Conducting Your Own Oral History
While Oral History Archives at Columbia focuses on providing primary source materials for research, as well as preservation and access, there are a number of online resources available to listen to and read online, as legal and ethical parameters allow. Other interviews are available in the Rare Book & Manuscript Library on the 6th floor of Butler Library.
The resources below outline questions to consider during the process and assist with best practice for choosing a subject, what types of questions to ask, and what to do after the interview has been conducted. For more information and guidance about oral history methods from the Curator of Oral History Oral History Archives at Columbia, visit the RBML blog or enroll in the Oral History Archives: Oral History Methodologies Self Study course.
Oral histories are recorded, and sometimes transcribed, interviews with individuals about their lives. We call these "biographical interviews." Oral histories also construct narratives about significant events. Oral histories are both a process (conducting interviews) and a product (interviews as primary source material). At its core, oral history is an invitation to a person or group to tell their life story.
You can interview anyone who is important to you. You can also interview, with their permission, strangers – everyone has a story to tell.
This sample of an oral history agreement outlines consent to use of interview and a non-exclusive license. Posting and use of this document as a template does not constitute legal advice by the Oral History Archives at Columbia or the Columbia University Libraries.
Oral histories use a life history approach: Sometimes those stories tell us things about a person’s life, current event, a time period or a specific place. You can start with a simple question like “Tell me where you were born…”
As the interviewer, you’re responsible for putting the interviewee’s life into a story with a beginning, middle, and up to the present.
To record your interview, you’ll need:
- A quiet location
- A recording device (digital recorder or phone with a recording app)
- Pen and paper to take notes with
- Batteries or a charger
- Mic (optional)
- Headphones (optional)
Name your file by being descriptive and consistent. Good practice is to store three digital copies in three separate locations. For tips about approaching archives about donating your collection, metadata, and choosing an archive, view our Archives Advice for Oral Historians presentation.