Oral history

An oral history is a recorded conversation, often in the form of an informal interview, focusing on the lived experience of an interviewee. It is a personal record of their memories, experiences and opinions. Community archive groups are well placed to conduct oral history recordings and capture stories about their communities.

Oral histories can form a significant part of a community archive's holdings. Recordings can be made available for researchers to listen to in a community space or added to websites for wider access.

Why are oral history recordings important?

Oral history recordings are a useful complement to more traditional materials, such as manuscript documents and photographs, usually found in an archive. They fill gaps in the historical record and provide important information, enabling researchers to engage with 'history from below' (the history of ordinary people) as well as 'history from above' (the history of government, businesses and institutions).

Oral history recordings can provide fascinating insights into domestic life, workplaces, societies and the development of local communities. They can also provide different perspectives on major historical events, such as World War II, as well as documenting important aspects of the present, such as the coronavirus pandemic.

The Oral History Society have published advice and information on oral history interviewing during coronavirus (opens new window).

It is important to set out why you want to collect oral history recordings, particularly if you are applying for project funding.

Before you begin, establish clear aims, and define outputs.

Questions to think about beforehand include:

• What are your reasons for running the programme, and how will you know if it's successful?
• What kind of people are you hoping to interview, and how many interviews can you capture, both with your current resources and with further funding?
• Think about what you will do with the recordings - will you use them in exhibitions or online?
• How you will provide access to the recordings, bearing in mind the recordings may contain sensitive content and personal information?

Write down a statement that answers these questions. For example, your project aim could be to create a resource for researching your local village since 1940 (you could also use extracts from the interviews in an exhibition, a heritage trail, or as the basis of a publication or series of blog posts). Your outputs could be to record twenty oral histories covering a variety of community voices. You will use selected clips from the interviews in an online exhibition, and the recordings will be available for researchers to access in your research space (with some sections being closed for sensitivity issues).

Depositing oral history recordings

Some community archives choose to entrust the long-term preservation of oral history recordings, and the provision of public access, with an established heritage institution, such as the Norfolk Record Office (NRO).

At the NRO we can provide advice and support, including templates for participation, and recording agreements (we will require completed copies of these).

It is important to contact us as soon as you start to plan your project. We will confirm:

• Whether the recordings fall within our collection policy
• Project outputs required
• Preferred file formats
• Any supplementary material such as a list of items being deposited

We would also discuss ownership and copyright in the same way as any other collection that would be offered to us. Please note, it would be necessary for us to charge a fee to cover the costs of processing the material and adding it to the NRO's permanent collections.

Contact norfrec@norfolk.gov.uk for further information and advice.

Choosing a topic for your programme

When choosing a focus for your oral history programme, it's useful to think about how the recordings will enhance and enrich your existing collections, and whether they might help fill any gaps. Themes should correspond with the criteria set out in your collecting statement.

For example, you could focus on interviews that help tell the story of your local parish, or of a local industry, organisation or political movement. Planning this out will help you decide who to interview, and where to advertise for interviewees.

When looking for potential interviewees, try to be as personable as possible. Emphasise that you'd like to hear their stories and memories about the local area, workplaces and family and friends. Avoid describing the process as an 'interview', as this can be off-putting.

Introduce your programme and what you plan to achieve. This will help potential candidates understand the value of their contribution and feel more confident about having something relevant and useful to say.

Below are some tips for getting in touch with people:

• First, ask members of your community archive group to draw up lists of potential candidates in their local networks who fit the collecting criteria. They can also help to recruit participants. Keep a spreadsheet of contact details - to comply with data protection regulations, make sure the spreadsheet is password protected and not shared outside of your group, and delete personal details as soon as they are no longer required.
• Contact local history societies, boards of governors, clubs, parish councils and other relevant groups
• Advertise for interviewees on social media, particularly community Facebook groups or local message boards
• Put notices in local shops or on library message boards with your organisation's contact details
• Advertise for participants through local newspapers or radio stations

It's important to be selective - you don't have to interview everyone who approaches you. Select participants who you feel will best represent your chosen topics.

Once you have confirmed your interviewees, you will need to do some initial preparation before the interview.

Context

Do some background research - about a profession, industry, organisation or other community, so that you know which questions you would like answers to and the topics you want the interview to cover (your own collections may come in useful here).

Communication

The group member conducting the interview should engage with the interviewee in all aspects of the interview process. Try to contact the participant via telephone rather than email or letter, to help build a personal relationship.

Set out the scope of your oral history project in a document that can be shared, including the topics you are interested in talking about, and an idea of how you will structure the interview. This will allow the participant to prepare by finding diaries, photographs and other memory aids.

It's also useful to check if the interviewee has any specific insights due to their life and career. This will allow you to identify appropriate subject areas to research and focus on in the interview. For example, if you are doing a project on Norwich's shoe industry, someone who worked as a leather cutter will have different insights to an owner of a shoe factory.

Location

Suggest an interview location that will be comfortable for the interviewee - many choose to be interviewed in their own home.

Practical arrangements

These should be confirmed in writing and include:

• Who will be attending the interview 
• Where the interview will take place
• How long the interview is likely to last
• A contact telephone number - in case the interviewee needs to cancel or postpone

Ethical considerations

It's important that interviewees have trust in you and your process for keeping and managing their recorded interview.

Interviewees must make their own decisions about how they want their recordings to be used, shared and accessed. It is important to explain and acknowledge this.

As an interviewer you have a duty to:

• Ensure you have the informed consent of interviewees. At every step of the interview process, make sure the participant understands why they are being interviewed and how you plan to store and use the interview recordings and their personal information. It is useful to send the interviewee a 'crib sheet' introducing the project, explaining the interview stages and what their rights are.
• Respect confidentiality - if an interviewee states that part or all of what they talk about is confidential, that must be adhered to. Sensitively suggest a closure period, which means that some content is not made publicly available until a specified time, for example, after the death of the interviewee. If the recordings are to be deposited with a professional record office, make sure the staff are aware that there are access restrictions in place.
• Ensure sharing an interview will not cause substantial damage or distress, eg causing an interviewee to be vulnerable to identity theft
• Make sure you are aware of the legal basis for holding and processing personal information, including the interview contents and the permission forms. In terms of retaining an interviewee's personal data, the Oral History Society advises relying on the legal basis of 'the performance of a task carried out in the public interest'. Include this in your participation agreement.
• Explain the legal basis for processing personal information and the interviewee's rights. This can be done in many ways, such as a link to a privacy policy on your website, text on the participation agreement form or link to an email address.

A comprehensive guide to ethics in oral history is available on the Oral History Society (opens new window) website.

Contact the Oral History Society if you have any enquiries regarding personal data.

Safeguarding

There may be occasions when you wish to interview a minor, or a 'vulnerable adult' (eg someone who has a learning difficulty or who lives with some degree of physical or cognitive impairment). In this case, make sure you have a safeguarding policy in place to protect their health, safety and rights, before you interview them.

View the National Council of Voluntary Organisations' (NCVO) overview of safeguarding practices (opens new window).

You may need the assistance of a 'gatekeeper'. This could be an interviewee's relative, friend or carer. A gatekeeper can help the interviewee to understand the interview process and their rights in a way that will be more accessible to them.

Read further information on safeguarding on the Oral History Society website (opens new window).

Participation agreement

A participation agreement must be given to the interviewee for their approval and consent before any recording takes place.

Your community archive will own the copyright to the recording of the interview. The copyright of the spoken words will initially lie with the interviewee, so it is important that the participation agreement asks them to agree to sign this copyright to you.

You should still ask the interviewee for permission for any subsequent use of the recordings that is not covered by the participation agreement, and respect any closure periods they want to impose.

Download an example participation agreement (Word doc) [21KB].

The participation agreement should:

• Set out how the recording will be kept and used - and that any use that falls outside of these criteria will be approved by the interviewee
• Inform the interviewee how their personal information may be used and shared, and who owns the copyright of the recording
• Inform the interviewee they will have control over which parts of the interview can be made available - nothing that may cause them damage or distress should be made public

Both parties must sign copies of the agreement and each should keep a copy.

Recording agreement

Once the interview has been completed, the interviewee will also need to sign a recording agreement - download a sample recording agreement (Word doc) [19KB]. This assigns copyright of the recording to the community archive and allows the interviewee to list any sections of the interview they would like to remain closed.

Interview etiquette

Before you arrive

Ensure other members of your group know where you are and have your contact details so that they can contact you if necessary. Also make sure the interviewee has someone who knows who you are, why you are meeting them, and where and when you are conducting the interview. Keep an audit trail of correspondence between you and the interviewee. If you have not met the interviewee in person before, take some form of identification with you.

Recording location

The selected room should be quiet and not facing a busy road. Ensure all TVs, radios and mobile phones are switched off or on silent. Make sure that you are not likely to be disturbed by other occupants of the house, visitors or pets.

Your conduct

Remember, interviewees may be nervous or apprehensive about being interviewed by a stranger, even if it takes place within their own home. Being calm, patient, relaxed and polite will help put them at ease and is likely to result in a better interview.

Breaks

Before you start, agree to build a couple of breaks into the interview for rest and refreshment - talking for an extensive period of time will get tiring for the participant. You may also need to consider impromptu breaks if the interviewee becomes upset by some of the things they are talking about. For all breaks, press pause rather than stop on the recorder, to avoid finishing the recording and having to start a new one.

Recording agreement form

As well as going through the participation agreement before the interview, go through the recording agreement form thoroughly - download a sample recording agreement form (Word doc) [19KB]. Make sure the interviewee knows their rights regarding the copyright of the recording, and again ensure they know how you are planning to store and use it. Ask them if they are happy with the wording of the form before they sign it.

After the interview

Thank the interviewee for their time and ask them how they found the interview - bringing up memories is sometimes traumatic for participants.

Ensure they have understood, agreed to and signed the participation agreement and the recording agreement and that they are still happy for the interview to be made public. Re-establish which sections, if any, they would prefer to be closed.

Before you leave, make sure they have your contact details and that you have agreed a date, time and location for any follow-up interviews.

It's a good idea to send the interviewee a copy of the audio recording in their preferred format, so that they have a record of what they have said.

Interview content

There are some key points that you will need to cover in each interview. This will be useful for people who later catalogue and listen to the oral history recordings.

At the beginning of the recording, state:

• Your (the interviewer's) name
• The interviewee's name (the interviewee can state this)
• The date, time and place that the interview is being recorded - do not be too specific if it is recorded in the interviewee's home

The first points that need to be covered in the interview are:

• Context - the reason why this person is being interviewed. For example, 'we're here today to talk about Mrs. Bridge's experience of growing up in Market Langthwaite and her career as a teacher'. 
• The interviewee's date and place of birth - exact details are not needed, just the year and town or village name

Interview questions

It's generally a good idea to not 'over-plan' your interview questions, as too much preparation and rehearsal can make the conversation stilted. Here are some tips for keeping interviews flowing:

• Pick a maximum of four or five topics that you really want to know about, and let the interviewee know them in advance so they can prepare and collect their thoughts. The topics should be the key reasons why you want to interview a particular person. Examples could include:
  • Their working lives
  • Skills and experiences
  • How they came to live in a particular village or town
  • Their involvement with local political parties, charities, clubs or societies
• Interviewees generally find it easier to remember the details of their life chronologically, so think about structuring the interview to take in their early family life first before moving on to education, career and relationships
• Keep the questions open-ended - avoid those that could produce 'yes' or 'no' answers. For example, rather than saying 'Was this your next job?' say 'Tell me about your next job.' 
• Avoid asking leading questions. Keep your questions as neutral as you can, this will ensure you get the story as the interviewee intends it to be told and avoid any preconceptions. For example, rather than saying: 'Was that a difficult experience for you?' try asking: 'How did that experience make you feel?'
• Try not to get too involved - let the interviewees speak for themselves so that their memories and personalities are the focus of the conversation. Any further questions should simply be prompts or follow ups, to find out more about interesting subjects. For example, 'What did you think of that?', 'Why did you decide to move there?', 'When did that come to an end?'
• Remember, the interviewee is the focus. Never correct the interviewee or disagree with them. Try not to interrupt - wait for a pause before you ask a question. Keep on topic as much as possible and avoid switching too quickly between subjects. 
• You don't necessarily have to cover every topic in one go - an interviewee may find an extensive interview tiring. If you feel you haven't fully covered everything you wanted to, suggest scheduling a follow-up session.

With more than one interviewer, one could focus on asking the questions and the other could be responsible for the recording equipment and the administrative elements. Be sure to let the interviewee know how many people to expect.

Having more than one participant, especially if they are already friends or acquaintances, can be useful as it may make the interviewees less nervous. The conversation may flow more naturally, with both participants contributing and expanding on or clarifying what each other are saying.

Bear in mind this may make the recording slightly harder to follow, as people may talk over each other and each speaker will need to be identified in the summary or the transcript.

It is vital that you record your interview. It's impossible to write down exactly what an interviewee is saying at the time - the best you can hope for is a general summary. An audio recording captures exactly what has been said, and also captures an interviewee's accent, dialect and quirks of speech.

Recordings must be made in the best possible quality, using specialist recording equipment. They will be unique historical sources and so need to be easily heard and understood by future researchers. Aim to get the best possible equipment that your budget allows, to ensure high-quality and long-term preservation.

Oral history recordings can be audio-only or audiovisual - however, whilst video obviously provides a valuable record of the way a person looks, do bear in mind that videoing interviews requires more expensive equipment and may potentially need an extra person to set up and operate the video camera. People can find cameras intrusive and off-putting, and audiovisual files will also take up much more storage space than audio-only ones. Therefore, the Norfolk Record Office recommends that recordings be audio-only.

Audio recording equipment

There are many different types of portable audio recording equipment, and ways of capturing and storing the recordings. Technology is constantly changing and improving, so it is a good idea to keep an eye on developments and to contact the experts at the Oral History Society (opens new window) for advice. You can also post equipment enquiries to the Norfolk Archives Network forum.

• You will need a digital recorder that can make stereo recordings in an uncompressed, high-quality file format such as 'PCM.WAV'
• Aim for the following settings: 
  • A sample frequency of 44-96 kiloHertz
  • A bit depth (how 'detailed' the sound recording is) of 16-24
• The recorder should be powered both by a lead to a mains supply and by batteries. This is a safeguard to prevent the recorder running out of power midway through an interview. Using a power bank is a good alternative to connecting to mains supply and means you don't have to be located near an electrical socket.
• It should ideally have sockets for two external microphones - one for the interviewee and one for yourself. However, the internal microphone is usually sufficient.

You may also need:

• A table-top tripod to support the recorder
• Spare batteries and/or a power cable to reduce the risk of the recorder's power running out
• A memory card to store the digital recordings prior to transfer to a computer. This may not come with the recorder, so check this in advance and buy the appropriate type of memory card that is required separately. The memory card will slot into the recorder, and once recording has finished can be transferred to a computer with a USB lead memory card reader.
• Headphones - these will be useful for immediately checking the audio quality of the recordings
• A windshield microphone cover for outdoor recordings
• A carry case for all of the required components
• Audio editing software (this can be found for free online - see the Oral History Society site for recommendations)

Smartphones are not recommended for recording interviews. The file quality will be greatly reduced, and phone storage and battery are minimal compared to other options. Phones are also easily lost or stolen, which could jeopardise the interview's confidentiality.

Once you have completed an interview, upload the recording for digital storage as soon as possible. Make backup copies and save them in different locations.

It's useful to maintain a folder on your computer (and other digital storage areas) for each interviewee. An interviewee's folder should include: 

• A document listing the interviewee's full name, date of birth, the place and date of the interview, the interviewer's name and the equipment used to make the recording
• The signed recording agreement
• Any email correspondence between the interviewer and the interviewee
• A time-coded summary text of the interview
• A preservation (or master) copy of the recording. This should be of the highest possible quality.
• An access copy of the recording - access copies are lower in sound quality but are much smaller and easier to share with researchers. They are usually created in mp3 format.
• Keep copies in at least one further location - in total you should have one preservation copy plus at least one access copy. 

Ask the interviewee if they would like an mp3 copy of the interview, or a summary of it. This will allow them to go through what they have said and flag up any sections that they would like to be temporarily closed. If this is the case, you can edit the access version of the interview to remove these sections and remove the relevant text from the summary.

See our digitisation guide for best-practice tips on storing and managing digital files (although this guide focuses on digitising documents, most principles for saving and managing digital recordings are the same).

Audio editing software 

There are many examples of audio editing software. Some are free and open source, meaning you can download them straight onto your computer, but it's good to do some research into the best options. You can use them to tidy up the recording if there were interruptions, join separate files together, pull out sound bites, or mute sections which should be closed for public access.

Find out more about and download Audacity

When editing it's up to you whether you take out the 'ums' and 'uh-huhs' - you may only wish to do this for a 30-second clip to put on your website. You don't have to necessarily do this for the entire interview. Remember to keep the preservation copy unedited.

You should also consider the interviewee's moral rights - you shouldn't alter the meaning of what they are saying by editing their words. For example, taking out the word 'not' in the sentence 'I was not happy living there' would completely change what they are trying to say.

Summaries

Summaries are important for cataloguing oral histories, as they can be used in the 'description' field of a catalogue entry to list the topics covered in the interview. This will be useful if researchers are looking for sections to include in a book, documentary or exhibition. Summarise the interview by topic and write a sentence for each one with a timecode - this will help researchers find what they want to listen to quickly.

An example summary with timecodes could look like this:

[00:00] Mrs. Susan Aida Bridge, former teacher at Market Langthwaite Secondary School

[00:40] Early life growing up in Market Langthwaite, family relationships, father worked on a wherry, mother did seasonal work on local farms; adventures with brothers and sisters

[05:34] Experience of life at school, favourite lessons, experience of bullies and how she dealt with them

[10:45] Experience of rationing in the years after World War Two

13:04] Leaving school and training as a teacher in Norwich; life in Norwich in the late 1950s

[17:50] Return to Market Langthwaite as English teacher; nerves around first lessons; relationship with teachers and headteacher

[20:04] Stories about particular lessons and children [note: section between 23:30 and 26:45 muted because of sensitive content]

Transcripts

It may be useful to have a transcript of your recording. Transcripts can be used to pick out select quotes when creating edited highlights of recordings, for use in documentaries or displays.

They are also helpful for allowing researchers with hearing impairments to access the information held in the recordings.

A full verbatim transcription of a recording is very time-consuming - a standard guide is around 6 hours of transcription per hour of recording, and that's for professional transcribers! Often a summary of the recording is all you will need, but if you do want to transcribe sections of an interview, or the whole thing, there are software packages that make things a little easier.

Visit the Oral History Society for their recommendations of transcription software.

There's also been improvements with automatic transcription software where you upload your recording and get a transcript back. If you're interested in voice to text transcription just be aware of the organisation's small print and make a note of the rights they claim over the recordings you upload.

Transcription software is getting better at understanding accents, but even with automatic transcription there will need to be an element of quality checking and editing.

Sensitivity

If you have a transcript of a recording that you believe contains sensitive information, you can use the search function on your word processing software to find words such as 'discipline', 'corrupt' or 'dismissal', which might indicate potentially sensitive passages within the recording that should be closed.

Naming oral history files

You should have a standard way of naming your oral history files. This should include:

• The date the file was created
• The collection the file relates to
• The individual interview number in the collection (add zeros to the beginning to ensure the computer files it chronologically)
• The track number of the interview that the file refers to (add zeros to the beginning to ensure the computer files it chronologically)
• Whether the file is a preservation or access copy (you could use 'P' or 'A')
• The format of the file (eg '.tif or '.jpg')

For example, the preservation copy of the second track of the first interview in the Helen Smith archive, recorded on 7th October 2021 could be: '2021-10-07_HS001_02_P.tif' The access copy could be '2021-10-07_HS001_02_A.jpg'

Describing and cataloguing recordings

Create a catalogue record for each recording. Include the following extra fields in addition to the standard cataloguing fields: 

• The date of interview
• The file names
• The file paths for the preservation and access copies (these should not be made public)
• A basic description of the recording, for example 'Interview of John Davies of Market Langthwaite about his life and career, by Ian Watkin' - enter this in the title field
• An interview summary - enter this in the description field
• The time periods discussed, eg '1940s' - enter these in the 'subject' criteria field

• Draw up a plan for your oral history programme, including why you want to conduct interviews, who you want to interview and what you will do with the recordings
• Ensure you have recording equipment that fits the standard required for a high-quality sound recording, and that you have procedures in place for uploading, storing, copying and cataloguing the recording
• Make a list of subjects you want to cover and people who may be able to interview about these subjects. Contact these people to obtain their consent and explain what the interview is for. Ask the interviewee for initial information on their life and career and do research into the topic, so you are well-prepared for the interview.
• Plan the interview, including where and when it will take place. Put in place any ethical measures that will be required and ensure that the interviewee has informed consent over how their interviews will be recorded, used and shared.
• Make sure the interviewee reads and signs a participation agreement prior to the interview
• Maintain good interview etiquette during the recording, ask open-ended and neutral questions, and allow for breaks
• On completion, ask the interviewee to sign a recording agreement and send them an audio copy of the recording. Check whether they would like any part of the interview to be closed.
• Upload and store the interview files, make access copies and catalogue them for future reference

The Oral History Society (opens new window), based at the British Library, includes useful, in-depth advice on their website. It is also a good source of practical training.

You can view a training video on setting up, recording and managing oral history interviews on the Norfolk Record Office's YouTube channel. This video will focus on the key points covered in the Oral History section of the Community Archives Toolkit.

View the training video