When you hear the word history, what comes to mind? Do you think about artifacts, wars, legislation, or dates? Does your mind go to movies, documentaries, or that class field trip to Colonial Williamsburg? Believe it or not, there are more avenues of history than listed above, and one that seems to get the shaft, at least in academic circles, is oral history. Oral history is the collection of history straight from the public, often represented through interviews, stories, folklore, and even songs. When one verbally explains events, daily life, or society as he or she sees it, history has been revealed for analysis.
The kinds of information that you can learn from oral history is infinite. You can learn about different time periods, cultures, what was valued during a person’s life, economies, and different environments, just to name a few. You can obtain a large amount of information by conducting interviews depending on how detailed your questions are. For example, if you ask someone who was born during the 1950s, he or she can probably paint a picture of what the world through the 1960s and 1970s looked like. Perhaps he or she remembers the John F. Kennedy assassination, what music and movies were popular, how and why nations became involved with conflict and war, what family values were important, what jobs were available, as well as how towns and cities were constructed.
Stories, folklore, and songs divulge more personal and family history. These mediums express emotions, chapters of people’s lives, genealogy, and legends that have been passed down to new generations. Absorbing this type of history is significant for research on a micro level; in effect, discovering, for instance, what kind of education was available for children and adults during a certain era.
Much like other types of history, there are some problems that will need to be taken into consideration when examining oral history. People may embellish facts or leave out details due to age and how long ago something happened. There have been instances when people invent things that never really happened because they may have thought about it at a later time and automatically associated it with that topic. It is sometimes hard to remember something if it has not been written down or otherwise recorded, but this does not mean we should throw out the concept of oral history. What can be learned far outweighs any backlash; therefore, historians should consider using oral history to help tell as complete a story as possible.