Into the Mainstream: the Challenge of Oral History in Britain in the 21st century

Abstract

Forty years ago the collection and preservation of firsthand personal testimonies - what we have come to call - was not widespread in Britain. As a distinctive approach and methodology, oral history was nottaken seriously by the majority of academic historians, archivists, librarians, museum staff, and teachers. Yet in the intervening four decades oral history has become a radical force for change in Britain in a variety of heritage and non-heritage sectors. It has encouraged a more people-centered approach to the presentation and interpretation of the past and forced essentially paper - and artifact - based professionals to come to terms with new media. This challenge to traditional sources and ways of working has led to a period of intense scrutiny and critique of oral history as a source and technique that is unusual if not to say unparalleled. This paper assesses the challenge that oral history represents and speculates about the issues that it will face in the first decade of the 21st century.