Resources for Oral History Interviews

Interviewing relatives is one of the genealogist’s first and most important duties. Here are some websites and books that will help you make the most of your family history interviews—plus recorded oral histories to give you some examples to study.

Interviewing Advice and Organizations

• A “Do-It-Yourself” Oral History Primer (Marine Corps University)
• Baylor University Institute for Oral History
• California State University Long Beach Oral History Program
• Cyndi’s List: Oral History and Interviews
• How Do I Transcribe Oral History Recordings (East Midlands Oral History Archive)
• Indiana University Center for Documentary Research and Practice
• Southern Oral History Program (University of North Carolina Center for the Study of the American South)

How to Plan and Host a Successful Family History Interview

Family members are often the best genealogy resource. Here are family history interview questions and prompts to help you discover more about past generations’ lives.

Family Tree Magazine

Digital Oral History Collections

• Oral History Association – Centers and Collections
• Angel Island Immigration Station – Immigrant Voices
• Iowa Women Artists Oral History Project
• Oral Histories in the Perry Library (Old Dominion University)
• Southern Oral History Program (University of North Carolina Center for the Study of the American South)
• The Statue of Liberty—Ellis Island Oral Histories
• StoryCorps
• Veterans History Project (Library of Congress)
• Voices of the Colorado Plateau (Southern Utah University)

Oral History Interview Books

• Doing Oral History by Donald A. Ritchie (Oxford University Press)
• How to Do Oral History booklet (University of Hawaii Center for Oral History)
• Introduction to Oral History manual (Baylor University)
• Like It Was: A Complete Guide to Writing Oral History by Cynthia Stokes Brown (Teachers & Writers Collaborative)
• Nearby History: Exploring the Past Around You by David E. Kyvig and Myron A. Marty (Altamira Press)
• Oral History for the Family Historian: A Basic Guide by Linda Barnickel (Oral History Association)
• Record and Remember: Tracing Your Roots through Oral History by Ellen Epstein and Jane Lewit Lanham (Scarborough House)
• The Oral History Manual by Barbara W. Sommer (AltaMira Press)
• “Searching at Home and Talking With Relatives,” in The Genealogy Sourcebook by Sharon DeBartolo Carmack (Lowell House)
• Story of My Life: A Workbook for Preserving Your Legacy (Family Tree Books)
• The Tape-Recorded Interview: A Manual for Fieldworkers in Folklore and Oral History, Second Edition, by Edward D. Ives (University of Tennessee Press)
• Touching Tomorrow: How to Interview Your Loved Ones to Capture a Lifetime of Memories on Video or Audio by Mary LoVerde (Fireside)
• Women’s Words: The Feminist Practice of Oral History by Sherna Berger Gluck (Routledge)

Additional Resources

• 20 Questions to Ask the Important Women in Your Life (Jewish Women’s Archive)
• Oral History Interview Questions and Topics (JewishGen)

Oral History Interview Record Form Free Download

Use this form to record pertinent information about oral history interviews you conduct.

Family Tree Magazine

Resources provided by Erika Dreifus, Sunny Jane Morton, and Allison Dolan.

Versions of this information appeared in the April 2000 and March 2008 issues of Family Tree Magazine, and the September 2004 issue of Trace Your Family History.

Last updated November 2022

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