oral-history
Grandmother's war stories
Oral history is the practice of recording spoken accounts from people who witnessed or participated in historical events.
The term also refers to the recordings themselves: The library maintains an oral history collection from World War II veterans.
Unlike written records, oral histories capture personal perspectives, dialect, and emotional texture that formal documents often miss.
Act of holding something in mind
- recollectionRecalled mental image
- eyewitnessOne who saw events
- firsthandWithout intermediary
- memoirWritten personal recollection
anecdote · storytelling · reminiscing · nostalgia · generational · ancestral · elder · grandmother
Formal questioning session
- recordingCaptured audio or video
- transcriptVerbatim written account
- narratorOne who tells events
- documentationWritten proof or instructions
fieldwork · ethnography · archive · preservation · testimony · collection · questionnaire · informant
African oral tradition keeper
- elderSenior figure of authority
- storytellerOne who recounts tales
- folktaleTraditional narrative passed down
- legendUnverified traditional tale
myth · indigenous · tribal · bard · keeper · transmission · genealogy · lineage
Stored historical records
- repositoryPlace for storing things
- libraryBook collection or building
- museumPublic exhibit space
- researcherOne who studies systematically
scholarship · Columbia · Holocaust · Shoah · labor · immigration · veterans · suffrage
remembrance
Act of holding something in mind
- recollectionRecalled mental image
- eyewitnessOne who saw events
- firsthandWithout intermediary
memoir · anecdote · storytelling · reminiscing · nostalgia · generational · ancestral · elder · grandmother · grandfather
interview
Formal questioning session
- recordingCaptured audio or video
- transcriptVerbatim written account
- narratorOne who tells events
documentation · fieldwork · ethnography · archive · preservation · testimony · collection · questionnaire · informant · reminiscence
griot
African oral tradition keeper
- elderSenior figure of authority
- storytellerOne who recounts tales
- folktaleTraditional narrative passed down
legend · myth · indigenous · tribal · bard · keeper · transmission · genealogy · lineage · ceremony
archive
Stored historical records
- repositoryPlace for storing things
- libraryBook collection or building
- museumPublic exhibit space
researcher · scholarship · Columbia · Holocaust · Shoah · labor · immigration · veterans · suffrage · apartheid
oral-historydocumentary evidence
Written proof of facts
archival records · official documents · written records · inscriptions · court records
oral-historymaterial evidence
Tangible items proving facts
primary documents · archaeological evidence · hard evidence · forensic evidence · documentary evidence
oral-historyofficial history
Government-endorsed version of events
written tradition · literary tradition · state archives · government records · academic history
oral, history, orally, historian, historians, historic, historical, historically, prehistoric