Community historians understand that an oral history takes careful planning in advance, diligent focus during the interview, and considerate care afterwards. Community historians always try to collaborate with the narrator whose stories they are documenting.

So you have decided that you want to document the history of someone in your community. Where do you begin? How do you choose the person you would like to interview? Think about the people you know. Do you have elder relatives, family friends, or people you know in your community whose perspectives on the past don’t often show up in your textbooks? Is there a particular event that you have read about that you would like to hear about first-hand? Do you know someone who lived through that event who would talk to you? Are any of these people storytellers? Do they like to talk about the past? If so, you might have found someone who would be willing to sit for an oral history interview with you.

Once you have identified someone to interview, you should conduct a pre-interview meeting. A pre-interview is a meeting where you explain the project and the interview process to the narrator. At the meeting, you should discuss the scope of the interview and tell the narrator why you think conducting an oral history with them is important.

Make sure your narrator understands that the interview recordings and transcripts will be shared with the public. You should then agree on the number of interviews and the amount of time each interview will last. You should tell your interviewer that you will be asking them to sign a document called a “release form,” which will give you written permission to use the interview. You should then give them a copy of the release form to review in advance.

You and your narrator should agree on whether the interview will be recorded using only audio or both audio and video. You and your narrator must agree on all of this in advance before you begin the oral history interview.