American culture
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AMST101_Lecture_Oralhistory.pptx
Oral History
Historical Narratives Recounted by actual People
Oral history is obviously the oldest type of historical inquiry, predating the written word, but it is also one of the most modern, initiated with tape recorders in the 1940s.
oral history is the systematic collection of living people's testimony about their own experiences.
Forms of Oral History:
Speeches
Interviews
Formal and informal Conversations
Strengths of Oral History:
Good interviews provide background information, personal insights, emotion, or anecdotes rarely found in official documents.
Oral history is able to capture and preserve information that may not otherwise be saved.
Can correct stereotypical images of lifeways and people
Foster appreciation for little-known or rapidly vanishing ways of life
Verify the historicity of events which cannot be determined by traditional methods of historical research
Weaknesses of oral history (most of oral history's deficiencies are attributable to human faults):
Interviews contain personal biases (Like all historical sources can)
Interviewees may also be unwilling to honestly discuss mistakes or errors even years after the fact.
Some interviewees may be unable to provide accurate accounts because of the limitations of human memory. Memory is fallible.
This is a special concern when recounting traumatic events or actions that took place years before. As time increases between an experience and its recounting, individuals tend to condense the sequence of events and omit critical actions and judgments.
Although historians should consider the elapsed time when weighing oral history materials, a long duration does not automatically diminish the value of an interview. An individual who may not remember events that took place yesterday or last week often can recount in detail events that took place twenty or thirty years ago.
