Oral History Essentials
Learn how to engage in an oral history interview, starting with the equipment and resources you'll need and good recording practices, as well as editing your recording. Meghan will cover what kind of questions to ask during an interview and how to ask them. Participants will listen to examples and talk about what makes a good interview and how to best transform that for an audience. If there is time, participants will do some practice interviewing.
This half-day program will cover:
- How to do an oral history interview
- What equipment resources do you need
- How to edit an oral history
- Good recording practices
- Best practices for oral history, including legal releases, how to get the best from your subject, how to make your oral history accessible, etc.
Meghan will provide a break in the middle of the event for lunch. Please bring your own lunch and keep the discussion going!
Your Host
This workshop is hosted by Meghan Vigeant of Stories to Tell, a self-publishing service specializing in personal history books and audio, to help people save and share their stories.
Meghan Vigeant is an oral historian and writer. She studied radio documentary at the Salt Institute for Documentary Studies in 2006. She worked in public radio and conducted research for historical museums before turning her focus toward oral history work. From 2009 to 2011 she served as the Island Institute Fellow on Swan’s Island where she led the community to re-document their history after a fire, produced a series of oral histories and documentaries, and wrote Guts, Feathers, and All: Stories of Hard Work and Good Times on Swan’s Island, Maine. Four years ago she started her oral history business, now called Stories To Tell, to help individuals, families, and organizations save their stories as books and audio. She enjoys sharing her love of storytelling and has taught interviewing and documentary to students ages eight to eighty.
The Venue
The Abbe Museum, located in downtown Bar Harbor, is a museum of Wabanaki art, history, and culture. They strive to reflect and realize the values of decolonization in all of its practices, working with the Wabanaki Nations to share their stories, history, and culture with a broader audience.
Parking is available on Mount Desert Street in front of the museum and on School Street beside the museum. Handicapped parking is available by permit in the museum parking lot.
Registration will be open online through Sunday, April 16. To register after this date, contact Tim Garrity at 207-276-9323.
MAM members enjoy discounted registration. If you're not already a member, join today!
Due to space limitations, registration for this event is limited to 40 participants.
Photo credits: top photo by Marti Stone; bottom photo by Amy Wilton
