Reports for Oral History Scholarship Study Tour – updated weekly

June 14th, 2009 by cmckirdy in Uncategorized

WEEK 1

Hello everyone,

My learning adventure in the UK has started and I am delighted with what I have learned so far.

In London I listened to oral history recordings at the London Docklands Museum, Kensington Museum and the British Library. Listening to them was very reassuring because I believe the recordings I have done in Australia are on a par with the English interviews. Initially I thought my visit to London Museum was going to be disappointing because renovations have just begun there and only one section was open. However the staff were very helpful and gave me brochures and educational materials which include oral history applications. They also told me about the oral history exhibits at their sister museum, Docklands; they were excellent. The Oral Histories at Docklands Museum and Kensington gave me a great idea – using short excerpts on specific themes. My hotel was about 15 minutes walk away from Kensington Museum and I went there instead of the London Migrant and Refugees Community forum because it has apparently dispersed its collection to museums. Even though they were “live” when I planned my tour their office is no longer current. The oral history exhibits at Kensington softened my disappointment.

One complication for my time in London was a two day tube (train) strike which was announced unexpectedly. Getting into London from my hotel took a lot of planning and ingenuity. I put on my walking shoes and joined thousands of commuters on overcrowded buses and footpaths. At the end of the day the buses were packed and I got back to my hotel past 10 o’clock!

At the British Library I did an all day training course conducted by the UK Oral History Society. It gave me some great ideas for Language and Literacy lessons. Being in the library was fascinating. Training was conducted in the Staff Only section and all doors opened automatically so that library staff didn’t dirty their hands and compromise conservation work. I made a particularly good contact with an American oral historian working in London who is currently building a community oral history website. I also found out that it’s common procedure in the UK for the interviews to be allocated to a team rather than one interviewer.I actually don’t like this idea, I prefer a hands on approach.

From London I travelled to Chemsford and researched at the Essex Sound and Video Archive Record Office. Gaining access is very rigorous but it was especially worthwhile. I learned the best way to present information about the content of the oral histories I collected. I had never thought to use a synopsis to highlight the key themes covered in each interview but I think it’s a wonderful idea because it makes the interviews significantly more accessible for research purposes – especially for high school students.