Introduction To Community Oral History

"Introduces the field of oral history to newcomers, elaborates on best practices for community oral history projects, and provides omprehensive resources necssary to properly administer your project." -- from back cover

This five-volume set will be the definitive guide to all aspects of conducting successful community oral history projects that conform to best practices in the field. Volumes include introduction to community oral history, planning and managing community oral history projects, interviewing subjects, and processing the interviews.

The second book in the five-volume Community Oral History Toolkit walks you through all the planning steps to travel from an idea to a completed collection of oral history interviews. Informed by an extensive survey of oral historians from across the country, this guide will get you started on firm ground so you don’t get mired in unforeseen problems in the middle of your project. Designed especially for project administrators, it identifies participants and responsibilities that need to be covered, and details planning needs for everything from budgeting to technology, and from legal issues to ethics. Planning a Community Oral History Project sets the stage for the implementation steps outlined in Volume 3, Managing a Community Oral History Project.

This publication offers concrete suggestions for planning, organizing, and undertaking oral history in community settings. Provides a step-by-step guide to project planning and establishing project objectives, with suggestions for identifying resources and securing funding.

Community projects often falter after the interviews are completed. This final book of the five-volume Community Oral History Toolkit explains the importance of processing and archiving oral histories and takes the reader through all the steps required for good archiving and for concluding the oral history project so that it is preserved and accessible for future generations. The authors give special attention to record-keeping systems and repositories, and provide several examples from actual projects to ground the information in practical terms. Charts, checklists, and sample forms also help the reader apply concepts to practice. Volume 5 finishes with examples of creative ways community projects have used oral histories, such as performances, exhibitions, celebrations, websites, and more, in order to promote history and engage the community.

The third book in the five-volume Community Oral History Toolkit takes the planning steps outlined in Volume 2 and puts them into action. It provides the practical details for turning your plans into reality and establishes the basis for guiding your project through the interviews to a successful conclusion. Project managers are given concrete, useful advise on how to manage people, money, technology, publicity, and administrative tasks from the beginning to the end of the project. Volume 3 outlines details for developing the necessary forms to properly administer a community oral history project (sample forms provided). The authors advise how to recruit volunteers and interviewees and provide helpful tips for conducting thorough interview and transcription training sessions and how to make arrangements for the life and safety of the project one the interviews are complete.

The first book of the five-volume Community Oral History Toolkit sets the stage for an oral history project by placing community projects into a larger context of related fields and laying a sound theoretical foundation. It introduces the field of oral history to newcomers, with discussions of the historical process, the evolution of oral history as a research methodology, the nature of community, and the nature of memory. It also elaborates on best practices for community history projects and presents a detailed overview of the remaining volumes of the Toolkit, which cover Planning, Management, Interviewing, and After-the-Interview processing and curation. Introduction to Community Oral History features a comprehensive glossary, index, bibliography, and references, as well as numerous sample forms that are needed throughout the process of conducting community oral history projects.