Wednesday, September 4, 2013

RECORDING FAMILY ORAL HISTORY - A how-to guide for beginners by Ken Oguss.

"Listening is a gift of Love."


What do you really know about your grandparents or great grandparents?  If you are lucky stories about them have been passed down over the years.  Perhaps there is a connection to them in family heirlooms, old photos or old letters and diaries.  Most likely you are limited to the sort of basic information one can find in genealogy charts.  But what do you really know about your ancestors?  Does that make you wonder what future generations will know about you and your family?

I will assume for this article that you do not have to be convinced that recording family oral histories is worthwhile.  I have been making recordings of my family since the late sixties and have learned a thing or two. Back in the ‘80’s  I took a workshop in  oral history interviewing at the Indiana Historical Society.  Since then I have been doing oral history recordings for families and individuals as part of my work.  It is my pleasure now to share some tips and resources for recording your family oral histories.

Equipment List.
  1. Audio Recorder.
  2. Extra batteries and battery tester if needed
  3. Power / charging cord.
  4. Writing materials.
  5. Headphones for monitoring and listening back to your recording.
  6. List of questions*
  7. Camera / Smartphone.

Set Up And Location.
  1. Test your equipment before you sit down to record to be sure everything is working properly.  Modern digital recorders do an excellent job or recording but you need to be completely comfortable with the way your machine works.  Practice, practice, practice.
  2. Use an audio recorder that has a power cord if possible.  Batteries can run down unexpectedly and result in missed material.
  3. Conduct the recording in a quiet place with no interruptions if possible.  Plan to record anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour at a shot and then take a break if your subject seems tired.
  4. Be sure to keep notes about your interviews and what is in each file in your audio recorder.  When you transfer your audio files to a computer you will want to document them as soon as possible to avoid confusion later.  File titles should have the names of the person interviewed and the date of the interview at the very least.

Prepare Your Subject.
Before you do your first recording of a family member explain why you are doing the recordings and make sure it is OK with him/her. If it will help put them at ease, show them some of the questions and assure them that they are just suggestions.  Paint a calm, relaxed picture for them of you listening with appreciation and respect.  As they say on the StoryCorps website, “Listening is an act of love”. 

How To Begin.
You have tested your equipment.  You are sitting comfortably with your subject in a quiet room. Set up your equipment ahead of time if possible or, if the subject is with you, do it with confidence.  In a relaxed manner, start your recorder and state aloud the date, time, location, who you are and your subject’s name.  Try to sound casual but clear.  If your subject seems nervous, just chat for a bit and then work up to your first question.

Conducting The Interview.
Use a list of questions* that you have selected.  In general start with the earliest memories and work to the present.  Ask open-ended questions such as, “What are your earliest memories” as opposed to, “Would you say you had a happy childhood?”  Allow your subject to think and respond.  Resist the temptation to finish a sentence or fill in the blanks.  Ideally you should be perfectly quiet and just give your subject non-verbal feedback such as nodding your head for encouragement and making good eye contact to show that you are listening carefully. 

Aside from keeping quiet the most difficult thing to do is to wait out occasional silences.  It is important that you let your subject think after he/she has seemingly finished talking because related comments or stories may follow after the fact.  Respect their pauses and they will be more open and trusting.

You may use the recording as an opportunity to request specific information or a specific story that you want to preserve.  As long as you are not asking a question that will bring up a painful memory or inhibit your subject from further sharing… ask away.  You are doing the work, you can choose the questions.

You can go into a recording with questions that aim at a specific subject or period of time.  You can aim to fill in gaps of your sense of family history; fill out a timeline of sorts.  However, if you have limited time please consider this:  In my opinion the stories that really tell us about someone are the stories of his/her passions, strong values, lessons learned, and successes. And don’t forget things like favorite foods, jokes, movies, books, and trips taken. 

You may notice that a member of your family tells the same story often at gatherings of friends or relatives.   When you interview that person, ask why the story is important.  Sometimes they may not know why on the surface, but you know there is a reason.  The stories we readily share with others are reflections of how we think of ourselves.  They are part of our identity. 

As a final touch to your recording, take a photograph of the subject.

Special Problems.
If you are trying to interview someone who has difficulty thinking of stories to share be prepared to bring out artifacts from past years such as objects relating to a special interest or hobby, prized possessions, photographs, etc.

For a subject who feels he/she has already told you these stories before, invite a friend who has not heard the stories to join you in the interview.  With a little coaching, the friend will be another good listener who will be ready to hear the family stories for the first time.  You will often get stories that you have not heard in a long time or never heard before!  There is something about getting into the flow of telling someone new about your life that can bring up all kinds of connected memories.

Venues Other Than Interviews.
YOU can be your own subject!  You can record your own life history.   Over the years I have kept an audio journal which is a viable type of oral history recording.  I have also turned on a recorder during family gatherings to catch the exchange of stories and comments.  Our family sent audiocassette letters back and forth to Dave Oguss when he was stationed in Vietnam.  Those recordings of our current events and concerns  are now little time capsules of those times.

Afterward.
Once you have finished a recording session, listen to the recording when you have time to make notes in the form of an written outline.  This will help you plan follow up recording sessions and document the current recordings  for future sharing.

Digital recordings should be stored on an external hard drive or in cloud storage.  The types of storage and audio file types will likely evolve over time and require saving the files to the new standard.  

Sharing.
DropBox and Google Drive are just two of many web based options for sharing a large number of audio files.  For some it may be easiest to share by downloading the audio library onto a thumb drive or SD card along with documents, notes, indexes, and even photos that accompany the recorded interviews.

I hope my suggestions will be helpful to you.  Consider recording family members while their memories are still fresh. Today you can show your love of your family by carefully listening and asking questions.  Tomorrow your descendants will have a much better idea of who you and your family were because you took the time to listen and record their family stories!

Ken Oguss

October 15, 2020
Indianapolis Indiana



WHAT KIND OF RECORDER?


·    Portable Audio CassetteRecorders - If your family did any oral history recording back with these large, shoebox-sized tape recorders were common you will want to digitize the recordings and store on a hard drive or put in Cloud Storage for safe keeping.  Recording quality was usually poor by today's standards; plenty of  “tape hiss”. 

·       Digital Voice Recorders - Use flash memory or SD cards that plug into your computer. 
  •    Low End (cheaper) - These are often used for dictation or recording classes.  They are often very small. The audio quality is not great, but they are better than nothing.  Olympus and Sony make a number of different recorders. Cost:  Under $100.
  •    High End - Tascam,  Edirol, and Zoom, make high quality, portable digital recorders.  I use a  Zoom H4 which allows for a wide variety of external microphones. All of the higher quality recorders are relatively easy to use and have built in microphones that are sensitive enough to use without a lapel mic. (BTW, great for recording live music!) Cost: $150 - $350.

·       Smart Phones - Most smart phones come with Voice Recording or Voice Memo apps.  Be aware of where the microphones are located on your phone.  Consider buying an external microphone(s)  to plug into your phone for better sound. 

                        StoryCorps App - supplies sample questions and provides an easy way to upload the interview and share with others.





**SOURCES FOR ORAL HISTORY QUESTIONS:







OTHER ORAL HISTORY RESOURCES


By Ellen J. Miller | NEWSWEEK
From the magazine issue dated Dec 23, 1991


an independent nonprofit project whose mission is to honor and celebrate one another’s lives through listening.  

Google Search: Recording Oral History Interviews.

LIFE STORIES PROJECT
A joint project between Storytelling Arts of Indiana, WFYI - Radio, and the Indiana Historical Society in 2013. 

Originally published September 7, 2008
Revised September 4, 2013
Revised October 15, 2020


Copyright © ℗ 2020 by Ken Oguss All Rights Reserved.



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