How can we make sure the stories of local communities recorded by oral historians survive the ravages of time? This online Oral History Victoria (OHV) symposium is an opportunity to explore and discuss the challenges facing communities and oral historians in preserving recorded interviews for the future.

Community oral histories are an incredibly rich resource, but we risk losing many due to:

• physical deterioration
• unstable formats
• technological change (new formats)
• private archives remaining unknown to others
• overly narrow (or undefined) conditions of access or re-use.

Join us to hear about:

• the challenges involved in preserving existing audio recordings,
• collections policies in institutions holding oral history collections
• what some communities and historians are doing to future-proof their interviews.

Participants will have the opportunity to submit a question for the speakers before the event. OHV is also keen to hear about any oral history recordings or collections out in the community that should be flagged for preservation, especially if they are at risk of imminent deterioration due to their format or storage. After the symposium, participants will be encouraged to do some detective work in their own communities and contribute to a survey of existing collections.

Speakers

• Shirleene Robinson, Director, Curatorial and Collection Research (Oral History & Manuscripts), National Library of Australia (NLA)
• Greg Gerrand, Senior Librarian and Jenelle Colston-Ing, Head of Collection Development and Description, State Library Victoria (SLV)
• Jillian Hiscock, Collections Manager / Volunteer Coordinator, Royal Historical Society of Victoria (RHSV)
• Lorna Hannan, chair, Hotham History Project

Please note:

Attendees will be advised of the Zoom link for the symposium at least one day before the event start. OHV reserves the right to cancel this event in the case of unforeseen circumstances, in which case a full refund will be made.

Find out more on our website: https://oralhistoryvictoria.org.au/event/2021-symposium/