A key benefit of attending the annual meeting of the OHA is the opportunity to interact with oral historians working in similar settings or with related concerns . At the suggestion of many of those who responded to the OHA’s 2013 survey about the annual meeting, we have built interest group meetings into the structure of the 2013 meeting. On Thursday afternoon, October 10, eight separate groups will meet to discuss common interests, problems, and solutions. Conference goers will split up into various interest groups to discuss common concerns and plan for the future.
Groups will include:
• Community oral history
• Independent scholars
• K-12 education
• Military history
• Oral history and archives
• Oral history and digital humanities
• Oral history and social change
• Oral history in government
Interest groups will play a vital role as the OHA moves into the future with a new executive structure and a new multi-year strategic plan. Among other activities, interest groups could develop panels for the annual meeting (and at meetings of other organizations); publicize the various OHA awards. grants and scholarships; contribute submissions to the Oral History Review, newsletter, and the news and calendar sections of the website; suggest candidates to the Nominating Committee; provide a pipeline for leadership into OHA; and recruit new members. Most important, they’d offer a place where people who share common concerns could be in dialogue with each other, throughout the year as well as the annual meeting. The OHA can provide space on the OHA website for interest groups, both to foster internal communication and to showcase exemplary oral history work.
For information on the specific meeting places, consult the OHA 2013 program guide (https://oralhistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/OHA-2013-Program-Final.pdf ). If you wish to join an interest group but cannot attend the meeting, or if you wish to help develop another interest group, contact the OHA office at oha@gsu.edu.
We look forward to what comes out of the interest group meetings in Oklahoma City!
