the oral history project #2
jeprej
2017KENNEDYVIRTUALEYEWITNESSINTERVIEWQUESTIONNAIRE1.docxTHE KENNEDY ASSASSINATION INTERVIEW QUESTIONNAIRE
PART ONE: REQUIRED PERSONAL DATA TO INCLUDE IN THE INTERVIEW
This information frames the interview and gives future readers the “who, what, when and where” of your interview. This is vital information, so it is important to collect it at the beginning of the interview. Below is the required information you should collect. Although the live interviewee is not actually in the room with you, they will conveniently provide it to you in the interview video, and you will still need to provide me, the historical researcher, with that information so I will know who in the heck you were “talking” to. You, as the interviewer, will frame this information as if you are providing me with an official transcript of a live interview in the manner of a professional oral historian by filling in the underlined information in this manner:
“This is (your name) and I am interviewing (the interviewee’s name) on the Kennedy assassination as part of the 2017 Richland Kennedy Oral History Project. This interview took place on (give the date: month/day/year) at (give the location of where YOU are giving the interview, including city and state) . I am assisted by my colleagues (give the name—or names— of the persons at the 6th Floor Museum who actually did the original video interview). ”
Additional Personal Data About the Interviewee
1). Your interviewee’s date and place of birth
2). The actual physical location where the original video you are watching was filmed (most are done at the 6th Floor Museum)
PART TWO: THE INTERVIEW SUMMARY
In this section, you will give me a detailed summary of the main topics covered your chosen interviewee. These do not have to be in minute detail, but they must be comprehensive enough that when you relate the interviewee’s experiences and how they apply to the Kennedy era and the assassination to me, it is an authoritative enough way that I know you gave your interviewee’s entire historic testimony your undivided attention. It should be a minimum of 750 words in length, double-spaced.
PART THREE: YOUR FIVE INTERVIEW QUESTIONS
(note: see step #2 on the “Read Me First” document for the timetable on submitting your questions PRIOR to your interview)
Based on the information given to you in the summary that accompanies the interviewee you have chosen, compose a list of five questions that you would ask them if this were an actual face-to-face interview and you were an oral historian interviewing this particular individual. You will frame them as if they were an actual part of an “interview transcript.” Good interviewers try to ask what are called “open ended” questions, which means they can’t be answered with a simple “yes” or “no,” but usually require some explanation (and hence more information is given). Here are some examples:
“Describe to me what you did when you heard that the President was shot.”
“Was Kennedy still alive when you first examined him?”
“Describe what went through your mind when you saw the presidential motorcade pass by you”
Thus an interview transcript of your questions on your submitted assignment when you hand it in should look like this:
Question 1). (your name): Describe what went through your mind when you saw the presidential motorcade pass by you.
(the interviewee’s name): He said that Kennedy and his wife were waving and smiling. For an instant, he turned toward him and their eyes made contact and he smiled. It was “the most thrilling moment in my life.” A few minutes later Kennedy was shot. “I cannot describe the immense sorrow that fell over the city,” he said. He believes that Castro had something to do with it.
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