Interview Archiving

Preserving oral history recordings and making them accessible for users are key parts of the oral history process. Anticipate these steps from the outset of your project. Archiving digital recordings is specialized and exacting work. While many oral history interviewers do not need to understand archiving practices in detail, you do need to collaborate with an archivist. Understanding what archivists do and the information they need will help you help them better preserve and protect the oral history interviews you and narrators have created.

Preserving Oral History Interviews: Archiving

Start planning for preservation of oral history recordings and supporting materials such as transcripts and photographs well before the interviewing begins. Determine the repository for your park or program’s records and who is responsible for accessioning and managing them. Contact the appropriate archivist to discuss and coordinate interview preservation protocols. As the Oral History Association declares, “Every oral history project should have a plan for archiving its oral histories that aligns with the project’s goals and works within the capacity of the project’s partners.”

After the interview

Appropriate care and storage of original recordings begin immediately after their creation. Download the recordings from the recorder to a secure server; make duplicate copies and store the recordings in multiple locations. As archivists say, lots of copies keep stuff safe.

When you download files, establish consistent names for digital recording files. For guidance on naming conventions, see File Naming in the Digital Age.

Take a few minutes to write notes about the interview itself and the circumstances surrounding it. How did you prepare for the interview? What was the tone of interactions with the narrators? Were there any difficulties or idiosyncrasies with the recording itself or its setting? This information will provide context that can help future users.

It's important to provide intellectual access to the contents of the recorded interview. If your project has the resources of time, staff, and money, full transcripts are ideal. If not, time-coded indexes are an option. Consult with the archivist about the repository’s preferences. (See section on Transcription.)

To the archives

• Donate your oral history recordings and supplementary materials as soon as possible. Archives offer security and protection for recordings in an environment that will promote their long-term preservation. In the archives storage environment, temperature, relative humidity, and light are optimally controlled and materials are protected from pests and other threats.

• When transferring oral history materials to an archive, include items that a narrator might have donated such as photographs, documents, correspondence, and other records. These materials can enhance the use and interpretation of the oral history in the future.

• Include metadata, such as: Who are the narrator and interviewer? What topics did they discuss? Where did the interview take place? How was the interview recorded? When did the interview occur? Why was the interview conducted in the first place? This basic information will help archivists track and manage information.

• Be sure to include a signed legal release form with the interview. Most archives will not accept interviews unless they know that a narrator knew why the interview was being conducted and had transferred copyright.

• Archivists have a huge responsibility once they accept oral history materials. They are responsible for storing, processing, refreshing, and making accessible recordings according to established archival standards designated for the media format used. Whenever possible, all efforts should be made to preserve electronic files in formats that are cross platform and nonproprietary. The obsolescence of all media formats should be assumed and planned for.

Donor Checklist for Archiving Oral History

You can help archivists by transferring all materials associated with an oral history interview at one time. Brenna Lissoway, archivist for Chaco Culture National Park, provides a checklist of items to include in your donor packet:  

• Original interview files (original file, no digital management rights, uncompressed, no transcoding) 

• Transcripts  

• Abstract, log, and/or index of content  

• Photo documentation of interview and metadata 

• Legal documents - release form, deed of gift 

• Appended materials such as original and/or digitized images, comments and notes, introductory essays or prefaces, a/v products 

Case Study

Case Study

Oral History Topics and NPS Archives

Archiving Resources

Archiving Oral History Resources

The Oral History Association’s Archiving Oral History outlines key principles and standards that guide how oral history recordings and related materials are accessioned, preserved, and made accessible.  

Archiving Oral History: Manual of Best Practices provides more detail about all aspects of archives, including appraisal and accessioning, metadata and description, and preservation and access.  

The Oral History in the Digital Age  website section on Curating Oral History offers in-depth information about important archival topics.  

Douglass A. Boyd, “The Digital Mortgage: Digital Preservation of Oral History,” in Oral History in the Digital Age, edited by Doug Boyd, Steve Cohen, Brad Rakerd, and Dean Rehberger. Washington, D.C.: Institute of Museum and Library Services, 2012, ohda.matrix.msu.edu/2012/06/the-digital-mortgage/ 

Oral History in the Digital Age offers a wealth of information about digital preservation, cataloging and metadata, and many other aspects of oral history practice.  

For curation of oral history collections, a helpful basic resource is Nancy McKay’s Curating Oral History Interviews: From Interview to Archive (2nd ed). Institutions may have slightly differing requirements, but in the Federal context, file format acceptability is set by the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). The Federal Agencies Digital Guidelines Initiative (FADGI) is a collaborative effort by federal agencies to articulate a common sustainable set of technical guidelines, methods, and practices for digitized and born digital historical, archival and cultural content. 

Beyond preservation, collection managers strive to create pathways for oral history collections to be made publicly accessible and to provide access within the boundaries of the law and ethical standards. The Society of American Archivists statement of Core Values and professional Code of Ethics offer important guidance for dealing with archival collections, including use and access to oral histories, as does the First Archivists Circle’s Protocols for Native American Archival Materials.