Procedures of Audio Recorded Interviews At COLUMBIA CENTER FOR ORAL HISTORY

Our usual procedure, once a project has been organized and funded, is to bring on staff an interviewer either as a consultant or as a part-time employee, to research and conduct the interviews. In recruiting interviewers we seek applicants who have knowledge of the field under investigation and interviewing experience. In particular, we search for someone familiar with the secondary literature, the location and organization of collections of written documents relevant to the interviews, a sense of the historiographical issues involved in the project, and the personality traits of an informed, interested listener.

Tips on Archiving Family History, Part 2

Readers sent dozens of questions about archiving and preserving family history and stories to Bertram Lyons, an archivist at the American Folklife Center of the Library of Congress in Washington. He was recently asked to be the editor of the International Association of Sound and Audiovisual Archives, an organization that aims to share best practices in the management of audiovisual materials internationally. He received his master’s degree in museum studies from the University of Kansas in 2009.

Principles for Oral History and Best Practices for Oral History

Oral history refers both to a method of recording and preserving oral testimony and to the product of that process. It begins with an audio or video recording of a first person account made by an interviewer with an interviewee (also referred to as narrator), both of whom have the conscious intention of creating a permanent record to contribute to an understanding of the past.

Tips on Archiving Family History, Part 1

Readers sent dozens of questions about archiving and preserving family history and stories to Bertram Lyons, an archivist at the American Folklife Center of the Library of Congress in Washington. He manages digital archives relating to folklife, including StoryCorps, which records and collects oral histories. In addition to academic workshops, he participates in public outreach, answering questions from people interested in preserving audio and visual material in analog and digital media, as well as related documents.

US ARMY GUIDE TO ORAL HISTORY (6)

Army historians should use either standard cassette recorders or digital recorders when conducting interviews. Adherence to this policy will facilitate the transcription process and the exchange of interviews between Army historical offices. The use of proprietary software for digital recorders, as well as the use of microcassettes, is discouraged. The Center of Military History will transcribe only standard cassettes. Although most Army historians will want to use digital recorders, standard cassette recorders remain widely available, relatively inexpensive, and portable. If using a cassette recorder, be sure to:

US ARMY GUIDE TO ORAL HISTORY (5)

The End-of-Tour Interview Program described in AR 870-5 consists of interviews with the principals of the Secretariat and Army Staff, MACOM commanders, commanders of Army specified commands and Army components of unified commands, commandants and deputy commandants of the U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC) schools and of the Army Medical Department Center and School, corps and division commanders, and commanders of theater and corps support commands. The program is designed to collect the experiences of individuals in important positions and to ensure that the information is preserved and available to the Army.

US ARMY GUIDE TO ORAL HISTORY (4)

After the interview the historian's task is that of product management: summarizing, transcribing, editing, publishing, and storing. The historian's job is not complete until the information contained in the interview is available and accessible to other historians.

US ARMY GUIDE TO ORAL HISTORY (3)

Before arriving for the interview, the historian should double-check to make sure that he or she has all the necessary equipment and that it is functioning. Familiarity with equipment will avoid any embarrassing moments at the start of the interview.

US ARMY GUIDE TO ORAL HISTORY (2)

Army historians conduct several types of interviews with names that reflect their focus and content: biographical (sometimes known as career interviews), subject, exit, end-of-tour and after-action. A biographical interview focuses on an individual's life or career.

US ARMY GUIDE TO ORAL HISTORY (1)

The U.S. Army Center of Military History (CMH) first developed a concept for an oral history handbook in the mid-1980s. Its objective was to provide Department of the Army (DA) oral history guidance for the growing number of historians tasked with conducting interviews. Since that time, Army historians, military and civilian, have conducted thousands of oral history interviews. Because of the increased importance of oral history in documenting the history of the U.S. Army-as exemplified by the efforts to capture the Army’s response to the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001 and the ongoing operations in the Global War on Terrorism-the Center of Military History deemed the time was right to revise its guide to practicing oral history in order to disseminate lessons learned from this wealth of experience.
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A Narrative of Public Movement of June 5 1963

There is a story about Grand Mosque of Shiraz, in which most of June 5 events happened, that I like to note before addressing memories of June 5, 1963. The current director of bureau of Education who had intended to restore the mosque, started it in 1944. But when he evaluated impairment of the mosque, he concluded it would be better destroy the mosque totally and take its bricks to Kazeroon in order to build schools.

A Memory by Iran Torabi about Meeting Imam Khomeini

There were heavy surgeries that night until morning. Some of the wounded of the air force got martyrdom, and some guards died too. I was busy delivering one of the operated when I heard shouting and cursing in the recovery room. A guard and an air force officer had lain down on the stretcher, and were waiting for surgery. The guard had a medal around his neck supposed to be for the guards, and the Air Force officer recognized it.
The 336th Night of Memory-3

Sardasht Chemical Bombing

The 336th Night of Memory was held on Thursday, June 23, 2022, with the presence of a group of chemical warriors from Sardasht region and the treatment and health staffs of chemically injured and veterans in the Surah Hall of the Arts Center, with the performance of Dawood Salehi. In this ceremony, General Ali Sadri, Dr. Hamid Salehi, Dr. Mohammad Hajipour and Dr. Khosro Jadidi, witnesses of the chemical bombing, shared their memories.

Like a War-Torn Area

I participated in the demonstration for the first time on Tuesday, August 30, 1977 (the 14th of the holy month of Ramadan). In the morning, I heard people had gathered in front of house of Ayatollah Sayyid Abdullah Shirazi. My brother and I went to Naderi Crossroad with the intention of joining the people. The number of people kept increasing, as much as the street became completely closed. The distance between Ayatollah ...