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NOTE: The five sections of the student lesson are reproduced here as one Web page for easy reference. For download versions of the three primary source sets, use the links entitled "Primary Source Set" on the Lesson Overview.
Section 1: Introduction to Social HistoryDefining Social History | Asking Social History Questions | Sources for Learning About Social History Defining Social HistoryOften, people think the study of history means studying governments, battles, and national leaders. These are important history topics, but historians learn much about history by studying the lives of everyday people as well.Social history is the history of the everyday experiences and beliefs of ordinary people. Social historians look at teachers, store clerks, factory workers, police officers, the unemployed, children, computer programmers -- all kinds of people you might meet in your own life. The number of social history topics is huge because social history looks at every aspect of day-to-day life -- family life, recreation, work, social life, religious beliefs, and more. Most social historians study one group of people (such as Japanese Americans), one particular area (such as the Great Plains in Nebraska), or a specific topic within social history (such as family life). Asking Social History QuestionsImagine that you are a social historian studying family life in Massachusetts in three different periods of history. What kinds of questions would you ask?Here are examples of questions you might research:
Sources for Learning About Social HistorySocial historians use many sources -- diaries, letters, songs, census information, artifacts including clothing and tools, photographs, public records including birth, marriage, and death certificates, and oral histories. In this lesson, you will use oral histories to explore social history. You will start by studying oral histories collected as part of the Federal Writers' Project in the 1930s. Then you will conduct some oral history interviews yourself. When you have finished this section, go ahead to Oral History and the Federal Writers' Project. Using Oral HistoryStudent LessonSection 2: Oral History and the Federal Writers' ProjectWhat Is Oral History?Oral history is a way to gather information from people who took part in past events. Gathering oral history is the technique of interviewing people who lived through historical events or time periods and recording their answers. The person being interviewed is often called the interview subject.The Federal Writers' ProjectDuring the Depression of the 1930s, the U.S. government created programs to employ out-of-work Americans. One such program, designed to provide work for unemployed writers, was called The Federal Writers' Project. This project employed more than 300 writers. These writers collected stories (oral histories) from more than 10,000 people across America from 1935 through 1942.Many people who became famous writers were interviewers for the Federal Writers Project. They included Zora Neale Hurston, John Cheever, Ralph Ellison, Saul Bellow, Richard Wright, and May Swenson. Their experiences talking to ordinary Americans helped shape their later writing. About 3,000 oral histories recorded by the Federal Writers' Project are now available online through the American Memory Collection, American Life Histories, 1936-1940. You will be using these life histories in this lesson. How Federal Writers Collected Life HistoriesFederal writers conducted their oral history interviews before tape recorders were readily available. The writers took extensive notes, then wrote up results of their interviews using their notes and their memories. Some writers reported that the more notes they took, the more people were willing to talk. When the people being interviewed saw someone write down their words, they began to feel their stories were important.The director of the Federal Writers' Project, Benjamin Botkin, asked the writers to listen for speech patterns and vocabulary that were unique to an area or an ethnic group. The famous writer Ralph Ellison said that his experience listening to speech patterns during the Federal Writers' project helped him accurately represent the sound of black speech in his masterpiece novel, The Invisible Man. Botkin also wanted the writers to make interview subjects "feel important. Well-conducted interviews serve as social occasions to which informants come to look forward." Different writers used different ways to make people comfortable. For example, Ralph Ellison said, "I would tell some stories to get people going and then I'd sit back and try to get it [their stories] down as accurately as I could." What Information Did Federal Writers Gather? The federal writers filled out forms as part of their interviews. The forms asked for the following information about people being interviewed. (The interview subjects were called informants by the project):
Beyond the information requested on the form, writers could ask interview subjects about any aspect of their lives. Now you will analyze some oral histories collected by the Federal Writers' Project. Using Oral HistoryStudent LessonSection 3: Analyzing Oral HistoriesDirectionsNow you will analyze excerpts of oral histories collected by the Federal Writers' Project. You can find complete versions of these oral histories, and many more interviews in the online American Memory collection American Life Histories, 1936-1940.In your group, choose one of the Primary Source Sets below. Read as many excerpts as your teacher assigns. In your group discuss and record answers to the questions that accompany each interview. When you have finished answering questions, as a group select a research topic related your primary source set that you want to investigate further. Your group might want to investigate a different aspect of the topic during the same time period, or investigate the same topic in another time period. Once your group has chosen a topic for further research, go ahead to Background Research for Oral History Interviews.
Using Oral HistoryStudent LessonSection 4: Background Research for Oral History InterviewsOnce your group has chosen a research topic for further study, you will begin planning to conduct oral history interviews yourselves. To plan the interviews, you must decide which questions to ask about your topic. To give you some ideas for questions to ask, look for two or three oral histories that relate to your research topic. Search in the American Memory Collection American Life Histories, 1936-1940, and in other sources if you have time. Here are some steps to help your group organize an online search about your research topic:
When you have found several documents about your research topic, read them as a group. Then go ahead to Guidelines for Oral History Interviews. Using Oral HistoryStudent LessonSection 5: Guidelines for Oral History InterviewsDirectionsOnce your group has completed the background research on your topic, write down three research questions you will try to answer by conducting oral history interviews. These questions will serve as the starting point for planning your oral history interviews.Your teacher will explain how you will contact and meet with interview subjects. Before your meetings, print out this page. Guidelines for Oral History Interviews will help you plan, conduct, and summarize your interviews.
Preparing for the InterviewQuestions to AskBefore conducting an interview, plan the questions you want to ask. Start by reviewing the three research questions your group wants to answer. Then, write down at least ten interview questions to gather information about the research topic you are studying. Think of things people can tell you about their first-hand experiences with your research topic. Write questions that will require more than a Yes or No answer. For example, the second question will get better results than the first:
Reviewing How Federal Writers Collected Oral Histories may help you plan your questions.
Finding Someone to InterviewYour teacher will explain how to contact and meet interview subjects. You must be prepared with ideas for people to interview. For example, if your research topic is women's work in the 1940s and 1950s, you would want to interview women (although a man who supervised women workers might provide useful information). You would also need to interview someone old enough to have worked in the 1940s and 1950s. Relatives and neighbors can be good interview subjects. Places that may be helpful in locating interview subjects are senior centers, retirement homes, or community organizations related to your research topic (e.g., a square dance club might be able to refer you to its older members). Remember, your teacher will explain how your class will contact and meet interview subjects.
Recording the InterviewPlan to tape record the interviews. Before you get to an interview, make sure you that have a blank cassette and that the tape recorder is working. Label the tape with the date and topic of your interview, and the name of your interview subject. You will want to have your list of questions with you, and spare paper so you can write ideas for follow-up questions as the person is talking. When your interview questions are written, your equipment checked, and your interview scheduled, go ahead to Conducting the Interview. Interview MannersHere are some pointers for good interview manners:
Getting Started
Sample Release FormCreate your own form. Check with the school office for your school's guidelines on release forms. SAMPLEIn view of the historical value of this oral history interview, I (name of interview subject) knowingly and voluntarily permit (name of student interviewer, name of class, and name of school) the full use of this information for educational purposes.
SAMPLE
Asking Follow-up QuestionsListen carefully while your subject is talking. Often, what a person says may suggest a follow-up question that will produce interesting information. For example, if your subject mentions the influence of his or her high school teacher, you might follow up by asking about the teacher -- Why did the teacher have a strong influence on the interview subject? What made the person a good teacher? Did you keep in contact with the teacher? and so on. Write down follow-up questions as your interview subject speaks. That way, you can ask the follow-up questions at a pause in the interview, without interrupting your interview subject's train of thought. When your interviews are complete, go ahead to After the Interview. After the InterviewTranscribing the Interview TapeListen to the tape of your interview. Transcribe (write down or word process) the contents of the tape or the most important parts of the tape. You may need to listen to the tape many times as you transcribe what is said. When you are done transcribing, think about the accuracy of what your subject said. Did you hear contradictory information or indications that the person did not remember an event well? Did the person have a clear bias that might have influenced the way events were remembered?
Analyzing the InterviewThink about your research topic. Did your oral history interview help answer those questions? Write some tentative summaries of your research results. Decide how your group will present these findings to the class. Remember that your presentation should be brief. Before making your presentation, think about additional information you need to feel confident about answers to your questions. Check the accuracy of the information you gathered in other sources before you summarize your research results for the class.
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| Last updated 09/26/2002 |
