Introducing oral history

Oral history provides a rich seam of material that gives an insight into the lives of ordinary people in the past: their home lives, working lives, social lives and family lives.

Oral history happens when a well-prepared interviewer meets with an interviewee (or narrator) who is willing to share their stories about their first-hand experiences of events in the past. The interviewer gently guides the interview, allowing space for the narrator to tell their story in their own words in their own way. Crucially, an oral history is created when this encounter is recorded.  

Oral history is a subjective medium. Memory can be unreliable and partial and two versions of the same event may vary. There is, however, a richness in this personal experience: the vivid picture created by the narrator and the sensual response related in a spoken testimony can be raw and vivid. It can offer a way of understanding not just what people did in the past, but what they wanted to do, what they believed they were doing and what they now, having had time to reflect, think about their past experiences.

Navigating an oral history can be challenging. Many oral historians will create a verbatim transcript of the interview. These can provide a quick way in to the interview. There are drawbacks to transcripts. Writing down an interview, using standard English and adding in punctuation can flatten accent and nuances that we hear in speech. The original audio recording remains the primary source and it is important that it is not side-lined in favour of the transcript.

These short animations introduce you to using oral history in the classroom.