By Jason Panella '04
Tucked away in Geneva College′s McCartney Library is a row of earth-tone hardcover books, their simple bindings etched with gold lettering. The stories inside tell of adventure, romance and mystery; hope and fears, mistakes and triumphs. Yet these stories are not works of fiction. They are the true stories of our relatives, friends and neighbors. They are oral histories — stories shared by word of mouth and transcribed for future generations.
The term “oral history” gained popularity after being mentioned in an article in The New Yorker in the 1940s. Since then, historians have used the term to describe the recording, preservation and interpretation of the events in the speaker′s life. Usually, oral historians will record and later transcribe the speaker′s opinions, recollection of past events, and even folklore.
“Our oral histories do not explore the lives of decorated generals or millionaire athletes or nationally recognized politicians,” says Dr. S.S. Hanna, professor of English at Geneva.
Hanna has taught his Writing of Oral History class for several years at Geneva. Students spend the first portion of the semester learning about oral histories and preparing questions for the older men and women they've picked to interview. By the end of the semester, they will have transcribed a substantial amount of text culled from these interviews, eventually publishing the text in book format.
“The course is not an issue-oriented course. That is to say, it does not study a major event or period in our history, such as the Great Depression, and interview individuals who lived during that period. Rather, it is a life-oriented course, one that records the stages in a person′s life from childhood to the present time,” says Hanna.
Recording history in this way involves a high level of historical and human accountability. History major Brandon Corcoran ′09, whose grandfather′s oral history was recorded by the class several years ago, is taking Hanna′s class this semester. He says the process is unlike any of the research he′s had to do during his college career. “The nature of this class holds me responsible. I am constructing a past from facts, yes, but those facts are being supplied from the source [Dr. Howard Mattsson-Bozé], and he has the final say on everything that is written. There are requirements for me to get to know the person that I am interviewing and to truly take an interest in his life so that my questions can be meaningful and allow for a revealing answer that will flesh out the life that we are studying.”
When Evie Hemphill ′05 was a Geneva student, she interviewed her grandmother Jean (Linton ′43) Hemphill for Hanna′s class. She fondly recalls the experience:
“Once a week ... Grandma and I would sit down over her familiar dining-room table for an hour or so. I'd press ‘record′ on my tape player and ask her to tell me what it was like learning to drive an early Ford model, if she and her sister enjoyed riding horseback to school, what made her fall for Grandpa or how she′s gained perspective about the hard things in life. Later I would transcribe these weekly interviews, and before long a book-length manuscript took shape.”
Hemphill′s oral history is housed next to nearly two dozen other books from Hanna′s class. Some of these books are thick, the transcribed interviews stretching over hundreds of pages. Others are succinct and to the point. While some of the oral history books, like Pick and Ladle: Perspectives on Coal and Steel in Western Pennsylvania, examine a broad topic through the eyes of the several people interviewed, most focus on the life of a single person.
For As My Father′s Son, students met with Dr. James Carson ′50 once a week. “[They] divided [the interviews] up by decade: what life was like in the ′30s, the ′40s, when I came to Geneva in the ′50s, when I was married, the start of my ministerial work, and so on,” Carson says. “Each week′s interview narrowed focus. It helped both me and [the students].”
Carson notes the important role oral histories can play for universities, organizations and companies. “For any institution, it′s valuable to have an oral history. It preserves history, and provides background material and can be a big help with history books.”
Hemphill also recognizes the importance oral histories play and will continue to play. “My experience in the oral history class was especially valuable to me because of the opportunity to interview one of my own relatives,” she says. “But I began to realize through listening to Grandma′s memories just how complex and interesting and wise the older generation is. There is so much they can pass on to us, if we would only take the time to ask and listen. Sadly, the days go by, and so often we are too busy. Oral history does for us as humans something similar to what poems do in capturing this fleeting life. Robert Frost′s description of a poem as a ‘momentary stay against confusion′ applies to oral history as well.”
You can tell their story
Is there someone in your family or community who has a lifetime of stories to tell? Instead of letting those stories slip away, learn how you can preserve and pass them on for generations to come. All you need is a voice recorder, a listening ear and a little guidance to help you ask the right questions.
Suggested Reading
Listening Is an Act of Love, compiled by David Isay (Penguin Press, 2007). “You might think a smorgasbord volume of the thoughts and experiences of everyday people would hardly be riveting,” Evie Hemphill says, “but I found I could hardly put it down.”
The Greatest Generation, by Tom Brokaw (Random House, 1998). This book is made up of stories and anecdotes from the WWII generation. “What you really get are the experiences,” says James Carson. “Geneology can be so sterile until you drop in stories that make it alive and make it real.”
Dr. S.S. Hanna also recommends:
The Oral History Manual, by Mary Kay Quinlan (AltaMira Press, 2003)
Like It Was: A Complete Guide to Writing Oral History, by Cynthia Stokes Brown (Teachers & Writers Collaborative, 1998) Doing Oral History, by Donald A. Ritchie (Oxford University Press, USA, 2003)
Transcribing and Editing Oral History, by Willa K. Baum (AltaMira Press, 1991)
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