Welcome to the home page for the Tusculum College Upward Bound Oral History Project. This is the place from which you will get all your assignments as you collect and record the oral history of Upward Bound and it's staff and students.

As you prepare to unlock the history of the Tusculum College Upward Bound Program, you should take care to be prepared as you venture to begin the collection process. 

Collecting oral histories is exciting and fun. This is often associated with grandparents and older relatives. However, the collection of oral histories is important to society as a whole. Oral histories go beyond the technical and mechanical aspects of a person or program's existence. For our purposes, we are going to collect the oral histories of the latter - the Tusculum Upward Bound Program. 

Collecting oral histories and stories has become a popular and valuable activity in our society. As the director, staff and students of UB begin handing over the history of the program and their experiences within the program, it is your responsibility to look beyond the surface and see what makes these people who they are and what drives and influences their decision to be a part of UB.

Collecting oral histories is most often done in the form of an audio or video taped interview. We have found much success interviewing two people at once, say a husband and wife. This adds a dynamism to the recording that makes it far more interesting to watch or listen to. Remember, however, that the collection of oral histories should not be in the form of a dialogue, but should be stories told by individuals.

As interviewer, it is often wise to meet with the teller(s) beforehand and go over the process with them. One might start the session before the recording begins by explaining how the interview will proceed, and then asking a few questions to give your subject an idea how the interview will go. Tellers will often begin with story outlines rather than stories. These outlines may be missing details or contain sequences of events that may be in an awkward order. By having them review the stories first, this will give them a chance to present a more polished version for the recording.

Once the interview gets underway, it behooves the interviewer to ask concise, titillating questions, and then leave the bulk of the telling to the teller. It should not be a dialogue, but should be a selection of stories from a teller prompted by short questions. There is a list of helpful question topics at the bottom of this page.

While video recordings are often favored as the means of preserving oral histories since the subtleties of body language and facial expression can be captured, it is ironic that sound recordings are usually more emotionally engaging.

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This site belongs the UB Oral History class summer of 2000.
For problems or questions regarding this web contact webmaster.
Last updated: July 02, 2000.