Oral History and Historiography

Paper Summary:

Academic perspectives on how we view oral history changed drastically after the advent of recording devices, the television, and movie cameras. It is much easier to reconstruct history accurately using pictures, rather than line drawings or descriptions. This research explores the hypothesis that oral history needs to be given greater historical credibility than it currently receives. The paper stresses the value of oral history as a key to getting the "big picture" surrounding an event. The literature review for this study examines journal articles that relate the events of September 11, 2001 from a number of political and social perspectives. The paper explains that its purpose is not to draw a consensus of the events, but rather to examine the effects of attitude and perspective on what will become the eventual "oral history" of this period in time.

Table of Contents:
Introduction
Thesis
Literature Review
Analysis
Conclusion

From the Paper:

"The inclusion or omission of personal accounts into the historical record depends on the type of work that one wishes to produce. It is certainly easy to argue against their inclusion if one if looking for indisputable accuracy. However, this level of certainty of events is a fallacy from an academic perspective. Secondary historical accounts are often the "average" of the information that is available regarding a certain event. However, this does not necessarily make it accurate. History is influenced by many sociological, political and psychological forces surrounding it."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Appleby, R. Scott, "History in the Fundamentalist Imagination". The Journal of American History 89.2 (2002): 35 pars. Available from <http://www.historycooperative.org/cgi-bin/justtop.cgi?act=justtop&url=http://www.historycooperative.org/journals/jah/89.2/appleby.html>. Internet; Accessed July 26, 2007.
• Clark, Mary Marshall, "The September 11, 2001, Oral History Narrative and Memory Project: A First Report." The Journal of American History 89.2 (2002): 33 pars. Available from <http://www.historycooperative.org/cgi-bin/justtop.cgi?act=justtop&url=http://www.historycooperative.org/journals/jah/89.2/clark.html> Internet; Accessed July 26, 2007.
• Cullather, Nick, "Damming Afghanistan: Modernization in a Buffer State." The Journal of American History 89.2 (2002): 51 pars. Available from <http://www.historycooperative.org/cgi-bin/justtop.cgi?act=justtop&url=http://www.historycooperative.org/journals/jah/89.2/cullather.html>. Internet; Accessed July 26, 2007.
• Dillon, Pattie, "Teaching the Past through Oral History". The Journal of American History 87.2 (2000): 10 pars. Available from http://www.historycooperative.org/cgi-bin/justtop.cgi?act=justtop&url=http://www.historycooperative.org/journals/jah/87.2/dillon.html: Internet; Accessed July 26, 2007.
• Hunt, Michael H., "In the Wake of September 11: The Clash of What?". The Journal of American History 89.2 (2002): 25 pars. Available from http://www.historycooperative.org/cgi-bin/justtop.cgi?act=justtop&url=http://www.historycooperative.org/journals/jah/89.2 Internet; Accessed July 26, 2007.

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