Oral History for Teachers

“In the Behind the Scenes at the Center for Folklike and Cultural Heritage session, educators shared how your classroom can participate in the Smithsonian’s folklife and cultural heritage programs throughout the school year. Events and resources include: the Smithsonian Folklife Festival, Smithsonian Folkways Recordings (and their new learning pathways!), and a very robust cluster of international cultural sustainability projects. They also shared a guide for conducting oral history interviews, allowing students to turn members of their own families and community into key sources of history, culture, and tradition.” See the full story here.

“Soul Talk” OH Workshop

“Kelly Elaine Navies discusses oral history as the documentation of history and culture, as well as offer guidelines for recording the stories of people in your family and community. She gives advice on how to get started and plays a few short clips from fascinating interviews that exemplify best practices — and show just how important and moving your subjects’ replies may be.” Check out this story with it’s excellent tutorial video here.

Exploring oral history at Smithsonian

“Oral history is an integral part of the research and culture at the Smithsonian. But while there are historians, researchers, curators, and volunteers across the Institution conducting oral history interviews, there is no central oral history office or collection at the Smithsonian. Since the medium gained popularity with the rise of social history during the mid-20th century, the Smithsonian considers oral history a methodological tool of research, preservation, and interpretation.” Read more here.