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Oral History Reports

Reports generally are prepared only for projects in which the client is a government agency. In such cases, the deliverables are usually tapes or CDs, transcripts, and, in some cases, a catalog of project materials. Additionally, however, the client may request more detailed information, which may take the form of a report chapter providing a description of how, where, and with whom the work was done, as well as an excerpt from one or more of the oral histories collected. Release forms are a necessary part of any oral history project. These are generally included in a report appendix, or are provided with individual interviews as part of the deliverables.

Examples of oral history projects for government agencies that I have been involved in (as an employee of various archaeological contracting companies), include the White Sands Missile Range Ranching Oral History Project, which documented the lives of ranchers displaced for the creation of the Alamogordo Bombing Range; and the Melrose Air Force Range Ranching Oral History Project. The first project resulted in production of a technical report and two popular reports. During the first two and a half years of the project, some 24 individuals were interviewed, and more than 400 historic photographs were collected for placement in the Rio Grande Historical Collections, the archive at New Mexico State University. The second project incorporated some elements that would typically appear in an archaeological report: sections detailing the location and setting of Melrose Air Force Range, the vegetation in the ecological communities present, and information on previous archaeological studies in the area, as well as photographs and excerpts of the interviews conducted during the project.