research and interviews and cycle back to step 1 or go on to step 7.
7. Organizing and presenting results.
8. Archiving the material.

Historians value oral histories because the information is derived from a person who witnessed or was involved in a historical event. These are often recorded after the historical event occurred, but they are still considered primary sources. Oral history subjects are typically not professional historians, therefore their views on a historical event might be different than a historian studying the event. The interviewee’s scope on an event will most likely be narrow.

Oral histories can be emotionally striking because you can view a person’s opinions and see the emotion behind those opinions. Therefore we must ask ourselves a series of basic questions as we watch, listen, or read the oral histories:

• Why was it important for that person to record their story?
• Who is this person, and are they an authority on the subject?
• When was the oral history recorded? How displaced is it from the historical event?

Questions for analysis:

1. What format is used for the oral history you are examining now? (An audio recording, video or film, or a written transcript) What is the significance of this format?
2. Does this seem like an interview or a conversation? Significance?
3. What is the purpose of this oral history? What information was the historian trying to capture?
4. What can you tell about the person telling the story? What is the person’s point of view?
5. What is the significance of this oral history? Is it personal or historical?
6. How does encountering this story firsthand change its emotional impact?
7. What can you learn from this oral history? Do you think it is reflective of other people’s opinions on the agricultural subject?

The analysis questions were adopted from the Library of Congress. More information about lesson plans can be drawn from the website: 

http://www.loc.gov/teachers/usingprimarysources/resources/Analyzing_Oral_Histories.pdf