Questions to Ask in an Oral History Interview
For students, local historians and volunteers recording an oral history with a narrator who may not be a relative: a community elder, a veteran, a long-time resident. The list follows a session from start to finish: consent and setup, early life, the narrator's work and community, the period or event your project is about (say its name wherever a question says 'it'), then follow-ups to use throughout and the closing. The notes cover how to word each question aloud, what to say on the tape for a future listener and when to stop asking.
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The questions
Each question, and why to ask it
Consent and setup
Before I turn the recorder on, can I tell you what this project is and where the recording will end up?
Why ask it
Say who is collecting the interviews, who will be able to hear them and whether they will go online. A narrator who nods without asking anything may not have taken it in, so have them tell you in their own words what the recording is for.
Are you willing to be recorded today, knowing you can pause, skip a question or stop at any point?
Why ask it
Ask it a second time once the recorder is running, so the yes is on the tape. If the answer is hesitant, find out what the worry is before you go on, since a reluctant narrator gives short answers and may want to withdraw afterward.
Would you like your name on the interview, or would you rather set conditions on how it is shared?
Why ask it
Some narrators want full credit, and others want a name withheld or a passage closed for a time. What can be promised depends on the archive, school or project, so find out what their release form allows before you offer anything.
Is there any subject you would rather we leave alone?
Why ask it
Write the answer down and keep to it. A narrator who rules a subject out will sometimes arrive at it unprompted an hour in. Let them, and do not treat it as permission to dig.
For the recording, would you say your full name, spell it, and tell me when and where you were born?
Why ask it
Make this the first thing on the tape, right after you have stated the date, the place and your own name. The cataloger gets the right spelling, a changed name can be noted beside the earlier one, and the narrator starts with something easy.
How long do you feel up to talking, and when should we take a break?
Why ask it
Settle this before you press record. Most people tire before they admit it, so agree on a stopping time and offer a pause when the answers start getting shorter. A second visit tends to give you more than a third hour would.
Is there a photograph or an object we should have beside us while we talk?
Why ask it
A picture on the table pulls up names and details that a question alone will not. Describe it aloud for the recording ('the photo of the mill crew on the loading dock'), because a listener cannot see what the two of you are pointing at.
Early life
How did your family come to be living in the place where you were born?
Why ask it
An arrival story can cover two generations in one answer: who came first, from where and for what work. Write each place name as you hear it and check the spellings in the closing minutes, when stopping costs nothing.
Tell me about the people who raised you. What was each of them like?
Why ask it
Take one person at a time and get each full name said aloud, including a mother's or grandmother's name before marriage if she changed it. When the answer is a string of virtues, ask what that person did on an ordinary evening.
What is the first scene from your childhood that you can still picture?
Why ask it
Expect a fragment: a kitchen floor, a wagon, a voice. Skip the year and ask where they were standing and who else was in the room, and the fragment often grows into a place you can ask more about.
If I had walked into the home you grew up in, what would I have seen and smelled?
Why ask it
Asking for a walk through the rooms gets description, where 'what was your childhood like' gets a verdict such as 'happy' or 'hard'. Listen for the stove, the water and who slept where: those details place a household in its time and its means more exactly than a year does.
Who was in the household, and who made the decisions?
Why ask it
You learn how the family worked without asking about it head on: a grandmother who held the money, an older sister who raised the younger ones. If someone is named once and then dropped, leave it for now and return to it gently later.
What work did the adults around you do, and what did you understand about it as a child?
Why ask it
The child's view is the valuable half. 'He came home with coal dust in his ears' is in no employment record, so ask what they saw, what they heard and what they were told to stay away from.
What was expected of you before and after school?
Why ask it
Chores, farm work, minding the little ones and paid errands show a family's economy more honestly than a question about money. A narrator who says 'nothing much' will often list a full day's work once you ask what happened first thing in the morning.
What did you and the other children do when the adults left you alone?
Why ask it
Have a game explained as if you were about to join in: the rules, who was allowed to play, what it was called on that street. Ask how far from home they were let go, too, because the edge of a child's territory maps the neighborhood as it was.
Tell me about your school: the building, a teacher you remember and how you got there.
Why ask it
Three concrete handles in one prompt give a quiet narrator somewhere to begin. Ask how far they went only if they have not said, since leaving school early is a sore point for some people.
What languages, sayings or ways of speaking did you hear at home?
Why ask it
Ask for a phrase or two said aloud, then what it meant and who used to say it. The sound is the one thing only a recording can keep, so do not settle for a translation.
How did your family mark the week and the year: worship, market day, holidays, harvest?
Why ask it
Rhythm questions bring out food, clothes, music and neighbors all at once. Follow whichever occasion the narrator brightens over and have them take you through one particular year of it.
What stories were you told about the generations before you?
Why ask it
These are secondhand, and still worth recording as long as the tape makes clear whose stories they are. Ask who the teller was and how old the narrator was on first hearing it.
When did you first become aware of the world beyond your own street?
Why ask it
What comes back is usually one scene: a first trip to the city, a parent out of work, a sign on a door. That scene is often the bridge into the period your project covers, so let it run.
Work and place
What brought you to this place, or what kept you here?
Why ask it
For a lifelong resident the second half matters more, and few interviewers think to ask it. Listen for who left and why, because a community's history includes its departures.
How did you get your first paid work, and who taught you to do it?
Why ask it
Being hired through a relative, by word of mouth or at the gate tells you how the local economy ran. The person who trained them is a name worth writing down, and sometimes your next narrator.
Take me through a working day from the time you got up.
Why ask it
Ask for one day, not days in general, and slow the narrator down at each step: what they wore, carried, ate and heard. Tools and terms that need explaining are a good sign, so have each one described for someone who has never seen it.
When you set up a home of your own, where was it and who was in it?
Why ask it
Courtship, marriage, children, lodgers and in-laws tend to come out here without being asked for one by one, and the question works as well for a narrator who lived alone. If they remember what the rent took out of a week's pay, that share says more than the figure does.
What did this street, or this part of town, look like when you first knew it?
Why ask it
If you can, bring an old map or walk the block together with the recorder running. Have the narrator name what stood where, and say the present-day landmark aloud yourself so the two can be matched later.
Where did people gather, and who would you have found there?
Why ask it
Churches, halls, barbershops, porches and factory gates each had their own crowd. The follow-up that matters is who was not there, whether by rule or by custom.
Who were the people everyone knew, and what were they known for?
Why ask it
Local characters seldom appear in written records, and the stories told about them carry what the community admired or feared. If a story is unflattering to someone with living family, remind the narrator the recorder is on and let them choose.
What groups did you belong to, and what was expected of a member?
Why ask it
A union, a congregation, a lodge, a team or a sewing circle each had dues, duties and quarrels that the minutes leave out. Ask whether any papers or photographs survive and who is keeping them.
Who did not mix in those days, and how did everyone know where the lines were?
Why ask it
Divisions of race, religion, class or neighborhood are often summed up as 'just how it was'. Ask for one time the line was crossed or enforced, and do not argue with the narrator's view of it, because your job is to record it.
What is the biggest change you have watched happen here?
Why ask it
'Everything' is the usual first answer, so ask for the one closing, demolition or arrival that told them the place was no longer the one they knew. Then ask who came out ahead and who lost, since the two are seldom the same people.
The period
Where were you, and what were you doing, when it began or when you first heard?
Why ask it
People hold on to these moments in detail, which makes this a strong first question on the central subject. Ask who was with them and what was said, and expect the date to be approximate.
How did you come to be part of it?
Why ask it
Some narrators chose, some were swept in and some insist they only watched. A bystander's account is as useful to the project as an organizer's, so say so if they start apologizing for having little to tell.
Describe one day from that time that you can still see clearly.
Why ask it
Letting the narrator pick the day shows what mattered to them, which may not be what your project assumed. Stay inside that day with questions about weather, sounds and faces before you move on.
Who was beside you through it, and what became of them?
Why ask it
Names given here can lead to more narrators, to photographs and to families who kept the letters. If a name brings silence or tears, wait without filling the gap, and offer to pause the recording if the silence goes on.
What did you understand about what was happening then, and what did you only learn later?
Why ask it
It separates lived memory from what the narrator has since read or been told, without accusing them of mixing the two. Both belong in the record, marked off in their own words.
How did ordinary life carry on: meals, work, school, sleep?
Why ask it
The dramatic parts of an event have usually been written up already. What a family ate that month, or whether the children still went to class, is what only someone who was there can supply.
Did people around you disagree about it, and where did your own family stand?
Why ask it
A narrator who says everyone agreed may be giving the version the community settled on afterward. Ask whether anyone stayed out, spoke against it or stopped talking to a neighbor, and take the answer as it comes.
What was the hardest part for you?
Why ask it
Keep the wording this bare and say nothing after it. If the narrator declines, tell them that is fine and go on without circling back; if they answer, do not hurry to something lighter.
What have the newspapers, the books or the official accounts left out or got wrong?
Why ask it
Here the narrator is the authority, and some have waited years to be asked. Find out what they would correct and how they know, and note any source they mention so a researcher can compare the two.
How did you know it was over, or that things would not go back to how they were?
Why ask it
Endings in memory rarely match the official date. A chained gate, a neighbor's moving truck or the first quiet night gives the project a human marker to set beside the calendar one.
What changed for you afterward, in work, family or where you lived?
Why ask it
Follow the consequences forward a few years at least. Narrators tend to treat the aftermath as outside the story, when it may be the part nobody has recorded.
Follow-ups
Can you take me back to that moment and tell me what you see?
Why ask it
Reach for it when an answer is a summary, such as 'it was chaos'. Asking in the present tense can move a narrator from reporting a memory to describing it from inside. Leave it out when the memory is one they are already struggling to get through.
Were you there for that yourself, or is it something that was told to you?
Why ask it
Keep the tone curious and never doubting. Stories handed down belong in an oral history too, and all the recording needs is to show which kind this one is.
About how old were you, or what else was going on in your life at the time?
Why ask it
Few narrators can give a year, but most can say 'before the baby' or 'the winter I started at the plant'. Anchors like those let someone date the event later from other records.
Would you explain that word for someone who has never heard it?
Why ask it
Trade terms, nicknames for places, slang and words from another language go straight past a future listener unless they are unpacked on the tape. Ask even when you know the meaning yourself.
When you say 'we', who do you have in mind?
Why ask it
'We' can be a family, a shift, a congregation or one whole side of town, and the difference changes what the sentence claims. Five seconds spent here prevents a large misreading in the transcript.
How was that done, step by step?
Why ask it
Save it for a skill or routine that has disappeared, such as banking a fire, setting type or putting up a harvest. When the narrator shows you with their hands, describe the motion aloud, since gestures do not record.
How did you feel about it then, and has that changed?
Why ask it
What a narrator felt at twenty and what they feel now are separate pieces of evidence, and an oral history wants both. Hold the question until the facts of the episode are down, because asking about feelings too early cuts the story short.
Closing
Looking back, how did those years shape the rest of your life?
Why ask it
This turns from events to meaning, so keep it until the narrator has finished telling the story itself. Give the answer time to arrive. A quick stock phrase like 'it made me who I am' deserves a gentle 'in what way?'
What do people today misunderstand about that time or this place?
Why ask it
Outsiders and younger people are the usual targets, and the complaint shows what the narrator thinks has been lost in the retelling. Record the opinion as theirs, with no agreement or correction from you.
Whose name should be in this record that would otherwise be forgotten?
Why ask it
Narrators often name a neighbor, a coworker or a relative who never made the papers. Get the spelling, how the two knew each other and one story about that person, and pass the name to the project in your notes.
Is there something you would like to say directly to whoever listens to this in the future?
Why ask it
Tell the narrator they can speak to that listener and not to you, then stay out of it. Some give advice, some a blessing, some a single name. If they wave the question away, nothing is lost, so do not press.
What have we not talked about that belongs in this interview?
Why ask it
Leave real silence after asking, longer than feels comfortable. Some of the strongest material arrives here, because the narrator has spent the whole session working out what they came to say.
Can we go over the names and places you mentioned so I spell them correctly?
Why ask it
Read your list back aloud and let the narrator correct it. A misspelled name is a small flaw that becomes very hard to fix once the narrator can no longer be asked.
Now that you have told it, is there anything you would like kept private or left out?
Why ask it
Asking at the end, when the narrator knows what they actually said, is fairer than leaning on a form signed at the start. Note the passage and tell the project the same day; how restrictions are handled differs from one archive to the next, so promise only to pass the request on.
Who else should I be recording for this project, and would you introduce me?
Why ask it
Long-time residents know who else remembers, including people who would never answer a notice in the paper. An introduction from someone they have known for decades opens a door that a letter from a stranger leaves shut.
May I come back with a few more questions, and would you like a copy of the recording?
Why ask it
A first session stirs up memories that surface that same night, so a return visit is worth asking for. Check how and when your project provides copies before you promise one, then tell the narrator exactly what happens next.
Running an oral history interview from first call to archive
Practical guidance for the conversation itself
Before the day of the interview
Read up on the period first
Spend an evening with a local history, old newspapers or a timeline of the event before you meet the narrator. You are not there to test them. Background lets you recognize a name or a place when it goes by and ask about it, where an unprepared interviewer nods and loses it.
Bring topics, not a script
Beyond the consent and closing questions, choose eight to twelve from the list for this narrator and write them as short prompts on one page. Reading questions off a sheet makes the session sound like a survey, and the narrator starts answering in survey-sized pieces. The page is there for when the talk runs dry.
Settle the paperwork with whoever keeps the recordings
Ask the archive, teacher, museum or historical society what consent or release form they use, whether a narrator can restrict or withdraw an interview, and whether the project needs any approval before you record. The rules differ by institution and by place, so get their answer in writing and bring a spare copy of the form for the narrator to keep.
Make a short visit or call beforehand
A short call or a visit at the door lets you explain the project, hear how the narrator talks and learn what they most want to tell. Stop them kindly if they launch into the story itself: 'save that for the recorder, I want it in your words.' A story tends to come out flatter the second time it is told.
Test the recorder in the room
Record a minute and play it back before you begin. Refrigerators, clocks, open windows and televisions in the next room are louder on tape than in person. Sit close, put the microphone nearer the narrator than yourself, and carry spare batteries or a charged backup.
Open with an announcement
Start every recording by saying the date, the place, your name, the narrator's name and the project. If the file is ever separated from its label, those twenty seconds are what identify it.
Wording questions and following up
Ask for description, not confirmation
'Was the strike hard on your family?' can be answered with yes. 'What did the strike change at your kitchen table?' cannot. Begin with tell me about, describe, take me through or what do you remember of, and keep your own opinion out of the wording.
One question at a time
Several questions on this page come in two parts, and they are written to be read, not said in one breath. Aloud, put the first part, hear the whole answer, and bring in the second only if the narrator has not got there unasked. Stacked questions also make a transcript hard to follow, because nobody can tell which part a 'yes' belongs to.
Wait out the pause
When an answer seems to end, give it a few slow breaths before you speak. Narrators often add the most considered part after a pause, and an interviewer who jumps in teaches them to keep answers short. Nod instead of saying 'mm-hm', which lands on the recording on top of their words.
Follow the narrator, then return to the page
If the narrator heads somewhere you did not plan, go with them for a while. Jot a word in the margin for anything you want to come back to, and pick it up when they finish. The Follow-ups group is meant to be used all through the session, not as a block near the end.
Go from easy to hard and back again
Early life and daily routine build the trust that the central subject draws on, which is why the list runs in that order. Put the heaviest question in the middle of the session, never last, and close on reflection so the narrator does not finish the day in the worst of it.
When the interview gets difficult
Tears and long silences
Stay quiet, stay present and offer to pause the recorder. Let the narrator choose between carrying on, moving to another subject and ending the session, and accept the choice. You are a listener, not a counselor, so do not probe for more feeling than the narrator offers.
Memory that disagrees with the record
A wrong year or a merged pair of events is ordinary and is not your cue to correct anyone. You might ask once, neutrally, 'some accounts put that in the spring; how do you remember it?' and then record what they say. How a person remembers an event is itself what an oral history collects.
Opinions you do not share
A narrator may say things about other groups or about the past that you find wrong or offensive. Arguing ends the interview and changes what gets recorded afterward. Ask what they saw that led them to that view, keep your tone level, and raise any concern about the content with your project later.
A relative who answers for them
A spouse or adult child in the room will often correct dates and finish sentences. Ask in advance for time alone with the narrator, or give the helper a job, such as finding the photographs. If they stay, say each speaker's name aloud now and then so the transcript can tell them apart.
The narrator who wanders or tires
A tangent that keeps yielding names and places is worth following. One that circles is a sign to say 'I would like to hear more about that next time; can I take you back to the mill?' If the wandering looks like fatigue or confusion, stop for the day.
After you stop recording
Label and copy the file the same day
Name the file with the narrator's name and the date, and make a second copy somewhere other than the recorder before you do anything else. Ask your project what file format and naming pattern they want, since archives differ.
Write field notes while it is fresh
Within a few hours, write a page on where you met, who else was present, what was shown to you and anything said after the recorder went off. Add the list of names and places with the spellings the narrator confirmed. Whoever transcribes the interview will rely on that page.
Log or transcribe it
If a full transcript is beyond the project's means, make a time log: a line every few minutes saying what is being discussed. Either way, write what the narrator said and how they said it, without tidying their grammar or dialect into your own.
Thank the narrator and keep your promises
Send a note within the week, and deliver whatever you said you would: a copy, a transcript to review, a return visit. If the narrator asked for something to be restricted, confirm with them once the project has dealt with it.
Hand it over complete
Give the project the recording, the signed form, your notes and any photographs of documents or objects together, with the narrator's contact details recorded as the project asks. An interview that sits on your own laptop is a private conversation, and the narrator agreed to more than that.