Purpose:
The goal of this assignment is to help you experience an oral history interview as a historical and cultural document and to see how archives preserve the voices of everyday people. By working with a digitized recording, you will practice listening, notetaking, and critical reflection on how stories are recorded, described, and made available to the public. This bonus assignment introduces you to oral history as a primary source and to the work of archives in preserving community memory. You will listen to a digitized oral history from the Joseph Sargent Hall Collection (Archives of Appalachia) and reflect on what it reveals about an individual life, local history, and the value of archival collections.
What to do:
Find an oral history in the archive
Go to the Joseph Sargent Hall Collection in the Archives of Appalachia (Aviary platform). The instructions and links are available in the Appalachian Dialect PPT in Week 8 modules
Choose any interview that interests you (based on name, description, topic, or date). Links to an external site.
Listen and take notes
Listen to at least 30 minutes of the interview. Links to an external site.
In your notes, pay attention to:
Who is speaking (age, gender, community, occupation, if known).
What topics they talk about (work, family, religion, migration, music, local events, etc.).
How the recording and description help you understand the context (date, location, interviewer, any summary on the site).
Write a 23 page response (doublespaced)
Your response should cover three areas:
a) The narrator and their story (about 1 page)
Give the narrators name, approximate age (if available), place, and time period.
Summarize key parts of their life story: what seems most important to them, what events or experiences stand out, what we learn about their community.
b) Language and expression (about 1 page)
Identify at least 35 phrases, expressions, or storytelling habits you find striking (these can be dialect features, idioms, or narrative style).
For at least 3 examples, quote a short phrase and then write how you would say something similar in your own everyday speech. Links to an external site.
Briefly comment on how the way they speak helps communicate personality, emotion, or perspective.
c) Thinking about oral history and archives (about 1 page)
What did listening to this recording give you that a written summary alone might not? Think about voice, pace, emotion, pauses, and interaction.
How does having this interview preserved in an archive (with a description, date, and metadata) change its meaning or impact for you as a listener in 2026?
Why do you think collections like the Hall Collection matter for how Appalachian communities, language, and history are remembered?
Formatting and submission
Length: 23 pages, doublespaced, 12point font, 1inch margins.
At the top of the first page, provide: narrators name, collection name, and the full Aviary link (required for grading). Links to an external site.
Website link:
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