Oral History
At its most basic definition, oral history is an account of the pastconveyed through word of mouth. Oral history tells of cultures andindividuals by presenting oral commentary of events, situations andfeelings of individuals. Oral history has made important contributions tothe ways in which historians and the general public understands andinterprets the past. (Stursberg 1997) The beginning of the modern form oforal history is said have originated with Allan Nevins of ColumbiaUniversity. According to Peter Stursberg, in his Canadian Encyclopediaarticle on oral history, the modern oral-history movement began in 1948when Nevin interviewed subjects accompanied by a graduate student who tooklong hand notes. Nevin evoked a sort of stream of consciousness, or asStursberg calls it, "stream of reminiscences" from his subjects. Oral histories provide an effective tool that allows historians andanthropologists a chance to preserve oral traditions, skills and crafts.(Vansina 129) In her book, "Oral Tradition as History," Jan Vansina writesthat, "The full cultural or individual significance of quilting or themaking of a musical instrument can only be obtained through the nuance and
" In the ancient oral tradition once a composition is created andmemorized, it is supposed to remain unchanged as it passed down fromgeneration to generation through recitation. (Vansina,14) According to Allan Nevins, in his book titled, "Gateway to History,"published in 1938, the earliest story of the discovery of what is now theNorth American continent can be found in Icelandic sagas. While more traditional forms of historycan record events, movements, sociological changes based on documentedevidence, oral history is instrumental in capturing the tide of humanhistory as it is, or was, experienced by individuals that lived it. The two principle sources of the accounting of the discoveryare from the "Saga of Eric," and the "Tale of the Greenlanders. Oral histories havetwo important facets. This meansthat over time small changes in the original composition would goundetected. It is believed to be egotistical andundignified, according to Hoopes, to talk about oneself. Someone does not have to learn a special rhetoric to do history. (Benison, et al 156) In the book, "Envelopes of Sound: The Artof Oral History," Ronald J. Whileoral history can be subject to the prejudices and emotions of those who arebeing interviewed, the overall picture of events can be invaluable. Not only can the actual words and rulesand idioms of oral speech help illuminate the intricacies of a society, socan the subtle inflections and gestures of the individuals who are tellingtheir stories. The oral history process in Central and SouthAmerica, according to Hoopes, has been instrumental in saving the personalaccounting of the history of and actions of national leaders. Herodotus used the method of interviewingsurvivors' experiences about the past for his account of the Persian warsin the 5th century BC for example. It's open to the public, to anyone who wants to do it. Chosentribal "historians" would memorize long tracks, usually in the forms ofpoems or ballads, of tribal history and be charged with maintaining thefacts in memory and passing it down to following generations.
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Jan Vansina,
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written record,
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allan nevins,
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Acceptance Essays
