Oral History in Museum Exhibitions: A Partnership for Good

In the Beginning

Remembering history has long been important to humans. Pictures were drawn, stories passed down through generations, information written down and stored; all methods have helped to keep the past accessible in the present, to remember who we are and where we came from. Oral history has been collected for thousands of years. One early account is found in the histories of the Zhou dynasty in China, where interviews conducted inside the court system were recorded and kept for the future. (Ritchie 2003, 19) In the late 1800s, oral histories were “seen as unscientific and biased”, which was the opposite what researchers of all disciplines desired, instead seeking to be “as scientific and objective as possible” in their work. (Webster 2016, 256) However, despite this opposition, groups that had not kept their history in paper archives became a topic of interest for oral history interviewing and recording. In the 1890s, Native Americans, who had kept most, though not all, of their history through oral tradition were recorded by the U.S. Bureau of Ethnography. (Ritchie 2003, 21) Oral history only grew in importance after this point in history.

During the Great Depression in the United States, the WPA, Works Progress Administration, paid out-of-work writers to interview and collect information on the lives of ordinary citizens. (Ritchie 2003, 22) The Columbia Oral History Research office was established in 1948. Nineteen years later, in 1967, the Oral History Association was created. (Webster 2016, 256) The creation of these groups pushed the oral history movement forward, encouraging more interest in oral history interviews. Oral history has been extensively collected from groups since. Post World War II, thousands of oral history interviews were conducted with those who fought in the war and those who survived the horrors of the Holocaust. (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum 2023) After the terrorist attacks on 9/11, thousands of people gave firsthand accounts of what they saw and experienced that day. (9/11 Museum & Memorial 2023) Oral history has become incredibly important and more widely used in the history field, because firsthand accounts of events give insight that a static document cannot provide.

Museums also began to take notice of the important role oral history can play in an exhibit. Oral histories bring unique perspectives to the objects and exhibits being displayed. Some museums create incredible oral history inclusions, such as the Anacostia Community Museum’s most recent exhibition, To Live and Breathe: Women and Environmental Justice in Washington, D.C. This essay will argue that the utilization of oral history in museum exhibitions provides an important human connection to the material being exhibited. It will also contend that the practice of oral history is a meaningful way to remember shared histories and personal stories. Oral histories should be collected often, on a wide array of topics, to capture the realities of human experiences.

It is important to note that oral tradition and oral history are two different things, though often conflated with one another. Oral tradition is a practice of passing down history through word of mouth. Anyone can be a participant in this. If a grandmother tells the story of how she met her husband to her children and then they tell their children, and then that story continues to get told to each new generation, the story is kept alive through oral tradition within that family. Oral history, however, refers to interviews done with another person. A person recounts their life and experiences to someone who is going to record and collect this information for a multitude of uses. (Ritchie 2003, 19) Knowing how this information is collected and gathered will lead to a better understanding of what benefit it can bring to a museum exhibit.

Collecting Oral History

Though there are no strict requirements on how to collect oral history, the Oral History Association, OHA, gives guidelines on best practices. There is an outline of how to prepare to for interviews, what to do while interviewing, and how to collect and preserve the oral histories one conducts. (Oral History Association 2018)

What makes a good oral history interview? It starts with the preparation. Preparing for the interview with solid questions helps to keep the interviews consistent, making sure that interviewees all have an opportunity to answer each important question. The OHA recommends interviewing the subject in a quiet space and gathering a diverse and relevant group of people to interview. They encourage open-ended discussions and questions that guide the interviewee to provide more context and information, rather than answer just the question asked. The OHA also recommends getting a legal release signed at the time of the interview, preferably at the end. (Oral History Association 2018) Following these guidelines allows for a more uniform collection of oral history.

My own interests in this topic started as an undergraduate student, when I did a research project for a class where I found a huge gap in information. I had decided to do research on housewives in US history from the 1950s into the present day. I wanted to explore the differences in how their roles in the home, and society’s perception of them, had changed over time. Unfortunately, the kind of information I needed for more modern-day examples didn’t really exist. I decided to create the information myself and set out to interview some women in my community. I created a specified set of questions to ask them all that I felt would give me an accurate understanding of their experiences.

This early stage of creating oral history was purely for my personal use in a college assignment. I had no formal training, it was right after a pandemic, and I was just hoping to get information I could use in my project. I conducted the interviews wherever the women would meet up with me, so some of them were conducted in a crowded coffee shop –– not exactly the quiet space the OHA recommends. I learned important lessons along the way, such as how to better ask the questions to get those I interviewed to tell a story rather than just answer the question and be done. It was not until the semester ended and I turned in my project that I realized that deleting the twenty or so interviews I had spent so much time doing did not feel right. With some guidance by a professor, I contacted the campus library to see if they would be interested in housing the interviews as a collection. Researchers could use the information I had gathered in their projects and papers. I reached out to the women I had previously spoken to in order to get their consent to donate their specific interview to the library and allow others access to it.

What Makes Oral History so Special?

What is so fascinating about oral history is the way it captures the human experience. Listeners can hear a story from the mouth of the person who lived it, hearing exactly the tone of voice and the inflections of certain words. If an interview is video recorded, viewers can witness the emotion in the eyes of the speaker. They can see how a person has aged if they are telling stories from a time before –– almost verifying that this person truly lived in the past. (de Jong 2018, 115) Oral history can create a unique human connection to history.

Furthermore, collecting oral history allows stories that might never be told to get added to the history books. Oral histories have been used to capture the stories of people who could not read or write and enabled those who might otherwise be left out of formal histories to be able to bring their stories to the world. Oral history interviewing has been a tool that allows marginalized populations of all kinds, all over the world, to tell their stories when they might not have been recorded otherwise. (Ritchie 2003, 13,23) Not only do marginalized populations get a voice, but those who are silenced by an ‘official’ narrative can refute and tell their truths, such as those living in the Soviet Union after its collapse. Oral historians from Russia and Eastern Europe reviewed and compared the ‘official’ narratives given by the totalitarian regime and those given by the people who lived in the former Soviet Union. When comparing the two, it was easy to find holes in the ‘official’ narrative, when so many regular people were giving a story that differed from the government but matched other citizens. (Ritchie 2003, 23-24)

Exhibiting Oral Histories

Museums, as institutions, set out to tell stories, to bring history into the present and inform those that step inside. Oral histories can be an incredible tool for such storytelling. But how does a curator or an exhibit designer thoughtfully incorporate oral histories into an exhibit? Sarah Zenaida Gould, a curator from Texas, discusses some of her challenges in adding oral history into her exhibitions. Managing the sound from videos is one of the big ones. Trying not to overwhelm visitors with too much sound stimulation is something curators need to be cognizant of when putting together an exhibit. For Gould, a solution was to use a ‘sound wand’ that visitors could pick up to listen to the oral history. (Gould 2016) Unfortunately, based on Gould’s estimation over half the visitors did not stop to listen and she does not quite know the reason. Too long? Missed it completely? Any number of reasons could have kept visitors from engaging with the oral interviews. (Gould 2016)

There is no single way to display and elevate oral histories in a museum exhibit. However, even without a formula to display oral history, there are good processes utilized by exhibit designers when it comes to sound in museums. Understanding sound, even at a basic level, can help designers and curators create a more cohesive space that does not overwhelm the visitor. Types of sound can be placed into two basic categories: diegetic and non-diegetic. Diegetic sound is normally things like “audiovisual presentations, interactive stations, and other content-driven musical/soundscape installations,” or, things put in the foreground of an exhibit. While non-diegetic sound is most often things that appear naturally in the background; the scuffing of shoes, kids laughing, background music can also be considered non-diegetic. (Everett 2019, 314) For a designer, understanding these categories of sound can come in handy when creating an oral history exhibition. Taking into account both the intentional and background sound that will exist can help create a display of oral history that does not completely overwhelm the visitor’s senses. Nikos Bubaris writes that the idea that museums are places of silent reflection has been pervasive for those visiting and working in museums. However, this belief that public spaces should be quiet makes sound integration an issue from the outset of designing the exhibit. (Bubaris 2014, 391) How is there supposed to be a good balance between the diegetic and non-diegetic sounds in the museum if it is believed by both workers and visitors that background noise should not exist? As museums shift to being more sound-inclusive, oral histories may be more easily incorporated into exhibition design.

Gould discusses an exhibit that came to be without the use of video and audio, but, rather, the oral history interviews were transcribed and written on panels throughout the space. Gould asks, “Could it be that video is easier to ignore than the written word?” (Gould 2016) In this modern age, sounds are around us constantly. Music in the background at stores and restaurants, or video on while scrolling on phones. It can be easy to miss a video or audio portion of an exhibit when so often a person is already surrounded by pre-recorded noises. However, this issue that arises when including oral history should not dissuade curators from utilizing this powerful storytelling tool within their exhibits. It should encourage them to think outside what has already been tried, what has already not worked out.

Oral History in Use Today: The Anacostia Community Museum

The Anacostia Community Museum in Washington, D.C. offers an example of utilizing oral history inside an exhibition in a meaningful way. The museum’s curator, Rachel Seidman, created an exhibit about women and environmental justice in Washington, D.C. that does a beautiful job of getting real stories from community members and including them in the exhibit. (Anacostia 2023) There are quotes on the walls, pictures and videos that correlate. One illustrative example can be found in a pair of boots worn by Imani Black, a woman who works in aquaculture –– a male dominated industry –– and founder of Minorities in Aquaculture. Her boots are positioned alongside a quote from an oral history interview, giving them a more tangible meaning. A large photo of Black by the Chesapeake Bay, where she works, shows her in the boots. And below the photo and the quote is more information that describes Minorities in Aquaculture. The oral history contribution gives Black’s words and perspective on the issue. Oral history is a connection to a story straight from the source.

When I visited the museum with a university group in fall 2023, Seidman discussed the importance of connection when working with oral history in communities. The women’s stories told in the exhibit are a vitally important part in telling the story of environmental injustice in D.C., the whole concept of the exhibit. The same can be said for oral history inside other exhibits. The information that can be learned from an oral history interview can create an exhibit all on its own. Even still, utilizing oral history in combination with an existing idea or in conjunction with an object on display can bring about a new level of connection. Real people, real stories, can put visitors that much closer to understanding and caring about the exhibit they visited. The Anacostia Community Museum does an amazing job when it comes to including oral history.

Transcending the Current Use

The use of oral history in museums leads visitors to a better understanding of real human experiences when they step inside the exhibit. Oral histories are being collected by many different oral historians, from varied groups on various topics. With so much oral history being collected, museums will undoubtedly continue to find innovative ways to exhibit these important artefacts. As the field progresses to be more sound inclusive, oral history audio and video recordings shift from being too loud or distracting to an integral part of the sound landscape. The increase in collecting oral history allows for both historical and more contemporary first-hand accounts of experiences being presented in museums. With incredible examples like the Anacostia Community Museum to lead the way and visitors like me, that see a human connection to the material through oral history as something intriguing and engaging, more oral history exhibits are sure to be popping up in the near future.