Appendix F: Oral History Guide

A practical guide to conducting oral history interviews, designed for students undertaking the Community History Portfolio and the Appalachian Oral History Collection capstone project. Oral history is the systematic collection of living people's testimony about their own experiences. In Appalachian studies, where working-class, Indigenous, and minority perspectives are often absent from written records, oral history is not supplementary -- it is essential.

1. Why Oral History Matters in Appalachian Studies

Written records tend to preserve the perspectives of the powerful: land companies, government agencies, newspaper editors, and political leaders. Oral history captures the experiences of people whose lives were not recorded in official documents: miners and their families, women who held communities together, Black Appalachians whose presence was erased from the regional narrative, Indigenous people whose history was recorded primarily through oral tradition, and immigrants whose languages and stories were marginalized.

Oral history is not a lesser form of evidence. It is a different kind of evidence -- subjective, personal, and shaped by memory, but carrying truths that no document can contain.

2. Equipment

Essential

Digital audio recorder: A dedicated recorder (such as the Zoom H1n or Tascam DR-05X) produces far better audio quality than a smartphone. Invest in one if possible. If a smartphone is your only option, use a dedicated recording app (not the built-in voice memo), position the phone close to the narrator, and minimize background noise.
External microphone: A lavalier (clip-on) microphone significantly improves audio quality over built-in recorder microphones. They are inexpensive and plug into most recorders.
Headphones: Monitor audio during the interview to catch problems early.
Backup power: Extra batteries or a charged power bank.
Backup recording: Record simultaneously on a second device if possible.

Video camera or webcam: Video captures facial expressions, gestures, and the physical environment. However, some narrators are more comfortable with audio only. Always ask.
Notebook and pen: For noting follow-up questions, observations about body language, or details the recording won't capture.
Consent forms: Printed and ready to sign before the interview begins (see Section 6).

3. Preparation

Research First

Before the interview, learn as much as you can about the narrator's community, time period, and historical context. You cannot ask good questions about a coal camp if you do not know what a coal camp was. Read relevant chapters of this textbook, consult local histories, and review any available records about the community.

Develop a Question Guide (Not a Script)

Prepare a list of 15-20 open-ended questions organized roughly by chronological or thematic order. This is a guide, not a script. The best oral history interviews follow the narrator's lead. Your questions open doors; the narrator decides which rooms to enter.

Types of Questions

Opening questions should be broad and comfortable: - "Can you tell me about where you grew up?" - "What was your family like when you were young?" - "What is your earliest memory of this community?"

Follow-up questions go deeper: - "Can you tell me more about that?" - "What did that feel like?" - "Do you remember what people said about that at the time?"

Specific historical questions address events and topics: - "What do you remember about when the mine closed?" - "What was it like when the flood came through?" - "How did your family decide to leave/stay?"

Reflective questions invite perspective: - "Looking back, what do you think was most important about that time?" - "What do you wish people understood about this community?" - "What has changed most in your lifetime?"

Questions to Avoid

Leading questions: "Wasn't the company store terrible?" (Let the narrator characterize experiences in their own terms.)
Yes/no questions: "Did you like living there?" (Produces minimal information. Instead: "What was it like living there?")
Multiple questions at once: Ask one question at a time and wait for a full answer.
Questions that assume the answer: "How did poverty affect your family?" (The narrator may not identify their experience as "poverty.")

4. Interview Techniques

Before the Interview

Arrive early and set up equipment. Test audio levels.
Spend a few minutes in casual conversation before starting the recorder. Build rapport.
Review the consent form with the narrator and obtain their signature.
Begin the recording with an introduction: "This is [your name], interviewing [narrator's name] on [date] in [location] for [project name]."

During the Interview

Listen more than you talk. The goal is to hear the narrator's story, not to demonstrate your knowledge. A good oral historian speaks no more than 10-15% of the interview.
Be comfortable with silence. When a narrator pauses, resist the urge to fill the silence. They are often thinking of what to say next. Give them space.
Follow the narrator's lead. If they bring up a topic you had not planned to discuss, follow it. The best material often comes from unexpected directions.
Ask for specifics. "Can you describe the house?" "What did the tipple look like?" "What did you eat?" Concrete details bring history to life.
Ask for stories, not summaries. "Can you tell me about a specific time when..." produces richer material than "What was it generally like?"
Mirror their language. If the narrator says "the mines," you say "the mines." If they say "holler," you say "holler." Do not correct or standardize their speech.
Watch for fatigue. Most people can sustain a focused interview for 60-90 minutes. If the narrator seems tired, offer to stop and schedule a follow-up session.

After the Interview

Thank the narrator genuinely.
Turn off the recorder, then note any observations about the setting, the narrator's demeanor, or topics that seemed emotionally significant.
Ask if they have photographs, documents, or other materials they would be willing to share or allow you to photograph.
Ask if they can recommend other people you should interview.
Send a written thank-you note within a week.

5. Transcription

Transcription converts spoken language into written text. It is time-consuming (expect 4-6 hours of transcription work per hour of recorded interview) but essential for making oral history accessible and citable.

Guidelines

Transcribe verbatim. Include false starts, repetitions, dialect features, and filler words ("um," "well," "you know"). These are part of the narrator's voice. Do not "clean up" the language.
Preserve dialect. If the narrator says "holler" or "a-running" or "might could," transcribe it as spoken. Standardizing dialect is a form of erasure.
Note non-verbal elements. Indicate laughter [laughs], long pauses [pause], emotional moments [becomes emotional], or gestures relevant to the narrative in brackets.
Mark unclear passages. If you cannot understand a word or phrase, mark it [inaudible] or [unclear] rather than guessing.
Timestamp regularly. Insert timestamps every few minutes or at each new topic to allow easy reference to the original recording.

Tools

Software: oTranscribe (free, web-based), Express Scribe (free), Otter.ai (AI-assisted, paid).
AI transcription tools can produce a rough first draft, but always review and correct against the original recording. AI tools are particularly poor at Appalachian dialect and proper nouns.

6. Ethical Considerations

Before recording, the narrator must understand and agree to: - What you are recording and why. - How the recording will be used (class project, archive donation, publication). - Who will have access to the recording and transcript. - Their right to decline to answer any question, stop the interview at any time, and review the transcript before it is made public. - Anonymity options. Some narrators prefer to be named (their story is their legacy). Others prefer anonymity. Respect their choice.

Prepare a written consent form covering these points. Have the narrator sign it before beginning the interview. Keep a copy and provide one to the narrator.

Community Sensitivity

Do not exploit. Appalachian communities have been subjected to exploitative media coverage for over a century. Your interview should serve the narrator and their community, not only your academic project.
Sensitive topics. Topics such as substance abuse, poverty, family violence, and labor conflicts can be painful. Approach these topics with care, follow the narrator's lead about how much to discuss, and never push a narrator to discuss something they want to avoid.
Family and community dynamics. In small communities, an oral history that names individuals in connection with sensitive events can create real social consequences. Discuss this possibility with the narrator and offer options for handling sensitive material.
Power dynamics. Be aware of the power dynamic between interviewer (often a student or academic with institutional resources) and narrator (often an older community member with different forms of authority). Approach the relationship with genuine respect, not performative humility.

Preservation and Access

Oral histories are most valuable when they are preserved and accessible. Consider:

Archive donation. Offer your recordings and transcripts to an appropriate archive (see list below). Many archives accept student collections.
Community copies. Provide copies of recordings and transcripts to the narrator, their family, and relevant community institutions (libraries, historical societies, schools).
Digital preservation. Store recordings in multiple locations (hard drive, cloud, archive). Audio files degrade, formats become obsolete, and hard drives fail. Redundancy is essential.

Archives Accepting Oral History Donations

West Virginia University, West Virginia and Regional History Center
University of Kentucky, Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History
East Tennessee State University, Archives of Appalachia
Marshall University, Oral History of Appalachia Collection
Appalachian State University, W.L. Eury Appalachian Collection
Local and county historical societies (contact for submission guidelines)

7. Using Oral History in Your Writing

When incorporating oral history into research papers, the Community History Portfolio, or other projects:

Quote directly when the narrator's own words are powerful and specific. Do not paraphrase what is better said in the narrator's voice.
Provide context. Before a quotation, briefly identify the narrator (with their permission) and the circumstances of the interview.
Cite properly. A standard oral history citation includes: Narrator's name (or "Anonymous" if anonymity was requested), interview by [your name], date, location, collection name (if archived).
Respect the narrator's authority. The narrator is the expert on their own experience. You may contextualize their account with other evidence, but do not dismiss or "correct" their memories.
Acknowledge subjectivity. Oral history is memory, and memory is selective and shaped by time. This does not make it unreliable -- it makes it human. Note when oral testimony differs from documentary evidence without treating the document as automatically more authoritative.

For additional guidance on oral history methodology, consult the Oral History Association's "Principles and Best Practices" (oralhistory.org) and the resources listed in Appendix G.