Oral History Workshop on Dec. 10

Learn the Basics

Some of the best stories of everyday life are lost when someone dies or their memory fades: your Dad’s reminiscences of growing up on a farm, Grandma’s recipe for her special fried chicken, your aunt singing that old gospel tune, the town’s oldest resident’s tale of how things used to be. On Saturday, December 10th, the Historical Society of Cecil County will offer a workshop designed to instruct beginners how to conduct interviews and preserve these stories. Called “A Beginner’s Guide to Oral History,” the workshop will provide basic instruction in the techniques of oral history, including the art of questioning, the use of recording devices, gathering documentary materials, indexing, transcription and preservation. In the second half of the workshop, students will be encouraged to practice what they have learned by interviewing each other. Jenifer Grindle Dolde, coordinator of the Historical Society’s oral history program, will lead the workshop. “A good oral history doesn’t have to make use of complicated equipment and it doesn’t require deep, probing questions. A good interview is a narrative by someone with interesting life experiences. The interviewer is just there to keep the conversation going, and to ask questions that fill in the details,” Ms. Dolde says.

The workshop will emphasize the most neglected parts of the oral history process: planning and preparation before an interview, and preservation and documentation after the interview. Workshop participants also will be given a brief tour of the Historical Society’s exhibit, “Cecil’s Soldiers: Stories from the World War II Generation,” to see how oral histories are used in a museum setting.

“A Beginner’s Guide to Oral History” will be held on Saturday, December 10th from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. at the Historical Society of Cecil County, 135 East Main Street, Elkton, Maryland. The cost is $10 for members and $12 for non-members. Pre-registration is required, as space is limited. Contact the Historical Society at 410-398-1790 or by e-mail at history@cchistory.org to register, or for more information. “A Beginner’s Guide to Oral History,” as part of the project “Cecil’s Soldiers: Stories of the World War II Generation,” has been made possible through the support of local veterans and service organizations, Wal-Mart, and through a grant from the Maryland Humanities Council.

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