Intersections of Oral History
Throughout my academic career, I have had many opportunities to work with oral histories. This has included taking interviews and listening to audio recordings. During my undergraduate studies, I had the privilege of partnering with African American community members in Columbia, Missouri, to document their family histories when the town was urbanized. The Foundation’s meticulous methodology and ethical approach to preserving oral histories is something I would like to strive for in my own work. Collecting oral histories with empathy, precision, and purpose so that these lived experiences are preserved for further generations is something that speaks to me deeply. Recently, I had the opportunity to collect an oral history for the Hanley House, and will be doing so again this coming week at the Missouri Historical Society. Particularly with the oral histories at Hanley House, I came to the realization of how important these are to share and preserve, even if some of the interviewees believed that there wasn’t much that can be gained from their stories. Varied perspectives are crucial to understanding the complete story of a place, person, or period of time.
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Oral histories are foundational pieces of research. With all of my experience, and the experience to come, I expect to be better able to connect with community members and have stronger interpretative skills. I am not sure if I will continue to take interviews in my career, but I believe that I will still use them constantly. At the moment, I am not sure if I would like to go into cataloguing, archives, or curation. Nevertheless, preserving this form of history is very important to me. Without the work of prior oral historians, much of my own research would be lacking, to say the least. Capturing snapshots of a human life is a difficult and rewarding skill to have, as it opens up so many possibilities for community engagement. Helping people become interested and involved in history is a huge effort to undertake.
