Carol,
As you know, I make no pretenses to being an oral historian, or any kind of historian for that matter. But here is a little problem I have run into in using oral testimony about one-room school houses: all of the informants tell the same story, one substituting pretty well for a story about another site. Perhaps if we ask comparative questions, that might help. For example, did you know the teacher in the neighboring schoolhouse? How did your schoolhouse compare to hers in size and furnishings? etcetera.

This kind of questioning should elicit information about the site in question and provide a basis for descriptions about the material environment, and about both its unique and typical qualities.

Jim

--
Gibb Archaeological Consulting 
James G. Gibb, Ph.D. 
2554 Carrollton Road 
Annapolis, Maryland 21403 
(443) 482-9593 
www.gibbarchaeology.org

-------------- Original message -------------- 
From: Carol McDavid <[log in to unmask]> 

> Hi, 
> 
> Through my work with several history organizations in Houston, I am encountering 
> a growing number of new local oral history projects -- this is good news, 
> because Houston isn't a city known for caring much about history! However, none 
> of the projects I've heard of recently have included many, if any, material 
> culture questions in the lists of questions asked. In fact, it doesn't seem to 
> even occur to people to ask this sort of question. 
> 
> Because of my work with these organizations, I am now in a position where I 
> might be able to suggest that a few "material culture" questions be inserted 
> into their lists of questions (bearing in mind that these projects are all over 
> the map in terms of emphasis, objectives, skill/training of interviewers, etc. 
> etc.). I realize that sometimes this will just mean taking their existing 
> questions in directions they might not have thought of (getting more detailed 
> descriptions of everyday activity rather than more general narratives, for 
> example). 
> 
> I would like to do this outreach for a couple of reasons. First, selfishly, it 
> might help the data produced by these various sorts of projects to be somewhat 
> more useful to archaeology (even as a jumping off point for additional questions 
> later). Second, I thought it might be one way to open people to the idea that 
> material culture questions (or even material culture "extensions" of general 
> questions) have some relevance to history in general. It might start some useful 
> conversations.... 
> 
> So I'd like to pick your brains...what questions would YOU recommend that I ask 
> people to include in their more general "oral history" projects? What areas of 
> inquiry have you found to be particularly productive? I am coming up with my own 
> list of course, but I keep bumping up against my own tendency to focus on site 
> specific sorts of questions, which wouldn't necessarily make sense in this case. 
> I would guess that those of you who have done oral history have your 
> favorites...would you share them? Off list if you prefer...I'd be happy collate 
> replies and report back to the list if that's of interest. 
> 
> I realize that this question isn't as simple as it might appear on the surface, 
> and that it may be impossible to discuss this sort of thing except in the 
> context of a specific situation or project...but I thought I'd ask it anyway! 
> 
> A related question to this would be...do you have favorite sources that address 
> the HOW of doing oral history for historical archaeology purposes? I am having 
> another look at the literature of course, but most of the stuff I've found 
> doesn't say much about the specific questions asked, and that's what I am 
> looking for now. 
> 
> Thanks in advance, 
> 
> Carol 
> 
> ************************************** 
> Carol McDavid, Ph.D. 
> Project Director, Public Archaeology, Yates Community Archaeology Project 
> Adjunct Asst. Professor, University of Houston 
> 1638 Branard 
> Houston, TX 77006 
> www.webarchaeology.com www.publicarchaeology.org