Oral history is the systematic collection and recording of individual memories as historical documentation. An oral historian collects memories in the same way a museum collects artifacts. Many museums of modern history collect oral histories along with artifacts, ensuring that that their physical collection of objects is more fully interpreted.
While passing down history orally is probably as old as humanity, the field of oral history is less than a century old. Source: https://www.utep.edu/liberalarts/oral-history/about/what-is-oral-history.html
Why are oral histories important?
Oral history is a fundamental way to capture gaps in the written record, preserve the firsthand recollections of the individual in his or her own voice, and enrich the work of scholars and curators who organize exhibitions of visual work.
How long have people been collecting oral histories?
The practice of collecting oral history has been around for a long time. The so-called father of history, Herodotus, used oral sources to compile his early Greek histories. Anthropologists recorded oral histories from Indigenous People on phonographs in the late 1800's. David P. Bode recorded the stories of Holocaust survivors in the 1940's. Shortly after these recordings, the modern concept of oral history was developed by Allan Nevins and his associates at Columbia University. In 2015 Svetlana Alexandrovna Alexievich, an essayist and oral historian, was awarded the Novel Peace Prize in Literature.
Since the 1970s, with a growing interest in local and community history, historians began to rely more on direct oral sources to explore the lives of people often left out of historical works. These people include ethnic and racial minorities, working-class men and women, and even children. By going directly to these sources, historians have been able to explore and document their sources through first-hand accounts.
Today oral history continues to be a popular and fruitful technique for historians to capture the “voice” of a person who actually experienced an event or time period. From these individual accounts, historians can often draw larger conclusions about historical eras, geographical areas, and specific events. Source https://www.nationalww2museum.org/oral-history-resources
For our class project, select an oral history from the Flagler College Civil Rights Library or the St. Augustine Historical Research Library. We are using oral histories of people significant to St. Augustine.
https://civilrights.flagler.edu/
Update Feb. 10
Submit request for information to Jolene DuBray, Flagler College Archivist. See link below:
https://flagler.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_6hs6FFjJm2dYCln
ST. AUGUSTINE HISTORICAL RESEARCH LIBRARY. See link below.
https://cdm16973.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/
Important Note: Some of you will need to return to the St. Augustine Historical Research Library to continue research. Go to the link below to get phone number. You must call and make an appointment. The link below also provides additional research links that can be used for continued research.
https://staughs.com/research-library/
Update February 4:
HAS THE TOPIC OF ORAL HISTORY
PIQUED YOUR INTEREST?
STORY CORPS
BLACK WOMEN ORAL HISTORY PROJECT
https://www.radcliffe.harvard.edu/schlesinger-library/collections/black-women-oral-history-project
QUESTION BRIDGE
https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/exhibitions/question_bridge/
THE PHILADELPHIA PUBLIC HISTORY TRUCK
https://phillyhistorytruck.wordpress.com/
THE VOICES OF THE MANHATTAN PROJECT
https://www.manhattanprojectvoices.org/
MUSEUM OF MODERN ART
https://www.moma.org/research-and-learning/archives/oral-history
NATIONAL WOMEN'S HALL OF FAME
https://www.womenofthehall.org/women-of-the-hall/voices-great-women/
HIGHLY SUGGEST CHECKING OUT
FINDING YOUR ROOTS
Henry Louis Gates, Jr. traces celebrity ancestry.
Go to the link below to watch videos.
https://www.pbs.org/weta/finding-your-roots/
WANT TO SEARCH YOUR OWN ANCESTRY?
CHECK OUT THE PODCAST MOTH RADIO HOUR
FOR LIVE STORYTELLING EVENTS
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