What is Oral History?
Oral history is an intentional effort to document the memories and life experiences of individuals, often referred to as narrators, by recording conversational interviews with them and seeking to preserve those recordings in an institutional or personal archive.
Oral history is closely related to storytelling, journalism, and certain kinds of social science research. It differs from these forms of interviewing in its focus on the life of the individual narrator, its acceptance of subjectivity in the memory of lived experiences, and its impulse to create archival resources that can fill the gaps in existing historical narratives.
Program Resources
DC Oral History Collaborative Collection
DC Oral History Collaborative in Action
Affiliated Oral Historians
The Work of the DC Oral History Collaborative
The Collaborative is a unique partnership between HumanitiesDC and the DC Public Library, started in 2017, that incorporates grant funding, trainings, coaching and other resources to help residents document, preserve, and celebrate the history of all DC communities, specifically through oral history.
Many of the narratives collected are preserved in the People’s Archive at the DC Public Library, and available to the public. To date, nearly 400 narratives have been collected through the Collaborative.
How to Get Involved
Anyone can become part of the DC Oral History Collaborative by engaging with any or all of the following opportunities:
DC Oral History Collaborative Grant
This grant provides initial funding for a new oral history projects that collect a series of interviews around a specified topic.
Beyond the archives
This funding supports projects that bring existing oral history interviews out of the archives and into the public view.
Extension grant
Open to previous Collaborative grantees, this funding makes it possible to dig deeper into an ongoing project.
By receiving a grant, participants also have access to training, professional advice, peer networking, publicity, program opportunities, and a dependable institutional repository for the interviews they collect.
Trainings, Support & Resources
The Collaborative offers free oral history training to DC residents each year. Some of these trainings are designed specifically for grantees but many are open to the public. Oral History 101+, the signature introductory three-session workshop, is offered yearly and a great way for new oral historians to learn the skills to get started. Throughout each year specialized workshops also cover topics like becoming a strong interviewer and properly archiving interviews.
Collaborative members also may have access to other forms of support such as equipment rentals, cohort or one-on-one coaching, and getting connected to professional oral historians.
Additionally, resources are available to those interested in researching, teaching, or learning about DC history, including a survey of oral history collections related to Washington, and the DC Oral History Collaborative collection.
Public Events
In addition to helping oral historians collect and archive interviews, HumanitesDC strives to create opportunities for Collaborative members to share their projects and experiences with the broader public audience. Beyond the Archives is a collection of 3 one-off events, where existing oral histories are creatively showcased with the purpose of sharing and contextualizing narrators’ stories. The Culture Series is an engaging annual series of ten gatherings focused on bringing humanities to the forefront, and each year several of these events incorporate oral history practices and/or interviews.
To learn how you can participate in the DC Oral History Collaborative, email jcollier@humanitiesdc.org.
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