Research Guides: Oral Histories: Oral History

Tips for a Successful Oral History Interview

Interested in submitting an oral history to the Humboldt in the Time of COVID Project? Below are some tips for a successful oral history interview. More information about submitting material can be found on this Humboldt in the Time of COVID research guide or the digital repository for the project. The Oral History Association also has a list of remote interviewing resources.

Have technology ready. Practice using it beforehand.
Write down questions and think about the order you will ask the questions.
- It is helpful to start with the easy and fun questions and save the harder questions for later in the interview.
- Be prepared to re-state or rephrase a question to get a more complete answer from the interviewee.
Research your topic and the person you are interviewing.
Start the interview by stating the date, time, your name, and the name of the person(s) being interviewed so it is recorded at the beginning of your oral history.
During the interview take your time asking questions. Try to allow the interviewee to pause and collect their thoughts.
Try not to interrupt the interviewee as they answer questions. Be comfortable in silence and pauses.
Be yourself during the interview. Be personable. It will help put the interviewee at ease.
Make sure to complete an interview release form at the beginning or end of your interview. You can use this form as a template.
Follow HSU COVID safety guidelines.

To get started, find an oral history and listen to it. Some examples can be found on the HSU Library Oral History Research Guide. What makes it a successful interview? What does not work?

Practical Advice for Oral Histories

Remote Interviewing Resources
from the Oral History Association
Baylor University Institute for Oral History
The Institute for Oral History has recorded and preserved oral histories since 1970, earning along the way a strong reputation for multidisciplinary outreach to both academic scholars and community historians by providing professional leadership, educational tools, and research opportunities.
Tips For Interviewers
Interview advice from the Oral History Center.
Oral History Association
Principles and best practices for Oral History
Oral History in the Digital Age
The Smithsonian Folklife & Oral History Interviewing Guide

Select Oral Histories

Oral History Center
Formerly known as the Regional Oral History Office, it was established in 1954 at UC Berkeley to conduct interviews with leading citizens of the West. In 2014 it became the Oral History Center of The Bancroft Library. Over the decades, they have conducted 4,000 interviews on almost every topic imaginable. The vast majority of these interviews have been transcribed and made available online.
California Revealed
In partnership with 250 libraries, archives and museums, the California Preservation Program provides digitization, preservation and access services for California's historic archival materials, including audiovisual recordings and oral histories.
Densho Digital Archive
The Densho Digital Archive holds a wealth of visual history interviews and other materials that broadly document the Japanese American experience.
Duke Collection of American Indian Oral History
The Duke Collection of American Indian Oral History online provides access to typescripts of interviews (1967 -1972) conducted with hundreds of Indians in Oklahoma regarding the histories and cultures of their respective nations and tribes.
Breath of Life: Revitalizing California's Native Languages Through Archives
Through interviews with AICLS founders, Breath of Life Workshop participants, and University of California, Berkeley, linguists and archivists, this study uncovers the role archivists play in the Breath of Life Workshops and in the care of Native language collections more generally.
After the Day of Infamy
Interviews Following the Attack on Pearl Harbor presents approximately twelve hours of opinions recorded in the days and months following the bombing of Pearl Harbor from more than two hundred individuals in cities and towns across the United States.
American Life Histories: Manuscripts from the Federal Writers' Project, 1936-1940
This collection of life histories consists of approximately 2,900 documents, compiled and transcribed by more than 300 writers from 24 states, working on the Folklore Project of the Federal Writers’ Project, a New Deal jobs program that was part of the U.S. Works Progress (later Work Projects) Administration (WPA) from 1936 to 1940. Typically 2,000-15,000 words in length, the documents vary in form from narratives to dialogues to reports to case histories.
KZSU Project South Interviews
This collection contains transcribed meetings and interviews with Civil Rights workers in the South recorded by several Stanford students affiliated with the campus radio station KZSU during the summer of 1965.
Nevada Test Site Oral History Project
September 11, 2001, Documentary Project
Rutgers Oral History Archives
Veterans History Project
The Veterans History Project of the American Folklife Center collects, preserves, and makes accessible the personal accounts of American war veterans so that future generations may hear directly from veterans and better understand the realities of war.
Voices of Feminism Oral History Project
Oral history transcripts of more than 50 "labor, peace, and anti-racism activists; artists and writers; lesbian rights advocates; grassroots anti-violence and anti-poverty organizers; and women of color reproductive justice leaders."
Voice/Vision Holocaust Survivor Oral History Archive
StoryCorps
StoryCorps’ mission is to provide people of all backgrounds and beliefs with the opportunity to record, share and preserve the stories of our lives

Humboldt County Oral Histories

Indigenous Living Biographies Collection
This collection contains interviews from living indigenous community members from the Humboldt region. The oral histories provide a lived experience and insight to the cultures and history represented in the video series. Interviewees are from the Yurok, Wiyot, Karuk, Tolowa, and Hupa tribes.
Humboldt State University - California Light and Sound
Recently digitized oral histories in this collection include the Pacific Trawling Collection, Elta Cartwright interview, and University histories.
Ferndale Museum
Four oral histories related to Humboldt County.
Humboldt Digital Scholar
The main search box on the upper right searches either all of HDS or only the Collection you are in, depending upon the options you set. The list you see under any Collection is just the most recent five submissions NOT the entire Collection, so use the search function or the discovery facets on the right side.
Humboldt State University Oral History Project, Spring 2004
Interviews with longstanding members of departments within what is now the College of Natural Resources and Sciences. In addition to recording and preserving a significant element of HSU's history, the interviews were also to be used to augment the Robert A. Paselk Scientific Instrument Museum.
We call this home : oral histories of Southern Humboldt, 1900-1964
Project sponsored by the Garberville Rotary Club; interviews conducted by students of the Southern Humboldt Unified School District.

Introductory Reading

Catching Stories by Donna M. DeBlasio; Charles F. Ganzert; David H. Mould; Stephen H. Paschen; Howard L. Sacks; Donna Marie DeBlasio
ISBN: 9780804011167
Publication Date: 2009
Curating Oral Histories by Nancy MacKay
ISBN: 9781598740578
Publication Date: 2006
Doing Oral History by Donald A. Ritchie
Call Number: D16.14 .R57 2003
ISBN: 0195154339
Publication Date: 2003
The Voice of the Past by Paul Thompson
ISBN: 9780192893178
Publication Date: 2000-05-25

Journals

Oral History
This is the Journal of the Oral History Society. Back issues of the journal are available through JSTOR. Coverage: 1972-2013
Oral History Forum
Oral History Forum d’histoire orale is the online journal of the Canadian Oral History Association. It was was published from 1975-2018. The journal's archive is available online.
The Oral History Review
The official publication of the Oral History Association since 1973, explores the recording, transcribing, and preserving of conversations with people who have participated in important political, cultural, and economic social developments in modern times. Back issues of the journal are available through JSTOR. Coverage: 1973-2009.

Oral History Funding

Southwest Oral History Association scholarships