Oral Histories

Oral history is the collection and study of historical information about individuals, families, important events, or everyday life through information obtained from planned interviews. These interviews are conducted with people who participated in or observed past events and whose memories and perceptions of these are to be preserved as a record for future generations.

An oral interview may serve as the only source of information available about a certain place, event, or person. Oral history helps us understand how individuals and communities experienced the forces of history. As a resource, oral histories are not necessarily meant to be a record of factual information, although they can include facts and sometimes help correct inaccurate or incomplete records. More importantly oral histories capture the thoughts, memories, experiences, and perspectives of the person being interviewed. These are aspects of a person’s life that don’t get recorded in traditional historical writings and that is what makes oral histories so invaluable.

Our Oral History series gives people extra insight into the sometimes-missed details of the daily lives of people in a place we love–how their lives were affected by the local culture, environment and circumstances–and can help us discern, discover and better understand the essence of our community. Oral Histories connect us with past communities of our people by bringing us insight and information about how lives were lived by those who have gone before us. We experience greater clarity when we hear firsthand the recollections of yesterday and gain understanding about how this affects how and why things are the way they are today.