Recording Oral History: A Guide for the Humanities and Social Sciences

by Valerie Raleigh Yow

In this second editon of Recording Oral History , Valerie Raleigh Yow builds on the foundation of her classic text. One of the most widely used and highly regarded textbooks ever published in the field, Yow's updated edition now includes new material on using the internet, an examination of the interactions between oral history and memory processes, and analysis of testimony and the interpretation of meanings in different contexts. Written in a clear, accessible style, this new volume offers historians, social scientists and other practitioners engaged in this difficult, rewarding work a scholarly and practical guide to the methods of oral history. It will interest researchers and students in a wide variety of disciplines including history, sociology, anthropology, education, psychology, social work and ethnographic methods.

Genres: History, Oral History, Nonfiction, Anthropology

416 pages, Paperback

First published February 14, 1994

Reviews

[Jeanne · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very helpful guide to conducting oral history and a very accessible to read.

[Claire Keck · Rating 4 out of 5]

Makes the oral historian in me very happy

[Brandon · Rating 4 out of 5]

I started this textbook as part of a graduate course on Oral History. We read all but one or two chapters and I never got around to finishing it until this week. The book is a fantastic resource for anyone interested in oral history, and I recommend it highly for that purpose. The chapters themselves are all quite good - light on theory and heavy on practical application (my preferred approach). There are plenty of specific examples which are not only relevant but deeply instructive.

The unsung hero of the book, though, is the rich set of documents at the end which provide a healthy springboard for oral historians. Templates, examples, and sample versions of forms which are crucial to effective interviews and documentation, these materials are hugely beneficial for new oral historians, especially those without a specific institutional connection and standard.

This textbook was one of the best parts of the entire course and I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to professionalize their work in recording family histories, interviewing people of note, or preserving their own experiences. Don't miss out on the goodies in the back.

[Tiffany · Rating 5 out of 5]

(Dang. I'm only on page 6, but Yow is giving SO much information about oral histories: their history, difficulties of memory, difficulties of interviewers interjecting themselves... She covers everything and literally starts At The Beginning.)

This is a really great book for anyone who has to do an interviewing project, whether it's for a museum, a school project, a company, local history, or the history of another community.

Yow starts at the beginning of the interviewing process: asking what the purpose of your project is, who you need to talk to, what you want to ask them about, and whether they can give you names of other people to talk about. (You thought the beginning of the interviewing process was when you showed up at the interviewee's house? Wrong!) She also discusses interviewing techniques and strategies, legal issues and ethics, fact-checking, and getting a range of voices for your project.

Other chapters include topics like how to choose a recorder, work-for-hire (ethics, warnings, scope of work), chapters for those specifically doing family histories or community (not necessarily geographic) histories, and where to store your final product (accessible archives!).

This is a great one-stop reference for all aspects of an oral history project. If you're spearheading an oral history project or the only one involved in one -- for a museum, community, school, or company -- I'd recommend reading this whole book; if you have others helping you, such as students or volunteers who will be less involved in the whole process, I'd recommend giving them portions to read, but not necessarily the whole thing. There's definitely something for everyone involved in an oral history/interviewing project!