Writing in the Margins: Speaking of (Hi)stories in Australia and New Zealand

Abstract

ABSTRACT The use of oral history as a method to rewrite the history of modern architecture has intensified in recent years. This essay presents initial reflections of a research project on oral histories of architectural history, not architecture, through interviews with historians of architecture based in Australia and New Zealand, not architects. Acknowledging the contribution of users and clients in constructing new narratives of architecture, I argue that there is also value in recording the stories told by historians of architecture. Their firsthand experiences provide insight into the process of overcoming the geographical remoteness of the discipline in the region, with its intellectual uneasiness and institutional uncertainty. Globally, there are lessons to be learned by emerging scholars from the impact of migration and networks on their career progression. This essay aims to test the value and validity of the oral histories of historians of architecture, to not only better contextualise their own work, but also advance the discipline of the history of architecture through the telling of and listening to their stories. It aims to explore whether the principles and strengths, as well as the shortcomings, of oral history as a methodology in architectural research can be productive in its historiography.