Catching Stories: A Practical Guide to Oral History

Catching Stories: A Practical Guide to Oral History. By Donna M. DeBlasio, Charles F. Ganzert, David H. Mould, Stephen H. Paschen, and Howard L. Sacks. Athens: Ohio University Press, Swallow Books, 2009. Hardbound, $26.95; Softbound, $16.95.

“Oral history levels the playing field of historical research” (vii), the authors assert, and this practical guide does indeed show how it can be beneficial to anyone interested in transforming the oral history of their family or community group from an idea to reality. Written in highly accessible prose and filled with numerous images and descriptive examples, Catching Stories’ intended audience is not only professional historians and academics, but for “[a]nyone with an interest, time, resources, and some training” (vii). Catching Stories is a collaborative work written by five authors from such varied professional backgrounds as sociology, history, and radio broadcasting. Their diverse contributions result in a book which speaks about conducting oral history research across disciplines as well as outside of academia — a key strength of the work. The authors have structured the book to address the progression of considerations required to successfully undertake and complete an oral history project on any topic. The chapters cover the value of oral history research, planning a project, what the ethics, political considerations, and legal issues entail, interviewing, transcribing, and technical issues, as well as how to acquire funding for a project. Valuable tips highlighted throughout the work explore a myriad of dimensions involved in oral history research, including a checklist to accompany every interview (166), questions to consider when buying recording equipment (134), sample consent forms (68), simple methods for filing (40), labeling interview recordings (29), a list of red flag words linked to defamation of character which may have negative legal repercussions (60), and thoughtful ethical guidelines to enable the interviewer to “avoid many problems and deal effectively with those you do confront” (54).

As the title Catching Stories: A Practical Guide to Oral History indicates, this work contributes historiographically to an emergent body of literature which informs academics but more notably non-academics about the practical and ethical considerations involved in the development of an oral history project. While anthropology, sociology, and related social sciences have emphasized the inclusion of oral sources in their approach to research, increasingly students from other disciplines are encouraged to include an oral history component in their research. This work builds on a body of literature devoted to understanding the practical and moral implications of oral history research, such as The Oral History Manual, 2nd ed., by Barbara Sommer and Mary Kay Quinlan (Lanham, MD: AltaMira, 2009), anthropologist Renato Rosaldo’s 1980 article: “Doing Oral History” (Social Analysis 4, 1980: 89 – 99), oral historian Valerie Yow’s Recording Oral History: A Guide for the Humanities and Social Sciences, 2nd ed. (Lanham, MD: AltaMira, 2005), and Doing Oral History: A Practical Guide , 2nd ed., by Donald A. Ritchie (New York: Oxford University Press, 2003).

As the Catching Stories authors note, “the democratic nature of oral history also has a profound impact on the topics covered” (vii), which highlights its unique historiographic contribution — it is intended to be of equal use as a guide outside of academia.
While other oral history guides focus primarily on interviewing techniques and grant proposal writing, a key strength of this work is its emphasis on the technical aspect of recording oral histories, which the authors make explicit as a goal of this work (x). Two chapters cover the audio and video principles and provide useful advice on the composition of an interview as well as other practical tips on how to obtain clear sound and well-composed pictures (x). What makes the discussion of technical aspects of oral history particularly interesting is that the focus is not reduced to an evaluation of specific equipment, but rather the nature of sound, light, audio, and video. As a result, the reader becomes equipped with general approaches and tools to integrate into practice with whatever technology they may have in their hands in their given project. As contributing author Charles Ganzert astutely observes: “Many researchers get involved in oral history because they love the topics at hand or the contact with people, but technology issues, for better or worse, are an essential component of recording and preservation, too” (134).

Overall, Catching Stories is an extremely valuable and accessible resource for anyone interested in pursuing oral history research. The authors cite oral historian Paul Thompson on the purpose and value of oral history research in the opening pages of this work: “it can give back to the people who made and experienced history, through their own words, a central place” (vii), and this guide will assist immensely all those interested in achieving this goal through an approach which combines rigor and empathy.

Meagan Gough
University of Saskatchewan

Source: Oral History Review, Volume 37, Issue 2, pp: 273-274