Join historian Jon Hunner, interim director of the New Mexico History Museum, and curator Meredith Davidson for an exclusive workshop on gathering and archiving oral histories. This free, introductory course will be offered twice, from 10 am to noon on Wednesday, July 23, in the Meem Community Room. The class will be repeated from 1 to 3 pm on Thursday, Aug. 14, in the History Museum classroom.
Space is limited, so please RSVP to Tomas Jaehn at tomas.jaehn@state.nm.us to reserve a seat.
Oral histories have long been used by scholars and museums to help paint a more detailed picture of the lives of particular people and eras. But families, neighborhoods and institutions hoping to pass on their stories can also learn to capture important voices via oral histories before they fade away. While the famous faces celebrated throughout history typically see their words preserved, we all have important stories to tell. Efforts to capture the “everyman” tales each of us carries is a more recent pursuit—and historians can use some help catching up. Tales of summer camp, local merchants, reactions to national events—each of these helps historians, genealogists, and loved ones.
Participants in these workshops will explore how to conduct background research on interviewees, create a list of questions, develop interview techniques, secure release forms, work with voice recorders, and archive the interviews. A future Crash Course this fall will discuss what to do once you have conducted an oral history.
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