How do you interview someone for an oral history?

How do you interview someone for an oral history?

Interviewing

  1. The interview should be conducted, whenever possible, in a quiet location with minimal background noises and possible distractions, unless part of the oral history process includes gathering soundscapes or ambient sounds.
  2. The interviewer should record a lead-in at the beginning of each session.

What are the general principles of oral history?

General Principles for Oral History The content of oral history interviews is grounded in reflections on the past as opposed to commentary on purely contemporary events. Oral historians inform narrators about the nature and purpose of oral history interviewing in general and of their interview specifically.

How do you present an oral history?

Sequence for Oral History Research

  1. Formulate a central question or issue.
  2. Plan the project.
  3. Conduct background research.
  4. Interview.
  5. Process interviews.
  6. Evaluate research and interviews and cycle back to.
  7. Organize and present results.
  8. Store materials archivally.

How long is an oral history interview?

An hour and a half to two hours is usually about the right length of time for an interview session. After that point, both the interviewer and the interviewee generally begin to tire. Note too that you cannot do a full life history interview in one session.

How many types of oral history interview are there?

Oral histories generally consist of three distinct phases: a pre-interview phase, the interview itself, and a post-interview phase.

What is an example of oral history?

Examples of Oral History Features a wide diversity of opinion concerning the war and other social and political issues of the day, such as racial prejudice and labor disputes.

What is an oral history interview?

What is Oral History? Oral history is a method of conducting historical research through recorded interviews between a narrator with personal experience of historically significant events and a well-informed interviewer, with the goal of adding to the historical record.

Who first used the term oral history?

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.

What are the limitations of oral history?

It documents forms of discourse normally not documented and it emphasizes the significance of human experience. Oral history is normally not the best method for obtaining factual data, such as specific dates, places or times, because people rarely remember such detail accurately.

What is another name for oral history?

What is another word for oral history?

firsthand account folk literature
narrative history oral record
survivors’ account witnesses’ account

What is the scope of oral history?

Oral history is the collection and study of historical information about individuals, families, important events, or everyday life using audiotapes, videotapes, or transcriptions of planned interviews.

What is the advantage of oral history?

Oral history helps round out the story of the past. At times, an interview may serve as the only source of infor- mation available about a certain place, event, or person. Oral history helps us understand how individuals and communities experi- enced the forces of history.

What is oral history interviewing?

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 place in a library of archives.

What are the benefits of oral history?

One of the advantage oral history has over written history is its ability to engage and entertain listener by using music, rhythm, and poetry. Oral history can refer to rehearsed account of the past or it can be informal conversations of “the old days” among people who lived in a certain area like family members, neighbors or coworkers.

What are some examples of oral history?

Homer’s Illiad and Odyssey were passed down through oral tradition by poets before becoming written.

  • The story of Atlantis is an oral tradition in Egypt that found it’s way into an epic poem.
  • Big Foot is an urban legend of a half-human,half-gorilla creature.
  • Camelot and the legend of King Arthur spread through oral tradition in the 9th century.
  • What is oral history?

    Oral History: Defined. 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…