24 Facts About Oral history

Oral history is the collection and study of historical information about individuals, families, important events, or everyday life using audiotapes, videotapes, or transcriptions of planned interviews.

Oral history strives to obtain information from different perspectives and most of these cannot be found in written sources.

Oral history refers to information gathered in this manner and to a written work based on such data, often preserved in archives and large libraries.

Knowledge presented by Oral History is unique in that it shares the tacit perspective, thoughts, opinions and understanding of the interviewee in its primary form.

The modern concept of oral history was developed in the 1940s by Allan Nevins and his associates at Columbia University.

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Oral history has become an international movement in historical research.

Oral history histories are used in many communities to document the experiences of survivors of tragedies.

Oral history as a discipline has fairly low barriers to entry, so it is an act in which laypeople can readily participate.

Oral history continues to be an important means by which non-academics can actively participate in the compilation and study of history.

Oral history is known for his work which compared workers' experiences in Harlan County, Kentucky and Terni, Italy.

Czech oral history began to develop beginning in the 1980s with a focus on social movements and political activism.

In 1887, at Universidade De Santiago de Compostela, Marc Wouters and Isaura Varela started an oral history project focused on the Spanish Civil War, exile, and migration.

Oral history began with a focus on national leaders in the United States, but has expanded to include groups representing the entire population.

Oral history identifies studies that used oral histories successfully to provide critical and unique insight into otherwise obscure subjects, such as the role scientists played in shaping US policy after World War II.

Contemporary oral history involves recording or transcribing eyewitness accounts of historical events.

Mark D Naison describes the Bronx African American History Project, an oral community history project developed by the Bronx County Historical Society.

Since the 1960s, oral history has been accorded increasing attention both on institutional as well as individual levels, representing “history from above” and “history from below”.

In terms of “history from below”, various oral history initiatives are being undertaken in Cambodia in an effort to record lived experiences from the rule of the Khmer Rouge regime while survivors are still living.

In 1981, Mansel G Blackford, a business historian at Ohio State University, argued that oral history was a useful tool to write the history of corporate mergers.

Feldstein considers oral history to be akin to journalism, Both are committed to uncovering truths and compiling narratives about people, places, and events.

Oral history interviews were used to provide context and social meaning in the Overstone excavation project in Northumberland.

Writers who use oral history have often discussed its relationship to historical truth.

Oral history testimony detailing abuses by colonial officials, recorded by Elkins in Imperial Reckoning, was cited as evidence by the prosecution during the case, British lawyer Martyn Day and the Kenya Human Rights Commission.

Oral history sources identify intangibles such as atmosphere, insights into character, and clarifications to points made briefly in print.