Carl Albert Congressional Research and Studies
Center
ORAL HISTORY PROJECT
Procedures Manual
Compiled by Daniel J. Linke, Visiting Assistant Archivist, January 1990
Revised November 2000
©2000
For John M. Caldwell
(Always “JC” to me)
1950-1998
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Preface to the Revised Edition ............................................................................................................................................ iii
Acknowledgments .............................................................................................................................................................. vi
INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................................................................2
THE COMMON GROUND........................................................................................................................................3
DECIDING WHO TO INTERVIEW...................................................................................................................................3
INITIATING THE PROCESS ............................................................................................................................................3
THE ORAL HISTORY INTERVIEW.......................................................................................................................3
BEFORE AND AFTER THE INTERVIEW ..........................................................................................................................3
TRANSCRIPTION ..........................................................................................................................................................4
INDEXING, MICROMARC:AMC, AND RESTRICTIONS .................................................................................................4
GIFT AGREEMENTS AND RESTRICTIONS ......................................................................................................................5
EXTANT INTERVIEWS ............................................................................................................................................7
RECEIVING TAPES OF EXTANT INTERVIEWS................................................................................................................7
NOTES OF SCHOLARLY INTERVIEWS ...........................................................................................................................7
TRANSCRIPTION OF SCHOLARLY WORKS IN PROGRESS ..............................................................................................8
APPENDIX A: FORMS .............................................................................................................................................9
SOLICITATION HISTORY ..................................................................................................................................10
INTERVIEW GIFT AGREEMENT .......................................................................................................................11
INTERVIEW GIFT AGREEMENT .......................................................................................................................12
[The repetition looks strange. Can we get away with deleting the second]
ACCESSION SHEET ...........................................................................................................................................13
TRANSCRIPT REVIEW .......................................................................................................................................14
APPENDIX B: ORAL HISTORY ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY .................................................................16
Preface to the Revised Edition
Though a cliché, it is nonetheless true that the journey of life is unpredictable. Standing
ten years past the start of my work at the Carl Albert Congressional Research and Studies Center,
University of Oklahoma, as a National Historical Publications and Record Commission fellow, I
look back on the past decade and marvel at the path my life has taken. Setting out then for the
Sooner State, I looked forward to learning more about the archival profession, to understand
what one needs to run an archives. This, after all, was the overarching purpose of the NHPRC
Archival Fellowships. What happened was that I met the man who would introduce me to my
wife, Sarah Ritchie, as well as meeting the woman who would help me find my next two
employers. This woman, Nanci Young, was an NHPRC fellow at the same time I was, and she
sent me the job openings from her host institution, the New York State Archives, where I toiled
for three-and-a-half years after my fellowship ended. As this was before the days of the Archives
Listserve, had it not been for Nanci, I would not have known the job was available because I did
not see the posting anywhere else. Later she sent me the job notice for an opening at the Mudd
Manuscript Library at Princeton University, where I am currently employed, and where I had the
pleasure of being her colleague for over four years before her departure to become the Smith
College Archivist. During the past months at Princeton, the University Archivist, my boss,
stepped in to fill the Department head’s vacancy, leaving me as acting University Archivist. So it
seems the NHPRC fellowships for 1989-1990 have fulfilled their purpose.
One of the projects I undertook as a fellow was the compiling of this oral history
procedures manual. As life goes, once I left Oklahoma, I never had the opportunity to work with
an oral history program again. However, last year, Frances O’Donnell, the Archivist at the
William S. Cohen Collection, e-mailed me to request a copy of the manual. Perplexed, I asked
how she knew it even existed, and she said it was cited in Faye Phillips’s book. (Congressional
Papers Management: Collecting Appraising, Arranging, and Describing Documentation of
United States Senators, Representatives, Related Individuals and Organizations. Jefferson,
N.C.: McFarland & Co., 1996, p. 14). Ms. O’Donnell had contacted the Carl Albert Center, but
apparently with a number of staff changes, they only had a copy of a draft. But embarrassingly
enough, having moved four times since leaving Oklahoma, I could no longer find a copy of my
final version. Sheepishly, I contacted Faye Phillips who graciously faxed me a copy of the
manual--it too was the draft version! Memory is a terrible thing to rely on, and while prior to this
incident I would have sworn I finished this project, the record appears to suggest otherwise.
This version you now read was scanned from the draft and then put through an optical
character recognition (OCR) program to save me from re-keying it. I have reviewed all the pages
and hoped to have caught all the errors. I have changed little of the text with the exception of the
bibliography where I have added fuller citation information for the publications, where available.
There has been some revision in the format. This is a result of employing modern fonts and
tweaking the layout. Headers have been added as well. Truth be told, in re-reading this nearly
ten years later, it feels to me like someone else’s work! The biggest change is in its distribution.
I have loaded two versions onto my website at: www.princeton.edu/~linke. One version is in
Word 97, the other in Adobe Acrobat. In addition, the Carl Albert Center has a copy on their
website (www.ou.edu/special/albertctr/archives/). For their permission to do all this, I would like
to thank Ron Peters and Todd Kosmerick. Thanks also to Todd for proofing this revised edition
to catch the errors that the OCR program and I have missed. However, I am responsible for any
remaining errors.
The NHPRC fellowship was a formative time for me. My mentor, John “JC” Caldwell,
was a man with a big smile and a full laugh. Though he stood tall and straight both literally and
figuratively, he frequently said to me, “You can learn by example, even if it’s a negative
example.” Like myself, he read far and wide and taught me the love of used bookstores.
Though one of the clearest writers and most intelligent men I have met, he was always selfeffacing. When I learned he was from Louisiana, I said, “Oh, a Cajun!” To which he replied,
“No, I’m from northern Louisiana, I’m a redneck.” This puckishness extended to his work.
Until his departure (and perhaps still), buried amongst the congressional collections of the Carl
Albert Center was one box labelled “Senator Blutarsky’s Papers” with folders labeled “Beer,”
“Women,” “Graft” etc. Film buffs will recall that Blutarsky was John Belushi’s character in
Animal House, and in the film’s epilogue, Belushi/Blutarsky is seen driving in a convertible with
two women with the caption, “Elected to the United States Senate.”
After my internship, I would call him occasionally. Most of the talk was personal, but on
a number of occasions he helped me with professional matters I was dealing with. Upon
completion of an NEH grant on Indian records for which he played a small but important role in
the development stage, I called to talk, but received no answer. By this time, JC had taken a
tenure-track position in historical geography at his alma mater, Louisiana Tech. It was the
beginning of the semester and I knew he would be busy. Instead I sent him a letter thanking him
for his help. Unfortunately, I never had the chance to speak to him again. Later during the year,
while driving to work, JC swerved to miss a deer and collided with a tractor trailer. To avoid
clichés, I will say simply that I miss him, and in retrospect, in very tangible ways, he changed my
life. Had he not applied to be an NHPRC host, I do not know what direction my life would have
taken. I certainly would not have met my beautiful Sarah, nor would I have the steadfast
friendship of Nanci and the blessings of working at Princeton. As a token of my appreciation of
him, I dedicate this revision of the manual to his memory.
Daniel J. Linke
Lawrenceville, NJ
November 20, 2000
Disclaimer: As of January 2000, the Carl Albert Center is not actively pursuing oral history
interviews, and it is not accepting tapes for transcription.
Carl Albert Center Oral History Procedures Manual
-v-
Carl Albert Center Oral History Procedures Manual
Acknowledgments
This manual was not produced in a vacuum; just the opposite, many individuals near and
far assisted in very tangible ways in its creation. Oral history projects across the nation were kind
enough to send forms, manuals, guides and other materials, many of which were incorporated in
some way into this manual. Especially helpful were the Baylor University Institute for Oral
History, Columbia University's Oral History Research Office, the Regional Oral History Office at
University of California-Berkeley, and the Southern Oral History Program at the University of
North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Locally, the University of Oklahoma's Bizzell Library and Western History Collections
provided helpful secondary literature on oral history topics. And the Carl Albert Center's Gary
Copeland and John Caldwell read various drafts and provided substantive ideas and criticisms.
And finally, the National Historical Publications and Records Commission and Laurie
Baty are to be thanked for providing and facilitating my fellowship, respectively, which has
allowed me to spend a fulfilling ten months at the Carl Albert Center.
Daniel J. Linke
Visiting Assistant Archivist
May 23, 1990
- vi -
Carl Albert Center Oral History Procedures Manual
-1-
Carl Albert Center Oral History Procedures Manual
INTRODUCTION
Oral history is nothing new. It was practiced by ancient Greek historians and remained a
common means of cultural transmission through the ages. But even with the advent of many
forms of paper documentation, today it is even more important to record the reminiscences of
those involved with the making of our history.
The Carl Albert Congressional Research and Studies Center, University of Oklahoma,
hopes that by recording the remembrances of members of Congress and their staffs we will
preserve some of the many details of history that do not end up on paper, those details that,
though in the realm of the subjective, contribute to the historical narrative. If these memories are
not recorded in some way, the historical record will be poorer for it.
Realizing the potential loss to our history and our heritage, the Carl Albert Center has
embarked on a project to collect interviews with members of Congress and their staff members.
The program is two-pronged. The first entails collecting interviews with congressmen and their
staff members who have already donated their papers to the Center, in an effort to fill in the gaps
left by the telephone and what historian Allan Nevins called "the irrecoverable ether." The
second part of the project aims to collect extant scholars' interviews with members of Congress
or those close to congressional processes–interviews that may have been conducted for a
particular reason but also have value beyond that primary purpose. A corollary of this second part
is to encourage scholars nationwide to let the Center transcribe tapes of works in progress in
exchange for a copy of the transcript.
Though the work involved in this project covers a range of activities, there is a common
goal–to document the thoughts, ideas, and motives of those who served in, and were involved
with, the United States Congress. What follows is a guide, or a handrail, to support the collection
of these memories.
-2-
Carl Albert Center Oral History Procedures Manual
THE COMMON GROUND
Deciding Who to Interview
A committee composed of the associate director, archivist, assistant archivist, and the
project archivist will meet to decide who will be interviewed and whose interviews should be
solicited. The director/curator will be invited to attend these meetings, which will be held on an
as-needed basis. The associate director and the archivist will also suggest possible interviewers at
this time.
Initiating the Process
Establish a source file for each individual solicited (for either an interview or interview
notes) immediately upon sending the first request letter. Label the file with the name of the
individual solicited. In the source file, place a solicitation history sheet (Form 1 in Appendix A)
at the front of the file and all succeeding correspondence after it in chronological order. All
future actions (including phone calls, third person information, etc.) should be recorded in the
source file by noting them on the solicitation history sheet and including a copy of
correspondence, when applicable, within the file.
THE ORAL HISTORY INTERVIEW
Before and After the Interview
Once interviewers have been determined, send an interviewer's guide, a solicitation
pamphlet, and the interview techniques booklet to each. Before an interview, meet with the
interviewer to discuss subject areas to be covered, provide any supplemental biographical
information, and loan all needed equipment and supplies (Recorders, tapes, microphones, and
most importantly, the gift agreement forms (Forms 2 and 3, Appendix A). If necessary, inform
the interviewer that payment will not be issued until all the materials are returned, emphasizing
the gift agreement in particular. For further information on the gift agreements, see p. 4, Gift
Agreements.
After the interview is conducted and the equipment, tapes, and forms have been received,
immediately label the tape(s), assign an accession number, and fill out an accession sheet (Form
4, Appendix A). An accession number is created by taking the last two numbers of the year the
accession is received, making a dash, and then sequentially assigning numbers for that year.
(Example: The first and second tape received in 1990 are 90-01 and 90-02, respectively.) Send a
thank you letter to the interviewee over the interviewer's signature. If possible, have the letter
-3-
Carl Albert Center Oral History Procedures Manual
ready for the interviewer to sign when s/he returns materials. If the interviewer mails materials in,
sign the letter for him/her.
Transcription
Duplicate the tapes before transcribing! Duplicate the tapes before transcribing! Using the 1/4
inch reel-to-reel tape recorder, make a copy of the cassette tape, but use the cassette tape for
transcription. Transcription will be done by a student clerk. Words and phrases such as “You
know,” “Um,” and “Er” should not be typed into the transcript unless they will enlighten
readers to a sentence's meaning. When transcription is done, a graduate assistant will listen to
the tape and read the transcript simultaneously to insure that the transcription is accurate. The
project archivist or the graduate assistant will then read the transcript and review the
interviewer's techniques (Use Form 5 in Appendix A). Make two copies of the transcript and
mail one to the interviewer and one to the interviewee. Inform the interviewee that s/he may add
any additional information to the transcript, but that it will appear as footnotes in the final draft
if the addition is substantial. (This is to distinguish it from the actual interview.)
At this point, the cassette tape labeling should be double-checked with the reel-to-reel and
both stored away. Neither should be used for casual listening. The transcript should be sufficient
for most scholars; however, should one request to listen to the original tape, use the cassette, as it
is shorter lived. Should anything happen to the cassette, make another cassette copy from the
reel-to-reel and use this for any listening purposes.
Allow the individuals up to ten weeks before sending them a reminder letter to return the
transcript. Send another copy of the transcript if necessary. Incorporate their corrections and
additions into the transcript and let the archivist proofread the final copy.
Indexing, MicroMARC:AMC, and Restrictions
After all typos have been corrected, the project archivist or graduate assistant should write
an abstract and create an index for the interview. MARC:AMC records will be created from the
index; therefore Library of Congress subject headings should be used. The index and abstract
should be included with the final copy which should then be covered, bound, and copied twice.
The original master copy should be filed away with the associate director, with one copy mailed
to the interviewee, and the other used for research purposes. Each interview should be placed in a
separate folder and filed alphabetically.
Restrictions on the transcript can be handled in two manners. If the entire transcript is
closed until a certain date, or if use requires the interviewee's permission, place the researcher's
copy with the master copy. Nonetheless, create a folder for the researcher's file and place a sheet
of paper inside stating the restrictions. Be sure to note restrictions in the MARC records also. If
only portions of the interview are closed, retain a master of the entire transcript. Use the word
processor to remove only those portions from the transcript, leaving blank pages, or portions of
-4-
Carl Albert Center Oral History Procedures Manual
blank pages, in their place. Send the interviewee a copy of both the master and the reference
copy. Also create a complete index to include with the reference transcript. Note on the empty
spaces of the reference copy when these portions will become available. When this date arrives,
some future archivist will copy the entire master and make it available to researchers.
Gift Agreements and Restrictions
A gift agreement is more than a polite nicety; it is a legal document essential to the
operation of an archives. If the duty of an archives is to be the final repository for valuable
historical materials, then the archives must own the materials to have full control over them.
Without ownership, the archives cannot be viewed as the final repository and this undermines the
archives' authority and impairs its ability to function. The gift agreement establishes ownership
through a legal transfer of property rights and other claims against the materials. It is because of
the importance of the gift agreement that one must be signed for each series of interviews.
Legally, without a gift agreement, the interviewer and interviewee have claims against any
interview donated to the Carl Albert Center. Since the Center will provide the tapes to the
interviewer, it owns the tape.
However, without a gift agreement, the interviewer and
interviewee can make claims to the words on the tape. Any and all claims are forfeited by
signing the gift agreement.
While an unrestricted gift agreement is desired, at times some restrictions may need to be
imposed to secure an interview. There are three types of restrictions. The first closes the entire
interview for a set period of time, usually for ten years or until the death of the interviewee,
whichever comes first. The Center should not accept a period of greater than ten years for
closing an interview. It is an archives' purpose to be an information repository, not a time
capsule. If the materials are worth collecting, then they have research value and should be
available to scholars.
The second kind of restriction closes portions of an interview for a set period of time.
This restriction can be used to encourage an interviewee to leave portions of an interview intact if
s/he feels that they should be expunged. Before this option is offered, the project archivist, the
interviewer, or the archivist, should try to convince the interviewee that it is for the same reason
that s/he wants to delete something that probably makes it historically valuable and should be left
in the record. If this line of reasoning is unsuccessful, only then should restrictions be brought up.
The third kind of restriction limits users of the transcript to those individuals who receive
permission from the interviewee. In many ways, this is the best of the three restrictions because
it puts the decision-making burden on the interviewee and keeps the transcript intact. However,
like the first type of restriction, there should be an expiration date on this review process, though
it is permissible to extend it beyond ten years. If, at some point, the interviewee begins to tire of
the reviewing process, it may be time to suggest that the interview be opened to all.
-5-
Carl Albert Center Oral History Procedures Manual
Generally restrictions should be avoided whenever possible. In addition to running against
the spirit of free and open scholarship, they create work that slows down the entire project.
Consider a restriction to be a trump card; only play it after all other efforts have failed. If
restrictions are brought up too quickly, an interviewee may not even accept them as the
compromise which they are, and portions of interviews, and history, may be lost to his/her red
pen. (If restrictions are imposed on the interview, use Form 3 in Appendix A.)
-6-
Carl Albert Center Oral History Procedures Manual
EXTANT INTERVIEWS
Receiving Tapes of Extant Interviews
Upon receiving tapes of interviews, assign them an accession number and fill out an
accession sheet (see Before and After the Interview, p. 2). Then duplicate the tapes! Transcribe
them according to the procedures described under Transcription (p. 3). However, do NOT send
any transcripts to the interviewee or review the transcript for the interviewer's techniques. Also
secure a gift agreement from the interviewer only. It may be best to send this immediately upon
receipt of materials along with an inventory of materials and then remind the person again when
transcripts are sent, if the gift agreement has not been received. The gift agreement is not the
same form used for oral history interviews, but a variation of it. Each form may have to be
custom-altered to reflect individual understandings between interviewers and interviewees. It is
important with this form to imply that the interviewee gave permission to the interviewer that
s/he was free to do with the interview material as s/he pleased. In rare instances, a savvy scholar
may have obtained release forms from his interviewees. If so, these should be given with the
collection as well. While the legal implications of propriety ownership have not been determined
by the courts, it is hoped that the interviewee's original consent to the interviewer will be
sufficient enough to transfer proprietary rights to the interviewer, whose consent will be
sufficient to deed all rights (both interviewer and interviewee) to the archives. But all involved
should be aware of this potential legal quagmire (See Gift Agreements, pg 4). After the
transcript has been reviewed by the interviewer, an abstract, an index, and MARC records should
be created by following the procedures detailed in Indexing, MicroMARC:AMC and
Restrictions, on page 3. Once again, the interviewee should not receive any of these materials.
Notes of Scholarly Interviews
The Center is not interested in stray and scrap notes, but does wish to encourage scholars
interested in donating their materials to take notes in such a way which would allow other
scholars to understand and benefit from them. In other words, the notes collected should be of
high quality and clearly written, hence allowing footnote verification and other research use.
If only notes of interviews conducted are obtained, fill out an accession sheet and assign
them an accession number (see Before and After the Interview, p. 2). After a gift agreement
has been obtained, process the materials like any other manuscript collection, placing them in
acid-free folders and containers, labeling them, and creating a finding aid. These materials may
be stored with the other congressional manuscripts, but should have their own specific area
within the shelving area.
-7-
Carl Albert Center Oral History Procedures Manual
Transcription of Scholarly Works in Progress
A goal of the project is the hope that the Carl Albert Center can become known
throughout academia as an institution that will, with some limitations, transcribe scholarly
interviews relating to Congress in exchange for a copy of the interview. Publicizing this aspect of
the oral history project will be the work of the assistant director who will be assisted by the
project archivist.
It should be made clear that all transcription projects should be approved in writing prior
to sending any materials to the Center. All projects will be considered on a case-by-case basis
and generally accepted, but if the Center's workload is heavy, or a project's quality or usefulness
is suspect, the Center will retain the right to refuse to assist in transcription. Priority should be
assigned to professors, but promising doctoral student projects should also be considered.
The importance of collecting oral history interviews as the work proceeds gives
advantages to both scholar and the Center. The scholar is relieved of the time or cost to
transcribe, and he also receives a repository citation for his work. By placing the interviews in a
publicly accessible place, it lends further credibility to his work as the interviews become
available for all critics to scrutinize. The Center receives, in turn, the tapes, but equally important
can get a gift agreement signed by both interviewer and interviewee. (See Gift Agreements, page
4).
-8-
Carl Albert Center Oral History Procedures Manual
APPENDIX A: FORMS
The forms are found in the following order:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Solicitation History
Interview Gift Agreement
Interview Gift Agreement with Restrictions
Accession Sheet
Transcript Review
-9-
Carl Albert Center Oral History Manual
SOLICITATION HISTORY
(Form 1)
Donor's Name, Address, Phone Number, and E-Mail Address:
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
Date
Action and Result
Solicited By
- 10 -
UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA
CARL ALBERT CENTER
INTERVIEW GIFT AGREEMENT
(Form 2)
The purpose of the University of Oklahoma's Carl Albert Congressional Research and
Studies Center Oral History Program is to gather and preserve interviews with individuals who
can provide historical information pertaining to the United States Congress. This information, in
the form of tape-recorded interviews, becomes part of the archives of the University of
Oklahoma. These recordings and the transcripts made from them will be made available for
historical and other academic research.
We, the undersigned, have read the above and voluntarily offer the full and unrestricted
use of the information contained on the tape recordings of these oral history research interviews.
In consideration of the scholarly value of this research material, we hereby assign all rights, title,
and interest pertaining to said material to the University of Oklahoma.
Date of Interview(s):
Total Length of Interview(s) in hours:
____________________________________
Name of Interviewer (printed)
_________________________________
Name of Interviewee (printed)
____________________________________
Interviewer (Signature)
_________________________________
Interviewee (signature)
____________________________________
Date
_________________________________
Date
- 11 -
UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA
CARL ALBERT CENTER
INTERVIEW GIFT AGREEMENT with RESTRICTIONS
(Form 3)
The purpose of the University of Oklahoma's Carl Albert Congressional Research and
Studies Center Oral History Program is to gather and preserve interviews with individuals who
can provide historical information pertaining to the United States Congress. This information, in
the form of tape-recorded interviews, becomes part of the archives of the University of
Oklahoma. These recordings and the transcripts made from them will be made available for
historical and other academic research.
We, the undersigned, have read the above and voluntarily offer the full and unrestricted
use of the information contained on the tape recordings of these oral history research interviews.
In consideration of the scholarly value of this research material, we hereby assign all rights, title,
and interest pertaining to said material to the University of Oklahoma.
Date of Interview(s):
Total Length of Interview(s) in hours:
Special Restrictions (continue on separate sheet and attach if necessary):
____________________________________
Name of Interviewer (printed)
_________________________________
Name of Interviewee (printed)
____________________________________
Interviewer (Signature)
_________________________________
Interviewee (signature)
____________________________________
Date
_________________________________
Date
- 12 -
ACCESSION SHEET
(Form 4)
Accession #:
Interviewee:
Address:
Phone & E-mail address:
Interviewer:
Address:
Phone & E-mail address:
Date(s) of Interview:
Number of tapes:
Gift agreement signed:
(Special restrictions, if any):
Generally describe contents of interview:
Date and Initial the following
Tapes copied to reel-to-reel:
First transcription completed:
Final transcript completed:
Copy sent to interviewee:
MicroMARC:AMC records prepared and entered:
- 13 -
TRANSCRIPT REVIEW
(Form 5)
Interview with:
Interviewed by:
Date of Interview:
Transcript reviewed by:
Date:
______________________________________________________________________________
I.
Is the cassette tape labeled properly?
A Interviewer ___________ C. Subject of Interview ___________
B. Interviewee __________ D. Date of Interview
II.
___________
Does the interviewer:
A. Identify self ______
B. Give the date ______
C. Identify the interviewee ______
D. Identify purpose of the interview ______
E. Identify the location of the interview ______
III.
KEY
Interviewing Techniques
Always
5
Almost Always
4
Usually
3
Does the interviewer ask singular questions? ______
Does interview avoid asking leading questions? ______
- 14 -
Seldom
2
Never
1
TRANSCRIPT REVIEW
III.
Interviewing Techniques (continued)
KEY
Always
5
Almost Always
4
Usually
3
Seldom
2
Never
1
Does the interviewer seem willing to ask for elaboration? ______
Does the interviewer ask questions which elicit extended answers? ______
Does the interviewer avoid making biased comments? ______
Does the interviewer avoid the "hurry-up" approach? ______
Does the interviewer avoid interrupting the narrator? ______
Does the interviewer stop and start the tape unnecessarily? ______
IV. Audio tape quality
Is the interview free of anticipated distractions? ______
Is the tape free of audible difficulties (i.e. hard to hear, parts erased, etc.)? ______
V. Comments
- 15 -
Carl Albert Center Oral History Manual
APPENDIX B: ORAL HISTORY ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY
The literature on oral history is varied and at times contradictory. To help participants in the Carl
Albert Congressional Research and Studies Center have a common ground of knowledge, the
following is an annotated bibliography of the books available. It is strongly suggested that
interviewers read the recommended chapters or pages listed in bold.
Allen, Barbara and William Lynwood Montell. From Memory to History : Using Oral Sources
in Local Historical Research. Nashville, Tenn.: American Association for State and Local
History, 1981.
Despite the AASLH imprimatur, this is not a very good text.
Baum,Willa K. Oral History for the Local Historical Society. Blue Ridge Summit, PA:
Alta Mira Press, 1987
This tiny volume is loaded with helpful, clear information. The short chapters on
The Interview Process and Tips for Interviewers are must reads. The entire
book should also be reviewed.
Baum, Willa K. Transcribing and Editing Oral History. Nashville, Tenn.: American
Association for State and Local History, 1977.
Another slim but packed volume from the grande dame of oral history. Chapters
2, 5, 7-9, and 11 should be read by anyone who will be working with the
nitty-gritty end of this oral history project, i.e. transcription and storage. The
language is clear, straightforward, and unpretentious.
Davis, Cullom, Kathryn Back, and Kay MacLean. Oral History: From Tape to Type. Chicago:
American Library Association, 1977.
This is an excellent, succinct work. The points on organizational paperwork are
very helpful and the section on how NOT to interview serves as a good negative
example. Chapters II and III are very enlightening.
Dunaway, David K., and Willa K. Baum, eds. Oral History: An Interdisciplinary Anthology.
Nashville, Tenn.: American Association for State and Local History in cooperation with
the Oral History Association, 1984.
The essays in this book vary from author to author, naturally. While most make
interesting reading, little of it discusses the nuts and bolts of oral history. However
Allan Nevins's essay "Oral History: How and Why It Was Born" and Barbara
Tuchman's "Distinguishing the Significant from the Insignificant" should be read
for their historical, and somewhat contrasting, context.
- 16 -
Carl Albert Center Oral History Manual
Ives, Edward D. The Tape-Recorded Interview: A Manual for Field Workers in Folklore and
Oral History. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1980.
This contains the single best essay on interviewing techniques and etiquette. It
clearly explains using examples on how to elicit honest and valuable information
from the interview subject. See Pages 48-71.
Moss, William W., Oral History Program Manual. New York: Praeger, 1974.
This volume will not be particularly helpful to the program at the Carl Albert
Center, but may be worth scanning for comparative value.
Seldon, Anthony, with Joanna Pappworth. By Word of Mouth: “Elite” Oral History. London;
New York: Methuen, 1983.
This very formal, even stilted work, contains no information that is not expressed
more clearly in other sources.
Sitton, Thad, George L. Mehaffy, & O.L. Davis, Jr. Oral History : A Guide for Teachers (and
others). Austin: University of Texas Press, 1983.
Again, though published by AASLH, this is not a shining example of how to do
oral history. Much of the material is better covered elsewhere.
Stielow, Frederick J. The Management of Oral History Sound Archives. New York: Greenwood
Press, 1986.
The title is an indication of the tone of this book. It is the antithesis of Willa
Baum's works, as Stielow's book is quite technical and philosophical; at one point
he quotes Kierkegaard. However his detail for things technical may be helpful for
the information on storage of materials.
Thompson, Paul Richard. The Voice of the Past: Oral History. 2nd ed. Oxford; New York:
Oxford University Press, 1988.
This wordy but good volume discusses the reasons and importance of oral history,
its validity, and the management of projects. Chapter Six discusses interview
techniques in detail.
- 17 -
Carl Albert Center Oral History Manual
Vansina, Jan. Oral Tradition as History. Madison, Wis.: University of Wisconsin Press, 1985.
This well-written book concerns the transmission of folklore and culture in Africa
but provides interesting discussions on oral transmission, and its value and
shortcomings. Well worth reading.
- 18 -