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Oral History Society

www.oralhistory.org.uk

The Oral History Society is an organization made up of individuals who are interested in and understand the importance of hearing, recording and preserving the life stories and notable events as told by everyday, ordinary citizens. These stories fill the gaps in history books which primarily focus on the stories of newsworthy events and individuals during certain periods of time. Society members are national as well as international.

The Oral History Society web site is full of information to help those persons, whether or not they are members of the society, learn how to get started in this interesting endeavor. The web site provides detailed information about how to collect and capture oral history including ways of preparing interviewees, ways of asking more effective questions which will lead to more descriptive and detailed responses from those being interviewed, and it also discusses the various recording and storage tools one can use during and after the interviews.

The Oral History Society web site points out the benefits of becoming a member of this society and includes a link for joining. The web site also contains an area for viewing the topics of each of the past issues of the society's publication, Oral History, which can be ordered by anyone simply by using the attached order form. Society members receive both the current Spring and Autumn issues with their memberships. The Oral History Society sponsors events and conferences and information on upcoming events are listed on the web site. The Society also sponsors regular training classes and visitors can find a complete listing of these classes, including the itineraries, on this web site. Society members can purchase books, training courses and enroll in conferences at a reduced price.

The section titled Practical Advice provides everything one would need to know to conduct an oral history interview. Anyone interested in interviewing a family member, neighbor or other person should read this section. Also available to visitors is a geographical listing of individuals who have made themselves available to those in need of assistance in the area of oral history. The web site also maintains a lengthy section that covers pertinent copyright and ethical information as they relate to the task of capturing and recording oral history.

Any person interested in undertaking an oral history project but does not have the needed financial resources can view the Resources area of this web site to locate more information on agencies and other sources which make funding for this type of project available. Links to these sites are available as well.

The Oral History Society web site contains a page full of links to other oral history web sites and other resources to use for obtaining additional information on the subject of oral history.