Collecting Oral History
The earliest method of collecting oral history was through memory. (see: oral tradition) With the loss of elders who were willing to preserve and pass along these histories, cultural memories began to vanish.
With the advent of the written word, it became possible for cultures to preserve their history without the memory of a select few. Spoken word was transcribed, and the eyewitness accounts of those who lived through both significant and everyday events were able to be saved for future generations to study.
This method of historical preservation was augmented with the invention of different methods to record sound. Spoken word can now be recorded on audio or video tape, or through newer digital methods.
While new media allows for richer histories to be saved, it also comes with greater issues for preservationists, one such issue being that of copyright and the ethical concerns that come along with it. For all intents and purposes, copyright does not exist in oral testimonies, at least not as clearly as it does in written documents. It is hard to decide who holds the rights to the materials and how they should be handled. There are ways to combat copyright and ethical concerns and restrictions, however. One such way is through a letter of intent. Users sign this document before listening to an oral history recording in order to demonstrate that they understand and have agreed to the usage restrictions put in place by the institution.
Read more about this topic: Oral History Preservation
Famous quotes containing the words oral history, collecting, oral and/or history:
“After I discovered the real life of mothers bore little resemblance to the plot outlined in most of the books and articles I’d read, I started relying on the expert advice of other mothers—especially those with sons a few years older than mine. This great body of knowledge is essentially an oral history, because anyone engaged in motherhood on a daily basis has no time to write an advice book about it.”
—Mary Kay Blakely (20th century)
“What pursuit is more elegant than that of collecting the ignominies of our nature and transfixing them for show, each on the bright pin of a polished phrase?”
—Logan Pearsall Smith (1865–1946)
“We have seen over and over that white male historians in general have tended to dismiss any history they didn’t themselves write, on the grounds that it is unserious, unscholarly, a fad, too “political,” “merely” oral and thus unreliable.”
—Adrienne Rich (b. 1929)
“It takes a great deal of history to produce a little literature.”
—Henry James (1843–1916)