Oral History Field Research Seminar
TCU – HIST 30813 – Spring 2013 – Dr. Max Krochmal
Course Schedule & Location
Office Hours & Location
Phone
E-mail
Tuesdays and Thursdays, 2:00 to 3:20 PM, SCHAR 2011
Wednesdays, 9:00am to 12:00pm, and by appointment, Reed 133
817-257-7315 or 919-564-9129 (cell; texts ok)
m.krochmal@tcu.edu (use phone for timely or complex inquiries)
Course Description: STUDENTS MUST BE ENROLLED IN BOTH THIS COURSE AND HIST
30803, “RECENT U.S. URBAN HISTORY: RACE, SPACE, & COMMUNITY ACTIVISM.”
This service-learning field research course introduces students to community-based research
and oral history theory and methodology, including interviewing techniques and debates within
the discipline. Students will conduct extensive independent research outside the comfortable
confines of the university. With the professor’s guidance, and in collaboration with community
partners, students will hit the pavement to interview Fort Worth-area community activists and
leaders. They will then compile and interpret the results and finally synthesize their findings by
creating a multimedia website.
The course fulfills upper-division credit for History major or minor and the Urban Studies
minor. It also satisfies the Social Science (SSC) TCU Core Curriculum requirements.
We will hit the ground running. In roughly the first month of class, you will learn the skills
you’ll need to know to conduct the interviews successfully and form small groups to define a
collective research project (of your own choosing). For the next six weeks you’ll go out and do
the interviews, with lots of help from the professor and your fellow students. You will also
complete the process of logging, transcribing, and archiving the interviews—with the help of the
staff and facilities at the New Media Writing Studio. In the final month of the semester you will
synthesize what you’ve learned and prepare a multimedia Wordpress website of your findings.
In the last week, you’ll present the website and your own narratives to the people you
interviewed at an off-campus community dinner.
The course websites you create will become part of the larger Fort Worth Oral History Project
website, and the oral history interviews you record will be donated and preserved in the TCU
Library Special Collections and/or the Special Collections Library at the University of Texas,
Arlington. You must follow all professional guidelines for oral history research, especially
following the approved Institutional Review Board including oral consent and written interview
agreements.
Learning Outcomes: After taking this course, students will:
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Evaluate the fundamental social processes that characterize human experiences, using
social science methodology
Understand the practice of oral history research, including its basic methods, theoretical
and ethical considerations, and guidelines of professional conduct—with an emphasis on
issues of cultural differences and ethics
Successfully conduct, analyze, interpret, and archive original interviews and
ethnographic fieldwork & use the findings to create your own narrative history—
including an ability to analyze and assess diversity, inter-cultural interactions, and the
ethical dimensions of civic life
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Required Books & Readings All of the texts may be purchased at the TCU Bookstore and copies
of each are available on reserve at the library (I also recommend Amazon Student). Each of the
following texts is required:
 Robert Perks and Alistair Thomson, eds., The Oral History Reader, 2nd edition (New
York: Routledge, 2006). ISBN: 978-0415343039; List Price $41.95. (Do not purchase the
1st edition!)
 Donald A. Ritchie, Doing Oral History: A Practical Guide (New York: Oxford University
Press, 2003). 978-0195154344; $24.99.
Assignments & Grading:
 Oral History Research Project (80% - broken down below): Working in groups of three,
you will work throughout the semester on an original oral history project on a topic of
your own choosing (related to urban community activism). The project includes the following assignments:
o Practice Interview (1% of final course grade), conducted individually with an elderly friend or family member
o A minimum of six complete, recorded oral history interviews for your group
research project, including appropriate supporting documentation (28%). These
must meet the following conditions:
 At least one gatekeeper interview, log/transcript, and consent agreement
 At least five additional interviews, complete with logs/transcripts and
consent agreements
 At least three of interviews must include video, complete with log and
consent agreement
 At least two sets of original photographs, complete with consent agreements and captions
 Fieldnotes as needed
o Analysis of Field Materials (10%), broken down as follows:
 Transcript Excerpts (5%)
 Final Project Sitemap (2.5%)
 Preparation of audio/video clips, photos, text, and design for the presentation website (2.5%)
o Final Presentation (20%), broken down as follows:
 The final website (10%)
 Organizing of, and turn-out for, the final presentation (5%)
 Delivery and execution of the final presentation (5%)
o Post-Final Reflection (1%)
o Oral History Participation (10%): The bulk of this grade will be based on your
work on the small group research project throughout the semester, specifically
your:
 Ability to play well with others in your group
 Effort and dedication to the cause
 Endlessly chasing new leads, asking good questions, and figuring out how
to answer them (and not taking shortcuts when the going gets rough)
o Weekly Small Group Presentations (10%): Updates to the class on your group’s
progress doing oral history interviews and other fieldwork to date

Seminar Discussion of Readings (20%): The written word is the main currency of historical and social scientific knowledge. Expect several chapters per week. Readings must be
completed prior to the date that they appear on the syllabus. You will be graded based
on your apparent preparation for active participations in class discussions.
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Attendance is mandatory.
o The university attendance policy states (Faculty / Staff Handbook, p. 51):
1.
2.
3.
4.
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“Regular and punctual class attendance is essential, and no assigned work is summarily excused because of absence, no matter what the cause. Records of class attendance are the responsibility of the faculty, and every course’s syllabus should clearly state the instructor’s policy on class attendance and how attendance affects a student’s final evaluation in the course.
Students who miss an instructional experience are expected to meet with faculty to discuss
their absence as soon as possible.
“When a student is absent to represent the University (as in athletics, chorus, band, national or
state meetings of organizations represented at TCU), then an Official University Absence may
be granted by the Campus Life Office…
“When a student misses class for any reason other than an Official University Absence, the student is expected to follow the instructor’s policy as stated in the course syllabus. The student
should contact his/her instructor as soon as possible after he/she knows the absence will occur
or has occurred. If the cause of the absence is a serious illness, catastrophic accident, or
family emergency, each instructor should assist the student to make up any missed work.
Time lost through such absences should not prejudice class standing…
“If the cause of the absence is less compelling (choosing to miss class, oversleeping), instructors may or may not permit the student to make up missed work, and may or may not assess a
penalty for class absence.”
In addition to these rules, the attendance policy for this class is as follows:
 It is assumed that you will document any cases that fall into paragraph 3
above, and that absences that fall into this category will be limited. A routine urgent care trip to the health center does not qualify as “serious.”
 All other absences will be considered “less compelling” under paragraph 4
above. Arriving late to class or missing a substantial portion of a class
counts as one-half (½) of an absence.
 You may miss up to three classes without penalty. Each absence beyond
three (3.00) will result in a 2.5% reduction of your final grade.
Grading: My general philosophy is that all students can get A’s. Final grades should reflect exertion of constant effort and evidence of learning, not capacity for sliding by or
mastery of rote memorization. Learning new skills and making sense of new content
represent long and often frustrating processes, so grades will be based on your work and
participation throughout the course—not just your performance on the big assignments.
I will use the Gradebook feature on Learning Studio (eCollege) to track and share your
individual assignment grades. The following scale will be used to compute final grades:
A
AB+
B
BC+
C
CD+
D
DF
>95.000
90.00-94.999
88.00-89.999
83.00-87.999
80.00-82.999
78.00-79.999
73.00-77.999
70.00-72.999
68.00-69.999
63.00-67.999
60.00-62.999
<59.999
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Other Rules & Regs
 Recording Equipment: We will record digital audio for all interviews and shoot Flip HD
video for as many as possible. You can check out high-quality brand-name recorders and
Flip video cameras from the New Media Writing Studio, in Scharbauer 2003. Phone
interviews may be recorded using Google Voice. No iPods, cell phones, or other lowquality hand-held recorders will be permitted.

Electronic Devices: No cell phones, computers, or any other gadgets allowed in class except when I explicitly instruct you to use such devices. If you take out your phone in
class, I will take it and hold onto it like your favorite high school teacher. Students with
disabilities that require accommodation, please see the statement below. Kindles and
other e-book readers in airplane mode may be used with permission of the instructor.

Disabilities Statement: Texas Christian University complies with the Americans with
Disabilities Act and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 regarding students with
disabilities. Eligible students seeking accommodations should contact the Coordinator
of Student Disabilities Services in the Center for Academic Services located in Sadler
Hall, 1010. Accommodations are not retroactive, therefore, students should contact the
Coordinator as soon as possible in the term for which they are seeking accommodations.
Further information can be obtained from the Center for Academic Services, TCU Box
297710, Fort Worth, TX 76129, or at (817) 257-6567.

Academic Misconduct: Any act that violates the spirit of the academic conduct policy is
considered academic misconduct. Specific examples include, but are not limited to:
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Cheating: Includes, but is not limited to:
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A. Copying from another student’s test paper, laboratory report, other report, or computer
fi les and listings.
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B. Using in any academic exercise or academic setting, material and/or devices not authorized by the person in charge of the test.

C. Collaborating with or seeking aid from another student during an academic exercise
without the permission of the person in charge of the exercise.

D. Knowingly using, buying, selling, stealing, transporting
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or soliciting in its entirety or in part, the contents of a test or other assignment unauthorized for release.

E. Substituting for another student, or permitting another student to substitute for oneself, in a manner that leads to misrepresentation of either or both students’ work.
Plagiarism: The appropriation, theft, purchase or obtaining by any means another’s work, and the
unacknowledged submission or incorporation of that work as one’s own offered for credit. Appropriation includes the quoting or paraphrasing of another’s work without giving credit therefore.
Collusion: The unauthorized collaboration with another in preparing work offered for credit.
Abuse of resource materials: Mutilating, destroying, concealing or stealing such materials.
Computer misuse: Unauthorized or illegal use of computer software or hardware through the TCU
Computer Center or through any programs; terminals; or freestanding computers owned, leased or
operated by TCU or any of its academic units for the purpose of affecting the academic standing of a
student.
Fabrication and falsification: Unauthorized alteration or invention of any information or citation
in an academic exercise. Falsification involves altering information for use in any academic exercise. Fabrication involves inventing or counterfeiting information for use in any academic exercise.
Multiple submission: The submission by the same individual of substantial portions of the same academic work (including oral reports) for credit more than once in the same or another class without
authorization.
Complicity in academic misconduct: Helping another to commit an act of academic misconduct.
Bearing false witness: Knowingly and falsely accusing another student of academic misconduct.
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Course Schedule: (readings marked W are available on the course Wordpress website)
Week 1 / Welcome & Introductions
 Jan. 15
o In-Class Activities
o Tour of Websites
 Seattle Labor and Civil Rights History Project
 Bracero Oral History Project
 Southern Oral History Program and DocSouth
o Listen: American RadioWorks, Remembering Jim Crow audio documentary
 Jan. 17
o Reading: Linda Shopes, “What is Oral History?”and “How Do Historians Use It?”
in Making Sense of Oral History, part of History Matters: the U.S. Survey Course
on the Web http://historymatters.gmu.edu/mse/oral/
o
In-Class: Practice interview with a partner
Week 2 / The Basics: Why Oral History?
 Monday, January 21 – MLK Day – You must attend either the MLK Day of Service
sponsored by TCU’s Center for Community-Involvement and Service-Learning OR the
Fort Worth MLK Day Parade AND a campus event TBA
 Jan. 22
o Donald Ritchie, Doing Oral History, Chapter 1
o Lawrence C. Goodwyn, “Populist Dreams and Negro Rights: East Texas as a Case
Study,” American Historical Review 76, no. 5 (December 1971): 1435-1456 W
Available online through Duke Library: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1870515 Make sure to read all of the footnotes because this is where much of the
methodology is buried!
 Jan. 24
o Robert A. Goldberg, “Racial Change on the Southern Periphery: The Case of San
Antonio, Texas, 1960-1965,” The Journal of Southern History 49, no. 3 (August
1983): 349-374. http://www.jstor.org/stable/2208100 - skim his footnotes too
o Rev. Claude W. Black, Jr., interviewed by Max Krochmal, San Antonio, Texas,
October 27, 2008 (1hr, 59mins –
http://sites.google.com/site/maxkrochmal/filecabinet )
Week 3 / Getting Out of the Kitchen: A Dry Run
 Jan. 29
o Ritchie, pp. 47-50, 55-57, 61-64 and Appendix 1
o Alessandro Portelli, “Harlan County, 1964-2009: A Love Story,” “People I Owe,”
and “Narrators” in They Say In Harlan County W
o OH Assignment: Interview an elderly friend or family member (age 50 or older);
Thirty minutes, recorded (use phone and Google Voice). Following Portelli’s
example, choose three particularly important or revealing quotations from the
interview. Transcribe the excerpts and write down why you chose them and what
they mean. Each quotation should be at least two sentences long, as should each
of your comments.
 Jan. 31
o OH Assignment: Write 2-3 sentences on each of two possible but concrete ideas
for research projects (include names of possible initial contacts or key
organizations working in the field). Post these on the Possible Topics page on W
with clear names for each project in the post titles.
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Week 4 / Picking a Project
 Feb. 5
o Audio/Video Recording Training (in-class)
 Feb. 7
o OH Assignment (do this first!): Browse the Possible Topics posts from last week
and find a partner. In pairs (of 2 only), do more internet and “phone book”
research on one possible topic and write a 2-page Mini-Prospectus for a smallgroup oral history project. Include as much detail as possible. Due online at
11:59pm on Wednesday, February 2
o Final Project Groups and Topics will be assigned in class!
Week 5 / Preparation for Fieldwork
 Feb. 12
o Diane L. Wolf, “Situating Feminist Dilemmas in Fieldwork” in Wolf, ed., Feminist
Dilemmas in Fieldwork (Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press, 1997), pp. 1-19 W
(19 dense pages).
o Robert M. Emerson, Rachel I. Fretz, and Linda L. Shaw, Writing Ethnographic
Fieldnotes (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1995), pp. 1, 17-26, 39-55 W
 Feb. 14
o Ritchie, Ch. 3
Week 6 / Leaving Your House (Research Week 1)
 Feb. 19
o Ritchie, Ch. 4
o Robert Perks and Alistair Thomson, eds., The Oral History Reader [hereinafter,
OHR], Introduction AND one other essay in Part I (pp. 1-8 and a piece on
“Critical Developments”)
 Feb. 21
o OH Assignment: Interview with a Gatekeeper Due (with Fieldnotes & Release
forms)
o Prepare the first of your Weekly Small Group Presentations
Week 7 / Sh@!#t, Meet Fan (Research Week 2)
 Feb. 26
o Ritchie, pp. 134-145, 155-156, and 161-162
o Perks and Thomson, eds., OHR, Introduction AND one other essay in Part II (pp.
115-118 and a piece on “Interviewing”)
o OH Assignment: Aggressively pursue the rest of your interviews!
 Feb. 28
o OH Assignment: Tape Log for First (Gatekeeper) Interview Due in Class. NOTE:
This takes at least real-time to complete (1-2 hours). You do NOT need to
transcribe any full excerpts at this stage.
o OH Assignment: Plan for Remaining Fieldwork and Interviews Due (1-2 pages)
o Weekly Small Group Presentations
 Think of this week as your Mid-Term Exam!
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Week 8 / Breathing Deep (Research Week 3)
 March 5
o Perks and Thomson, eds., OHR, Introduction AND one other essay in Part III
(pp. 211-216 and a piece on “Interpreting Memories”—except Ch. 24)
o Weekly Small Group Presentations
 March 7
o OH Assignment: Second and Third Interviews (with release forms) and
Fieldnotes Due.
Revise and resubmit any unsatisfactory or incomplete
assignments from Week 7
Week 9 / Spring Break – No Class on March 12 & 14
Week 10 / Keep On Truckin’ (Research Week 4)
 March 19
o Perks and Thomson, eds., OHR, Introductions to Part IV and Part V (pp. 333-338
& pp. 4474-51) AND one other essay in either Part IV or V (on “Making Histories”
and “Advocacy and Empowerment”)
o OH Assignment: Tape Log for Second and Third Interviews Due. Again, you do
NOT need to transcribe any full excerpts at this stage.
 March 21
o OH Assignment: Fourth and Fifth Interviews (with release forms) and Fieldnotes
Due.
o Weekly Small Group Presentations
Week 11 / Wrapping Up Fieldwork (Research Week 5)
 March 26
o OH Assignment: Tape Log for Fourth and Fifth Interviews Due.
 March 28
o OH Assignment: Sixth Interview Due
o Weekly Small Group Presentations
Week 12 / Final Final Week of Fieldwork (Research Week 6)
 April 2
o Weekly Small Group Presentations – assess your progress. Are the six interviews
you have conducted the right six interviews? If not, keep interviewing!
 April 4
o OH Assignment: All interview recordings, logs/transcripts, fieldnotes, release
forms, video recordings, and photos due (including #6, 7, and beyond)! Be ready
to discuss your research in depth!
Week 13 / Analysis & Writing, part I
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April 9 / Back to Readings:
o Ritchie, Ch. 8
o Wolf, “Situating Feminist Dilemmas in Fieldwork,” pp. 32-38 (7 dense pages) W.
April 11
o OH Assignment: As a group, go back through your logs and identify roughly 2025 key quotations / excerpts that you may wish to include on the website.
o OH Assignment: Locate photographs and other archival documents that you will
scan to include on the website.
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Week 14 / Analysis & Writing, part II
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April 16
o Re-read Alessandro Portelli, “Harlan County, 1964-2009: A Love Story,” “People
I Owe,” and “Narrators” in They Say In Harlan County W
o OH Assignment: Transcript Excerpts Due!
April 18
o OH Assignment: Using some of your excerpts, make a draft Sitemap for your
group’s section of final project. Start building the website accordingly. On an
intro page, list your (draft) main arguments and findings, and outline the
narrative you will tell throughout the site.
o OH Assignment: Call all of your narrators and invite them to the Final
Presentation & Dinner
Week 15 / Analysis & Writing, part III
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April 23
o Katharine Borland, “‘That’s Not What I Said’: Interpretive Conflict in Oral
Narrative Research,” Ch. 24 in Perks and Thomson, eds., The OHR
o OH Assignment: Prepare roughly a dozen audio or video clips for inclusion on the
website. Continue to revise all your web pages.
April 25
o OH Assignment: Call any remaining narrators again and again until they commit
to attending the final presentation (or until they definitively say no!). Start
distributing flyers, emails, etc. around campus
Week 16 / Final Presentation Prep
 April 30 / Last Day of Class
 OH Assignment: Final Website is Due!
 OH Assignment: Prepare a draft of your presentation of your website. No PowerPoint
allowed! Consider inviting one or more of your narrators to speak too!
Final Presentation & Community Dinner – Date, time, and location TBA
 Reconfirm all of your guests on Friday, May 4!
No Final Exam / Post-Final Reflection due via email
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