First Person Project
Conducting the Interview
The interviewer should be someone who can sit quietly and listen, who is willing to let the narrator express an opinion contrary to his own without feeling compelled to contradict or re-educate the narrator.... There are two types of person who should not be assigned to interviewing. They are the compulsive talker and the compulsive director. Both types will end up with interviews of themselves.
-- Willa K. Baum, Oral History for the Local Historical Society (1969)
There is an art to oral history interviewing, but it’s one that can be fairly easily developed through a little experience and paying attention to a few simple principles.
Click HERE for our brief list of First Person Project Interviewing Tips.
Click HERE for our brief list of First Person Project Interviewing Tips.
In Willa K. Baum’s classic text, Oral History for the Local Historical Society , a longer list of tips is available.
Click HERE for Willa K. Baum's interviewing tips.
Click HERE for Willa K. Baum's interviewing tips.
The Oral History Association's Principles and Best Practices is a concise yet thorough guide to creating oral history.
Click HERE for OHA's Principles and Best Practices
Click HERE for OHA's Principles and Best Practices