Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Top 6 Online Guides for Folklife and Oral History Documentation




I've had a few requests lately for guidebooks or information on running folklore, folklife, and oral history field documentation projects. Here are my top six picks of the week:

1. FOLKLIFE AND FIELDWORK: A Layman's Introduction to Field Techniques
http://www.loc.gov/folklife/fieldwork/
Available online, broken down into chapters, or also as a full pdf you can download and print

2. Oral History Centre Tutorials
http://oralhistorycentre.ca/tutorials
A collection of informative articles and instructional tutorials containing resources such as software and hardware training, oral history guidelines and best practices.

3. Step-by-Step Guide to Oral History
http://dohistory.org/on_your_own/toolkit/oralHistory.html

4. The Smithsonian Folklife and Oral History Interviewing Guide
http://www.folklife.si.edu/education_exhibits/resources/guide/introduction.aspx
Excellent resource, complete with sample questions

5. New Zealand Guide to Recording Oral History
http://www.nzhistory.net.nz/handsonhistory/oral-history

6. Style Guide for Transcribing Oral History
http://www.baylor.edu/oralhistory/index.php?id=931752

photo: Ronald White spins a yarn, Stephenville, 2016. photo by Dale Jarvis

1 comment:

les said...

Excellent. This should be a must-read for incoming folklore students.