In class we met in the library to meet with the Special Collections and Archives Coordinator, Ray Bonis. It was interesting to have this be a lecture given at this point in the semester, as we are going around visiting the different communities and getting a feel for what they are like and how they opperate. By meeting with Ray (and Yuki) in the Special Collections Office, it was like experiencing what life is like in the VCU Library community and the Oral Historian community. Ray shared many stories about his experiences documenting oral histories himself, as well as processing the histories collected, as well as a deep knowledge of many of the oral histories and documents archived in the Library.
Ray used his blog to show several examples of oral histories collected by the VCU library, including When Janey Comes Marching Home, by Laura Browder, and Conversations in America, by Studs Turkel. He also showed many examples printed in journals composed by The Oral History Society. These examples were great to look at because they help to demystify the role of an oral historian; By looking at these projects and their transcriptions, we were able to see a bit of how oral historians think when they are holding these interviews.
I found that some of the most interesting examples of Oral Histories were those that came from the Church Hill Oral History Project. I found this interesting because it comes from a very local environment that I can relate to. They could also serve as great resources for any of the projects we are doing in this class that deal with local Richmond Communities. Part of what was interesting about this was listending to Ray present the collection of oral histories and listening to how fluent he is with the collection.
In addition to looking at existing histories, Ray talked about the process of creating and documenting an oral history. He walked us through his process of conducting an interview and shared his experience of interviewing a Mr. Valentine.
1. Research: Ray emphasized the importance of doing research on the community you are going to interview before ever meeting with them. It helps to be as educated as you can on who they are so you can form questions to ask and so you can know what sort of information they could have that would be good to document.
2. Contact the Interveiwee
3. Provide a Consent Form: Similar to what Laura has said, it is important to have the interviewee consent to have their history published in every medium possible so it can be archived and available for public use.
4. Pre-Interview: This was a notion that I had not considered before, but I think it is an excellent idea. Ray suggested to meet with the interviewee before the actual interview and discuss what the real interview will be like. I think that it helps to establish a trusting relationship bewtween the interviewer and interviewee, as well as help the interveiweer know what kind of questions would be good to ask
5.Check Equipment: Ray stressed the importance of having good equipment and making sure that it is all functioning properly. He also let us know that there is equipment available for rent in the library
6. Conduct the Interview: Ray had much to say about how to conduct an interview. First you should ask if the interveiwee has agreed to being taped. He suggested that at the beginning of the interview to ask definitive questions that the interviewee can easily answer, such as their full name, where they were born, who their parents are, where they g rew up, what school was like, etc. He said that keeping questions very open ended was best because it would let the interviewee talk about what ever they deemed important. He stressed the necessity to listen closely to that they are saying and to be flexible and attentive with the questions you ask. He gave examples of oral histories that were meant to be about one subject, but provided a wealth of information about another because the interviewee had information that needed to be documented (such as how to operate and old time stock market ticker in an interview about the economy). You never know what you interviewee will have stories about that need to be documented before they are lost. He also advised to let the interview last about one hour and to meet in a quiet place.
7. Make Sure File Is Saved Properly.
8. Transcribe Interview: This seems to be the most laborious part of the process. According to Ray, it can take up to an hour to transcribe 10 minutes of audio. The process can be made difficult because you have to make decisions about how to edit the spoken word to fit in a written format while still maintaining the integrity, authenticity, and possible idiosyncrasies of the speaker.
9. Check Spellings of Names/ Have Interveiwee Read Draft
10. Deposit With an Institution.
Thanks Casey.
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