As author John W. Gardner put it, “History never looks like history when you are living through it.” But the stories of ordinary people and how they lived their lives is vital to understanding our collective past. That’s one reason the oral history movement has taken off in such a huge way during the past few decades: It’s a way of capturing community members’ memories for posterity. For full story click here.
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StoryCorps Goes Global
It's a big check for a big idea: $1 million, the annual TED prize awarded to a proposal that could change the world. The idea that won Dave Isay the TED grant was a phone app that puts his original big idea, StoryCorps, in the hands of anyone with a smartphone. For full story including an interview with Dave Isay, click here.
Phnom Penh Fall Remembered
To mark the 40th anniversary of the fall of Phnom Penh, an oral history project has collected survivors’ intimate memories of life under the Khmer Rouge. For full story click here.
Stephanie Boyle – Australian War Memorial
The Australian War Memorial has more than 7000 hours of recordings in its Oral History and Recorded Sound Collection. ABC's Narelle Graham interviews Stephanie Boyle – Senior Curator Photographs Film and Sound. For full story and download audio interview click here.
Oral History Master’s Program – Columbia
Being in Columbia’s Oral History Master’s Program (OHMA), I’ve read articles for class that describe how oral historians recorded and edited audio in the past. Every time I read one of those articles, I call my mom, who used to work editing tape in the 70s and 80s. “How did you do it?” I ask. “How did you edit with a razor, with no undo button? If it was still like that, I would never have entered this field.” She always laughs, saying they didn’t have that technology and didn’t know how easy it could be. For full story click here.
Singleton’s World War I Project
Council's community development officer, Cynthia Mulholland said the project is about giving Singleton residents the opportunity to tell their stories of how war impacted families and the community. For the full story click here.
Boston College Oral History Project
After years of ongoing legal issues, Boston College’s (BC) Belfast Project is again in the news. The Project, launched in 2001, is an oral history collection consisting of recorded interviews from participants in Northern Ireland’s 30-year civil conflict known as the Troubles. For full story click here.
Final season of “Mad Men”
Matthew Weiner, then an unfulfilled writer on CBS' Ted Danson sitcom Becker, spent his every off-hour doing research on the 1960s: what people wore, how they decorated their offices, what they ate and drank (and smoked, and drank some more). For full story click here.
Collecting Oral Histories
Linda Shopes is interviewed about her viewed on collecting oral histories and what will be done with them. Read the interview with Ms Shopes here.
The Oral History of Hollywood
See these videos of prominent Hollywood people interviewed by David Poland here.