Oral history

1. Paul J. P. Sandul
Assistant Professor of History
Stephen F. Austin State University

2.  Oral History is a term that
conjures up many images
and ideas
 A conversation
 A historical source
 Oral History Paradox?:
 It is of such obvious and self-
evident importance few have
sought to define exactly why
it is so.

3.  Oral History has its own history,
development, and unique issues
 Oral History Association:
www.oralhistory.org
 H-Oral History: www.h-
net.org/~oralhist/
 Texas Oral History Association:
www.baylor.edu/toha
 Baylor University, Institute for Oral
History:
www.baylor.edu/oral_history

4.  Oral History is as old
as history itself!
 Story tellers
 Ancient Historians &
histories
 Oral Histories were
highly valued
 Modern examples

5.  Attempts to professionalize the craft
 Rules and guidelines to overcome issues of
memory and bias
 Rules and guidelines to articulate
responsibilities
 Equipment concerns
 Interview strategies

6.  Professional / Academic
History’s challenge to Oral
History
 Leopold von Ranke (mid-19th
century)
 Favors written documents
 Favors archives
 Favors Political
 Favors “great men” and “great
classes”

7.  Social Movements of the 1960s
and 1970s
 Give voice to the marginalized
and neglected
 Give voice to non-elite
extremists?
 Give voice to the family
 Discover relationships
 Enhance military, farm, rural,
urban, and local histories

8.  Transcription = imposing literary grammar
rules and form on the spoken audible word
 Costs: equipment and transcription labor
 Oral history as:
 A) one among many types of sources
 B) as a unique historical source

9.  Is factual historical recall even
possible?
 Transcripts = memory of
memory?
 Interviewees and
interviewers are bias?
 Oral history as much about
discovering meaning as
factual details?

10.  Oral History is
democratic!
 Oral History as a device of
change
 Oral History as a tool for
community building,
therapy, and self-
understanding
 Oral History in the Public:
 Wilson Project online:
http://www.sfasu.edu/heri
tagecenter/5318.asp

11. Things to Cover in Detail:
1. Equipment
2. Projects, Interviewing, and Question
Development
3. Preserving Oral Histories and Transcription
4. Q & A

13.  Some useful websites and tips:
 Baylor:
http://www.baylor.edu/content/services/document.php/66424.pdf
 Baylor also has a good glossary of digital technology terms to help you
know what some of the technology jargon means:
http://www.baylor.edu/content/services/document.php/79809.pdf
 Oral History in the Digital Age: www.ohda/matrix.msu.edu
 The Audio Field Recording Equipment Guide:
www.vermontfolklifecenter.org/archive/res_audioequip_retired.sht
ml
 H-Oralhist furnishes a searchable archive of topics, including
equipment: www2.h-net.msu.edu/~oralhist

14.  Get a digital, not tape, recorder
 Lightweight
 Can record in either MP3 or WAV
 Can record at least at 120KPS
 Has a external light letting you know the power is on
 Has a screen that lets you know how much memory is left
 Can use both batteries and a power cord
 Has internal/eternal memory card that can somehow enable
transfer to a computer
 External cards are easiest to transfer, but can get expensive;
 Internal memory cards only require a USB cord, but those can
get lost easily and memory capacity can be limited (usually up
to ten hours though—and that’s a lot)
 Get a condenser microphone, not dynamic. Most digital recorders
today have excellent internal microphones

15.  Always use a tripod!
 Be aware of lighting (shadows) and background (i.e., bright colors and windows)
Media: Recording Systems
 Four types: MiniDV tapes, removable MiniDVDs, hard disk drives, and flash memory cards.
MiniDV tape
 Pros: compact; affordable; can preserve original quality without compression; good editing software.
 Cons: have to use camcorder for playback; winding/rewinding tape eventually degrades quality; need to
transfer images to computer with large hard drive for editing.
DVDs
 Pros: random access to any clip; easier editing in-camera or on computer; rapid duplication of discs for
sharing; convenient playback on computer, DVD players, even PlayStations.
 Cons: recording time limited to 1 hour with single-sided discs, two hours with dual layer; images are
compressed when stored to disc and quality is affected; some discs allow only 1 use, others rewritable.
Internal hard drives
 Pros: capacities up to 60GB, internal drives can hold 28 hours of video, far more than other formats; 1-
button burning of DVDs for easy sharing, transfer, playback; in-camera or in-computer editing.
 Cons: pricey; still require image compression; and what happens if that big hard drive goes down?
Flash memory cards
 Pros: first offered as an extra storage option for still images on both tape and disk camcorders; now
coming into use as primary storage media for video as well as stills, thereby eliminating moving parts,
reducing size, increasing durability.
 Cons: not yet supported by in-camera editing software; requires image compression; less storage than
hard drives.

16.  Laptops
 Scanners
 Portable
 (Photographic) Cameras
 Key: Can take a picture of at least 300 DPI
 You have software that can enhance an image to 300
DPI and make TIFF files
 Photoshop
 Most basic computer programs have a photoshop-like
software that can allow you to enhance pictures

17. Qualities of a Good Interview:
1.Conversational narrative / act
2.Comfortable
3.Listening Skills
4.Performance: All the World is a Stage
5.Helps Interviewees
6.Is the Result of Good Preparation

18.  Select a Topic
 Type of Interview
 Bio/Life Story
 Family Tree Interviewing
 Topical
 Group
 Focus Group
 Community Interviews

19.  Selecting an Interviewee(s)
 Setting Up / Pre-Interview
 Who to Interview First
 How to Locate Interviewees
 Initiate and Make Contact
 Call or write letter
 Biographical Sketch

20. Oral History Biographical Sketch
Filling out this form before the interview may help the interviewer
ask more appropriate and interesting questions. The
interviewee should not feel compelled to complete the entire
form, but only those parts that are applicable, relevant, or
suitable. Again, interviewees should only fill out what they
would like to.
Interviewee’s Full Name:
_________________________________________________
___
Contact information:
_________________________________________________
_________________________________________________
______
Family History
Birthday & birth place:
_________________________________________________
___
Father’s Name:
_________________________________________________
___
Father’s birthday and birth place:
_________________________________________________
_
Father’s occupations:
_________________________________________________
___
Mother’s Name:
_________________________________________________
___
Mother’s birthday and birth place:
_________________________________________________
_
Mother’s occupations:
_________________________________________________
___
Spouse’s Name:
_________________________________________________
___
Spouse’s birthday and place of birth:
________________________________________________
Other Relevant Information Concerning Family History:
________________________________________________________
Education, Career, and Activities
Elementary School(s)/Dates:
________________________________________________________
Junior High School(s)/Dates:
________________________________________________________
High School(s)/Dates:
________________________________________________________
Higher Education (Trade School, College, etc)/ Dates:
________________________________________________________
Major/Specialty:
________________________________________________________
Other:
________________________________________________________
Occupations, Locations, and Dates:
_________________________________________________
If Applicable
Government Offices Held (city, county, state, national, and dates):
________________________________________________________
Political Background (political orientation, party affiliation, positions
held, and
dates):_____________________________________________
Military Service (branch, rank, awards and honors, dates):
________________________________________________________
Community Services and Civic Activities (organization/activity, offices
held:____________________________________________________
Religious Affiliation and Activities:
________________________________________________________
Other Information:
________________________________________________________
Prepared By & Date: _______________________________________

21.  Where to Hold an Interview
 Safe & Comfortable Place
 Consider Surrounding Dynamics
 Be Near Outlets!
 Why Bother to Record?
 Independent Researcher

22. Equipment:
 What Equipment to Take?
 Pre-Test Equipment
 Placement of Equipment
 Keep close
 Place near outlets!

23. Legal Concerns:
 Release Forms
 Essential
 Present at beginning
 Explain
 Bring multiple copies!
 Donor Form

24. Preparation
• Experience
• Budget & Workload
• Background & Historical Research
• Listen to Other Oral History Interviews
• See handout on websites
• Critique: questioning style; interviewer presence;
verbal ticks; rapport; sound quality; miscellaneous
• Exploratory Interviews

25. Social Relationships
 Be Aware & Be Conscious
 How to Mitigate Social Relationships
 Should You Match Social Status of Interviewee
 Should You Not Match
 An Interview is a Social Relationship /
Interaction

26. Questions
 Develop More than Little
 To Questionnaire or Not to Questionnaire
 Canned Follow-up Questions?
 Close-ended vs. Open-ended questions
 Funneling

27.  Close-ended Questions for Probing
 Examples
 Interjections
 Types of Probes
 Leading Questions
 Go Beyond Research Needs!

28. Interview Strategies & Tips
 Pay Attention to Equipment
 Never Turn Off the Recorder
 Begin With Brief Introduction:
 “It is January 12, 2013. This is Paul Sandul, Assistant Professor of
history at Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches, Texas. I
am in the home of Sharon Allison, the sister of congressman Charlie
Wilson. This interview is being conducted as part of the Charlie
Wilson Oral History Project at Stephen F. Austin State University to
document more about the life and times of congressperson Charlie
Wilson. Also joining me in asking questions is my colleague Scott
Sosebee, also an Assistant Professor of history at Stephen F. Austin
State University.”
 Dealing with the Evasive or Nervous
 Be an Active Listener
 Getting Personal

29.  The Embarrassing, Controversial, & Sensitive
 Overcoming Rehearsal
 Arguing with the Interviewee
 Body Language
 Combine Styles-Be Free to Adapt

30. • Take Notes
• Enjoy the Silence
• After the Interview:
– Thank / Follow-up Letter
– Fulfill Promises
– Listen and Evaluate
– Index
– Interview History
– Biographical Sketch
– Transcribe
– Final Product = when history-making begins!
– Good form to provide interviewee with a copy of the final
interview and transcription
– Allowing Interviewee’s to edit or not?

32.  You do not like yourself and have nothing but
time?
 Increases Accessibility, Use, and Ease of Use
 Better for searching, easier sometimes to read, and
sometimes easier to understand
 Shelf-life of paper versus tapes/CDs/DVDs
 Facilitates preservation ease and motivation
going forward

33.  Transcription is labor intensive.
 Typically takes 8-10 hours per one hour of interview time.
 Transcription is the act of putting the oral, audible, spoken word
into writing, subject to the rules of grammar.
 People do not speak in sentences, paragraphs, commas, or
periods.
 Transcription is thus a new creation; it is edited
 Transcription is thus the subjective creation of the transcriber
 On top of it all: need a good ear; good verbal skills; good writing
and grammar skills; good typing and/or fast typing skills
 WARNING!: DO NOT THINK ABOUT USING SOME KIND OF
TRANSCRITION SOFTWARE!
 To date, no transcription software has proven good or accurate enough to do
the technical and quality job that a good oral history transcription needs.
 PAY SOMEONE?: Always viable, but expensive! (I made extra
grad school income transcribing-for-hire myself!)

34.  Despite some limitations, just admit:
 Some distortion will occur; but helps readability;
 Imposition of grammar will effect rhythm and
cadence, possibly meaning; but helps readability;
 Has the potential to alter order of speech; impose
meaning; but can ultimately make or break the value
of an interview.
 Again: Transcription makes oral history that
much more valuable and useful!

35.  A transcription is more than just the interview. It is the
interview, to be sure, but also everything about the
interview, as well as aids to the interview that facilitate
better understanding and usefulness.
 Title Page (date/interviewer name/interviewee name /
project and/or institutional affiliation if applicable)
 Interviewee Biography
 History of Oral History (Copyright clarified/ Repository /
Context notes / Identifiers)
 Release Forms
 Donor Forms, if applicable
 Index/Finding/Subject Guide
 At minimum make a subject guide
 Image Guide & Descriptions

36.  Useful websites for transcription tips:
 http://www.wwhp.org/files/oral-history-
project/Transcription_Tips_for_Oral_History.p
df
 http://www.mnhs.org/collections/oralhistory
/ohtranscribing.pdf
 Baylor’s Guide, I think, is the best:
http://www.baylor.edu/content/services/doc
ument.php?id=14142

37.  General Rules & Issues:
 Spelling: Our friend!
 Proofread: Also our friend!
 Create a word list
 A. consistent way to spell slang and other non-
traditional words
 B. List of abbreviations
 Change as little as possible; strive for verbatim,
including slang and pejoratives, but be
consistent!
 “cause” over because—but don’t add “cuz” into it

38.  Some of the big issues / points:
 Clarify/identify people, places, and
things/phenomena, if applicable and/or are able to
 Identify mood/emotion
 Adding material (such as the above): place in
brackets.
 “I am from San Jose, California [located in northern
California, about 60 miles south of San Francisco] and I
was born in 1975 [laughter].”
 If long, place in a footnote at the bottom of the page.
 Crutch Words and guggles: to delete or not to delete,
that is the question!:
 Uh; uh-huh; um-hm; unh-uh; yeah; y’all, you know
 False Starts: To delete or not to delete?

39.  Some of the big issues / points:
 Use numerals for years and dates: January 12, 2013; not January
twelfth two-thousand and thirteen.
 Oh, and decades and centuries are rarely possessive, though
they can be, but are usually plural: so, 1980s and not 1980’s.
the 1500s, not 1500’s.
 Ellipses (. . .): Are for . . . removing it.
 Use an em-dash (—) for incomplete sentences; false starts, hanging
ideas, etc. If there is a big pause, and you think that fact is
important, say so in a bracket and not with ellipses
 Unintelligible spots (make best guess and place in brackets that
such is so; write, in brackets, unintelligible).

40. Care & Upkeep of Oral History Materials b/c
Oral History Materials Are Highly Valuable

41.  Remember: a transcription and other materials can help facilitate
and motivate the desire to preserve materials in the first place!
 Legal Issues
 Copyright
 Who holds the rights
 How should they be handled
 Letter of Intent
 Release Forms
 Libel – Don’t Get Sued!!!
 Individuals whom interviewees libel or defame can sue the
interviewee, the interviewer, and even the holding institution (if
any).
 Restrictions

42. Oral history is a method of collecting historical information through recorded interviews
between a narrator with firsthand knowledge of historically significant events and a well-
informed interviewer, with the goal of preserving substantive additions to the historical
record. Because it is primary material, oral history is not intended to present the final, verified,
or complete narrative of events. It is a spoken account. It reflects personal opinion offered by
the interviewee in response to questioning, and as such it is partisan, deeply involved, and
irreplaceable.
All literary rights in the manuscript, including the right to publish, are reserved to The
Bancroft Library of the University of California, Berkeley. Excerpts up to 1000 words from this
interview may be quoted for publication without seeking permission as long as the use is non-
commercial and properly cited.
Requests for permission to quote for other publication should be addressed to Head of Public
Services, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, California, 94720-
6000 and follow instructions at http://bancroft.berkeley.edu/ROHO/collections/cite.html.
http://cont
agree
cancel

43. INTERVIEWEE RELEASE FORM:
I, _____________________________________, consent to the recording of my statements and do hereby
irrevocably grant to Stephen F. Austin State University (“University”) the right to copy, reproduce, and
use all or a portion of the recorded interviews (the “Interview”) conducted by
__________________________ on __________________. I understand that the Interview will be deposited
in the East Texas Research Center (ETRC) for the use of future scholars and may be used for any lawful
purpose in all forms and media including but not limited to public presentations, audio or video
documentaries, CD-ROMs, internet publications, slide-tape presentations, exhibits, and advertising and
related promotion through the world in perpetuity, and expressly permit such use. This gift does not
preclude any use that I myself may want to make of my words in these recordings to the extent it does
not conflict with this agreement.
I release University and its assigns, licensees and successors from any claims that may arise regarding
the use of the Interview including any claims of defamation, invasion of privacy, or infringement of
moral rights, rights of publicity, or copyright. I acknowledge that I have no ownership rights in any
work developed as a result of the Interview.
I certify that I am over the age of eighteen (18), have read and fully understand the terms of this
agreement.
Signature of Interviewee & Date:_____________________________________________________
Address of Interviewee: _____________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________
Contact Information of Interviewee:____________________________________________________
Restrictions:_______________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________

44.  Opalescence
 Equipment & Supplies
 Audio Cassette Tapes (60 minute / pop off write
protection tab)
 CDs (Gold or Silver / 700MB / CD-R)
 Digital Audio Files (MP3 / WAV / WMA)
 VHS (S-VHS / 60-90 minute)
 Digital Video Files (AVI / WMV)
 Paper (Acid-Free; Lignin Free; Ph level = 7+; high
cotton)
 Boxes and Folders

45.  External Hard Drives
 Online Servers / Backup
 Consumer: Carbonite, Keepit, MozyHome, IDrive
and Backblaze
 Small to Medium Business: KineticD, Asigra,
Vembu, CarbonitePro, and IBackup
 Enterprise: Backup-Technology, Intronis, Storage
Guardian, MozyPro, and CoreVault

46.  The Basics:
 Education & Learning
 Make Multiple Copies
 Audio
 Transcript
 Accompanying Paperwork

47.  Any Questions?