Oral history for the future: preservation and accessibility

Presenters: Alistair Thomson

Date: Friday 13 March, 2026

Time: 9:30am-1:00pm

Online

If you want to ensure your oral histories are likely to be accessible in 100 years or more, this is the workshop for you! This advanced course is for anyone holding or creating oral history interviews outside of major libraries and archives, including community projects and local history societies. It is arranged in three parts.

First: Documentation of oral history interviews and collections (covering electronic file management; post-interview summaries; transcription (pros, cons and tools); timed summaries; translation; and metadata).

Second: Rights – moral, ethical and legal (covering:  informed consent, and why it’s important; gathering and recording consent; copyright; access and storage: now and into the future; editing interviews; and risk management involving sensitive topics, data security, privacy and legal considerations).

Third: Archive storage and accessibility (covering: places to keep your oral history collection nationally, state-based and locally; collection policies; how to approach a collecting institution; Victorian Collections options; and an archive checklist)

Combining expert advice, useful examples and resources, and group activities, this course was designed for Oral History Victoria by Way Back When Consulting Historians. OHV gratefully acknowledges the Local History Grants Program and Public Record Office Victoria, supported by the Victorian Government through the Community Support Fund, for the funds to enable the development of the training materials.

Book here.