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This week my favorite insight from class had to be what we got out of the Guidelines for Oral History Interviewing chart. We put a lot of good details in there gathered from throughout the week regarding good interview tactics and rules/guidelines to follow.

We covered some areas in what makes a strong oral interview. We discussed doing proper research, asking questions that you yourself would like to be asked, and creating a comfortable atmosphere for the interviewee. Active listening is also very important, and making sure paying attention to your tone of voice-try to create a friendly, pleasant environment.

One great example of Oral Interviewing we examined this week was The Working Tapes with Studs Terkel. Studs Terkel would employ many tricks to make the interview more successful. One we touched on in class was asking the interviewee for help with his tape recorder, by creating that interpersonal moment between the interviewer and interviewee, Terkel was able to break the ice more easily and lead the person into the interview with ease. This is just one example, another example would be how he would “take the journey” with the interviewee, such as having a general direction of how he wanted to structure the interview rather than reciting from a strict list of questions. This made all of his interviews seem more “real” like they had substance to it. It would seem as if he was having them reenact their working day rather than asking them strict questions.

From my readings this week, I learned a lot of valuable information that I will be applying to my interviews going forward.

From the guide, I also learned many things about conducting interviews, such as:

• Asking them not only about their past but about their present.
• Really questioning yourself about the goals of your research before conducting the interviews.
• Questioning yourself about what sorts of questions you would like to be asked if you were in their shoes.

Another piece of valuable knowledge I took away from the Smithsonian Interview Guide was how it mentions not to overlook individuals who aren’t necessarily elders as being incapable of being tradition bearers. It was interesting to think about how knowledge and traditions can be preserved and passed on in unexpected ways, and it made me reconsider who I might view as valuable sources of information in my own research.

I have been taking Computer Vision (C.V.) this semester, and because of the use of C.V. in this subject, I have been having a lot of thoughts about how this technology intersects with the historical work discussed in the readings.

C.V. plays a huge role in digitization, which connects directly to preserving historical interviews and other archival materials. It makes me think about how C.V. could be applied to automatically transcribe and categorize interviews, making them more accessible to researchers. This overlap between my field and the readings has given me a new appreciation for the role of technology in historical preservation.

As for A Voice from the Past, I have mainly been thinking about the digitization of this medium as it relates to my field. Since I study computer science, I found it interesting how digital preservation techniques like AI enhanced restoration or C.V. powered indexing can impact the accessibility of historical voices. The ability to analyze and enhance older recordings using modern methods could make these voices clearer and more widely available.

It also raises questions about authenticity – if we enhance a recording to make it more intelligible, at what point does it stop being a faithful representation of the original? Ethical considerations that hadn’t previously been thought about now seem quite important when dealing with these archives.

One key takeaway is that oral history allows individuals to tell their own stories in their own words, making it different from traditional historical records that often rely on secondhand accounts. As Baxter York stated in his interview, “Creator give all the Tribal name to the Indian people all over in the United States, and they shouldn’t forget their culture and their language and their name.” This quote shows the importance of oral history in preserving cultural identity and traditions.

Another takeaway is that oral history can reveal perspectives that might not be found in written records. York’s discussion about the historical relationship between the Choctaw and Whites provides insight into how history is remembered by the people who lived it. He shares a belief passed down through generations that Chief Pushmataha was poisoned in D.C., rather than dying from overeating, as some secondhand records suggest.

This version of history might not be found in official documents, but it is an important part of how the Choctaw people understand their past.

The technique of the interview in this project seemed to be more of a monologue rather than a dialogue. The interviewers allowed York to speak freely, only stepping in occasionally. This approach let him tell his story in a natural, uninterrupted way. However, the quality of the sound may have interfered with the flow, or it may have been an intentional choice made during editing.

One thing I took away from this interview is the importance of using high quality recording equipment. Their equipment may have been limited at the time, but today, we have better tools available. Using tools that allow the interviewee could be clearly heard is crucial for accuracy. Adding subtitles to oral history projects can also help make them more accessible.

I enjoyed the structure of this interview. Allowing the interviewee to speak at length without too many interruptions helped capture a more natural version of his thoughts which if I were conducting an oral history interview, I would apply this technique.

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