The Method of Oral History
Humanities II, Block 1
I.
W. Fernekes, 2006-2007
2-28-07
What is Oral History?
A.
Donald Ritchie: “Oral history collects memories and personal
commentaries of historical significance through recorded
interviews.” (Ritchie, p. 19)
1. Keep this in mind: MEMORY AND HISTORY ARE NOT
THE SAME—WHAT WE RECALL IS FILTERED BY OUR
INTERVENING EXPERIENCES. MEMORY IS NOT A
PHOTOGRAPH.
B.
Oral History and Oral Tradition
1. Oral tradition – African griots, transmission of stories through
intergenerational narratives that often are done as much to
influence and impress the audience as to render an accurate
historical narrative
2. Oral History – Varieties
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
f.
Life history--capturing an individual’s life story through a
structured dialogue
Collecting eyewitness accounts related to a specific
event—beginning in the ancient world (Thucydides and
The Peloponnesian Wars, Suetonius and The Twelve
Caesars, and continuing to the present)
Collecting testimonies reconstruct the history of a culture
or society—Spanish colonizers and missionaries in the
New World gathering testimonies from indigenous peoples
Collecting eyewitness accounts to augment/challenge the
written record—collecting accounts from American settlers
and former Mexican governors of California to prepare a
history of California in the 19th century
Collecting the life histories of those who were often not
represented in textbooks and mainstream histories to
broaden the historical record—WPA interviews in the
1930s of former slaves, Studs Terkel’s books such as Hard
Times, The Good War (WWII), Working and others
Collecting testimonies of individuals who were survivors of
major historical events and eras to provide a record of what
occurred—war veterans, survivors of genocides, and others
(this often challenges the “official” histories which
governments and other powerful groups want to promote)
g. Collecting testimonies from the “undocumented”—not only
to give them a voice, but to broaden our understanding of
how history is written and understood
3. Folklore collecting – while this often employs interview
techniques, it is as concerned with how stories are being told as
much as the content of the stories; folk tales and folklore are seen
as legitimate content, whereas the historian seeks concrete
evidence of actual events with corroborating evidence from a
range of sources
C.
Interviews and Oral History
1. An interview becomes an oral history “only when it has been
recorded, processed in some way, made available in an archive,
library or other repository, and or reproduced in relatively
verbatim form for publication.” (Ritchie, p. 24)
2. Thus, an interview by a journalist for a news story does not
become an oral history unless it meets the criteria noted in C. 1.
above. Many journalists have become oral historians at some
point in their careers, such as Robert Caro, who is authoring a
multi-volume biography of former president Lyndon Johnson.
II.
Key Elements in Doing Oral History
A.
B.
Establishing a foundation for your interview through background
research
Identifying the purpose(s) for the interview
C.
Develop questions that extract the information you desire
D.
Developing a good relationship with the informant
E.
Using strategies that permit you to be flexible during the interview
F.
Setting up the interview environment
G.
Doing effective background research for the interview
H.
How to organize the interview in a purposeful manner
I.
Locating and contacting informants
J.
Asking questions that may have relevance beyond the specific
interviewer/informant
III.
K.
Closing the interview effectively
L.
Developing the documentary record to accompany the interview
Questioning Guidelines
A. Asking Good Questions
1. Favor the open-ended question more often than not
2. Employ specific cues to help the informant recall and recount
3. Ask questions that focus on one topic—avoid multiple topics in one
question
4. Be specific—don’t interrupt!
5. Rephrase when you want to stick with a topic but the informant
doesn’t answer the question or gives a vague answer
B. Employing Cues
C. Using Props/Memory Jogs
D. Elicit Emotions
E. Reconstructing the past “as dialogue”
F. Reconstructing physical descriptions
G. Remaining flexible—be PATIENT!
IV.
Examples of Oral History and a Practice Session
A.
B.
C.
D.
V.
Film excerpt: The Fog of War
Audio excerpt: Remembering Jim Crow
Transcript excerpts: William S. Blaher, Margaret Gritzmacher,
Christine McCreary, Sam Zagoria
Practice Session: Focus on the 1960s/early 1970s
Questions and Future Planning
Bibliography
American RadioWorks. Remembering Jim Crow: African Americans Tell About
Life in the Segregated South. Minneapolis: Minneapolis Public Radio, 2001.
Niewyk, Donald. Fresh Wounds: Early Narratives of Holocaust Survival. Chapel
Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1998.
Ritchie, Donald. Doing Oral History. New York: Oxford University Press, 2003.
Sony Pictures Classics. The Fog of War. 2003. DVD.
Useful Oral History Websites
http://oralhistory.rutgers.edu/
Rutgers Oral History Archives of World War II,
the Korean War, the Vietnam War and the Cold
War
http://www.baylor.edu/oral%5Fhistory/
Institute for Oral History, Baylor Univ.
http://www.senate.gov/pagelayout/history/g_three_sections_with_teasers/oralhistory.htm
U. S. Senate Historical Office, Oral History Project
http://www.loc.gov/vets/
Veterans’ Oral history Project of the Library of
Congress
http://central.hcrhs.k12.nj.us/oralhistories/
HCRHS Oral History Project
http://cds.aas.duke.edu/btv/index.html
Center for Documentary Studies at Duke
University (Behind the Veil project)