Using Oral History Lesson Overview

Using excerpts from the collection, students study social history topics through interviews that recount the lives of ordinary Americans. Based on these excerpts and further research in the collections, students develop their own research questions. They then plan and conduct oral history interviews with members of their communities.

Teacher Material Overview Materials and Preparation Tips for Organizing Group Work Instructional Procedure Evaluation and Extension

Student Lesson Introduction to Social History Oral History and The Federal Writers' Project Analyzing Oral Histories Background Research for Oral History Interviews Guidelines for Oral History Interviews

Primary Source Set A: Working Women in the 1930s I Ain't No Midwife (1939) Packinghouse Workers (1939) Italian Feed (1940) Miss Henrietta C. Dozier (1939)

Primary Source Set B: Dancing as a Form of Recreation, 1890s-1930s Charles Cole (1939) Mrs. Charley Huyck (1939) Old Time Dance Calls (1938)

Primary Source Set C: Americans and the Automobile Roy A. Morse (1938) Yankee Innkeeper (undated) Dunnell #13 (1939) Transportation (1939)