The Oral History Society's Blog
Sharing Stories
Welcome to the Oral History Society’s blog. Here we share stories and updates from oral history projects all over the United Kingdom – from community projects to student research and museum curation. Whatever your involvement in oral history, we would like to hear from you.
Featured post
Climate change affects all of us – but what’s our SIG meant to do?
This is the story of the resurrection of the Environment and Climate Change Special Interest Group of the Oral History Society. But the question that really needed answering was, what is it for?
Recent posts
It’s queer up north? Finding queerness in Sheffield’s past
Researchers looking into the queer history of local communities outside London may find this to be a difficult task. There is no ‘LGBT’ tab on the local studies library record…
If gardens had ears, what would they hear?
If Homes Had Ears is a new, light-touch digital exploration of the spaces that define our homes. Launched by the British Library in the summer of 2020, the website uses oral histories and other gems from our sound archive to capture how people regarded their domestic spaces throughout the twentieth century.
Interviewing in Covid Times
Bea Lewkowicz, Director of AJR Refugee Voices and Sephardi Voices UK Archives, reflects on interviewing via Zoom during lockdown.
When the crisis fades, what gets left behind?
Soon after the first lockdown in March 2020 I was, along with my colleagues in the oral history team at the British Library, tasked to explore options for remote interviewing.
Distant Voices, Queer Lives
OurStory Scotland records queer voices that bear witness to our lives. Through changing times, and even lockdown, we reach out across the distance.
Remote interviewing on Setting the Record Straight/Gwir Gofnod o Gyfnod
Just before lockdown, Archif Menywod Cymru/Women’s Archive Wales embarked on Setting the Record Straight/Gwir Gofnod o Gyfnod – an oral history of Wales’ women politicians and their role during 20 years of Wales’ devolved Senedd.
Remote interviewing over the phone: the Olympus TP-8 mic
The start of the Covid-19 pandemic in March 2020 abruptly changed the course of my oral history work. This blog post sets out how.
‘The Noes Have It’: interviewing former MPs during Covid-19
Dr Emma Peplow from the History of Parliament Trust discusses why they decided against remote oral history interviews during the Covid-19 Pandemic
Talking through windows: interviewing Syrian refugees in a pandemic
“If I was in a real prison… say there are fifty prisoners in one room, you would at least make friends with five of them… But here, look at my situation. There is no one around.” Salih, Cardiff, 2020
