From the Hometown Heritage newspaper archive. The original submitted prose is retained; subheadings were added during archival restoration.
One of the easiest and most enjoyable ways we can all preserve our heritage is through oral histories. Who doesn’t like to have a conversation with an interesting person? Oral histories require just a little time and some inexpensive recording equipment. And you can start right now.
Whether you’re looking to interview a family member or someone you’ve never met, there are a few rules of thumb to prepare for your journey. So take out a pad and pen. Sketching the outline for your oral history project will only take about 15 minutes if you follow these steps.
Defining the project
Plan your project around specific people and topics that engage you. Talking to grandpa because “somebody needs to do it” won’t result in an enjoyable experience–or useful information–for anyone involved. Genuine interest will show through and your interviewees (a.k.a. informants) will respond to it with trust and historical gems you never saw coming.
You can start by listing five people from your community that most fascinate you. These can even be people who have passed, so long as you can still talk to folks who knew them well. What period of their history most excites you?
Going with the goal of just getting grandpa’s life story won’t be enough to sustain your interest in a series of interviews over time. Write a simple one-sentence mission statement for your project. This statement will give you clarity about what you want to achieve.
For example, the mission for my college thesis was to “record the traditions and folkways specific to the mill-centered communities of north Louisiana’s piney woods.” While this was still a broad topic covering many generations of people (including some of my family) it defined a unique time, place and group of people.
Now use your mission statement to break down the project into about five elements based on historical events (from personal to international), social viewpoints, work knowledge, etc. This will give you topics for scheduling follow-up interviews. It will also help you build a project timeline, including the all-important end date.
Commitments to the people interviewed
Remember, you aren’t the only person making a commitment in the process of recording an oral history. The people you’re interviewing are being kind enough to take time out of their lives and reveal deeply personal information. Take out your calendar and identify a regular time each week to work on the project. Even if it’s just one hour, make sure it’s an hour you can commit to as you would an important work task. Look for times when your routines make an interview convenient for you and your informant.
Background research
With your mission, list of interviewees and schedule in hand, head to your local library or archives and begin your research. You don’t need to go in-depth here, but you need to have some general historical context about the time and place you are interested in.
Next time, we’ll look at how you can use your research to formulate questions for getting the most out of your interview time. In the meantime, I’ll have several links to resources that will help you plan your oral history project at http://www.hometownheritage.org (http://www.hometownheritage.org).
The world is full of historical accounts, whether it be courthouse records, meeting minutes or news archives. While these documents shape history, they rarely capture the true context of how we as humans have shaped our civilization. An oral history project will do that for you–and the community you share it with–in a very meaningful way.
What Remains
Oral history remains a practical way for families and communities to document experiences missing from conventional archives. The Oral History Association’s current guidance now places explicit emphasis on informed consent, narrators’ choices, community relationships, and planning for preservation and access before the first recording is made. The technology is easier to obtain than it was in 2010; the obligations to interviewees are no less important. Oral History Association: Best Practices.
Updated October 2026
Supporting Documents & SourcesView related reporting & supporting materials
| Related article | Preparing for Your Oral History Interview |
|---|---|
| Related article | Devices for Recording Oral History and Research Interviews |
Article Catalog CardView the manuscript record, provenance & surviving materials
| Artifact | Hometown Heritage newspaper column — original submitted manuscript |
|---|---|
| Institution | Natchitoches Times, Natchitoches, Louisiana |
| Period | 2010-09-02 |
| Role | Jeffery Guin, columnist and author |
| Platforms | Newspaper; original sent email; Voices of the Past archival recovery |
| Collections | Oral history; research planning; community memory |
| Experiment | Community-facing interpretation and practical cultural-heritage reporting |
| Evidence / engagement | Email submission dated 2010-09-02; regular Thursday publication schedule, print copy not yet checked. |
| What survives | Original submitted email manuscript and message metadata |
| What changed | Period references and historical terminology have been preserved rather than silently updated |
| Trajectory | Newspaper reporting → surviving email → restored Voices archival record |
| Status | Recovered manuscript; draft; print comparison pending |
Critical Questions + Add to the Record
Application here: Planning oral history projects begins with identifying whose experiences need to be heard and how their testimony will be recorded responsibly.
Know something that adds context, documentation, correction, or firsthand knowledge to this record? Keep this page open and copy its URL into the contribution form.
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