The Oral History Association advises on best practices for collecting, preserving, and disseminating oral histories. The following resources offer practical steps for organizing and executing an oral history project.
Baylor University’s Institute for Oral History offers free manuals for planning an oral history project, identifying recording equipment, conducting remote interviews, transcribing, and indexing interviews. They also provide free and fee-based webinars.
Methodology: Many of the sources in this guide discuss oral history methods. The following sources offer alternative methods and critical perspectives on traditional oral history methods:
The Institutional Review Board’s “mission is to protect the rights and welfare of human research participants,” they, therefore, provide oversight on research projects. Oral history is no longer designated “research,” and therefore does not need to be reviewed by the IRB. However, if you are unsure whether your project is considered “research,” allow the Northwestern IRB office to make that determination.