tell me your story: how to collect oral histories
TRANSCRIPT
Sharing Stories
Inspiring Change
Who is this person?
What did this person do?
Why did they do it?
Who am I?
What do I do / What do I want to do?
Why do I do it?
You Cannot Be What You Cannot See
Sharing Stories
Inspiring Change
Sharing Stories, Inspiring Change
POWER COUPLESPower Couples showcases extraordinary Jewish women, matching an
early female trailblazer with a modern woman at the top of her game.
Sharing Stories
Inspiring Change
Components of an oral history project
Collecting
(Interviews)
Sharing
(Presentation/Preservation)
Connecting
(Project/Research)
Weaving Women’s Words:
Dr. Ruth Finkelstein, Baltimore
Women Who Dared:
Dr. Lynn Amowitz, Physicians
for Human Rights
Katrina’s Jewish Voices,
Joel Brown, Owner of Kosher
Cajun restaurant in New
Orleans
Sharing Stories
Inspiring Change
Two people perform two roles
• Narrator—the person
telling the story
• Interviewer—the person
asking the questions
Sharing Stories
Inspiring Change
Asking great questions
What would you ask someone if
you wanted to learn more about
their Jewish identity and
religious/cultural practices?
Sharing Stories
Inspiring Change
Types of questions
1. Closed-ended questions• For gathering facts
• Have clear answers
• Who, what, when, where, how many
2. Open-ended questions• Elicit stories, feelings, and memories
• Describe, tell me about, why, how
3. Both are essential
Sharing Stories
Inspiring Change
One - two punch method
• Switch off between open
and closed questions
• Draft extra questions
• Follow the narrator’s lead
and the interviewer’s
interest/curiosity
Sharing Stories
Inspiring Change
What not to do
• Ask too many questions at once
• Interrupt the narrator
• Interrupt with “uh huh,” or “mmmm.” Instead use non-
verbal communication to show you are listening.
• Offer your own experiences or stories. This is not a
conversation.
• Express assumptions e.g. “Wow, you must have been so
angry.”
Sharing Stories
Inspiring Change
JWA resources for collecting stories
• In Our Own Voices• Resource for conducting life history interviews with Jewish women
• http://jwa.org/stories/how-to/guide
• Family History Tool Kit• Guide adapted for tweens/teens (for girls but anyone can use it)
• http://mybatmitzvahstory.org
• Museum of Family History• Lesson plan for creating a museum of stories and artifacts
• http://mybatmitzvahstory.org/content/museum-family-history
Sharing Stories
Inspiring Change
Other resources for collecting and sharing stories
• StoryCorps (http://storycorps.org/)• DIY Guide for National Day of Listening (Day after Thanksgiving)
• http://nationaldayoflistening.org/downloads/DIY-Instruction-Guide.pdf
• Contemporary Jewish Museum (http://www.thecjm.org/)• “Stories of Survival”: Creating and Exploring Oral Histories in the Classroom
• http://www.thecjm.org/storage/documents/education/2013/Oral_History_Curriculum_Resource-FINAL.pdf