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PUTTING YOUR ORAL HISTORY INTERVIEWS TO WORK FOR YOUR HISTORICAL SOCIETY OR MUSEUM: PART I By Michelle Crow-Dolby, Historical Agency Consultant, Local History Office, Ohio Historical Society Local History Notebook, May / June 1995 Rows and rows of carefully registered and cataloged cassette tapes containing oral history interviews line the Anytown Historical Society's collection-area shelves. The oral history collection is dutifully cross referenced by project, accession number, interviewee, and topic, and is accompanied by photographs of interviewees, deeds of gift, and background documents, all filed away in their appropriate places for future use. The tapes are stored in a cool, dry environment where the humidity and temperature do not fluctuate, with one or two copies of each original safely stored off-site. Additionally, copies are made of the copies every five years. Historical society staff and volunteers have even transferred the most historically significant interviews to reel-to-reel tapes for long-term preservation. Countless volunteer and staff hours were spent organizing, researching, and conducting the interviews. Each interview documents priceless recollections from a broad representation of Anytown residents, both past and present. The fact that these oral histories exist at all testifies to the Anytown Historical Society's commitment to preserving and interpreting the past so their community can better understand the future. Even though the oral history collection is a tremendous asset and is well taken care of, there is a problem. The problem is that these significant primary resources are beginning to atrophy owing to disuse. The voices on the tapes are silent, and the stories they tell remain untold primarily because few people have the time or the interest to sit down and listen to hour-long interviews. Ask yourselves, Are these tapes, in their current state, fulfilling the Anytown Historical Society's mission statement? Dedicated local historians have already taken the first step in collecting the histories, now they must take the crucial second step and use the interviews to interpret Anytown's history. The diverse applications of oral history can help, in a uniquely personal way, to bring the history of your town or community to life. To do so, however, you must be sure to put oral history interviews to good use.Ways to Use Oral History It is unrealistic for all but the largest and best-endowed groups to transcribe all their interviews. The vast majority of historical organizations operate with strained budgets and limited personnel. There simply is not enough money or people power to transcribe all oral histories. Therefore, it is logical for the organization to first define how it wants to use its oral histories before money and time are committed to unfocused processing. Different interpretive applications of this medium require different methods of processing. For example, if a group wants to showcase its vast collection of industry-related interviews by playing audio recordings along with its exhibit on steel manufacturing, a complete transcription of each tape is not immediately necessary. On the other hand, if publishing a book is the goal, then edited transcriptions of selected interviews are required. Once objectives are defined, one can only be amazed at the multitude of uses for oral history in the museum or historical society setting.Legal Considerations Before someone sets out to utilize oral history, the legal ramifications of interviews must be analyzed at the outset of a project. A signed deed of gift granting a group legal ownership should accompany each oral history interview before it is used in any way. If an oral history does not have a signed deed of gift and one is not available, this interview should not be considered for a project. Furthermore, each deed of gift should be reviewed to ascertain whether any restrictions were placed on the interview by the interviewee, and if the proposed project violates any of these restrictions. Some oral history experts even advise contacting all living interviewees and their families to inform them of a proposed project. Once these precautions are taken, however, the project is ready to move forward. Exhibits Using oral history in an audio, video, or written form in a history-oriented exhibit can provide an interesting facet to an otherwise static display of artifacts and photographs with label text. It must be noted, however, that interviews should not be perceived or used as the sole source of factual data in an exhibit. Interviews primarily consist of personal remembrances and may not necessarily represent objective historical facts, and thus should only be employed to convey personal viewpoints and feelings on whatever topic is being interpreted. For example, the staff at the Arms Family Museum of Local History in Youngstown, Ohio, developed an exhibit in 1992-1993 titled "Smoky Hollow," which told the story of a cohesive yet diverse neighborhood in Youngstown. The exhibit relied heavily on both audio and transcribed oral history to capture the flavor of the neighborhood, but relied on historical methodology to establish the neighborhood's history. The temporary installation blended excerpts from oral history interviews in label text and paired this with artifacts and photographs portraying life in the neighborhood. Visitors were also treated to a creative audio program that played interviewees' tape-recorded voices throughout the exhibit space. Exhibit designers realized that these local neighborhood voices could relay powerful personal experiences of life in Smoky Hollow. Furthermore, interviewees' dialect, grammar, and ethnicity created a life-like dimension to the history exhibit. People feel connected to history when it is told in the context of a personal history or story. Augmenting an exhibit with oral history also brings supplementary viewpoints to each visitor's experience. This factor is important since each visitor learns differently, either through reading panel text, participating in hands-on activities, watching audio-visual programs, or hearing realistic sounds or voices. By presenting more learning options in an exhibit, curators and designers improve the educational success rate of the exhibit as a whole. A second example of oral history being put to use in an exhibit setting can be found in the South Carolina State Museum in Columbia, South Carolina, which is housed in a historic cotton mill. Within their exhibit on cotton mills, curatorial staff interspersed explanatory and descriptive text and historic photographs with quotations taken from various cotton mill worker interviews. This juxtaposition gave the text strength and validity through personal accounts of mill life, hardships, and camaraderie at work. In the same museum, a videotaped oral history interview of a well-known South Carolina metal artisan is available for viewing adjacent to a large, commissioned example of the artist's work. A second panel features a short, written biographical sketch of the talented South Carolinian. This particular video interview is more than just a "talking head" which, in some cases, can become repetitive and unstimulating to the viewer. For this particular interview, the artisan was shown working on the piece that was on display in the exhibit, so that the visitor could see how the work was accomplished, in addition to hearing him relay his thoughts about his profession. Video histories are quite effective when the subject is demonstrating an activity, using expressive body language, or has a distinctive way of speaking. Videotaped interviews can also be professionally edited to create an entertaining and informative story with narration and music. Although a project of this magnitude means added complications and expense, it can also be very appealing in our visually oriented society.Publishing Publishing is another popular method of making the most of an oral history collection. Books, pamphlets, or articles that incorporate information gleaned from oral history transcripts all help an organization achieve its goal of preserving and explaining local history. An example of how taped interviews can be used through publishing is a book produced in 1992 by the Fort Collins Friends of the Library, Inc., in Fort Collins, Colorado. Talking About Fort Collins: Selections from Oral Histories is a publication that used lightly edited excerpts from oral history transcripts selected from the library's Local History Department. The excerpts were loosely grouped in the book into topics such as: "A Sense of Place," "Community Doings," "Focus on Colorado State University," and "Business on the Move." The excerpts used were generously illustrated with photographs. Together, these media allowed residents of Fort Collins to tell their town's history in an engaging, personal manner, from the western town's pioneer beginning to the present day. Such publications are wonderful for occasions like town anniversaries or special events and help to instill a sense of pride in and understanding of one's community. As with other successful local history projects, the goal of historical accuracy prompted project volunteers to verify, through research, that the places, dates, and events mentioned in the interviews were correct. Balancing oral history with additional research helps to strengthen and validify the information being presented. If inaccurate or misleading statements are found in oral history interviews, then the reader/user should be notified in some manner in order to present a clear and truthful picture to the public. Historical research also helps create a larger context for oral history.Increased Access A popular way for organizations to take advantage of oral history holdings is by making interviews available to the public and to researchers more interested in primary source documentation of local history. This objective can be accomplished in a variety of ways. For instance, duplicate copies of cassettes can be provided to individuals interested in listening to interviews in their original format, or interviews can be transcribed. Published finding aids or catalogs for oral history collections can also be furnished for researchers interested in using oral history in their projects. A finding aid is usually defined as any descriptive card or document that establishes physical, administrative, and intellectual control over records. Oftentimes a finding aid takes the form of a subject index (for example, a card catalog) that allows researchers to locate all records pertaining to a particular subject. A comprehensive, printed collection guide can be distributed to interested people who are either out-of-town or want an overview of all archival holdings. The printed guide should contain a brief overview of the archival facility (hours of operation or location) and a short description of each interview. These valuable resources can help researchers quickly determine if the organization's holdings might offer anything constructive to their line of research, without leafing through each document individually. Most libraries have a local history section where copies of tapes or transcripts could be made available for check-out to the general public. Additionally, listening stations could be established in community buildings so that townspeople could listen to recorded compilations that integrate several different interviews. As access to computer technology increases, the opportunities for exposing people to their area's history also expands. For instance, a non-profit group called Rural Video Access in Durango, Colorado, recently received funding from the Colorado State Historical Fund for a pilot project titled, "A Sense of Place." As outlined in the not-for-profit's grant application, volunteers will be trained to interview rural residents about historic sites and structures in their communities. The videos will then be made available to schools, and edited excerpts will be used for public service announcements, visitor information centers, and television programs. Eventually, the group plans, with the help of local historical societies and museums throughout the area, to transfer the videotaped oral histories to CD-ROM diskettes for use in regional libraries throughout LaPlata County. In this innovative and interactive project, oral history will potentially reach thousands of people and integrate a part of the historical record into the regional community and beyond.Conclusion As these examples have shown, any viable idea or project that makes oral history more accessible to your community is worth consideration. The collection, organization, preservation, processing, and ultimate use of oral history is an ongoing process that should not stop after the interview. Do not let your oral history collection fool you into non-activity; put your oral history to work! The Local History Notebook is edited and published by the Ohio Historical Society's Local History Office in order to bring useful information to people working in the local history field. The selection of subjects and authors is based on the OAHSM Editorial Board's and the Local History Office's determination of issues which are timely in nature and lasting in scope. The reference inserts are copyrighted 1995 by the Ohio Historical Society. Reprints are available individually or as complete sets. For further information, contact: Local History OfficeOhio Historical Society 1982 Velma Avenue Columbus, Ohio 43211 Phone: (614) 297-2340 Toll-free: (800) 858-6878 Fax: (614) 297-2318 oahsm@ohiohistory.org 
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