Module 6:
Preservation and long-term survival of new oral history collections
Just about every oral history project begins with a desire to capture history and preserve it for the future. But how can you make sure that the history you create today will be accessible 5, 10 or even 50 years into the future?
There are many options available when it comes to preserving oral history collections and it is important to find the right fit for your collection. There is no one perfect solution for preserving oral history collections; each will have different requirements. You should endeavour to follow the best practices based on the resources at your disposal.
What is preservation?
Preservation is the process by which an item is preserved or kept in the same state in which it was created. In the case of oral history interviews, that means making sure that the interview recording as well as accompanying files are able to be listened to and read into the future.
Preservation is not the same as digitisation. These are two related but distinct concepts.
Digitisation is a process by which items (physical or analogue) are converted into a digital format. For example, paper documents are scanned into pdf/jpeg/tiff files and analogue tape recordings are converted into mp3/wav files.
Digitisation is a great way to make collections more accessible, but it does not guarantee ongoing preservation.
Preservation is the ongoing management of items to prevent their loss through technology changes, climate changes, and/or pests to ensure they remain ‘readable’ into the future.
Best practice for the self-managed preservation of your oral history collection
Housing your oral history collection in an established archive or large collecting institution is one of the best ways to ensure its ongoing preservation into the future. You will need to contact the institution in question to find out about their processes for receiving offers of collection material.
However, not all institutions are created equal, nor do they have infinite storage space. Collecting institutions make decisions about the acquisition of new material according to their collection policies. So, for these and other reasons, finding a home within an established collecting institution may not be a feasible option for your oral history collection.
If you are unable to find a suitable place for your collection in a large institution, then preservation at home or within a community-based organisation (such as a historical society or small museum) may be the best option. The following questions and answers should provide some guidance around the best practice for ensuring the successful preservation of your oral history collections in these circumstances.
For further advice on preserving digital collections, see the resources provided by the Digital Preservation Coalition.
The Language Data Commons of Australia (LDaCA) are leading initiatives that are working to support the long-term preservation of language collections, including oral histories. For information and resources, see: LDaCA and the Identifying Precarious Victorian Oral History Collections Project.
Where and how will your oral history material be stored?
Options for digital storage of oral history material (recordings, transcripts, consent forms and so on) include: the hard drive of your computer; an external hard drive or storage device like a flash drive/USB drive; and cloud storage.
Cloud storage refers to third-party services such as Google Drive, Apple iCloud or Dropbox. These services work across a worldwide network, making them accessible anywhere via a secure login and an internet connection. The files themselves are not stored on your device but are stored elsewhere by the service. This is a good option if your digital storage is limited, but it is important to be aware that some of these services incur a fee and may collect and share data. Make sure you read the privacy policies of these services so you understand how they work.
How many copies do you have?
A good rule to remember is the 3-2-1 backup rule. Keep 3 copies of your oral history material in 2 places, and 1 copy offsite.
For example, you might have one copy of everything saved on your computer, another copy saved in cloud storage, such as Dropbox, and a third copy saved onto a password-protected external hard drive in another secure location.
While this may seem like a lot, imagine a situation where your computer breaks down, or you lose access to your cloud storage. Saving multiple copies in multiple locations gives your project the best chance of safety and survival.
What’s in a name?
How you organise your files and name them makes a huge difference to the accessibility and longevity of your project. Be consisted with the file-naming convention that you use, and your future self will thank you. A good rule of thumb is to include the following within your file names: name of interviewee, file description, project name and/or interviewer name, date.
For example:
Jane Eyre Audio Recording Bronte Oral History Project 16 January 2025.wav
Jane Eyre Consent Form Bronte Oral History Project 16 January 2025.pdf
Jane Eyre Transcript Bronte Oral History Project 16 January 2025.doc
Consistency with naming conventions becomes especially important the more interviews you have.
A spreadsheet is the ideal format for documenting all the items in your collection. Consider creating one that includes all the relevant information about your interviews, so that you can easily find items within your collection. An inventory such as this will also be crucial if you ever intend to move your collection to a collecting institution.
How will you maintain accessibility of the material?
Preservation is an active process. It is important to schedule regular maintenance for your oral history collection to ensure that the files and material remain accessible and useable. Check the status of your files every five years. Moving your interviews onto new storage devices will help to make sure that they remain accessible and useable as technology and file formats change into the future.
How will your collection be preserved into the future?
You may have ensured that your oral history collection has been securely stored for now. But what about into the future? There are some important questions to consider before you can be sure that you’ve done all you can to preserve your oral history interviews for the future:
- Have you saved copies of your collection in multiple locations?
- Do you have secure password protection on your computer, cloud storage accounts and hard drives?
- Is the collection accessible to others? How is accessibility managed, including any changes to access or use that interviewees may wish to make in the future? Is there an access policy in place?
- Do you have a plan to regularly maintain and review the digital storage of your collection?
- If you have stored your interviews in your house, do you have a plan in place for their ongoing preservation in the event of you no longer being able to do so, such as via a family member?
- If you have stored your interviews with a community-based organisation, such as a historical society, how will that organisation manage the preservation of its collection into the future? Is the organisation likely to exist in 50 years? If it closes down, what will happen to its collections?
Preserving your oral history collection in established archives or collecting institutions
Housing your collection within an established archive or large collecting institution is often the best way to ensure the future longevity of your oral history interviews. But it is not always easy to find the right home.
Ideally, discussing your oral history project and proposed outcomes with the institution or archive before you start is the best approach. This way, you can make sure that from the beginning you are creating and documenting your oral history material in the preferred manner of the chosen institution. You can also ensure that your interviewees are aware of how the collection is to be archived and accessed, and that they have provided their consent for this.
However, if you are looking for a new home for an existing oral history collection, there are a few important things to consider when approaching a collecting institution or archive.
Content
Think about the content of your collection. Does it have national significance? If so, then a national repository like the National Library of Australia or the National Archives of Australia might be a place to consider.
Is it a collection that covers a specific topic or event, such as wartime, or scientific research? If this is the case, an institution with subject-matter expertise, like the Australian War Memorial or the Powerhouse Museum, might be more appropriate. Is it a collection that is specific to a particular place? A more localised collection, such as a historical society, state or local library might be the best place for it to be archived.
Collection policies
Most collecting institutions, like state libraries and museums, have collection policies and guidelines for receiving and acquiring new collection items. A collection policy will include information such as:
- The institution’s mission and purpose
- What the institution collects
- How, from whom and under what circumstances the institution collects
- How the institution cares for the collection
- How the collection and records about the collection are made accessible
- How, when and why the institution removes items from the collection (deaccessioning)
The collection policy will help you determine if your collection is a suitable match.
Some institutions and archives will also have an access policy, which provides further clarification around how your collection might be made accessible, including any restrictions. Make sure that this matches the access agreements you have made with your interviewees.
It may be appropriate for the interviewees to be re-contacted, if possible, to obtain their consent for their interview to be archived in a different place and with different access requirements to what was initially agreed.
Collection storage
You may think that your collection will be securely stored. But there are some important questions to answer before you can be sure:
- Where is the collection physically and digitally stored?
- Is the collection secure? Are there multiple copies? Are hard drives password protected?
- Is the collection accessible? How is accessibility managed? Is there an access policy?
- Who will have access to the materials?
- How is access provided?
- Who is responsible for managing the permissions and access requirements? Can the access policy/process handle any conditions placed on the collection by interviewees?
- Does the archive have a plan to handle the preservation of media formats and the obsolescence of media formats?
- Can the archive handle other materials that may be included with your collection (e.g. photographs, transcripts, documents, objects)? If the archive is not a collecting institution, collecting photographs, documents and/or objects as part of the oral history collection should be considered very carefully and appropriate legal advice should be sought before this is undertaken.
- Is the archive or collecting institution likely to exist in 5 years? What about in 50 years?
Collecting institutions
There are many different collecting institutions around Australia, from major, national institutions with large, broad collections, to smaller institutions with a specific focus. Consider what is the best fit for your collection.
The following is a list of some of the collecting institutions around Australia and Victoria that have oral history collections and that you may wish to approach about preserving your oral histories:
- AIATSIS (Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies)
- Australian Queer Archives (AQuA)
- Australian War Memorial
- Historical societies (various)
- Immigration Museum (Victoria)
- Local public libraries (various)
- Multicultural Museums Victoria (various museums)
- National Archives of Australia
- National Film and Sound Archive of Australia
- National Library of Australia
- Royal Historical Society of Victoria
- State Library Victoria (note there are state libraries in each Australian state and territory)
- University archives (various)
