Oral History Interviewing

with Todd Ellison, Instructor

Course Description: Oral history is a means of manufacturing historical information by systematically interviewing persons who have had significant experiences. This course will be useful to anyone who is considering a career in Archival Management, Public History, Museology, Historical Editing, Anthropology, Folklore, or Sociology, and anyone interested in improving their listening skills and interviewing techniques and in recording interesting historical facts from characters whose stories otherwise would not be told.

Course Prerequisites: none.

Course Purpose: basic training in listening and asking good questions in order to record personal stories.

Learning Goal/Objectives:

Goal 1 - Basic understanding of the principles of producing oral history as an historical source.

Goal 2 - Basic competence as an interviewer who is comfortable with the equipment and the interview situation, is able to listen creatively and with restraint, and is able to ask the type of questions that elicit an excellent oral history.

Skills/Competencies: Use of a transcribing machine.

Course Organization:

Topic/Theme 1 - What is oral history?

Topic/Theme 2 - What makes for a good oral historian?

Topic/Theme 3 - How can I be a better interviewer?

Course Format/Activities:

We'll begin by defining what we mean by "oral history." Then we'll look at our listening habits, improve our skills in asking open-ended questions, evaluate other people's oral history interviews, and get lots of practice interviewing and a little bit of experience transcribing some of your interviews. The result: you will begin to develop professional skills of oral history interviewing and transcription. Your final product in this course will be a full one-hour oral history interview. Your interviews for this course may possibly be included in the oral history collection of the Center of Southwest Studies.

Online Resources:

Oral history guidelines and forms, including Oral History Interviewing Guidelines, Sample Chronology for Preparing for an Interview, Biographical Questionnaire, Oral History Interview Release Form, Standard Format for Introduction on the Recording, and Oral History Interview Abstract Form

Textbook/Readings:

Ritchie, Donald A. Doing Oral History. New York: Twayne Publishers, 1995. 267 pages.
Also of interest, but not required text: Dunaway, David K., and Baum, Willa K., editors. Oral History: An Interdisciplinary Anthology. 2nd edition. Walnut Creek: AltaMira Press and the American Association for State and Local History, 1996. 432 pages.

Subject to change by the instructor

Cross-Over archives
home page

Todd Ellison's
resume/ vita

Workshops offered

Tools for oral history interviewing

Archival consulting services

Page last modified: April 7, 2011