Editing Oral history (section)

== Growth and development ==

=== In Europe ===

==== Great Britain and Ireland ====
Since the early 1970s, oral history in Britain has grown from being a method in [[folklore]] studies (see for example the work of the [[School of Scottish Studies]] in the 1950s) to becoming a key component in community histories. Oral history continues to be an important means by which non-academics can actively participate in the compilation and study of history. Practitioners in a wide range of academic disciplines have also developed the method into a way of recording, understanding, and archiving narrated memories. Influences have included women's history and labour history.

In Britain, the [[Oral History Society]] has played a key role in facilitating and developing the use of oral history.

A more complete account of the history of oral history in Britain and Northern Ireland can be found at "Making Oral History" on the [[Institute of Historical Research]]'s website.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.history.ac.uk/makinghistory/resources/articles/oral_history.html |title=Making Oral History |publisher=[[Institute of Historical Research]]}}</ref>

The [[Bureau of Military History]] conducted over 1700 interviews with veterans of the First World War and [[Irish revolutionary period]] in Ireland. The documentation was released for research in 2003.<ref>Fearghal McGarry, "'Too many histories'? The Bureau of Military History and Easter 1916." ''History Ireland'' (2011) pp: 26-29.</ref>

During 1998 and 1999, 40 BBC local radio stations recorded personal oral histories from a broad cross-section of the population for ''The Century Speaks'' series. The result was 640 half-hour radio documentaries, broadcast in the final weeks of the millennium, and one of the largest single oral history collections in Europe, the Millennium Memory Bank (MMB). The interview-based recordings are held by the [[British Library Sound Archive]] in the oral history collection.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://sounds.bl.uk/Oral-history |title=Oral history &#124; British Library |publisher=Sounds |access-date=11 June 2016}}</ref>

In one of the largest memory projects anywhere, the BBC in 2003-06 invited its audiences to send in recollections of the [[United Kingdom home front during World War II|home front]]in the Second World War. It put 47,000 of the recollections online, along with 15,000 photographs.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/ww2peopleswar/ |title=BBC – WW2 People's War |publisher=BBC}}</ref>

=== In Italy ===
[[Alessandro Portelli]] is an Italian oral historian. He is known for his work which compared workers' experiences in Harlan County, Kentucky and Terni, Italy. Other oral historians have drawn on Portelli's analysis of memory, identity, and the construction of history.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Alessandro Portelli |url=http://oralhistory.columbia.edu/alessandro-portelli |access-date=11 August 2022 |website=Oral History Master of Arts |language=en-US}}</ref>

=== In post-Soviet/Eastern bloc states ===

==== Belarus ====
{{as of|2015}}, since the government-run historiography in modern Belarus almost fully excludes repression during the epoch when Belarus was part of the [[Soviet Union]], only private initiatives cover the oral memories of the Belarusians. Citizens' groups in Belarus use the methods of oral history and record narrative interviews on video; the [[Virtual Museum of Soviet Repression in Belarus]] presents a full [[virtual museum]] with intense use of oral history.{{citation needed|date=July 2023}}

==== Czech Republic ====
Czech oral history began to develop beginning in the 1980s with a focus on social movements and political activism.{{citation needed|date=March 2020}} The practice of oral history and any attempts to document stories prior to this is fairly unknown.{{citation needed|date=March 2020}} The practice of oral history began to take shape in the 1990s. In 2000, The Oral History Center (COH) at the Institute of Contemporary History, Academy of Sciences, Czech Republic (AV ČR) was established with the aim of "systematically support the development of oral history methodology and its application in historical research".<ref name="Czech Institute of Contemporary History 2018">{{Cite web |url=http://www.usd.cas.cz/en/research-units/oral-history-center/ |title=Oral history center – Ústav pro soudobé dějiny AV ČR, v.v.i |website=Czech Institute of Contemporary History |access-date=22 February 2018}}</ref>

In 2001, [[Post Bellum]], a nonprofit organization, was established to "documents the memories of witnesses of the important historical phenomenons of the 20th century" within the Czech Republic and surrounding European countries.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.postbellum.cz/english/ |title=About |website=Post Bellum |language=cs-cz |access-date=22 February 2018}}</ref> Post Bellum works in partnership with [[Czech Radio]] and [[Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes]]. Their oral history project ''[[Memory of Nation]]'' was created in 2008 and interviews are archived online for user access. As of January 2015, the project has more than 2100 published witness accounts in several languages, with more than 24,000 pictures.

Other projects, including articles and books have been funded by the Czech Science Foundation (AV ČR) including:
* "Students in the Period of the Fall of Communism – Life Stories" published as the book ''One Hundred Student Revolutions'' (1999) by M. Vaněk and M. Otáhal;
* "Political Elites and Dissidents during the Period of So-called Normalization – Historical Interviews" which resulted in ''Victors? Vanquished'' (2005), a two-volume collection of 50 interviews;
* A compilation of original interpretive essays entitled ''The Powerful?! or Helpless?!''
* "An Investigation into Czech Society during the 'Normalization' Era: Biographic Narratives of Workers and the Intelligentsia" and
* A book of interpretations called ''Ordinary People...?!'' (2009).
These publications aim to demonstrate that oral history contributes to the understanding of human lives and history itself, such as the motives behind the dissidents' activities, the formation of opposition groups, communication between dissidents and state representatives and the emergence of ex-communist elites and their decision-making processes.{{citation needed|date=March 2020}}

Oral history centers in the Czech Republic emphasize educational activities (seminars, lectures, conferences), archiving and maintaining interview collections, and providing consultations to those interested in the method.<ref name="Czech Institute of Contemporary History 2018" />

=== In Spain ===
Because of repression in [[Francoist Spain]] (1939–75), the development of oral history in Spain was quite limited until the 1970s. It became well-developed in the early 1980s, and often had a focus on the Civil War years (1936–39), especially regarding the ones who lost the war and whose stories had been suppressed. At the University of Barcelona, Professor {{ill|Mercedes Vilanova|es|Mercedes Vilanova Ribas}} was a leading scholar, who combined oral history with her interest in quantification and social history. Barcelona scholars sought to integrate oral sources with traditional written sources to create mainstream, not ghettoized, historical interpretations. They sought to give a public voice to neglected groups, such as women, illiterates, political leftists, and ethnic minorities.<ref>Mercedes Vilanova, "The Struggle for a History without Adjectives: A Note on Using Oral Sources in Spain", ''Oral History Review'' (1997) 24#1 pp. 81-90 [https://www.jstor.org/stable/3675398 in JSTOR]</ref> In 1987, at Universidade De Santiago de Compostela, Marc Wouters and Isaura Varela started an oral history project focused on the Spanish Civil War, exile, and migration. The project explored victims of the war and the Francoist Dictatorship and includes 2100 interviews and 800 hours of audio.

=== In the United States ===
Oral history began with a focus on national leaders in the United States,<ref>Ritchie 2010 considers Senators and other top leaders.</ref> but has expanded to include groups representing the entire population.  In Britain, the influence of 'history from below' and interviewing people who had been 'hidden from history' was more influential. In both countries, elite oral history has emerged as an important strand. Scientists, for example, have been covered in numerous oral history projects.  Doel (2003) discusses the use of oral interviews by scholars as primary sources, He lists major oral history projects in the history of science begun after 1950. Oral histories, he concludes, can augment the biographies of scientists and help spotlight how their social origins influenced their research. Doel acknowledges the common concerns historians have regarding the validity of oral history accounts. He identifies studies that used oral histories successfully to provide critical and unique insight into otherwise obscure subjects, such as the role scientists played in shaping US policy after World War II. Interviews furthermore can provide road maps for researching archives, and can even serve as a fail-safe resource when written documents have been lost or destroyed.<ref>Doel, Ronald E. "Oral History of American Science: a Forty-year Review." ''History of Science'' 2003 41(4): 349-378.</ref> [[Roger D. Launius]] (2003) shows the huge size and complexity of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) oral history program since 1959. NASA systematically documented its operations through oral histories. They can help to explore broader issues regarding the evolution of a major federal agency. The collection consists primarily of oral histories conducted by scholars working on books about the agency. Since 1996, it has included oral histories of senior NASA administrators and officials, astronauts, and project managers, part of a broader project to document the lives of key agents. Launius emphasizes efforts to include such less-well-known groups within the agency as the Astrobiology Program, and to collect the oral histories of [[women in NASA]].<ref>[[Roger D. Launius]], "'We Can Lick Gravity, but Sometimes the Paperwork Is Overwhelming': NASA, Oral History, and the Contemporary Past." ''Oral History Review'' 2003 30(2): 111-128.</ref>

==== Folklore roots and ordinary people ====
Contemporary oral history involves recording or transcribing eyewitness accounts of historical events. Some [[anthropologists]] started collecting recordings (at first especially of [[Native American mythology|Native American folklore]]) on phonograph cylinders in the late 19th century. In the 1930s, the [[Federal Writers' Project]]—part of the [[Works Progress Administration]] (WPA)—sent out interviewers to collect accounts from various groups, including surviving witnesses of the Civil War, slavery, and other major historical events.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/wpaintro/wpahome.html |title=American Life Histories |website=[[Federal Writers' Project|WPA Writers' Project 1936–1940]] | publisher=[[Library of Congress]]}}</ref> The [[Library of Congress]] also began recording traditional American music and folklore onto [[acetate discs]]. With the development of audio tape recordings after World War II, the task of oral historians became easier.

In 1946, [[David P. Boder]], a professor of psychology at the [[Illinois Institute of Technology]] in Chicago, traveled to Europe to record long interviews with "displaced persons"—most of them Holocaust survivors. Using the first device capable of capturing hours of audio—the [[wire recording|wire recorder]]—Boder came back with the first recorded Holocaust testimonials and in all likelihood the first recorded oral histories of significant length.<ref>{{cite web |last=Marziali |first=Carl |date=26 October 2001 |url=http://www.thisamericanlife.org/Radio_Episode.aspx?sched=895 |title=Mr. Boder Vanishes |website=[[This American Life]]}}</ref>

Over some forty years, [[Fran Leeper Buss]] interviewed marginalized women such as [[Jesusita Aragón|Jesusita Aragon]], a traditionally trained midwife, and [[Maria Elena Lucas]] a migrant farm worker activist, using transcripts of the interviews to write their life stories.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Books and Works By Author Fran Leeper Buss |url=https://www.franleeperbuss.com/authored-books-and-works |access-date=19 April 2024 |website=Franleeperbuss |language=en}}</ref>

Many state and local historical societies have oral history programs. Sinclair Kopp (2002) reported on the [[Oregon Historical Society]]'s program. It began in 1976 with the hiring of Charles Digregorio, who had studied at Columbia with Nevins. Thousands of sound recordings, reel-to-reel tapes, transcriptions, and radio broadcasts have made it one of the largest collections of oral history on the Pacific Coast. In addition to political figures and prominent businessmen, the Oregon Historical Society has done interviews with minorities, women, farmers, and other ordinary citizens, who have contributed extraordinary stories reflecting the state's cultural and social heritage. Hill (2004) encourages oral history projects in high school courses. She demonstrates a lesson plan that encourages the study of local community history through interviews. By studying grassroots activism and the lived experiences of its participants, her high school students came to appreciate how African Americans worked to end Jim Crow laws in the 1950s.

[[Mark D. Naison]] (2005) describes the Bronx African American History Project (BAAHP), an oral community history project developed by the Bronx County Historical Society. Its goal was to document the histories of black working- and middle-class residents of the South Bronx neighborhood of [[Morrisania]] in New York City since the 1940s.<ref>Mark Naison, The Bronx African American History Project." ''OAH Newsletter'' 2005 33(3): 1, 14.</ref>

=== In Asia ===

==== Syria ====
Katharina Lange studied the tribal histories of [[Syria]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Lange |first1=Katharina |title=Producing (tribal) history: gendered representations of genealogy and warfare in northern Syria |journal=Nomadic Peoples |year=2014 |volume=18 |issue=2 |pages=36–38 |doi=10.3197/np.2014.180204}}</ref> The oral histories in this area could not be transposed into tangible, written form due to their positionalities, which Lange describes as "taking sides". The positionality of oral history could lead to conflict and tension. The tribal histories are typically narrated by men. While histories are also told by women, they are not accepted locally as "real history". Oral histories often detail the lives and feats of ancestors.

[[Genealogy]] is a prominent subject in the area. According to Lange, the oral historians often tell their own personalized genealogies to demonstrate their credibility, both in their social standing and their expertise in the field.

==== Palestine ====
Oral sources have established themselves as a vital, diverse, and adaptable source of information for the study of Palestinian history. Researchers benefited from the material contributions of oral studies to studies examining a wide range of topics, including folktales, [[food]] and [[clothing]], [[linguistics]] and [[toponymy]], [[genealogy]], agricultural activities, and [[Cult|religious cult]]. Furthermore, due to the dearth of extant [[Indigenous peoples|indigenous]] [[documentation]], oral histories continue to play a crucial role in Palestinian academics' continuous efforts to narrate significant moments in Palestine's history. Researchers engaged in a flurry of [[methodological]] [[Debate|discussions]] as Palestinian oral history research reached its zenith in the latter quarter of the 20th century. Some of these researchers published their recommendations in manuals specifically designed to standardize and inform oral history research within the Palestinian context.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Nur |first=Masalha |year=2008 |title=Remembering the Palestinian Nakba: Commemoration, Oral History and Narratives of Memory |url=https://www.euppublishing.com/doi/10.3366/E147494750800019X |journal=Holy Land Studies |language=en |volume=7 |issue=2 |pages=123–156 |doi=10.3366/E147494750800019X |issn=1474-9475}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Marom |first=Roy |date=1 January 2023 |title=The Abu Hameds of Mulabbis: an oral history of a Palestinian village depopulated in the Late Ottoman period |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13530194.2021.1934817 |journal=British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies |language=en |volume=50 |issue=1 |pages=87–106 |doi=10.1080/13530194.2021.1934817 |issn=1353-0194}}</ref>

Notable Palestinian oral history projects include the [[American University of Beirut]]'s Palestinian Oral History Archive ([https://www.aub.edu.lb/ifi/Pages/poha.aspx POHA]),<ref>{{Cite web |title=Narrating Palestine: The Palestinian Oral History Archive Project |url=https://www.palestine-studies.org/en/node/227700 |access-date=12 May 2023 |website=Institute for Palestine Studies |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=SLEIMAN |first1=HANA |last2=CHEBARO |first2=KAOUKAB |year=2018 |title=Narrating Palestine: The Palestinian Oral History Archive Project |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/26407673 |journal=Journal of Palestine Studies |volume=47 |issue=2 (186) |pages=63–76 |doi=10.1525/jps.2018.47.2.63 |issn=0377-919X |jstor=26407673}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Shehabeddine |first=Nabila |title=LibGuides: Al-Nakba: 1948 Palestinian Exodus: Oral History |url=https://aub.edu.lb.libguides.com/c.php?g=342715&p=2477020 |access-date=12 May 2023 |website=aub.edu.lb.libguides.com |language=en}}</ref> and the [https://worldhistorycommons.org/palestinian-oral-history-map Palestinian Oral History Map], [[Columbia University]]'s [http://palestine.mei.columbia.edu/oral-history-project Oral History Project] in [[New York City|New York]], [[Duke University]]'s Palestinian Oral History Project,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Palestinian Oral History Project, 2017–2020 – Archives & Manuscripts at Duke University Libraries |url=https://archives.lib.duke.edu/catalog/palestinianoralhistoryproject |access-date=12 May 2023 |website=David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library |language=en}}</ref> the [[Palestinian Rural History Project]] (PRHP), [https://www.palestineremembered.com/OralHistory/Interviews-Listing/Story1151.html Palestine Remembered], and [[Zochrot]].

==== China ====
The rise of oral history is a new trend in historical studies in China that began in the late twentieth century. Some oral historians, stress the collection of eyewitness accounts of the words and deeds of important historical figures and what really happened during those important historical events, which is similar to common practice in the west, while the others focus more on important people and event, asking important figures to describe the decision making and details of important historical events. In December 2004, the Chinese Association of Oral History Studies was established. The establishment of this institution is thought to signal that the field of oral history studies in China has finally moved into a new phase of organized development.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Zuo |first=Yuhe |title=Oral history studies in contemporary China |journal=Journal of Modern Chinese History |volume=9 |issue=2 |pages=259–274 |doi=10.1080/17535654.2015.1103049 |year=2015 |s2cid=147593017}}</ref>

==== Uzbekistan ====
From 2003 to 2004, Professors Marianne Kamp and Russell Zanca researched [[agricultural collectivization]] in [[Uzbekistan]] in part by using oral history methodology to fill in gaps in information missing from the Central State Archive of Uzbekistan.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Madaeva |first1=Shahnoza |year=2008 |title=Spiritual trauma of the Soviet reality in Uzbekistan, 1920s-1930s |journal=Anthropology of the Middle East |volume=3 |issue=1 |pages=44–45 |doi=10.3167/ame.2008.030105}}</ref> The goal of the project was to learn more about life in the 1920s and 1930s to study the impact of the Soviet Union's conquest. 20 interviews each were conducted in the [[Fergana valley]], [[Tashkent]], [[Bukhara]], [[Khorezm]], and [[Kashkadarya]] regions. Their interviews uncovered stories of famine and death that had not been widely known outside of local memory in the region.

==== Southeast Asia ====
While [[oral tradition]] is an integral part of ancient Southeast Asian history, oral history is a relatively recent development. Since the 1960s, oral history has been accorded increasing attention on institutional and individual levels, representing "history from above" and "history from below".<ref>{{cite book |last1=Loh |first1=Kah Seng |last2=Dobbs |first2=Stephen |last3=Koh |first3=Ernest |title=Oral history in Southeast Asia: Memories & Fragments |date=2013 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |location=Basingstoke |isbn=978-1-137-31167-2}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Morrison |first1=James |last2=Lim |first2=Patricia |last3=Kwa |first3=Chong Guan |title=Oral history in Southeast Asia: theory and method |date=1998 |publisher=National Archives of Singapore |location=Singapore |isbn=978-9813055773}}</ref>

In Oral History and Public Memories,<ref>{{cite book |last1=Hamilton |first1=Paula |last2=Shopes |first2=Linda |title=Oral history and public memories |date=2008 |publisher=Temple University Press |location=Philadelphia |isbn=978-1-59213-141-9}}</ref> Blackburn writes about oral history as a tool that was used "by political elites and state-run institutions to contribute to the goal of national building" in postcolonial Southeast Asian countries. Blackburn draws most of his examples of oral history as a vehicle for "history from above" from Malaysia and Singapore.

In terms of "history from below", various oral history initiatives are being undertaken in Cambodia in an effort to record lived experiences from the rule of the Khmer Rouge regime while survivors are still living. These initiative take advantage of crowdsourced history to uncover the silences imposed on the oppressed.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Kirk |first1=Mimi |title=Confronting the Cambodian Genocide Through Oral History |url=https://www.citylab.com/life/2016/10/confronting-the-cambodian-genocide-through-oral-history/505646/ |newspaper=Bloomberg.com |date=31 October 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Cambodia: Oral Histories and Biographies |url=http://www.mekong.net/cambodia/oral_hst.htm |website=mekong.net}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=BYU Cambodia Oral History Project – Cambodian Oral Histories |url=http://cambodianoralhistories.byu.edu/ |website=Cambodian Oral Histories}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Oral history project brings Cambodia's hidden history to life {{!}} EIFL|url=http://www.eifl.net/eifl-in-action/oral-history-project-brings-cambodias-hidden-history-life|website=www.eifl.net|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Testimonies |url=http://cambodianwomensoralhistory.com/ |website=Cambodian Women's Oral History Project: Life Stories of Survival under the Khmer Rouge Regime}}</ref>

==== South Asia ====
Two prominent and ongoing oral history projects out of South Asia stem from time periods of ethnic violence that were decades apart: 1947 and 1984.

[[The 1947 Partition Archive]] was founded in 2010 by Guneeta Singe Bhalla, a physicist in Berkeley, California, who began conducting and recording interviews "to collect and preserve the stories of those who lived through this tumultuous time, to make sure this great human tragedy isn't forgotten". [https://blogs.wsj.com/indiarealtime/2014/08/12/oral-history-project-races-to-record-voices-of-partition-survivors-in-india-and-pakistan/]

The Sikh Diaspora Project<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://thesikhdiaspora.com/ |title=Delayed Justice |website=Delayed Justice |language=en-US |access-date=3 May 2018}}</ref> was founded in 2014 by Brajesh Samarth, senior lecturer in Hindi-Urdu at Emory University in Atlanta, when he was a lecturer at Stanford University in California. The project focuses on interviews with members of the Sikh diaspora in the U.S. and Canada, including the many who migrated after the [[1984 anti-Sikh riots|1984 massacre of Sikhs]] in India.

=== In Oceania ===

==== Australia ====
[[Hazel de Berg]] began recording Australian writers, artists, musicians and others in the Arts community in 1957. She conducted nearly 1300 interviews. Together with the [[National Library of Australia]], she was a pioneer in the field in Australia, working together for twenty-seven years.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Artists' Portraits: selected and introduced by Geoffrey Dutton |publisher=National Library of Australia |year=1992 |isbn=0-642-10579-0 |location=Canberra |pages=1}}</ref>

In December 1997, in response to the first recommendation of the ''[[Bringing Them Home]]: Report of the National Inquiry into the Separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children from Their Families'' report, the [[Australian Government]] announced funding for the [[National Library of Australia|National Library]] to develop and manage an oral history project. The Bringing Them Home Oral History Project (1998–2002) collected and preserved the stories of [[Indigenous Australians]] and others involved in or affected by the child removals resulting in the [[Stolen Generations]]. Other contributors included [[missionaries]], police and government administrators.<ref>{{cite web |title=Bringing Them Home Oral History project |website=National Library of Australia |date=10 April 2012 |url=https://www.nla.gov.au/oral-history/bringing-them-home-oral-history-project |access-date=9 March 2020}}</ref>

There are now many organisations and projects all over Australia involved in recording oral histories from Australians of all ethnicities and in all walks of life.<ref>{{cite web |title=Oral History |website=Way Back When |date=16 January 2014 |url=https://www.waybackwhen.com.au/oral-history |access-date=9 March 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Oral History Australia |website=Oral History Australia |url=https://www.oralhistoryaustralia.org.au/ |access-date=9 March 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.acoh.com.au/ |website=Australian Centre for Oral History |title=Our Projects |access-date=9 March 2020}}</ref> Oral History Victoria support an annual Oral history award as part of the Victorian Community History Awards held annually to recognise the contributions made by Victorians in the preservation of the state's history, published during the previous year.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Oral History Awards |url=https://oralhistoryvictoria.org.au/ohv-awards/ |website=Oral History Victoria |language=en-AU |access-date=31 May 2020}}</ref>