Why oral history

IOHA seeks to stimulate research that uses the techniques of oral history and to promote the development of standards and principles for individuals, institutions and agencies both public and private who have the responsibility for the collection and preservation of historical information gathered through the techniques of oral histories, in all forms.

Through international conferences, collaborative networks, and support for national oral history organizations, IOHA seeks to foster a better understanding of the democratic nature and value of oral history worldwide. Oral History Listserv: H-Oralhist H-Oralhist is a network for scholars and professionals active in studies related to oral history.

It is affiliated with the Oral History Association. Groundswell: Oral History for Social Change An emerging and dynamic network of oral historians, activists, cultural workers, community organizers, and documentary artists.

Its primary mission is to explore the nature and significance of oral history and advance understanding of the field among scholars, educators, practitioners, and the general public. It is an internationally peer reviewed, high quality forum for oral historians from a wide range of disciplines and a means for the professional community to share projects and current trends of oral history from around the world.

Oral History Research Guide. Regional History. Email Me. Subjects: Oral History. Oral history is a field of study and a method of gathering, preserving and interpreting the voices and memories of people, communities, and participants in past events. Oral history is both the oldest type of historical inquiry, predating the written word, and one of the most modern, initiated with tape recorders in the s and now using 21st-century digital technologies.

An oral history interview generally consists of a well-prepared interviewer questioning an interviewee and recording their exchange in audio or video format. Recordings of the interview are transcribed, summarized, or indexed and then placed in a library or archives. These interviews may be used for research or excerpted in a publication, radio or video documentary, museum exhibition, dramatization or other form of public presentation.

Recordings, transcripts, catalogs, photographs and related documentary materials can also be posted on the Internet. The Oral History Association offers several resources for you to learn about all facets of oral history. What would happen in perhaps two decades when a graduate student researched the history of Bridgeport Brewing? Would they read the article without consulting the original collection of interviews? The experience helped me understand that oral histories do more than provide charming details to dry historical accounts.

In fact, oral histories help others recapture lived experiences that are not written down in traditional sources, such as books and newspapers. While I rely on the existence of memos, letters, and physical documents to learn about the events of the past, interviewing people can show me things about the period I study that the archival record alone never could.

Historians need oral history. The story of a man who wanted to make the United States a healthier place and the sometimes fuzzy line between science and quackery. Foul-mouthed, heavy-drinking eccentric Harry R. Truman became a folk hero for refusing to evacuate his home in the months before Mount St. Helens erupted. Where did he go once it did?