• Planned Outcome - is the intention to just produce a set of audio tapes, or to transcribe them into a book? Do you intend to include photographs? Do you intend to publicize the work by giving presentations to local organisations?

• How many people will be interviewed? Our team was advised by knowledgeable locals which elderly residents we should approach. Not everyone was happy talking into a microphone and some produced poor recordings. We had to restrict numbers to avoid duplication and to keep the  project within manageable limits.

• How large is the oral history team? You need interviewers, transcribers, editors and a manager/co-ordinator. Each interview may take several hours, and transcribing a one hour tape could take 5 hours. To estimate time per task, guess a suitable number and treble it!

• How long do you intend to take over the project? Our project took three years of fairly intensive work.

• How much money do you need? Even if the oral history team is staffed with volunteers, money may be required to buy the initial kit of tape recorders, microphones, tapes, batteries, paper. One or more computers will be needed, plus printers, scanners, floppy disc reader/writers and CD reader/writer . If you intend to give presentations you will need a laptop, digital projector, projector table, screen and power cables. Additional software may be required, e.g. for desk-top publishing. Printing costs vary, depending on size of book, number of pages, use of colour and quantity of books printed.

• What is the market for the book? A specialised book, or one about a small community, will have a smaller market than one for a large town. Are there any other books already dealing with the same subject? Do you have new information or a different layout to help to sell the work? What is the selling price? There is more of a market for a book selling at £7 rather than £17.

• Who will manage the project? The manager needs the skill and tact to manage a group of people who are themselves skilled. He or she must delegate work as required, and deal with the end result (possibly rejecting work that is not up to the mark). The team will have their own ideas, which must be respected, though they may sometimes need to be over-ridden. The quality of the work needs to be defined, especially sound quality & photographic quality. Various forms or control documents will need to be created to monitor progress, stage by stage, and to keep track of costs. These are in the form of text, tables and spreadsheets.

• Who will edit the work? Tapes are often left untouched, complete with accents and colloquial language. Transcriptions via a word processor will usually delete 'ums and ahs', mumbling, swear words, gaps and may add explanatory text concerning dates, context, explanations of obsolete or colloquial terms. 

• What about the technical side? Audio tapes can be replaced by mini-CDs; sound editing can be done on computer; photographs can be enhanced by software; the use of a desk top publishing package may be required to convert the data into a form suitable for professional printing.

• Consider Copyright. Contributors and interviewees must be asked to sign a suitably worded form that assigns copyright to the oral history team. This should advise the contributors and interviewees what their reminiscences will be used for. The master tapes for our project reside in the Essex Record Office, available for anyone to listen to. Use in other published works, or broadcasting requires our permission. Additionally, copyright must be granted from the copyright holder for any photographs used, especially copies from published work. 

• Research may be needed to supplement the audio input. If a building is referred to, it may help to define its history.

To assist teams which may be contemplating an oral history, Allen Buckroyd has produced a pack of control documents, based on our project. The pack is available in hard copy and/or on a CD-ROM, priced at £10 + post and packing

Great Baddow Oral History Page

Local History Home Page