Kiama oral history workshop

Kiama Historical Society and Kiama's University of the Third Age are hosting a workshop in the heritage Pilot's Cottage Museum to build skills in recording stories of of our area's amazing past. Entry $10 including morning tea. Oral history is a useful tool to add colour and depth to archival records and to help fill in the gaps in written historical records. The inclusion of human voices and experiences puts ‘flesh on the facts’. It is a way of doing history ‘from the ground up’ as the memories and experiences of ‘ordinary’ people are rarely included in the formal documents that are retained in archives and libraries. This practical session will guide and inform participants in conducting oral history interviews for the purpose of exploring local history. It will provide tips for structuring the interview and how to get the best out of the interview process. It will cover topics such as building rapport with the interviewee, ethics, copyright, permissions, handling sensitive disclosures, and managing digital files and paperwork after the interview. Handouts with checklists, permission forms and templates for correspondence will be provided. Alison Wishart has worked as a curator and/or collection manager in museums, galleries and libraries for the past 20 years. She has recorded oral histories with 10 old ‘Sea Salts’ in Townsville for the Museum of Tropical Queensland, 19 Australian Defence Force personnel serving in the Middle East Area of Operations for the Australian War Memorial, and 50 British migrants to Australia for the Big Brother Movement. She is also a Councillor with the Royal Australian Historical Society; Secretary of the Professional Historians Association of NSW-ACT and on the assessment panel for the Museums and History Artform Board with Create NSW. Alison's image courtesy of Harjono Djoyobisono. Event supported under Kiama Municipal Council's Small Grants program.