Doing oral history Donald A. Ritchie

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Ritchie, Donald A., 1945-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Oral history.

Oral history--Methodology.

Historiography.

Physical Description:

xvi, 347 pages ; 24 cm

Edition:

Third edition.

Place of Publication:

New York, NY : Oxford University Press, 2014.

Summary:

"Doing Oral History is considered the premier guidebook to oral history, used by professional oral historians, public historians, archivists, and genealogists as a core text in college courses and throughout the public history community. Over the past decades, the development of digital audio and video recording technology has continued to alter the practice of oral history, making it even easier to produce quality recordings and to disseminate them on the Internet. This basic manual offers detailed advice on setting up an oral history project, conducting interviews, making video recordings, preserving oral history collections in archives and libraries, and teaching and presenting oral history. Using the existing Q&A format, the third edition asks new questions and augments previous answers with new material, particularly in these areas: 1. Technology: As before, the book avoids recommending specific equipment, but weighs the merits of the types of technology available for audio and video recording, transcription, preservation, and dissemination. Information about web sites is expanded, and more discussion is provided about how other oral history projects have posted their interviews online; 2. Teaching: The new edition addresses the use of oral history in online teaching. It also expands the discussion of Institutional Review Boards (IRBs) with the latest information about compliance issues; 3. Presentation: Once interviews have been conducted, there are many opportunities for creative presentation. There is much new material available on innovative forms of presentation developed over the last decade, including interpretive dance and other public performances; 4. Legal considerations: The recent Boston College case, in which the courts have ruled that Irish police should have access to sealed oral history transcripts, has re-focused attention on the problems of protecting donor restrictions. The new edition offers case studies from the past decade; 5. Theory and Memory: As a beginner's manual, Doing Oral History has not dealt extensively with theoretical issues, on the grounds that these emerge best from practice. But the third edition includes the latest thinking about memory and provides a sample of some of the theoretical issues surrounding oral sources. It will include examples of increased studies into catastrophe and trauma, and the special considerations these have generated for interviewers; 6. Internationalism: Perhaps the biggest development in the past decade has been the spreading of oral history around the world, facilitated in part by the International Oral History Association. New oral history projects have developed in areas that have undergone social and political upheavals, where the traditional archives reflect the old regimes, particularly in Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Asia, Africa, and Latin America. The third edition includes many more references to non-U.S. projects that will still be relevant to an American audience. These changes make the third edition of Doing Oral History an even more useful tool for beginners, teachers, archivists, and all those oral history managers who have inherited older collections that must be converted to the latest technology"-- Provided by publisher.

"Doing Oral History is considered the premier guidebook to oral history, used by professional oral historians, public historians, archivists, and genealogists as a core text in college courses and throughout the public history community. The recent development of digital audio and video recording technology has continued to alter the practice of oral history, making it even easier to produce and disseminate quality recordings. At the same time, digital technology has complicated the preservation of the recordings, past and present. This basic manual offers detailed advice for setting up an oral history project, conducting interviews and using oral history for research, making video recordings, preserving oral history collections in archives and libraries, and teaching and presenting oral history"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Introduction and Acknowledgments

1. An Oral History of Our Time

Memory and Oral History

Public History and Oral History

2. Setting Up An Oral History Project

Funding and Staffing

Equipment

Processing

Legal Concerns

Archiving and the Internet

3. Conducting Interviews

Preparing for the Interview

Setting up the Interview

Conducting the Interview

Concluding the Interview

4. Using Oral History for Research

Oral Evidence

Theory

Publishing Oral History

5. Videotaping Oral History

Setting and Equipment

Processing and Preserving Video Recordings

Video Documentaries, Exhibits, and the Internet

6. Preserving Oral History in Archives and Libraries

Managing Oral History Collections

Sound Recordings

Digital Oral Archives

Donated Interviews

Legal Considerations

Public Outreach

7. Teaching Oral History

Oral History in Elementary and Secondary Schools

Oral History in Undergraduate and Graduate Education

Institutional Review Boards

8. Presenting Oral History

Oral History Web Sites

Community History

Family Interviewing

Therapeutic Uses of Oral History

Museum Exhibits

Radio and Television

Performance

Appendix 1: Best Practices of the Oral History Association.

Appendix 2: Sample Legal Release Forms

Internet Resources.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780199329335 (paperback : alkaline paper)

0199329338 (paperback : alkaline paper)

9780199395194 (cloth : alkaline paper)

0199395195 (cloth : alkaline paper)

9780199329342 (cloth : alkaline paper)

0199329346 (cloth : alkaline paper)

OCLC:

888165186