information sheets and practical resources for conducting oral histories
Oral History Association of Australia NSW Inc., Oral History Project, State Library of NSW
Conditions Of Use Form For Oral History Interviews
(Please strike out what may be irrelevant)
I, the informant,
give my permission for my taped interview for the project
(date)
with interviewer
1. to be placed in the Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales for the purpose of
research by its users.
1. I authorise the Mitchell Library to provide copies of the tape/s and/or transcript/s to users
for reference purposes only.
1. I authorise the Mitchell Library to grant permission for the tape/s or parts of the tape/s to
be broadcast or for a transcript, or parts of a transcript, of the interview to be published or
performed.
1. Special Conditions:
During my lifetime all requests for permission to publish or broadcast from this interview
should be referred to me.
Signature:
Address:
Post code:
Telephone:
Date:
Stages of an Oral History project
Keep a Diary
1
Inspiration and motivation
What is oral history?
Variety of uses
2
Preparation
Be realistic
Topic
Nature of memory
Is memory reliable?
Questions
Questionnaires
Interview skills
Equipment
Ethics
Copyright
Practice interview
Selecting interviewees
3
The interview
Before
Specific background preparation
Interviewee profile
Location and time
Checklist
During
The interview
Other sources
Informal conservations
After
Interview evaluation
Ongoing contact
4
Processing the interviews
Keeping records
Transcribing
Accessing interview contents
Storage and preservation
Consultation with interviewee/s
5
Final product
Audience
Form and focus
Evaluating interview contents
Editing
Introductions & commentaries
Photographs & illustrations
Interviewee review & approval
The first draft
The end!
Interview Skills
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be a good and interested listener
follow your interviewee's train of thought
stick to a fruitful area and follow it through while the memories are flowing
be sensitive to your interviewee's feelings, values and needs
be aware of your own biases and prejudices
beware of conservation
be patient
use appropriate language
ask for descriptions and examples
use sensitive 'open-ended' and 'follow-up' questions as often as possible.
be alert to touchy subjects and don't just blunder in
follow up emotions eg How did you feel about it? How did you react?
probe generalisations
allow your interviewee to complete a story.
encourage interviewees to reconstruct conversations eg And what did the mayor say then?
encourage interviewees to reconstruct physical environments eg. Could you take me on an
imaginary walk through the house?
respect silences if they are pauses while your interviewee collects and/or selects memories.
be able to pick up leads, make a note, and return to a point later
provide positive reinforcement to assure your interviewees that the memories they are
offering are worthwhile eg That's a very interesting point. Could you tell me more about
that?
ask for and make use of family photographs and other personal documents and papers.
spend time with your interviewee when the interview is over
DON'T
 interrupt a story
 impose your way of thinking or your order of topics
 dominate the interview
 ask complicated questions
 ask leading questions
 interrogate your interviewee
 ask questions which have already been answered
 ask questions by telling all you know first
 put forward your opinions or make moral judgements
 be afraid of silences and pauses
Orientation and tape identification questions
1. This is (interviewer's name) interviewing (interviewee's name) on 25 October 1995 at her
home in Burwood, Sydney
2. May I ask you to give your full name and spell it please?
3. When and where were you born?
4. What were your parents' names?
5. Where was your mother born and when?
6. Where was your father born and when?
7. Where did your parents meet and marry (or set up house together)?
8. Do you know anything about your grandparents? (Names, date and place of birth,
education, occupation)
9. What was your mother's occupation before marriage? After marriage?
10. What was your father's occupation?
11. Please give the names of your brothers and sisters.
Orientation questions for a 'narrow focus' interview
1. to 8. As above (9., 10., 11. may of course be asked, but may be deemed not to be
particularly relevant) A good concluding question may be: Is there anything more you would
like to add? A sentence of thanks follows this very naturally.
Note: Before the interview it is useful to advise your interviewee that you will be asking some
family background questions. If you are interviewing in a much narrower focus it is indeed
essential to explain this else the interviewee might be somewhat surprised. For example if you
are interviewing about someone's professional life the interviewee would not necessarily
expect a detailed series of questions in regard to family background. It may be useful to
explain that in the future, as now, many of the researchers may be family historians and this
sort of genealogical information may well be germane to a future researcher's quest.
The other reason (not necessarily shared with interviewee) is that these are questions easily
answered and therefore they do a great deal to reassure the interviewee. There is usually a
general air of relief after these questions.
Rosemary Block, Curator of Oral History, State Library of New South Wales
Types of Questions:
AVOID:
 Double barrelled or complicated
 Leading
 Confronting

Jargon
USE MIXTURE OF:
• Open ended
• Closed or direct
• Evaluative
• Follow up
Memory
Memories are
 Of things we understand & don't understand
 Of things in which we are interested
 Organised
 Selective
 Reconstructed
Memories are influenced by
 Age
 Gender
 Class
 Cultural background
 Subsequent experiences
 Changes in social values and attitudes,
 Other people
 The interviewer
What do we remember?
 Places
 Events
 Activities
 Daily routines
 People
 Feelings
 Attitudes
 Values
 Sounds
 Smells
 Images
 Taste
What don't we remember?
 Dates
 Statistics
 Genealogical information
 ''Facts'' and lists
 Chronology
How reliable are our memories?
 Reliable in descriptive detail
 Aware of changing values
 Memory constant, evaluation may change
Ethical Guidelines
The Oral History Association was formed in 1978 to promote the practice of oral history in
Australia. There are branches of the Association in each State which provide information and
forums for discussion about oral history.
The Association is concerned that due regard is given to ethical practices and strongly advises
that the following guidelines be followed by anyone involved in oral history.
Oral history involves recording, preserving and making available candid information that may
be sensitive or confidential. The Association advises all interviewers to act to preserve the
rights and responsibilities of the different parties involved and to refuse to work in any other
way.
The interviewer's responsibilities are to protect the rights of interviewees by explaining:
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the purpose of each interview, how it will be organised and recorded, whether it will be
placed in a repository, and what interviewees will receive after the interview, such as a
copy of the tape, transcript or planned publication

oral history copyright, the implications of assigning copyright to another party, and the
rights of interviewees to have a say in the use of their material by asking for anonymity
and/or placing restrictions on use of the interview during their lifetime

possible future use of interviews by all parties involved such as the interviewer,
interviewee, and a repository
giving each interviewee an agreement to sign which clearly states whether the interviewee
will retain copyright or assign it to another party and under what conditions assignment of
copyright is granted; any change in use not covered in the original agreement would need to
be renegotiated
conducting interviews with objectivity, honesty and integrity
being aware of defamation laws and the implications, for all parties concerned, of recording
potentially defamatory material
treating every interview as a confidential conversation until an interviewee gives the right to
share information through an agreement
ensuring that interviewees are given the opportunity to review, correct and/or withdraw
material
ensuring that interviews are preserved for future researchers by, if possible, placing them in a
repository under conditions agreeable to the interviewee.
LOG SHEET FOR PROCESSING INTERVIEWS
TIME
SUBJECT
MIN:SEC
NAMES AND
KEYWORDS
TAPE: PT2
START SIDE A
00:00 - 00:24
Leader and Identification
00:24 - 01:20
Education. 1926 Bursary. Left at third year
certificate stage. Odd jobs.
01:20 - 04:40
Apprentice in fitting and turning with NSW
Railways. Interview in building in what is now
Australian Graduate School of Engineering
Innovation. Crude working conditions.
Description of typical day working including
evening attendance at Sydney Tech. 44 hour
week.
North Sydney Boys
High School
7.30am - 5pm Mon -Fri & Sat Morning.
04:40 - 05:12
Last term in new loco shop. Lots of handcraft
which was good training. Chipping, filing,
working lathes, shapers and slotters. Then got
into drawing office.
Eveleigh workshop
05:12 - 06: 20
Applied for and nominated for scholarship in
October and had to qualify for university
entrance by end of January. Four months to
educate from third year certificate stage to
matriculation.
Eddie Memorial
Scholarship
06: 20 - 07:47
Attended coaching college and helped by
Metropolitan
draftsmen in office. Passed and won
Coaching College.
scholarship for 150 Pounds a year. Holiday jobs
available due to apprentice experience.
Sydney University
07: 47 - 11:40
Third term in third year practical experience at
sea as 9th Engineer. Gained membership of
marine engineers. Twin Screw steam engine
ship built in Germany for Kaisers triumphant
tour around the world after winning the war.
Given as reparation after the war.
'Morella'.
Jack Burgess Fifth
Engineer
11 :40 - 13:25
Observations of six months ship board
experience. Found marine engineers often
move into power station work when they go
ashore as work is similar.
13:25 - 16:00
Graduated in 1939 in combined electrical and
mechanical degree. Found it interesting for a
practical person to find out how things are
designed. Went back to railway to find that he
was to get no credit for four years of
University.
Tom Hardigan
Job with Sydney County Council as member of
efficiency staff at Bunnerong. Describes getting
to work. Responsible for water management,
Bunnerong Power
Station
16:00 - 17:50
Funnell
fuel efficiency and station efficiency. Age 26
when started at Bunnerong.
Date of birth.
17:50 -18:30
After ten months at power station applied for
job at Commonwealth Railways. Employed as
draftsman.
18:30 – 20:45
Problems with boiler efficiency due to water
and scale and poor coal.
TIME
SUBJECT
NAMES AND
KEYWORDS
20:45 - 21:30
War broke out about the same time as he
started and there was a need for increased train
services as part of war plan.
Macarthur
21:30 - 21:45
First job involved in design of dining car.
21:45 - 23:10
Promotion from draftsman to chief draftsman
then Works Manager. Locomotive
Superintendent Central Australian Railway.
Given one days notice to take over.
MIN:SEC
23 :10 - 24:26
Had learnt to shunt and drive when working in
Sydney. Practical experience and his
apprenticeship made it easier to be accepted.
24:26 - 26:38
Descriptions of trains and services. Water
problems.
Port Augusta
Korn,
Peterborough.
Milsons Point.
Ghan, Indian
Runner,
Afghan,
26:38 - 29:25
Poor coals. Description of 'prime' and how it
was controlled. Lack of skilled drivers and
firemen and no train control.
29:25 - 32:20
Train control was instituted with help of the
South Australian Railways. " Learn the road. "
32:20 - 33:45
Appointed Chief Mechanical Engineer at the
age of thirty of a system in chaos.
33 :45 - 41:30
Returned to Sydney and offered job with ACI.
Then Commonwealth Engineering offered
position to open up new factory in Brisbane to
construct carriages for Queensland Railways.
Air-conditioning requirements required change
to steel frame from timber frame.
41:30 - 44:56
Tom Playford
'Prime'
Quorn to Alice
Springs
Newcastle Flyer
Sunlander.
Description of how staff were obtained by
Bob Burns
putting agent on migrant ships in Perth and
encouraging the right people to stay on the ship
until Brisbane. Assembled team of 26
draftsmen with no railway design to design new
steel frame train from first principles. Huge
task.
END SIDE A
Oral History — Some Definitions and Expansions
Oral history is a record of information gathered in oral form, usually on tape as the result of a
planned interview.
Library of Congress
Oral history is a record of information usually on tape, as the result of a planned interview. Its
purpose is to create a record where none exists or to supplement existing records for future
research. Oral history is a method of recording spoken language, eyewitness accounts and
insights into society and its changing values and attitudes. It also gives a voice to those
previously denied the chance to contribute to the recording of history.
New Zealand Oral History Archive
So never mind those who fret at how valid oral history is, at how reliable is memory. Those
were never the big questions of oral history. All sources have problems of validity and
reliability: that is why history and the past are different.
Bill Gammage, Oral History Association of Australia Journal No 20: Crossing Borders
Oral history is the product of two minds interacting. Mere tape recording, such as an
individual self recording his memoirs, is not oral history. Rather, the intervention of a trained
interviewer's curiosity is required if the product is to have widest historical value.
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints
Oral history records provide three major categories of information, which can be described as
sensory, complementary and original...Oral history's abilities to affect the feelings as well as
the intellect, gives an essentially human underlining to the facts that the recording also
conveys...Oral history records are also of value in that they can be created and used to
complement other record sources. The third contribution of oral history is that it can open
fields which otherwise would he closed to historians and, in this respect, provides information
which is original in character for distinct subject areas. For studying many social and
occupational groups which do not leave written records of their lives and work, oral history is
a fundamental and sometimes the only tool. In terms of historical research it is in this area that
oral history can make its most substantial contribution.
David Lance, An archive approach to oral history. (IASA 1978)
Oral history is a history built around people. It thrusts life into history itself and it widens its
scope. It allows heroes not just from the leaders, but from the unknown majority of the
people. It encourages teachers and students to become fellow-workers. It brings history into,
and out of, the community. It helps the less privileged, and especially the old, towards dignity
and self-confidence. It makes for contact — and thence understanding — between social
classes, and between generations. And to individual historians and others, with shared
meanings, it can give a sense of belonging to a place or in time. In short, it makes for fuller
human beings. Equally, oral history offers a challenge to the accepted myths of history, to the
authoritarian judgement inherent in its tradition. It provides a means for a radical
transformation of the social meaning of history.
Paul Thompson, The voice of the past. Oral history. OUP 1990