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History vocabulary · Sources and Archives

Oral history

Meaning in history, with examples

/ˌɔːrəl ˈhɪstəri/nounCommon term

In history, oral history means: The collection and study of people's spoken memories of the past, usually through recorded interviews, and the recordings that result.

In Turkish: sözlü tarih

How it is used

Oral historians conduct, record and transcribe interviews with witnesses and keep them in an oral history archive. The method gives a voice to people who left few written records, but memories must be checked against other sources.

Example sentences

  1. The oral history project recorded interviews with former tobacco workers.

  2. Oral history helps us understand how ordinary families experienced migration.

Common collocations

  • an oral history project
  • oral history interview
  • oral history archive
  • record oral history
  • primary sourceEvidence created at the time being studied or by people who witnessed it, such as letters, diaries, official records, photographs or objects.
  • migrationThe movement of people from one place to another to live, either within a country or across borders, alone or in large groups.
  • archiveA collection of historical records kept for long-term use, or the building or institution where such records are stored and made available to researchers.
  • evidenceInformation from sources, objects or data that helps show whether a claim about the past is true, or how likely it is.

More terms: Sources and Archives

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