COVID-19 links
Remote Interviewing – “The Oral History Association (USA) is proud to announce the release of its new suite of remote interviewing resources. These resources are a product of the COVID-19 pandemic and the requirement to cease face-to-face interviewing for the health of both narrator and interviewer. By March 2020, many of us found ourselves sheltering in place, trying to learn how to do our jobs from home. For those working in oral history, remote interviewing became a pathway to continue essential oral history work. This guide is meant to be a resource to practitioners as they work through the numerous questions that arise with this method.”
Corona Diaries – Corona Diaries documents the pandemic through personal stories – big and small. It’s an open source audio project meaning anyone can contribute their audio story, and anyone can use them.
Dear Australia – it’s important that we mark this moment in our nation’s history. So Australia Post has created a national letterbox where, from now until 18 August, you can write a letter to share your experience of the COVID-19 pandemic. Australia Post is working with the National Archives of Australia, where eligible Dear Australia letters will be kept for future generations. This will enable all Australians to record their impressions of this remarkable time.
Memories, Food and the Pandemic – COVID-19 has brought so many of us into a new sort of relationship–fraught or otherwise–with cooking and food. We’ve been thinking a lot about how others have faced public and personal catastrophes, distance (social and otherwise), as well as scarcity and all of the anxieties that come with these experiences.
Sounds from the global COVID-19 lock-down – Everyone has their own story to tell. We’re inviting anyone around the world to send us a sound recording from wherever YOU are, and tell us a little about how things are wherever you live. You can listen to the sounds and read the stories so far.
Smithsonian Pandemic Oral History Project – Project overview – “To document the cascade of public health, social, and financial crises set in motion by COVID-19, the Archives of American Art created an oral history series that recorded responses to the global pandemic across the American art world. Conducted virtually, the Pandemic Oral History Project features eighty-five short-form interviews with a diverse group of artists, teachers, curators, and administrators. Averaging twenty-five minutes long, each interview provides a firsthand account of and urgent insights into the narrator’s triumphs and tragedies in the summer of 2020. With more than thirty hours of recorded video and audio, the series bears witness to an unprecedented era as it unfolded in real time.”
Voces of a Pandemic – “From being overrepresented in essential jobs, to underrepresented among those with access to healthcare, to the undocumented living in fear, the global coronavirus pandemic has affected Latinas/os disproportionately. As this crisis unfolds, the Voces Oral History Center is leading a team of collaborators including institutions of higher education across the country, to record, archive and disseminate interviews to help researchers, journalists and the broader public gain a greater appreciation of the experiences in the Latino community during this historic time.” Includes a link to the interviews.
Remote Interviewing – British Library – “Soon after the first lockdown in March 2020 the British Library oral history team suspended all face to face oral history interviews. Cut off from our established workflows and working from home we were faced with the same question as everyone else, what now?”
COVID Project – Princeton, New Jersey – “The goal of the project is to collect, share, and archive stories and memories of Princetonians. This project aims to collect stories of Princeton residents in order to capture and preserve a contemporary moment in Princeton’s history and also record residents’ recollections and experiences of previous periods in Princeton’s history.” One of those collections relates to COVID. Here are the instructions, with questions relating to that project.
Western Wisconsin COVID-19 Archive Project – “Oral history interviews are conducted by UWEC Public History students with diverse participants across the Chippewa Valley, and are intended to highlight the human experiences and shifts in everyday life felt during the pandemic. Please watch this page as we continue to add to our archive.”
Video Links
| Your First Oral History Project – Pam Willis Burden Oral History Instructional Video – Sarah Rood One Plus One – Jane Hutcheon interviews Barry Humphries (example of good interviewer) Oral History Australia YouTube Channel |
“Hear, Hear for Oral History” – Bill Bunbury Students learn oral history – Roger Horowitz Smithsonian Guide to Oral History and video Five Easy Steps Australian Lives, introduction |
Transcribers
The transcribers below have asked that their names be shown on our website. If there are other people who would like to be added, please Contact us.
Bev Tait
I was a Court Reporter (i.e. shorthand-writer) for the Commonwealth Reporting Service for 16 years. When we were replaced by tapes in 1990, I swapped to transcribing Court proceedings, oral histories, editing and meeting reporting. Over the past 20 years I have transcribed a very wide range of oral histories, and can cope with all types of recordings. My prices are reasonable, and I offer prompt return of transcripts and a high level of accuracy. Email thetaits14@bigpond.com
Chris Mulherin
I’m an engineering and arts graduate working on a mature age doctorate in philosophy. I’ve made ABC radio programs and have transcribed and proofread hundreds of Radio National shows (mostly Law Report, Religion and Ethics Report, Media Report and Philosopher’s Zone). But the ABC budget axe has fallen and I’m looking for more transcription work. Please email for a resume and I’ll be happy to put you onto referees who will vouch for my work. I’m at Chris@ThePublicSentence.com
Sandy Liddle
I am currently a librarian but was previously a legal secretary for about 30 years. During my time as a legal secretary, a lot of my work was done by transcribing from Dictaphone cassette tapes. I have recently been involved with transcribing oral history interviews for a number of local history projects as well as recorded presentations from a local historical society. I have a high degree of accuracy. Email sandy@blackcatindexing.com.au
Australian Oral History Organisations
| National Library – Oral History and Folklore | Northern Territory Archives Oral History Program |
International Oral History Organisation
| International Oral History Association Oral History Association (USA) National Oral History Association of NZ |
Canadian Oral History Association Oral History Society (UK) |