HISTORY IN
     THE COUNTY OF
          SAN LUIS OBISPO
  Site  by Lynne Landwehr © 2001
      www.historyinslocounty.org

Features and Information:

Tips for
Oral History Interviewers

     Do you have an older friend or a relative who's full of anecdotes and information about your family, the area, or some particularly interesting or colorful event or period?  Grab a tape recorder and invite your narrator to have at it--but before you do, check out the Tips for Interviewers from Willa K. Baum's Oral History for the Local Historical Society on the UC Berkeley website.  They'll help you focus your questions, keep you in the background (where you belong), and get your subject talking in a comfort zone that will make the narrative more interesting.

      And once you have your interview, transcribe it!  If you can't do it, find someone who can!  Tape is fragile, and can be difficult to access.  And things that seem clear now, won't be in ten years, when it may be too late to ask your subject for more details.  When you transcribe the interview, you help ensure its longterm survival.

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Copyright © 2001 Lynne Landwehr.  All rights reserved.
www.historyinslocounty.org