Oral History --The Importance of Preserving The “Ordinary”

Almost any student could identify what year World War II ended or who the last President of United States was. Important names and dates such as these are what we are asked to memorize and what fill our textbook pages. But schools rarely teach, and students do not know, what emotions an individual felt when he or she heard the war had ended or the experience of one of the White House Custodians. These personal stories are too specific for classes and textbooks, and so too often die with those who hold the memories. By losing these stories, however, society loses much more than a nice memory, but the very experiences that define the human experience. Such personal stories spin the thread of our shared humanity, the thread which becomes a lifeline in times of personal and international difficulty. The collection and preservation of these stories requires a technique that seeks out the narratives of  “everyday people,” opposed to those of the elites. This technique is Oral History, and the topic of my second ELI.

Before this ELI, I had had little exposure to formal oral history. So little, in fact, that I set a goal to begin by gaining a basic understanding of what oral history really is. After reading and comparing varying definitions from different sources, I have decided to define oral history as the gathering (through audio recording, writing, video, etc.) of historical information through a conversation between two people. This conversation consists of an interviewer asking questions of the narrator, who answers at length from his or her personal experiences. Often these questions are themed (for example: Would you tell me about your experiences as a nurse in World War II?), but do not have to be. Historians can use oral history to gather personal information about a world event or time period, but historians are not the only, or the most important, interviewers. Any person who is interested in the experiences of another can record an interview that could become an important record for individuals, families, and communities.

In the end, the purpose of oral history is to fill in the historical record with personal accounts from everyday people, whether that be done between a granddaughter and grandmother or an historian and war veteran. As I study oral history, I am repeatedly touched by the power it has to save some the most important stories of the human experience, told by those who might otherwise have been overlooked. I believe that recording and cherishing these stories is as important, if not more so, as memorizing the most often identified dates and names in history.

~Emma