UC Berkeley Webinar

The Oral History Center is hosting a Remote Interviewing Webinar:

From The Oral History Center at UC Berkeley: http://ucblib.link/OHC

This is a recording of a webinar given by historian Paul Burnett on how to record oral history interviews using Zoom. Paul provides an overview of the protocols that were developed to facilitate remote recording of narrators of the highest quality available during the COVID-19 pandemic. We developed these protocols for the Zoom video conference platform using both audio and video. We also provide instructions for additional, higher-quality backup audio recordings. Interviewers will benefit from having access to a professional Zoom license, but they can produce good recordings with a free account as well. Narrators only need access to a computer or telephone, although a smartphone app will aid in the capture of better audio on their end.

For the closed-captioned version of this webinar, please see this video: https://youtu.be/aIidnLhWMvk

Summer 2020 Newsletter

We hope you enjoy our Summer 2020 newsletter! Please share it with your communities.

Remote Interviewing in the COVID-19 Era

Join us for a discussion of conducting and using remote interviews and oral histories. Dr. Caryll Batt Dziedziak and Dr. Summer Cherland will share their experiences conducting and processing interviews online during the COVID-19 pandemic. This workshop will include a robust discussion of concerns, benefits, and useful technologies when it comes to this work. We hope you will join us to share your own perspectives.

This workshop is being offered at no cost. We hope you consider that SOHA is a 501c3 non-profit. Please consider becoming a member of our and donate to our organization here: bit.ly/supportSOHA. Thank you!

Share this registration form here: https://bit.ly/3GNVH1L

Farina King launches Diné Doctor History Syllabus

Diné Doctor art by Leah T. Smith (2020) for the Center for Latter-day Saint Arts

Dr. Farina King, SOHA Vice President, has launched a Diné Doctor History Syllabus that she is developing and working on continually to share and feature materials related to Navajo histories of disease and healing. The syllabus includes a section on oral histories, stories, recommended sources, and resources in support of Diné communities during the COVID-19 pandemic. If folks have any suggestions or come across sources, resources, or any helpful information for this project, please let Dr. King know. Ahéhee’! Learn more at https://farinaking.com/dinedoctorhistorysyllabus/.

SOHA 2020

Please share this PDF letter with your SOHA community. Thank you!

An Interview with Dalena Sanderson-Hunter, SOHA Secretary

Dalena Sanderson-Hunter

Dalena Sanderson-Hunter is a Librarian/Archivist for Los Angeles Communities and Cultures in the UCLA Library Special Collections. She began serving as SOHA Secretary in January 2020.

1. How did you become involved in SOHA?

I first became involved in SOHA in 2009 when I was invited to join the conference planning committee. It was a pleasurable and eye-opening experience to work with so many dedicated oral historians. At that conference I planned a tour of Leimert Park and a screening of the documentary about Leimert Park. After being a member for several years and presenting at a couple of conferences I was invited to run for secretary. I was excited to work with the other officers and plan an event for graduate students and new oral historians. While COVID-19 has forced us to postpone our in person meeting, I hope we can find new ways to interact and share our work with each other.

Introducing SOHA Graduate Student Representative, Teagan Dreyer

The members of this organization are among those that seek to give a voice to those that experienced history just by living their lives . . .

-Teagan Dreyer

Teagan Dreyer and Farina King in Monument Valley, Navajo Nation (May 2019)

My name is Teagan Dreyer, a graduate student at Northeastern State University in Tahlequah, Oklahoma, and my involvement with SOHA was completely by chance. At NSU I took a class taught by Dr. Farina King and one of the texts for this course was her book Earth Memory Compass. This text looked at the boarding school experiences of Navajo Peoples, and included a lot of oral history, focusing on the individuals that went through a journey that was complex and not as simple as had been presented to me in the past. Being from Oklahoma, a Native American, and my father having worked at a boarding school that still serves Native American students, I connected with Dr. King’s research. She allowed me to accompany her on an excursion to the Navajo Reservation and gave me the opportunity to meet community members who had personal ties to more research and oral history she continued to do. Seeing my interest she introduced me to SOHA, and from her encouragement I was voted the Student Representative and was able to be put on a panel in the upcoming conference with her talking about this experience, along with how it inspired me in the direction of my thesis.

The Lawrence de Graff Center for Oral and Public History Biennial Report

We appreciate the #SOHA2018 conference feature in @cophfullerton‘s biennual report. We enjoyed working with you and your incredible team! You can enjoy the entire publication on their site: http://coph.fullerton.edu/welcome/Biennial%20Report%202018-2019v2-FINAL.pdf

An Interview with SOHA President Jennifer Keil

Image above: Jennifer Keil and Cindy Keil at SOHA at OHA 2019

1. Jennifer Keil, how did you become involved in SOHA?

I presented at the 2013 Oral History Association meeting in Oklahoma City organized by Cora Granata at the Center for Oral and Public History with a panel of graduate students chaired by Alessandro Portelli. Karen Harper, SOHA Past-President, invited our panel to present at Tempe, Arizona the following spring. During these years, I realized my passion for the spoken work and preservation techniques to make it accessible to communities online. As a graduate student, I instituted a community oral history project at the Balboa Island Museum with Cindy Keil, SOHA California Delegate. We founded 70 Degrees in order to facilitate historical consulting and conduct oral history interviews. We led a workshop at the 2017 Tempe SOHA conference.