Curating Oral Histories

"...This book is an excellent addition to one's professional reference collection... MacKay's book provides an excellent overview of managing oral histories after the interview to ensure that they will be accessible to future researchers... This indispensable book is perfect for repositories that hold oral history collections or are considering an oral history project."...-Sheila R. Spalding, New England Archivists Newsletter "The book doesn't go over the same material that other how-to-do-oral-history texts always cover. Instead, it addresses the management, preservation, and access issues that these texts generally ignore. It's as if once the oral history recording has been done, an oral history collection exists and is ready to use. As MacKay's book clearly demonstrates, this is not the case. Although much of this material is available through various oral history websites and in-house guides and manuals, this text brings it all together into an attractive, easy-to-use format. I like the presentation, especially the boxed items, definitions, and numerous forms in the appendices. I've searched and searched for this type of information to use in my oral history class, so I know how dispersed and undigested it is. MacKay not only brings it together, she synthesizes it and develops general principles and guidelines. " -Debra Hansen, San Jose State University School of Library and Information Science "A quick and easy 'how-to' manual, with references and explanations that help everyone, including those of us without librarian backgrounds." -Joan M. Craig, Community Relations Cooridinator, Morse Institute Library "I found this to be one of the most helpful and reader-friendly books I have seen in a long time. MacKay very correctly makes the point that, while the focus often is placed on creating oral histories, there has not been enough discussion about caring for the materials once they have been created. This book takes the complex archival and curatorial issues involved in caring for the materials and puts them into easy-to-understand language. In doing so, it helps not only archivists and curators, but oral historians working in all steps of the oral history process." -Barbara W. Sommer, author of The Oral History Manual