Preserving Living Memory
Smithsonian oral histories unblock American voices
What Is Oral History?
Memory is a repository for history—one that can be unlocked by the voice. But living memory can be lost forever if it is not recorded. That is why historians across the Smithsonian are racing to conduct—and preserve—oral histories. These in-depth interviews illuminate collections and present history from the perspective of those who lived it.
Resources
Is there someone whose life experiences you would like to record for posterity? Get started with these Smithsonian resources:
- The Smithsonian Folklife and Oral History Interviewing Guide
- The Smithsonian Libraries and Archives’ “How to Do Oral History Guide”
- The National Museum of African American History and Culture’s “Soul Talk: An Oral History Workshop and Discussion”
Oral History at the Smithsonian: Then and Now
Over the course of her 50-year career, Pamela Henson, former historian at the Smithsonian Libraries and Archives, used everything from typewriters to iPhones to conduct oral histories about the history of the Smithsonian. Now, Zoom is a popular tool.
Learn about oral history projects happening now across the Smithsonian:
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Artistic Journeys
Archives of American Art
Exploring the papers of San Francisco Bay Area portraitist Lenore Chinn at the Archives of American Art is like experiencing a lifetime of art and activism as a moving collage. The 75-year-old artist’s postcards, letters and scrapbooks reflect a rich career as painter, photographer and organizer. But it is Chinn’s voice, recorded as part of the Archives’ longstanding oral history program, that gives texture to these documents and the people who shaped the artist. The contemplative woman in a black-and white photograph from the late 1960s, for example, was the high school friend who “infused some of my social political consciousness.”
At the Archives of American Art, the longest oral history runs 36 hours—a daunting record for even the most dedicated researcher. To make its oral history content more accessible, the Archives offers a podcast, ARTiculated: Dispatches from the Archives of American Art, which features firsthand accounts from artists, art dealers, writers and other key figures in American art. Sponsored by the Denver-based foundation Next50, the podcast’s current season highlights four artists—including Chinn—who reflect on their long artistic journeys. Muralist Leo Tanguma, for instance, encourages younger artists to “to bear in mind always the human experience, to become familiar, to study it and to see the wondrous things that we have been through.”
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On the National Postal Museum’s website, oral histories about postal workwear reveal surprising uses for everyday items. “Part of our uniform is our satchel, our mailbag, which is used also as a defense system to help—kind of put in between us and an unwanted animal, usually a dog,” said Patrick Van Egeren, a veteran mail carrier, in a conversation with Lynn Heidelbaugh, curator at the National Postal Museum. As the museum reimagines its atrium-level galleries, curators hope to incorporate oral histories into the exhibitions. After all, postal workers are “in every single community, every single day,” said Van Egeren.
“There’s nothing that replaces hearing about an experience … from the person who lived through it.”
—Carrie Villar, director of curatorial affairs, National Postal Museum
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In 1974, the U.S. Senate dress code forbade women from wearing pants. Emily Card, then a legislative fellow, was too busy drumming up support for the Equal Credit Opportunity Act to comply. “By the time I went to the floor … I was in a white pantsuit … and platform shoes. I was really dressed up like a California woman.” Although she anticipated resistance to the legislation, it passed, transforming American women’s lives.
Card’s story launched We Do Declare: Women’s Voices on Independence, a new oral history and education initiative on economic independence on the website of the Smithsonian American Women’s History Museum.
“Museums have a real opportunity,” said Rachel Seidman, curator at the museum. “Because of changes in technology and changes in popular culture, we are in this moment where people are listening to things all the time … people really respond to listening to other people’s stories and their voices.”
Published Winter 2024 in IMPACT Vol. 11. No 1
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