Overview
I will post my proposal, which you will be writing about, as a PDF. Make sure to use my outline I already made in order to write the final
Professor Ryan McMillen
Oral History Project / Archival Research Project
Length: 5-10 pages
Final Paper Due DECEMBER 8
You have two options for your final project. Both involve active data collection, evidence sifting, analysis and research.
Option A: The Oral History Project
For this project, you will engage in an oral history project involving data collection, analysis and writing. Each student will choose a historical event prior to 2001 that is particularly memorable. You must
a) Define the event.
b) Find individuals living during the period who remember the event.
c) Determine what questions should be asked of those individuals about the event
d) Interview your subjects, and record the interviews (preferably audio)
d) Pool the data and questions about the event collected and present it in a short analytical report using outside sources.
You MUST interview at least two (2) people about the event, and you should attempt to have your subjects be as diverse as possible. I will leave the choice of subjects up to you.
Interviews need not be in person, and can be done over email, phone, etc. However, a face-to-face interview, with audio recorded, is preferred. Email interviews are least desirable. Follow-up interviews may be necessary to clarify certain points raised in the initial interview, and which come up during creation of the paper.
The questions need not be complex, but each interviewer must have a historical knowledge of the event such that they know how to talk about the event, they know how to listen to the subject concerning the event, and perhaps know how to respond with follow-up questions that may not be on the group's prepared list of questions.
Also, the subject must be justified as relevant to the context of the course. The deeper connections you make between the experience of your subjects and the larger themes of the course, the better.
Older subjects are particularly preferred, i.e. grandparents, because their knowledge is more in danger of being lost.
Examples of events:
JFK Assassination
MLK Assassination
Landing of men on the moon
Afghan War
Gulf War I or II
Fall of the Berlin Wall
Vietnam War
Civil Rights Movement (U.S. or abroad)
Memorable elections (1968, 1980, 1992, 2000, 2008, 2016 and 2020 are good choices)
9/11
The COVID-19 Pandemic
The January 6 Capitol Attack
The Black Lives Matter protests
There are several other events one can choose from but remember that smaller events might not be remembered by your subjects (although you could always tailor the paper to a particular event your two or more subjects recall vividly.)
Your paper should consist of three main components. The first two need only be in list format, and should not be included in the page count. You should include in your report
1) a list of the prepared questions
2) a list of those interviewed, and most importantly
3) a report analyzing the answers to these questions and any follow-up questions.
Your paper should also use outside sources (secondary sources are fine) to interpret findings raised by the interviews that correspond with the actual history of the event itself and to help analyze the particular perspective your subjects bring to the event. For instance, if you interview your mother about the Kennedy assassination, and she worked in an office at the time, you might want to find out how working women viewed Kennedy at the time. This can help shed light on your mother’s reaction, and on the reaction of middle-class working women in the 1960s in general. This is only one example among an infinite number of examples.
Most of all, have fun. Interviewing your elders and showing an interest in their personal history can be a very rewarding experience.
I have included various supplementary materials, including sample oral histories, techniques for conducting an interview, etc., on Blackboard and we will discuss these in class. Always feel free to ask me any questions.
Option B: The Archival Research Project
For this option, you will choose a particular collection of raw, primary sources, such as oral history interviews, collections of letters, diaries, or any other archive, online or off, and explore a research question of your choosing concerning the archive.
For example, earlier this semester we explored how various 19th century newspapers covered a particular event, and we also completed an assignment which examined oral history interviews with veterans or WWII homefront participants. In each of these cases, you were exploring archival information, and completing a short research exploration which delved into some aspect of U.S. history raised by the material you sifted through.
In this option, you will choose some archive -- you can choose the two that we have already explored briefly, for instance -- and develop a research proposal that will lead to a final paper. You can build off of your previous assignment if you wish, although this must, of course, be a new and original paper.
For instance, if you became interested in a particular interviewee who discussed their time fighting in a particular battle, or fulfilling some particular function, you could expand your search in the archive to find other interviewees who had a similar experience. Or if you became interested in an event which was covered by newspapers at the time, you could expand your search to additional newspapers.
Rule of 3x: If you were to build off of your original assignments, instead of using one interview (as you did in the assignment) you would have to use at least three in the project. Similarly, if you were to build off of your newspaper project, in which you were supposed to look at three (3) issues of a newspaper, now you must look at least at nine (9) issues.
This archival size and breadth should be imitated even if you choose an entirely different archive outside the parameters of the first two assignments.
You should also consult outside sources about the event. Try not to use Google to explore these issues, but instead use library databases to find additional background.
In addition to the Chronicling America and Rutgers Oral History archives we have already explored, we will discuss additional archives in class, and suggested ones will be posted on Canvas.
Feel free to think outside the box: the archive explored need not necessarily consist of written material. Archives of photographs, or films, would also be strong candidates for this project. As with any other archival choice, however, you must bring in secondary sources to buttress and help prove your thesis.