Grant Program

Oral History Guidelines

1. While the humanities professional should be involved as much as possible in the entire oral history process, this person should at least assist in defining the research objectives, in selecting the narrators, and in devising the questions or topics for discussion.

2. Like the rest of the research effort, a specific theme or thesis should be applied to oral histories. A proposal to tape a group of people simply because they are elderly and “won’t be with us much longer” lacks definition and interpretation.

3. Unless a specific time period is being researched, narrators should not be limited to a specific age group.

4. Oral interviews are data. Wyoming Humanities Council does not fund simple data collection. An oral history proposal should reveal a familiarity with the historical background to which the oral data may relate. It should also propose to put the collection data into a historical context.

5. A training workshop, led by a knowledgeable humanities scholar, should be part of each grant project.

6. All taped oral interviews must be fully transcribed and preserved, not just indexed or paraphrased.

7. The council is concerned that access to information gathered through oral history projects be preserved. If the council or grantee wishes to send copies of the tapes and transcripts to the Wyoming State Archives, Museums and Historical Department, money should be included in the proposal’s budget for this purpose.

8. The council encourages oral history project sponsors to organize public programs centered on the project.

Organizations should understand that the council is not discouraging them from conducting their own oral history projects. Instead, these guidelines will ensure that projects containing oral history components fulfill the council’s mission of providing money for public programs that foster an understanding and appreciation of the humanities

Grant Program

Oral History Guidelines

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