A Primer for Teaching Oral History
in a Community College Classroom
Peter J. Myers, Associate Professor of History
Palo Alto College - San Antonio, Texas
Spring 2004 (Revised: Fall 2008)
Learning about the past through the interview process is unique. You get a better idea of what day-to-day life was like. Small details were brought up that would never make it into a textbook. I think the best way to learn is to incorporate individual interviews into an overall picture of what was happening at that time.
-Bryan Moczygemba
Palo Alto College Student after interviewing his 79 year-old grandparent
WHY TEACH ORAL HISTORY?
Common folk have a history and this history must be recorded.
That's my great-aunt! exclaimed one of my students on the first day of class, when I showed the oral history project of Mildred Bernhardt. She died last year. Our family was so happy that my cousin Traci took the time to interview Aunt Mildred.
My greatest joy as a teacher is being that person who "made them" interview a loved one. Nothing has been more rewarding in my twenty years of community college teaching than having students do Oral History. I have learned as much from my students and their interviewees as they have learned from me. In fact, I've probably learned more. All the history omitted from the traditional textbooks is alive and well when students go beyond the large sweep of the past. From the mother who participated in the Crystal City High School walkout to the grandmother who went to Japan to visit her wounded son, shot during the Tet offensive, each oral history weaves another patch into the American tapestry.
In this paper, I will share with others- particularly my colleagues and other community college history teachers- on how to teach Oral History to their students. This primer is both an introduction to doing Oral History, and a retrospective on what is effective in teaching it. The community college history teacher must recognize that in order to teach oral history effectively, one must teach a process. Unlike our colleagues who teach in such fields as journalism and speech, history teachers- for the most part- teach a product. Oral History is both a process and a product. As history teachers, we should learn to loosen our grip on the bully pulpit. It's not an easy task. Years ago a student gave me a coffee mug, stating- "Help! I'm Talking and I Can't Shut Up!" I got the message. Oral history is more democratic- others are involved in teaching about the past. Grandparents, neighbors, and church ladies are brought into the process in teaching a younger generation.
Oral history offers a solution to the dilemma we face when students arrive in our classroom with the attitude that history is the most irrelevant subject they took in high school. Being taught to memorize names and dates in order to pass the state-mandated exam does not help make the course any more exciting. At community colleges, we are indeed fortunate that there is no such test.
Teaching oral history provides a path to the past that few students have ever ventured to trod. It's the road less traveled. One of my models for teaching oral history comes from the website: What Did You Do in The War Grandma? Students in the Honors English Program at South Kingstown High School created this oral history of Rhode Island women during World War II. These ninth graders were taught by Ms. Linda P. Wood, who wrote in the website's introduction: if history has any lessons for us to learn, they will be learned from the personal side of the information as well as the facts. These students will not forget the lessons they have learned in (this) project. And isn't that what we want our students to learn? -To learn the stories of the past. Those who only study history from the top down have too often neglected such stories.
Graduate school introduced me to the field of social history. Knowing about the past from "the bottom up" is just as relevant as knowing about the lifestyles of the rich and famous. Remember all of those presidential portraits that surrounded your social studies classroom? I once asked a high school history teacher if she taught about women to her students. With a broad smile, she gleamed- I teach them all of the First Ladies. Rutherford B. Hayes's wife is my favorite. She served nothing stronger than lemonade in the White House and was called "Lemonade Lucy."
Such anecdotal history has its place for introducing the subject matter but can the student make the connection from that temperate first lady to the 97 year old great-grandmother, who was a bootlegger in the early part of the twentieth century without doing oral history?
My great-grandma was a bootlegger here in San Antonio. She met her husband at a friend's speakeasy (Alice's) down off Commerce Street, "somewhere before the Southern Pacific Depot."
They lived on Chestnut Street at the time, where she had a trap door in the house that led under the large porch - this is where they made beer. She sold beer wholesale, "I didn't have people come to my house." My grandma remembers going to the speakeasies with my great-grandma. She didn't end up rich, though, because she shared her money with the neighborhood: "people everywhere needed money and had little ones to feed." The only thing is, she still gets worried about people knowing. She's afraid the cops are gonna pick her up! She is worried about people knowing she personally bootlegged, especially since her youngest is a policeman." -Aimie Abrams, Palo Alto College student (Spring 2004)
Students, like Aimie, are amazed by the stories told by their relatives. Would the student take the time to formally interview an older relative, neighbor, or friend if not assigned to do so by a teacher? Probably not. Since I wish I had taken the time to interview my grandparents, I don't want my students to have missed such opportunities. Consider why you became a history teacher. How did you learn about the past? For me, it was through the stories of my paternal grandfather Edward Mackey Myers II (1900-1979). Although formally trained as a linotype operator, he couldn't fool me; he was a history teacher. It seemed as if he lived through all of American history. He told me stories about my great-great grandfathers who fought at the Battle of Gettysburg, what life was like during the Great Depression (Herbert Hoover he called "Old Horse Collar") and he even recited Longfellow's poem The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere. I regret never having formally interviewed him. He died when I was a sophomore in college. In those days, I was doing research on the presidency of James Garfield and other "important people." Not until my junior year when I was introduced to Studs Terkel's Hard Times: An Oral History of the Great Depression, did I realize how history could be learned through personal stories. Reading those edited interviews whet my appetite to want to read and HEAR more about the past by those who lived in it. And I wanted my students to have a desire to pursue history on a road they had never traveled before.
INTRODUCING ORAL HISTORY TO THE STUDENTS
When an old man dies, a library burns down.
-African Proverb
I begin the oral history project by sharing previous students' oral histories, like Traci Brister's interview of Mildred Bernhardt, with my current students. It is the most effective tool in making the connection to their own loved ones. I select from the best oral histories I've collected including Megan Jopling's interview with her grandfather Daniel Swann. Megan Jopling had little knowledge about her family's involvement in World War II. Not until she interviewed her grandfather, who came of age in the 1940's, did Megan realize that the war had a greater effect on her family's past than she ever knew. In the spring of 2002, Megan and her grandfather discussed that past.
What are some of the things that you most remember that you believe was a result of the war or its effect on your life? Did it change things for you in any way?
Oh yes. Everything changed and in a hurry, too. Until the war started, I didn't think much about my situation. Things were each day the way they had been the day before, on back as far as I could remember. My Dad was a career soldier. We had lived in North Carolina all my life where he was stationed at Fort Bragg but had moved to Oklahoma sometime, probably in 1940 when he was transferred to Fort Sill. Then in '41 when Pearl Harbor happened, he was immediately shipped out. I remember the night before he left; the Christmas tree was still up. I remember us all sitting on the sofa together. No one said anything about his leaving or goodbye or anything, but I remember it being a different time for us. And then the next day he was gone. Everything from that time on was different.
How? In what way? I know your dad was gone. But, what else changed?
First of all, we moved back to Carolina where all our family lived. I went to live with my mother's sister, my sister and I. She was about eighteen months old. I was eight years old. My brother joined the navy. He was only fifteen. And my mother went to Ohio to work in some kind of war plant. That was about it for our family. My mother and father divorced sometime later. My sister and I just stayed on there with my aunt's family.
Didn't you ever hear from your parents?
Oh sure, they wrote from time to time. My mother and father did. We never heard from my brother until after the war was over and he just showed up one day. I guess we all just figured he'd been killed, or at least I did. Maybe the others knew better. I don't remember them ever saying that they knew anything about him.
Were you ever afraid because of the war?
Sure. I wasn't afraid that the Germans or Japs were going to kill me or anything, not that I remember. But I was afraid that something might happen to my dad or brother. Mostly I was worried about our family getting back together. I wanted my dad to come on home and go and get my mom and get us all back together like before.
Your dad did come home though. He wasn't killed or anything.
That's true. He came home after the war was over. But just for a few weeks and then he went back to serve with the occupying forces in Germany. But as far as our family was concerned, that all was over the night he left for the war.
Here we have history in the raw; history uncensored by textbook editors. A student recognizes that a war, which apparently had no casualties for her family, did cause casualties. A grandfather sheds new light on a topic, which sparks an epiphany for his granddaughter. A topic that still resonates with him and will now resonate with her too. So how do we get to that point, where students can mine such nuggets from the past?
On the first day of class, I have the students interview each other. It's a nice icebreaker especially at Palo Alto College where all students are commuters. Few freshmen know more than a handful of their classmates. I stipulate that no student can interview a person they knew previously before entering the class. (When two are wearing identical high school letter jackets separate them immediately.) If there are an odd number of students in the class, then include yourself in the interview process. I allow them to take 5-10 minutes to write down questions and then they interview each other. The first student asks questions of his/her classmate; once that interview is over they reverse positions and the second student interviews the first one. For the next class period, they share a one page typed biography with the person they interviewed. Each interviewee makes the appropriate corrections with a pen/pencil and returns the paper to the interviewer. I collect all papers. I read but don't grade these papers; I just give the students credit for completing the assignment.
PREPARATION FOR INTERVIEWING A LOVED ONE
How can you make the past come alive? Who is a storyteller in your family that can tell you things that you had no idea ever happened to her? Have you ever taken the time to ask questions about his or her past? Where s/he lived? What s/he did? What events in his/her life shaped his/her very existence? These are the questions I ask students as we begin the second week of class. By now, each student is required to select a person over the age of fifty to interview. The interviewee must agree to be recorded (audiotaped &/or videotaped) and allow the interview to be shared with the class, future Palo Alto students, and be posted on the Internet.
Since most students have never formally interviewed anyone before, I require that their oral history focus on a particular era (e.g. Great Depression) or topic (e.g. immigration). Oral history subjects are delineated by particular era including the Great Depression, World War II, Civil Rights or life during the Cold War including military service in Korea, Vietnam, or Central America. Some students often want to interview a person on her/his entire life but I discourage them from doing so. Being a novice to oral history, the student should not turn this project into an albatross. The community college student is often a full-time student, full-time worker, and even a full-time parent. They have enough on their plate without getting bogged down on a project which requires more than the minimum of three meetings with the interviewee, researching the topic before the formal interview, and transcribing the interview.
In San Antonio like many other American cities, there are many first generation immigrants whose stories are fascinating. I encourage students to ask immigrant relatives- why did you leave your nation of birth and come to America? What factors contributed to you emigrating? What obstacles did you face in becoming an American? I remind students that language should not be a barrier for interviewing a person. For instance, the oral history can be conducted in Spanish.
I ask the students every semester: What did your grandparents do for a living? Are you in college to follow them in their career path? Are you training for a job as a railroad employee, telegraph operator, cobbler, blacksmith, watchmaker, switchboard operator, milkman, glovecutter or a pecan sheller? I have yet to have a student answer in the affirmative. All of those jobs are rapidly becoming (or have become) vanishing occupations. Millions of our elders today earned their living in occupations that don't exist anymore. Many retired individuals, who worked those jobs, live among us in the community. They have a story to tell us about a bygone era of work. Some students decide to interview a butcher, a baker, or a candlestick maker. After listening to New York Works on NPR's Radio Diaries in 2002, which documented the lives of those performing vanishing occupations such as a seltzer man and a bra saleswoman, I recognized the need to have students' document their elders' occupational endeavors.
An insightful exercise is to have the class collectively list the occupations of their grandparents. Many don't even know the jobs of their grandparents, especially their grandfathers'. (Most students' grandmothers were primarily homemakers but that is rapidly changing.) From that list, students have another option for their oral history focus- vanishing occupations. Palo Alto College student Ginger Owczarzak interviewed her 86 year-old grandfather Newman Keys in 2002 and was surprised to learn about one of his jobs during the Great Depression:
My grandfather did not seem to enjoy his time as a manual pinsetter. This is mainly because it was a dangerous job. Sitting up in the seat at the end of the alley, he constantly worried about being hit by one of the heavy pins. He was never hurt on the job, but he left the bowling alley after a short time due to his fear of the pins. I learned a lot about pinsetters from my grandfather. Being a child of technology, I never thought about this job being done manually.
Bowling for me has always included a machine setting the pins and returning the ball. Therefore, it was difficult for me to picture a person sitting up there doing this. However, since my grandfather is such a great narrator, he quickly painted a picture that made it easy for me to envision manual pinsetters. I learned that pinsetters not only had a dangerous job, but also a repetitive one.
Not all students have the opportunity to interview a loved one. Many a grandparent lives far away or is deceased. Some students are be estranged from certain family members. These are the students that often need the most encouragement. Whatever the reason why grandpa can't be interviewed, students must be given different options in finding a potential interviewee. I ask if they belong to a church with "balding or wrinkled" members or if they know older neighbors on the block. Maria Hernandez freely admitted in her oral history introduction: For the past nine years, Mr. Zacarias Pena has been my neighbor; we had never conversed with each other until this interview. Maria later reflected: Interviewing Mr. Pena has been wonderful. He opened the door of his home, but also the door of his heart so that we may come in and know the things he went through in his early years. Visiting a nursing home, too, is always an insightful experience; there is never a lack of people willing to share their memories. One student said spending an afternoon at an assisted living facility was the best thing he did all semester.
Once the student has decided whom s/he will interview, the perspective interviewee must be consulted on the topic options available. The student and interviewee must set a time and place for the initial interview. The student should tape-record this initial conversation, so they both will feel more comfortable with that mechanical device at their next meeting. From that first meeting, the student gathers basic biographical information including the interviewee's full name (maiden surname for women too), date of birth, names of parents, number of siblings, where born and raised, places lived, educational level achieved, occupations performed, if married- full name of spouse, when and where married, number of children, and other items of interest regarding religious and political affiliation, socio-economic status, military service, hobbies, and the interviewee's connection to the topic and to the student. It's required that students submit this biographical information as a one-page typed paper by the beginning of the third week. Here is a fine example of an initial interview biography under the topic of Immigration:
Annette Yvonne Dekazos Charvat Constandine was born in Merkovouni, Greece- a village just outside the town of Tripoli on May 20, 1952 to Tasso and Maria Dekazos. She has two younger brothers: Nick and Dino. She received the opportunity to come to the United States to live with Frank and Theodora Charvat of Atlanta, Georgia (her aunt and uncle). Her parents naturally wanted her to have the chance for better life than she could ever have back in her village. So she immigrated to the United States in 1962 and was adopted by the Charvats (and gained another brother, James). She grew up in Atlanta and received her master's in Nursing from Emory University's Woodruff School of Nursing in Atlanta. In her lifetime, she has worked in retail sales, labor and delivery, psychiatric mental health, field nursing, was a director of nurses, and finally is now a wonderful mother. She married Louis George Constandine on June 27, 1980 at the Greek Orthodox Cathedral of the Annunciation in Atlanta, and together they had one child (me), Patricia Ann Constandine. She follows the Greek Orthodox faith and her hobbies include her family, cooking, gardening, music, and traveling.
(Patricia Constandine- Palo Alto College- May 2003)
The student submits this biographical paper to both a classmate and me. Oral History allows students to work collaboratively. In this way, they can receive suggestions from more than just the instructor. The biographical paper should provide enough insight on the interviewee that the student will have a good idea on possible topics to discuss with him/her. You'll know later if a student is in trouble when she interviews a person about a topic that occurred after the interviewee was born. Such was the case a few years ago when one student wanted to interview her grandmother about growing up during World War II. The problem was that her grandma was born in 1942 and she had no personal recollections whatsoever of the era since she was only three when the war ended. The student actually asked her grandmother to describe what she remembered about the bombing of Pearl Harbor. An event that occurred the year before the grandmother was born! The grandmother was kind and answered the question through the stories she heard from her older brothers.
RESEARCH BEFORE DOING THE ORAL HISTORY
What can be learned from students who are not prepared to conduct an interview? First, each student must research the topic thoroughly before conducting the interview. The student must read the specific chapter in the history textbook as it relates to his/her chosen topic. Even if that chapter is not discussed until two months hence, students must be prepared to conduct the interview since it will occur early in the semester. (Reading the textbook chapter also allows for the students to have a body of knowledge from which they can create interview questions.)
The student whose interviewee focuses on the Great Depression must know that the initials NRA most likely stood for National Recovery Act rather than the National Rifle Association. One under-prepared student once asked his grandfather if he was drafted into the Cold War. He assumed that all twentieth century American "wars" must have had selective service drafts. Some students don't make such historical errors in conducting their interviews but miss golden opportunities to record a story that's begging to be heard. One young undergraduate did not pursue more in depth questions of her grandmother who grew up in a lighthouse on Florida's gulf coast, while another student ignored dealing with his grandfather's two year CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps) employment. Both topics were passed over all too briefly.
After the students submit their biographical papers, the whole class meets in the library to peruse the materials that relate to their perspective interview topic. They are required to select a minimum of one book that is relevant to the subject. I ask that they each show me the book that they have selected. I do not require that they read the entire book but I want them to familiarize themselves with the topic before conducting the interview. From the book, it's required that each student type a one-page paper entitled: What I learned about (the topic) from (the title of book) and create an additional list of topic questions. Besides the book/s they select, I require that they find a minimum of four websites that relates to their topic. The students must submit an annotated bibliography with a minimum of their five sources.
Here is an example of an annotated website entry that Palo Alto College student Wade Beutnagel created for an interview he conducted with his seventy-nine year old neighbor Jerome Herbert Preiss- a navy pilot during World War II:
Georgia Historical Society, The University of Georgia, U.S. Navy Supply Corps School. U.S. Navy Pre-Flight School Historical Marker. http://www.cviog.uga.edu/Projects/gainfo/gahistmarkers/navypreflighthistmarker.htm . This site gives a brief history and explanation of the Navy Pre-flight School that was at the University of Georgia between 1942 and 1945. Mr. Preiss attended this Navy Pre-flight school before going overseas during World War II.
From these materials, the students are prepared to create questions for their forthcoming interview. They each create a minimum of twenty questions relevant to the interview topic. Questions should be open-ended questions. "How" and "Why" questions usually yield the richest raw material for the interview. The student must have two typed copies of their questions- one for me and one to share with classmates. Both offer suggestions to make their questions- less vague (What was America like during the Vietnam War?), less verbose (How did the Great Depression effect prices after the nation's unemployment rate rose and the Dust Bowl displaced Okies to California, Oregon, and Washington?), and not leading (Didn't everybody love Eleanor Roosevelt?). These questions provide an outline for the interview. I remind them that all of their questions will probably not all be asked and that some questions will be created as the interview is conducted. Follow up questions cannot be created beforehand!
Since this oral history project has been going for six years, there are over two-hundred interviews on the Palo Alto College
Interactive History website. Students are now required to read, analyze, and evaluate a minimum of three previous projects in their chosen subject area. They submit a paper that focuses on these interviews' strengths and weaknesses, plus as an added bonus they can "borrow" questions to ask during their upcoming interview.
CONDUCTING A PRELIMINARY INTERVIEW
As the time rapidly approaches to conduct the interview, students might become nervous at doing the oral history with a person, who is considerably older and perhaps wiser (at least on the subject matter). To help alleviate such fears, I have the students interview a fellow student about immigration. In past semesters, I have had a variety of students who emigrated from Costa Rica, Mexico, the Philippines, and Venezuela to address the class. Fortunately, there always is an immigrant in my classroom who has vivid recollections of their home country. These students answer questions from their classmates about the immigrant experience. I inform the students about the interview the class period before, so they can do some minor research on the topic and have time to create questions.
For this talk/interview, a tape recorder is used if permission is received from the immigrant student. Each student attempts to ask at least one question. I assign at least three students to write down each question verbatim as it's asked. (They need not write down the response.) When the class period ends, we thank the student for sharing her/his stories and have her/him sign the Interview Agreement Release Form. The following class period, my three question transcribers read off the questions. As a class, we critique the strengths and weaknesses of each question… and offer suggestions to improve the questions. Students then will have another class period to revise their own questions that they have already created for their upcoming oral history interview.
CONDUCTING THE ORAL HISTORY
By this point in the semester a month has elapsed- each student has interviewed a classmate, interviewed a guest speaker and and/or me, and conducted a pre-interview with their chosen person. The logistics for conducting the oral history interview must be thoroughly discussed before the student embarks to grandma's house. During this session, we discuss the oral history checklist. The student is presented with a checklist of the following items required to conduct the formal interview:
- A tape recorder with AC/DC adaptation (&/or a video-recorder)
- An extension cord
- A set of new back-up batteries
- High quality, new cassette &/or video tapes and labels (60 minutes cassette tapes are recommended.)
- A list of questions
- A notepad and pens
- The Interview Agreement Release Form
- Any photographs and/or documents collected from the interviewee
- A watch
- A quiet place to conduct it
The oral history should take place where the interviewee feels most comfortable. The interviewee's home is usually the best choice. Sitting in her/his favorite chair or at the dining room table are two prime locations. Encourage the student to rid the house of any distractions including other people and minimize background noise (e.g. shutting off the television and radio, and staying clear of noisy air conditioners). I tell the class that when I interviewed my father, I bought movie tickets for the rest of the family to see "Lord of the Rings." That cleared out his house for over three hours!
All interviews must to be tape and/or video-recorded. (All tapes must include an introduction stating: the student and interviewee' names, the date, the place of the interview, and the general subject of the interview.) Some students may say that they don't have any recording devices. If such is the case, the Learning Resources Center/library has equipment that they can borrow. Experiment with the recording device before using it. Make sure that it works! All tapes are to be labeled with the names of the interviewee and interviewer (student), date of interview, location, and interview topic.
Oral history is about the stories of the person being interviewed. The student is attempting to glean the best stories of the past s/he can. In order to do so, the student must recognize that it's imperative to keep the focus on the interviewee's stories and her/his interpretation of the past. Before interviewing the elder person, the student should have a solid idea of the interview's person. Since the interviewee and interviewer have decided previously what the oral history focus will be on, stick to that topic. It's not always easy to do so but the student has much control in the interview process by the questions s/he asks and how s/he directs the discussion.
A typical recording session may last between one to two hours. Do not rush the narrator; do not ask painful questions immediately; avoid tactless interruptions to correct or expand what has been said; and try not to talk more than absolutely necessary. You can always return for another session. Scholars using oral history material realize that the narrator's memory may be imperfect or the account biased. Encourage an honest, spontaneous memoir; no one should expect an oral history interview to be as well-organized as a book or an article. Note taking may encourage the narrator.
(Source: Doing Oral History- L. Dale Patterson, Archivist The General Commission on Archives and History for The United Methodist Church.)
The good interview is more monologue than dialogue. The oral history is a primary source record of the interviewee not the interviewer. As much as the student may sometimes disagree with interviewee's interpretation of the past, this is not the time to interject his/her thoughts on to the tape. The oral history tape should capture the words and often raw emotions of the interviewee. The student may not appreciate what the interviewee has to say but it's not the student's story. (I caution students not to share his/her oral history questions before conducting the interview. One should not be given the opportunity to rehearse the responses. The subsequent interview would lose its spontaneity.)
When the interview is over, the student must immediately punch out the "tabs" on the cassette or videotape. This ensures that what has been recorded cannot be erased. Both the interviewer and the interviewee sign the The Interview Agreement Release Form. It is necessary that this form is signed or else the oral history cannot legally be shared with others in the future. Some interviewees may have some trepidation about signing the document. If the student explains the significance of preserving and sharing the interviewee's stories with others, few refuse to sign it. All interviewers end the session by thanking the interviewees for sharing their time and stories.
TRANSCRIBING THE ORAL HISTORY
Once the interview has been conducted, students are to transcribe the interview. Typing the transcription is the most time consuming part of the project and few spend the appropriate amount of time to do a thorough job… at least for the rough draft. The transcription must include both the questions asked by the student interviewer and the interviewee responses that are pertinent to the subject topic. When an interviewee's strays from the topic, I advise the students to avoid including those comments in the transcription.
The following is a general guideline for transcribing the interview:
When editing your interviewee's words, remember that clarity is the main objective of the task. If the grammar is blatantly misused and makes your subject look unintelligent or fatuous, you should correct the mistakes; if the grammar misusage is slight, and if your correcting it might result in disrupting the rhythm and flow of the quotation, you should leave the statement intact. Colorful language and phrasing are personality signatures, so when you are working with your interviewee's words, you should avoid editing:
- Important colloquial or rhythmic language;
- Unusual phrasing that seems to be a part of your interviewee's personality;
- Any type of statement consciously designed to be out of the ordinary.
(Source: Creative Conversations: The Writer's Complete Guide to Conducting Interviews, by Michael Schumacher, Writer's Digest Books, 1990.)
Students submit two copies of the transcription- one to the instructor and one to the interviewee. It's required that the interviewee must read and review the transcription. Student interviewers are prone to make the mistake of including words and terms that are incorrect on to the transcript. When the interviewee reads the transcript, s/he can assist the student in correcting any possible errors. I review the transcript for errors and make comments too. Once the interviewee and I critique the rough draft, the student makes the transcription corrections and is now ready to make his/her oral presentation to the class.
Don't allow the students to cut corners in transcribing the interview. If you are not sure that the interview has been condensed to the bare bones just by your reading it, you will almost certainly know if it has been severely edited when the student makes her/his oral presentation. How will you know? When the student shares interesting stories told by the interviewee and those same stories are not on the transcript. I don't usually ask why those stories are not on the transcript, instead I say to the student- "That's a great story, please include it on to your final transcription along with other insightful recollections of your interviewee."
By this time in the semester- it's the last month of the school year. Some students have begun to lose their momentum. Some are overwhelmed by all the work they still have to complete for all of their classes. Here is where being a cheerleader helps. The semester may be winding down for them but it's a new beginning for how you are conducting class. Since all of the oral history projects deal with events and issues of the recent past, the students will begin teaching their fellow classmates about the topics of the Great Depression, World War II. The Cold War, and the Civil Rights Movement AND what they learned from doing the oral history project. As a result, the teacher becomes a student in the classroom too. (I do continue to give quizzes on a weekly basis to insure that the readings are still being done.)
PRESENTING THE ORAL HISTORY TO THE CLASS
My grandmother can say more in a sentence
than a college professor can say in an hour and a half.
-A student wishing to remain anonymous
As an American history teacher who both teaches the subject content and oral history, my basic role of thumb is that for every two class periods dealing with the assigned readings, I devote one class period for teaching oral history. One must make choices (sacrifices?) when teaching oral history at a community college. Students will receive a sufficient amount of content not only by doing classroom exercises and discussing the assigned history readings but also with the oral history project as well. They will become mini-experts on their respective interview topics. In fact, I have faith in the students' research and the interviews that they have conducted that each student is required to make an oral presentation to their classmates on the week that their respective topic is being discussed. I create a schedule of the topics with student names and dates for each oral history presentation (see attachment). For the last month of class, the students teach each other about what they learned about their oral history and research. It is the ultimate in show and tell.
After presenting his/her oral history project to the class, each classmate has an evaluation form to fill out for the interviewer. The evaluation form includes the following:
- What did you learn from your classmate's oral history project?
- What question would you like to ask of your classmate's interviewee?
- What question do you have for your classmate regarding the interview?
- Make a suggestion to your classmate to improve the effectiveness of this oral history.
- Comment on the overall effectiveness of your classmate's oral history.
The completed evaluation forms are useful tools for the student interviewer. The student interviewer receives all the forms immediately after the class presentation. I want the student to have instantaneous feedback. In fact, the evaluation forms are unfiltered. I don't even read the classmates' comments before the student interviewer does. Classmates are not required to include their names on the forms, although most do. Anonymity allows for constructive criticism without fear of reprisal. I include my evaluation form within the class pile. My evaluation form is anonymous also; although most student presenters realize which evaluation form is mine, since it's usually the most detailed. For the most part, classmates are much gentler in their critiques than I am. Since each student is required to be in the "hotseat" as a presenter, few classmates are negative on the forms. The students realize that they are all in this project together.
Those student presenters, who take the time to incorporate some of these comments/suggestions into their oral history project, can improve their final submission. Some even do a follow-up interview. They often use the questions suggested by their classmates. I encourage students to do so. They recognize that the history of their interviewee is not finite. It requires honing and fine-tuning in order to receive the best possible interview they can get. I remind students that this will probably be the only time that their oral history person will ever formally be interviewed. Thus, it is their responsibility to do the best possible job they can do. This project should not be just one that is grade driven but one which can be shared with the interviewee and hopefully others who know her/him (e.g. family, neighbors, friends) like Aunt Mildred!
EVALUATING THE ORAL HISTORY
After the student makes her/his presentation to the class, each one submits a typed evaluation of the oral history project. The student is to answer the following questions:
- What did you learn from doing this oral history?
- What did you learn about your interviewee that you did not know before?
- How do you look upon the topic of the interview differently than you did before?
- How did the interviewee's experiences and perspective fit into the larger historical context as found in the textbook? Did s/he reinforce that subject's history or contradict it?
- What are the benefits and drawbacks of learning about the past through the interview process?
- Overall, is this an effective way to learn about the past? Why/why not?
Here is one evaluation by Palo Alto College student Crystal Verdin after interviewing her grandmother Margarita Verdin in the spring of 2003:
Most stories that my grandmother has told me in the past never seemed to interest me because I did not care to hear about how life was back then. It was all taught to us in school- the world wars and inflation. Now that I have actually cared to take part in learning about history, it seems more intriguing to be able to hear it from the person who actually lived during this time. I then realized I learned the most valuable lesson while interviewing her- never forget where you came from and how you got the freedoms you did. Because of the people who lived before you did not want the next generation to suffer… She taught me about living during World War Two and her financial problems due to having numerous siblings. She is still proud to live the life she lived and to appreciate the simple things in life. Throughout this interview, most subjects touched upon were mostly positive and made me look at that particular time frame in a different light. I learned of the patriotism of people within her neighborhood as well as her constant need to help out another human being in need of sheltering. There was one slight drawback to this interview though, I learned that she had personified the enemies as all the time being cruel and judgmental because of what was being told to her by the media and Hollywood. Through this interview, I learned that talking to a relative (or some elderly individual) is an effective way of learning about the past. They have so much to tell and we, as people, should value these stories greatly in order to appreciate the value of life.
The student is finished with the oral history project (at least for now). Each student now submits the following to me:
- a hard copy of the transcript which includes the Introduction, the Annotated Bibliography, and the Evaluation
- the cassette or video tape of the interview
- the Interview Agreement Release Form
- a memory stick (USB port) of the Oral History Project
All these items must be placed in a labeled envelope with the student's name, interviewee's name, oral history topic, and date. By now most students will know how well they have done on the project. If they have completed all aspects of the project, they will pass and usually with a high grade. Try not to be too disappointed if not all students complete the oral history project. It does require a time commitment and some students just don't take the time to do oral history. But for those who do complete the project the rewards are great!
Years after the information they learned in the history classroom has been forgotten, they still recall the interviews they did with their grandmother and grandfather. Students see the connection to some abstract period in the past that now makes sense in their lives. As Crystal Verdin wrote- to appreciate the value of life through those stories. Those stories make the past a living, breathing history. One in which our students will always remember. Lets harvest that history from our elders. They have much to teach us.
ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY
Baum, Willa K. Tips for Interviewers. http://bancroft.berkeley.edu/ROHO/rohotips.html The Regents of the University of California: 2003. The Oral History for the Local Historical Society provides quick tips for undergraduate interviewers.
Botein, Emily and Richman, Joe, producers. New York Works: Radio Diaries- People documenting their lives on National Public Radio. http://www.radiodiaries.org/newyorkworks-home.html . New York: 2002. New York Works is an audio portrait of a vanishing city. From a knife sharpener who still makes house calls to one of Brooklyn's last commercial fisherman, New York Works tells the stories of those who keep the city's past alive. New York Works originally aired on WNYC's "The Next Big Thing" and NPR's "All Things Considered" in January 2002.
Hicke, Carole. One-Minute Guide to Oral Histories. http://bancroft.berkeley.edu/ROHO/1minute.html University of California, Berkeley: 2000. The library of U.C.-Berkeley provides undergraduates with two short checklists for Conducting an Oral History and Oral History Interviewing.
Hine, Lewis W. The History Place: Child Labor in America 1908-1912 Photographs. http://www.historyplace.com/unitedstates/childlabor/index.html Boston: 2004. Lewis W. Hine (1874-1940) took up photography as a means of expressing his social concerns especially regarding the abuse of child laborers. The History Place is a private, independent, Internet-only publication. The site was founded and is owned and published by Philip Gavin who has earned a Master of Science degree from Boston University.
Morrissey, Charles, Professional Oral Historian. Biography. Oral History Workshop. http://www.tui.edu/prospective/lifelong/conferences/oral/ Montpelier, Vermont: Campus of Union Institute and University- Vermont College. August 11-15, 2003. I attended this workshop to better learn the techniques and methodology for doing effective oral history. Being a professional oral historian for over forty years, Charles Morrissey provided both insight and expertise in learning oral history. The workshop has been held annually since 1975.
Myers, Peter J., Associate Professor of History and editor. Palo Alto College Oral History Project. http://www.alamo.edu/pac/history/hist1302/OHMain.htm San Antonio, Texas: 2002-Present. This website includes step-by-step instructions of doing oral history plus numerous oral histories created by Palo Alto College students. Oral History excerpts of Aimie Abrams, Wade Beutnagel, Traci Brister, Patricia Constandine, Maria Hernandez, Megan Jopling, Bryan Moczygemba, Ginger Owczarzak, Lindsey Urban, and Crystal Verdin are incorporated in this primer.
Patterson, L. Dale, Archivist. Archival Leaflet Series: Doing Oral History. http://www.gcah.org/oral.html Madison, New Jersey: 2004. The General Commission on Archives and History promotes the historical interest of The United Methodist Church. It maintains an archive including oral histories (and how to do oral history) in which records and materials relating to The United Methodist Church are preserved and are made available for public and scholarly use.
Schumacher, Michael. Creative Conversations: The Writer's Complete Guide to Conducting Interviews. Writer's Digest Books, Cincinnati: 1990. Offers practicable advice on how to get the most out of doing oral history.
Wood, Linda P. Teacher and editor. What did You Do in The War Grandma? http://www.stg.brown.edu/projects/WWII_Women/tocCS.html South Kingston, Rhode Island: 1997. Students in the Honors English Program at South Kingstown High School created this website of the oral history of Rhode Island Women during World War II.
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