How to Record an Oral History

Recording oral history is an extremely rewarding process, for the historian, the subject, and humankind in general. This guide provides a set of general steps to follow as you plan and execute your oral history project.

See Resources for additional tips and information.

Resources

Brainstorm

reGenerations challenges you to interview a senior in your life who has influenced your perspective. Who do you look up to? Who has taught you something or showed you something that changed how you think? Think about these questions as you select a subject (and maybe a few backups).

Reach Out

Approach your subject and ask whether they would be interested in participating in your oral history project. Before agreeing, ensure that your subject knows their legal rights and the general topic of the interview. Once you find a subject who is interested: schedule a time and place for the interview.

Prepare

Develop a focused list of questions to guide the interview. You may use the outline below as a starting point, including details and adding/removing questions as needed to connect with your subject. Consider what you already know about your subject and what you want to learn about them.

Interview

Before the interview begins, make sure your subject knows their legal rights and how this interview will be used (published on newcourant.org). Have your subject sign the deed of gift and ask for permission to record. During the interview, start with the questions you've prepared, but it's likely that the interview will drift to places you would have never expected. As you listen to your subject speak, adapt questions and ask new questions based on what you hear. Allow your subject to guide the interview: this is their oral history.

If your subject is comfortable with it, you can take an optional photo (or multiple photos) of your subject and/or any items relevant to the interview.

Edit

Start by transcribing the entire interview into Question and Answer format. Then, edit the interview to create a compelling narrative that captures the most important, interesting parts of the interview. As you edit, recall the focus of reGenerations: to understand how perspectives are passed through generations. Your finished, edited interview should focus on three main elements: who your subject is (present generation), who impacted your subject (past generation), and how your subject is impacting others (future generation).

You may not add words your subject didn't say, but you can (and should) edit what they said for clarity and conciseness. Be sure to preserve the subject's original voice. Don't be afraid to remove entire questions, cut out sentences, or reorder the sequence of questions. In terms of length, the final profile should be about 1000-2000 words.

Write

Like with any piece of writing, the purpose of the introduction is to draw your reader in, supply any background information necessary to understand the interview, and provide a glimpse of what the interview is about. Consider painting a picture of a significant scene in your subject's life, using a quote from the interview, or including a surprising fact. In an oral history, the introduction is the only place for your own words. Remembering reGenerations' focus on how the people around us shape our perspectives, the most important objective of the introduction is to discuss why you chose this subject and how they have influenced you.

Submit

Congratulations! You have finished your oral history project. Use the form on the reGenerations page to submit your interview.

reGenerations