The Human Element: Oral Historians Bring Past to Life Through Personal Stories

Conference participants listen to the speakers from U.S.

July 13, 2010

Oral history focuses on finding and explaining past and current human identity through personal stories.  More than 400 oral historians from 70 countries gathered in Prague from July 7-11 for the 16th International Oral History Conference.  While oral history in the Czech Republic has begun developing rapidly only in the last ten years, U.S. institutions have used it as a common research tool in numerous disciplines, including history, sociology, anthropology and psychology.  “We believe we can benefit from our more experienced American colleagues, especially in the field of conducting research, methodological and theoretical background and applying the new technologies in digitalizing data and archiving,” said Miroslav Vaněk, head of the Conference Committee.

The world’s largest and oldest Oral History Master Program was founded at Columbia University in 1948 by Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Allan Nevins.  American speakers at the conference portrayed oral history in various ways - as a tool for empowerment and social inclusion or to make people understand their place in distinct communities.