Dates: July 27, 2026 – July 31, 2026
Levels: Beginner, Intermediate
Workshop Fee: $1695
Workshop Duration: 1-week (Monday-Friday)
Workshop Location: On-campus
Class Size: 12
History, as most of us are taught in school, has long been written by, and for, the powerful, and historical archives are often considered fixed bases for “fact.” Oral history turns these notions on their heads. In this course, we’ll embark on understanding both how to do oral histories, and some of the ways they can be used in crafting narratives in various genres and forms. Together, we’ll look at exemplary oral history interviews, nonfiction narrative projects that build off oral histories, and develop relational interview skills that foreground trust and rapport, power-sharing, careful questioning, deep listening, and consider the notion of co-creativity. Students will be introduced to, and have an opportunity to practice, a variety of oral history skills they may apply to projects and pursuits—narrative or archival in nature; in written word, radio, or film—of their own.
This course is suited for all levels, from the oral history “curious” coming to the method for the first time to experienced writers, journalists, filmmakers, educators, and scholars.
We will spend our mornings together in an intimate, seminar-style class, in which we will explore oral history as a form—where has it come from, what does it look like and sound like when it’s done well, and what are some of the narrative forms in which it can be used?—as well as learn and practice a variety of oral history skills. We will break for lunch, then reconfigure for listening and reading oral histories with group reflection and/or fieldwork exercises (a.k.a. practice interviews). We will end each day with one-on-one consultations between students and instructor to discuss how oral history can be fitted into, and used to amplify, existing projects, or think through pursuing and structuring future oral history work, based on each student’s particular work and needs.
Students must come with a recording device, either a digital audio recorder or a smartphone with an audio-recording app. Headphones are recommended, as is a laptop or tablet. No other materials, save a notebook and pen, are required for this course.
Students will complete the course equipped with the fundamentals of oral history that will enable them to pursue, and utilize, oral history projects of their own.
To learn more and register, visit: https://www.mainemedia.edu/workshops/item/oral-history-101-method-craft-uses/