Engaged Research
Oral Histories
Oral history is a field of study and a method of gathering, preserving and interpreting the voices and memories of people, communities, and participants in past events. Oral history is both the oldest type of historical inquiry, predating the written word, and one of the most modern, initiated with tape recorders in the 1940s and now using 21st-century digital technologies. Historians who do this type of research attempt to understand the details and personal perspectives of history from participants.
In Doing Oral History, Donald Ritchie explains, “Oral History collects memories and personal commentaries of historical significance through recorded interviews. An oral history interview generally consists of a well-prepared interviewer questioning an interviewee and recording their exchange in audio or video format. Recordings of the interview are transcribed, summarized, or indexed and then placed in a library or archives. These interviews may be used for research or excerpted in a publication, radio or video documentary, museum exhibition, dramatization or other form of public presentation. Recordings, transcripts, catalogs, photographs and related documentary materials can also be posted on the Internet. Oral history does not include random taping, such as President Richard Nixon’s surreptitious recording of his White House conversations, nor does it refer to recorded speeches, wiretapping, personal diaries on tape, or other sound recordings that lack the dialogue between interviewer and interviewee.”
There are diverse approaches to conducting oral history research, relating to the researchers' objective and field of study. For example, a sociological or psychological approach are usually directed at using the person as a vehicle to understand basic aspects of human behavior or existing institutions. Whereas Feminist approaches to life history tend to emphasize the lived experience of a narrator and how that relates to the intersection of gender, race, and social class.
The Oral History Association has compiled guidelines for designing and executing your oral history research project. The outline below serves as ethical guidelines and best research practices, respective to general research design of an oral history project. In addition, this page features res0urces for conducting oral history research and exemplary oral history research projects that illustrate diverse approaches.
Download the complete Oral History Association research manual below
Research Preparation
A thorough research approach identifies the objective of the study, research questions, the significance of the study, and most appropriate research design. Below are questions that can help orient the development of your oral history research:
Selection of Recording Equipment
An important component in executing your oral history project is thoroughly understanding your ability to utilize and secure recording equipment, especially in considerate of your research design. Below are research questions that can help guide your decision making:
The Interview Process
Researchers conduct oral history interviews for a variety of purposes: to create archival records, for individual research, for community and institutional projects, and for publications and media productions. While these principles and standards provide a general framework for guiding professional conduct, their application may vary according to the nature of specific oral history projects. Regardless of the purpose of the interviews, oral history should be conducted in the spirit of critical inquiry and social responsibility and with a recognition of the interactive and subjective nature of the enterprise.
With the preceding in mind, the following is the researcher's responsibility to conduct ethical research:
Donde Haiga un Trabajador Explotado, Ahí Estaré Yo:
Justice for Janitors' Workers, Organizers, and Allies
This series documents the Justice for Janitors movement in Los Angeles from the 1980s to the present day. Justice for Janitors is a labor organization of the Service Employees International Union that has historically sought to improve the working conditions and bargaining power of workers in the janitorial services industry. The movement has taken various forms in different cities, with Los Angeles serving as the largest center of activity. By including interviews with labor organizers, politicians, and rank-and-file members, the series aims to offer a comprehensive picture of the Justice for Janitors movement in Los Angeles. In addition to documenting Justice for Janitors, the series also explores many of the participants' experiences in Central America before immigrating to the U.S. and interviewees' involvement in other facets of the labor movement in the U.S. and Central America. This project was generously supported by Arcadia funds.
Oral History in Action
Research Preparation
This oral history project exemplifies thoughtful preparation prior to collecting data. You can download the Interview History document to better understand the conceptualization of the project:
Responsibility to Interviewees
Per ethical guidelines, interviewees were informed about the purpose of the research project and the ways in which their information would be utilized. Below is an example of interviewee follow-up, clarifying the oral history project.
Data Analysis
The researchers' utilized the topics discussed within the interview as a starting point to develop themes and codes. This inductive and deductive coding process is common within the narrative analysis. The table of contents exemplifies this type of coding process.
Interview Best Practices
In order to best understand the historical narrative, the researcher compiled a 'name list' to record every person, institution, place, etc. related to the interviewees' historical analysis. Below is an example taken from this research project.
Responsibility to Interviewees
Per ethical guidelines, interviewees were informed about the interview process, the varying degrees of consent regarding their interview, and the way in which their identity and information would be protected. Below is a sample script utilized for this research project, providing such information.
Additional Resources
If you want to learn more about the oral history research approach, best practices, and read diverse presentations of oral history, download the following materials:
Making Democracy Matter: Identity and Activism in Los Angeles
These interviews were conducted by UCLA professor Karen Brodkin and are part of a larger study of a cohort of labor and immigrant worker organizers in Los Angeles who began their activism in the latter 1990s. The interviews deal with the life paths that led interviewees to full-time activism and with their visions of social justice. The book resulting from this project is Making Democracy Matter: Identity and Activism in Los Angeles (2007, Rutgers University Press). Additional interviews in this series can be accessed through UCLA Library's Department of Special Collections.
Read More About the Topic
You can learn more about the book that emerged from this oral history collection, Making Democracy Matter: Identity and Activism in Los Angeles, and download the book review.
LGBT Oral History Project
The L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center’s Senior Services department is intended to support and enrich the lives of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people 50 years and older, with an overarching goal successful aging in place. In this effort, the department provides a broad array of social, educational and support services to LGBT seniors and Baby Boomers, all of which are free or low-cost.
An Oral History is an ongoing project of the L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center's Senior Services Department. This short film captures the perspective of eleven LGBT seniors in Los Angeles who came of age during a time in which imprisonment, daily discrimination, physical violence and abuse were commonplace. Exemplifying elegant survival, the individuals you will meet in An Oral History, made the community we have today possible. From the "Daughters of Bilitis" and "Mattachine Society" to the marches led by Frank Kameny and Barbara Gittings, the history of the LGBT movement has often been forgotten, overlooked or ignored. This is an attempt to give voice to and shine the light on the stories and lives of these individuals.