Oral history

Spark memories, narrate the past, preserve stories, create history
studio condenser microphone, isolated on black. copy space on left. Credit: yanyong, courtesy of Getty Images

Oral history at the Â鶹´«Ã½ offers you the chance to work with our leading historians. 

Learning and using this distinctive, compelling, and very un-traditional way of doing history with living, breathing, and talking human beings!

What is oral history?

Oral history is:
‘the recording of people’s memories, experiences, and opinions’.
Using a range of interview techniques, you can hear ‘the voices of the past’, rescue ‘history at risk’ of disappearing, and capture ‘living history’ including people and groups who have been ‘hidden from history’(The Oral History Society, UK).
Recording devices lined up
Oral History - Interview practice - Oliver and Harry

Studying oral history as part of your history degree at Â鶹´«Ã½

You’ll encounter oral history in a range of undergraduate and postgraduate modules.
  • You’ll assemble a toolkit of basic methods in class and in real-world applications.
  • You’ll develop your own oral history project on a topic of your choice.
  • Then, take your knowledge and apply it to your historical studies, including your final-year dissertation.

“Conducting and analysing our own oral history interview, as well as others, gave us a sense of how valuable and interesting these stories are to understanding and preserving the past.â€

Kymberley Murray, BA (Hons) History – 2nd year, who conducted an oral history of Dartmoor Prison.
Dartmoor Prison
Dartmoor Prison, Devon
 

Our students’ oral history research projects

Fire Engine
History of organisations; public policy; occupations
Northern Ireland
History of Northern Ireland; history of discrimination
Interview with Chloe Griffin
Military history
 

Opportunities to work with leading organisations

Our students have worked with organisations across South West England, nationally, and internationally, to develop innovative projects and acquire employability skills and professional contacts.