Oral History Workshop

December 14, 2025

Graphics by Joe Paczkowski

Faculty

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• Robert Stockman, Director of the Corinne True Center for Baha’i History
• Caroline Browning-Hess, Digital/Digitization Archivist

Gwen Etter-Lewis, Professor Emerita at Miami University of Ohio

Duane L. Herrmann, Independent Historian

• Richard Hollinger, Retired Archivist, University of Maine at Orono
• Michael McMullen, Professor of Sociology at the University of Houston
• Gisu Mohadjer, Adjunct Professor at Corinne True Center for Baha’i History

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Section 1: Introduction by Robert Stockman

Section 2: What is Oral History?

Section 3: The Importance of Oral History in the Baha’i Faith

Section 4: Preparation

Section 5: Interviewing

Section 6: Preservation

Section 7: Questions and Discussion

Annex: Resources

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Section 1: Introduction by Robert Stockman

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Section 2: What is Oral History?

History and Oral History

• History in general is important for capturing the past, but it is also necessary for understanding the present and planning for the future
• Oral History in particular provides us with first-hand accounts that add to the written records. Through oral history we gain access to narrators’ own words, thoughts and feelings about an earlier time, place or a specific event. Oral history is a personal, intimate experience of the time past that you can only get from the person who lived through it.

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Gwen

The Role of Oral History

• Oral history serves many purposes
• More than telling stories and reliving the past -- a systematic way of documenting people’s lives, past events and/or places and spaces
• More than a rote series of random memories or historical facts -- necessarily encompasses interviewees’ understanding and/or interpretation of experiences and observations
• Preserves diverse perspectives of the past, fills gaps in the historical record, documents information that might otherwise be lost or forgotten
• Gives voice to those who have been silenced, allows them to teach us their lived experience
• Knowledge generated by oral history often reveals new or hidden information essential to a better understanding of the world we live in

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Gwen

Examples of Oral History

• Oral history can focus on an individual, family, community, region or nation. An oral history project also can center on a particular event or experience. It may include any number of people from one to many
• Examples of some large scale oral history projects include:
• During the 1920s-1930s the U.S. Works Progress Administration collected oral histories of black people who had been previously enslaved. These interviews are primarily housed at the Library of Congress
• The Jeff and Toby Herr Oral History Archive at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum contains one of the largest and most diverse collection of Holocaust oral histories
• The Ellis Island Oral history project is a collection of 2,000 oral history interviews with immigrants who entered the U.S. through Ellis Island in New York. The project is stored at the Ellis Island National Museum of Immigration
• The Pearl Harbor National Memorial Oral History Project is a collection of oral histories on the attack at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. The project is housed at the Pearl Harbor National Memorial in Honolulu, Hawaii

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Gwen

Storytelling

• Oral history is a powerful tool that can be utilized by students and non-students alike. From secondary school through college and beyond, oral history can be collected, preserved and analyzed for a number of academic and non-academic purposes
• The words of Pulitzer Prize winning oral historian Studs Terkel best sum up the relevance of oral history:

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“People are hungry for stories. It's part of our very being. Storytelling is a form of history, of immortality too. It goes from one generation to another.”

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Gwen

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Section 3: The Importance of Oral History in the Baha’i Faith

• Examples in Baha’i History
• Using Interviews to Enhance our Understanding of Baha’i History

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Examples in Baha’i History

The Dawn Breakers – Introductory Note

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It is my intention, by the aid and assistance of God, to devote the introductory pages of this narrative to such accounts as I have been able to obtain regarding those twin great lights, Shaykh Aḥmad-i-Ahsá’í and Siyyid Kázim-i-Rashtí, after which it is my hope to recount, in their chronological order, the chief events that have happened since the year ’60, the year that witnessed the declaration of the Faith by the Báb, until the present time, the year 1305 A.H. 

In certain instances I shall go into some detail, in others I shall content myself with a brief summary of events. I shall place on record a description of the episodes I myself have witnessed, as well as those that have been reported to me by trustworthy and recognised informants, specifying in every case their names and standing. Those to whom I am primarily indebted are the following: Mírzá Aḥmad-i-Qazvíní, the Báb’s amanuensis; Siyyid Ismá’íl-i-Dhabíh; Shaykh Ḥasan-i-Zunúzí; Shaykh Abú-Turáb-i-Qazvíní; and, last but not least, Mírzá Músá, Áqáy-i-Kalím, brother of Bahá’u’lláh.

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MUḤAMMAD-I-ZARANDÍ

‘Akká, Palestine, 1305 A.H.

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Gisu

The Dawn Breakers

The Meeting of the Bab and Mulla Husayn

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Mírzá Ahmad-i-Qazvíní, the martyr, who on several occasions had heard Mullá Husayn recount to the early believers the story of his moving and historic interview with the Báb, related to me the following: “I have heard Mullá Husayn repeatedly and graphically describe the circumstances of that remarkable interview….

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Gisu

Examples in Baha’i History

Examples in Baha’i History

© US Bahá’í National Archives

Hand of the Cause of God Corinne True �Interviewed by Hand of the Cause of God William Sears

About Discussing the Mashriqu’l Adhkar with ‘Abdu’l-Baha

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During her pilgrimage in 1907, one morning Mrs. True was invited to the presence of Abdu’l-Baha to share the gifts that the believers had sent to Him. She placed the scroll of names of those who had petitioned to have a House of Worship aside, and started to share the many presents. But before she could present the scroll, Abdu’l-Baha stood up, came over to her, picked up the scroll and raising it high exclaimed “Mashriqu’l Adhkar! This…this is what gives me great joy! Go back … go back and work for the Temple; it is a great work, the best thing you could do, Mrs. True!”

Mrs. True had been asking questions to Abdu’l-Baha, so she asked him where it should be built. She described the layout of the city, and asked if it should be near the lake shore. He approved this idea and said that it should be on a large piece of land.

Then He went into the next room and returned quickly with a ground plan that showed a Temple with nine sides, nine avenues radiating from a building. There would be a garden between each avenue with a fountain in its center.

Let’s listen to a recording of Mrs. True’s conversation with Hand of the Cause of God William Sears about this event.

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Gisu

Recent Examples: Bahá’í Chair for World Peace

… an oral history initiative by the Bahá’í Chair turned to those who grew up in the shadow of segregation during the Jim Crow era in the United States and asked them to describe, in their own words, how families and neighborhoods shaped lives of dignity, perseverance, and mutual care.

“The Bahá’í teachings state that we should celebrate human diversity,” said Dr. Mahmoudi. She explained that celebrating this diversity implies learning the history and lived experience of a people, which helps strip away stereotypes and awakens a truer sense of oneness.

The project, titled African American Legacies: Remembering Resilient Communities, brings together recorded long‑form conversations over two years with 24 people from different regions and walks of life in the United States.

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Gisu

How to Use Oral History Interviews

• Save the memories and history of a significant Baha’i in your local community
• Save the recorded interview and transcript as part of a local archive to maintain the history of the local community
• Send the interview and transcript to the National Spiritual Assembly archives for posterity and for researchers to access
• Use each interview as a building block in writing a full history of your local Baha’i community
• Use the interviews as resources for artistic expression through drama, poetry, historical fiction, etc.
• Write an academic article

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Mike

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Section 4: Preparation

• Selecting Who to Interview
• Preparing for the Interview

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Selecting Who to Interview

• Selection of interviewees is primarily dependent on the oral history project itself. The topic as well as the goals of a project will determine who should be interviewed. Once this information is established, then people can be invited to participate. Individuals who experienced, participated or were directly affected by an event or time period should be the primary interviewees. At the same time, effort should be made to incorporate as many diverse voices as possible
• Participants can be recruited in a variety of ways:
• word of mouth
• social media
• notices in local Baha’i newsletters
• flyers posted in strategic locations
• notices to social clubs
• professional and community organizations
• community centers

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Gwen

Cultural Awareness and Representation

• Cultural awareness and representation is critically important in oral history interviews. The interviewer should make a special effort to become familiar with the narrator’s culture and be respectful of that culture. This quality alone builds trust and supports meaningful engagement
• Representation is important because it ensures that a diversity of voices will be heard and documented. Interviewers should make sure that no community or group is portrayed as homogeneous. A wide range of voices is necessary for a more meaningful, complete and accurate account of the past

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Gwen

Researching the Interviewee

• Research the person to be interviewed using available public sources:
• Local newspapers
• Files in public libraries
• Records in county historical societies
• Baha’i Local Spiritual Assembly public records
• Ancestry.com and other databases
• Word of mouth

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Mike

Talk to the Person Ahead of Time

• Explain why you want to interview them specifically; what general information you think they can provide you
• Find out where they will be most comfortable talking to you (their home, neutral space, public space)
• Set the expectations for the interview: how formal/informal, how long it will last, etc.
• Get permission to record the interview (either digital voice recording or digital video recording)

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Mike

Develop a Questionnaire

• Questions fall into three general categories:
• Demographic questions (who are you, what is your personal background, in this case did you became a Baha’i or first learn about the Baha’i Faith, etc.)
• Behavior questions (what do you do, how did you respond to…., when did you attend…, etc.)
• Attitude questions (what did you think about…, how did you respond to that letter…, etc.)

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Mike

Potential Interview Questions for Oral History Projects: Demographic

• Start with open-ended questions: tell me about our childhood 
• Where and when were you born?
• Who were your parents? What was their ethnicity? What was their religion? Were they active members?
• What is your education? Your careers? Economic status of your family?
• Tell us about your family (spouse, children).
• When did you become a Baha’i? How did you hear about it? What was your first contact with the Faith? What attracted you? How did your parents and relatives react when you became a Baha’i? What did you read first?
• If you are not a first generation Baha’i, how far back does the Faith go in your family?
• What is the Baha’i legacy of your family? What are the stories?
• If you are a first generation Bahá'í, did your family have any prior contact with the Faith?
• Have you had experiences in your life that challenged or intimidated you because of who you are? Has anything positive or negative happened to you because of your race/gender/social class?

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Mike

Potential Interview Questions for Oral History Projects: Bahá'í Community Experiences

• How many places have you lived in your life? Why did you move to each one? What was that experience like?
• Which places were you an active member of the Bahá'í community?
• What do you consider to be your most significant experience in the Bahá'í community?
• Who do you remember about the X Bahá'í community? What was the community like?
• What was the cultural and ethnic diversity? How was it expressed in the community’s life?
• What was the range of ages in the X Bahá'í community? Did that change over time?
• What roles did you play in the X community (LSA member, member of committees, host of Feast, etc.).
• What do you recall about the efforts of the X community to fulfill goals of the various plans? Are there any stories?
• How did you personally respond to the plans?
• What challenges did the X community face? How did it deal with those challenges?
• How has the X community matured over the years? Do you have any stories about ways the community has changed?

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Mike

Potential Interview Questions for Oral History Projects: Bahá'í Community Experiences (continued)

• What were Feast and Holy Day observances in the X community like? Was the community life joyous? What sort of participation was there?
• How many children, junior youth, and youth did the X community have? What activities did the community have for them? Classes? Youth workshop? Service activities? Deepenings? Parties?
• What sort of deepening efforts existed? When did the core activities arrive? What were the challenges in implementing them?
• What non-Baha’i groups or organizations has your community worked with?
• How did the size of the community change while you were there?
• Do you have non-Bahá'í family members? Have they felt welcomed by the community and welcome to participate in the community? What do they think about the Bahá'í community?
• Do certain Bahá'ís stand out in your memory? Please describe them. How did you meet them? How did the person become a Bahá'í? What was their experience?
• What other questions should I have asked you?

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Mike

Potential Interview Questions for Oral History Projects: Iranian Bahá’ís

• Where are you from in Iran?
• Did you grow up as a Baha’i?
• If yes, how did your parents become Baha’is?
• If no, how did you learn about the Baha’i Faith?
• If no, when did you become a Baha’i?
• What was it like to be a young Baha’i in Iran?
• Did you have non-Baha’i relatives? Relationship with these family members?
• When did your family decide to leave? How was it possible?
• Do you still have Baha’i relatives/contacts in Iran?
• What do you miss most about:
• Iran?
• Baha’i community in Iran?
• Do you feel supported as immigrants by:
• US government?
• Local Baha’i community?
• National Spiritual Assembly?

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Mike

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Section 5: Interviewing

• Ethics and Written Consent
• Conducting the Interview
• Technology
• Follow-Up

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Informed Consent

• Informed Consent is “An agreement that documents, verbally or in writing, that the narrator has been given all the information necessary to come to a decision about whether to participate in the oral history project. Informed consent does not cover or deal with copyright. The interview process must be transparent, with ongoing participation, consent, engagement, and open discussion among all parties, from the first encounter between interviewer and narrator to the creation of end products. Informed consent plays a key role in ensuring transparency.” -- Oral History Association
• Best practices suggest that a written consent form covering the interview, photos, and videos, also called a release form should be obtained prior to the interview. This document protects both the narrator and the interviewer
• If you are doing an interview as a student or faculty at a university, you may need to do IRB (Institutional Review Board) to guarantee the ethics of the process

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Gwen

Written Consent Forms

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Gwen

Mutual Responsibility

• “Everyone involved in oral history work, from interviewers and narrators to archivists and researchers, becomes part of a web of mutual responsibility working to ensure that the narrator’s perspective, dignity, privacy, and safety are respected.” -- Oral History Association
• Clearly narrators must be generally healthy and of sound mind in order to participate in an oral history interview

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Gwen

Practice

• It is important to practice before embarking on an oral history interview
• Conduct a pilot project so that you can try out the equipment/technology
• Interview a friend, family member or someone who is not involved in the actual project so that you can perfect your interviewing technique and at the same time refine your questions

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Gwen

Humble Posture of Learning

• “The interview is not an interrogation or an intrusion, or a designated therapeutic moment; it is rather the opening of a narrative space that people may choose to enter or not. It is an invitation, not a destination. The interviewer…is the student, the learner, the one who brings a lack of knowledge and a certain ignorance into the conversation…the narrator is the teacher, the recognized authority.…”

William and Richard Ayers

• The preceding quote suggests that “a humble posture of learning” on the part of the interviewer, is the most effective attitude that ensures a successful oral history interview

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Gwen

Miner or Traveler?

• Two helpful metaphors for interviewing:
• “Miner” (able to dig into a topic for lots of detail)
• “Traveler” (get a grand tour of a building, organization, teaching campaign, etc.)
• Interviewing is a “guided conversation”
• Can ask interviewees for suggestions on additional people to interview (i.e., “snowball sampling”)

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Mike

Photographs

• Before the interview, ask the interviewee to find any photographs they have that they are willing to share
• Be sure that consent covers photographs
• During the interview, ask about each photograph, especially who is in the photograph and what it represents
• Have a way of capturing the photographs during the interview
• Take a picture of the interviewee

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Mike

How to Conduct the Interview

• Reiterate the purpose of the interview, how the information might be used, any protections of their confidentiality for a period of time, etc.
• Start with ice-breaker questions to get to know the interviewee
• Build Rapport with Interviewees
• Show genuine interest in your shared interest in Baha’i history
• Be an active listener
• Be conversational and use the appropriate mix of formal and informal questions (use “semi-structured” interview style)
• Ask follow-up questions
• Use the questions you have developed and practiced
• Ask follow up questions

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Mike

How to Conduct the Interview

• Don’t argue with the interviewee
• Never interrupt the interviewee
• Remember that the interviewee:
• does not have to answer any particular question that they feel uncomfortable about
• can stop the interview at any time

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Mike

Additional Guidelines/Suggestions for Interviewing

• Appearance and Demeanor
• Have a familiarity with the Survey Questions
• Ask Probing Questions and Follow-Up Questions (for clarification and elaboration)
• “In what ways…?”
• “Can you tell me more about that…?”
• “How is that…?”
• “What would be an example of that…?”
• “Say more about…”
• “Tell me more about that teaching campaign…”
• “What did you think about…”
• “Anything else…?”
• Silence
• Note-Taking
• Digitally record (or video record Zoom interviews) to make a transcript; make sure you have permission to record
• Take notes to remember follow-up questions, clarifications; note name, date, place
• Note tone, gestures, non-verbal cues
• Start with “jottings,” then later (within 24-hours) write out full field notes
• Develop themes/topics around which to organize and summarize the interview
• Transcription
• Interviews can be transcribed by computer applications or a transcription service
• Data analysis can be conducted by using a computer application such as Dedoose (text analysis software)
• Use Artificial Intelligence programs such as WhisperAI to transcribe the audio

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Mike and Gwen

Suggestions for Preparing Field Notes

• Recording Observations
• Jottings
• Brief notes (words and phrases) taken as you observe
• Serve as memory joggers for writing the field notes later
• Field Notes
• Detailed notes about your observations, the context, and the methodology used
• Describe the place/location of the interview, especially if it is in the interviewee’s home
• Complete, detailed, and true to what you observed
• Include your interpretations (setting them apart from observations)
• Final Report
• Most of your notes will not appear in your final report—telling a story

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Mike

Focus Groups (Optional)

• Focus Group: A researcher gathers data by having unstructured group interviews in which a leader actively encourages discussion among participants on the topics of interest
• Format:
• A group of 5-12 people is assembled in a room
• Group dynamics stimulate discussion and memories that might not come out with interviewing just one person
• Challenges:
• Interviewer must also be moderator of larger group
• Difficult to sometimes organize schedules of several interviewees
• Some prefer not to speak in a group setting

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Mike

Audio or Video?

• Either audio or video is an acceptable medium for recording
• Video is preferred because it offers more information (e.g., body language) or is necessary, such as an American Sign Language interview
• But some interviewees may be less comfortable speaking on video
• Ensure you have the proper lighting to obtain clear images and have a good quality external microphone to capture clear audio
• Consider the environment: don’t interview someone in front of an open window where outside light behind them and outdoor sounds can degrade the quality of the recording

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Caroline

Equipment

• We are not recommending any particular recording equipment, but digital formats are recommended
• Specifications
• Good quality microphone(s), regardless of the method of recording. Microphones should be high-quality, and external lavalier microphones or handheld mics with windshields are recommended
• The recorder should be able to record in uncompressed WAV format at a minimum of 48 kHz/16-bit or preferably higher, with external microphone inputs and a headphone output for monitoring
• Test the sound quality with the interviewee before the interview
• Make sure the lighting is good, and don’t use a virtual background
• If possible, bring another person with you who will focus on the equipment. Be sure to let the interviewee know who will come with you, and seek their permission in advance.

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Caroline

Recommended Audio Formats

• Stay away from Proprietary formats
• Ideally, these will be recorded with a bit-depth of 24 bits or higher, though 16 bits can also acceptable. For best guidance ask the institution that will be archiving the material.

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Caroline

Recommended Video Formats

Recorded at a bit-depth of 16, but 10 or 12 are also acceptable bit-depths

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Caroline

Follow-Up and Additional Interviews

• Always leave open the possibility of returning for a follow-up interview (or at the very least a follow-up phone call/Zoom call or email)
• Allow interviewee to review transcript and make corrections
• Send a thank you note
• Interviewing for oral history involves a reciprocity between interviewer and interviewee. Offer something back to the interviewee to reciprocate for their time such as:
• A transcript of their interview
• A copy of the report to the National Spiritual Assembly of the data you collected
• A copy of the article written for publication or a copy of the published work
• A copy of the oral history of their community

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Mike

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Section 6: Preservation

• Metadata
• Interview

Metadata Allows Research and Access

Metadata (necessary background information) for oral history can be categorized as follows:

• Descriptive metadata: Includes information about the interview, such as names of interviewers and interviewees, time, place, and topics discussed
• Administrative metadata: creation, multiversioning, reuse, and recontextualization
• Preservation metadata: long-term preservation of the oral history materials
• Technical metadata: technical details about the digital data file containing the interview
• Rights/access metadata: Addresses access, copyright, and usage rights issues
• BASIC Information needed

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Caroline

Metadata to Include

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Caroline

Preservation

What needs to be preserved?

• Recording(s) of interview
• Any documents or photographs that interviewee might have given you during or on the occasion of the interview
• Consent forms for the interviewer and interviewee
• Transcript of the interview
• Metadata!

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Richard

Audio and Video Recordings

The preservation of audio and video recordings requires an institution with an ongoing preservation program because:

• The physical medium on which recordings are stored have a short life-span, so the recordings need to be copied to new media periodically
• The magnetic signal of recordings on magnetic media is subject to bit-rot, gradual weakening of the magnetic imprint of the recording. This needs to be monitored so that the recording can be re-copied before there is any loss
• Recording formats change over time. Recordings need to be migrated to new formats when the original formats fall into disuse
• None of us will live long enough to undertake these curatorial tasks in perpetuity, so we need to entrust the recordings to an institution that will outlast us

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Richard

Storage of Recordings

• Keep 3 copies of each recording, one on a computer hard-disk, one on an external storage device (e.g., flash drive, external hard drive) and one on the cloud. Keep them in separate locations
• If sending recording(s) to the National Baha’i Archives, send all the recordings for a particular project at the same time

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Richard

Preserving Other Materials

• Most paper should be stable enough to keep for a long period without any intervention. If there are deteriorated documents such as old newspaper clipping or thermograph paper it would be good to make copies of them and send both the copies and the originals to the Archives. When making copies, use photography without flash instead of photocopies
• Digital documents:
• If these are being scanned, we recommend the following formats be used:
• Tiff for photographs
• PDF/A for textual documents
• Digital documents, whether scanned or “born digital” should be stored in the same way as the recordings

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Richard

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Section 7: Questions and Discussion

Annex: Resources

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General

• Oral History Association
• Libraries and museums
• Books and guides
• The Oral History Manual. (2024) 4th ed. Rowman and Littlefield. Barbara Sommer and Mary K. Quinlan.
• The Power of the Story: The Voice of Witness Teacher’s Guide to Oral History. 2nd edition. (2013) McSweeney’s Books. Cliff Mayotte

Audio/Visual

• https://pitt.libguides.com/oralhistorytoolkit/formats
• https://www.ohs.org.uk/for-beginners/equipment
• https://oralhistory.org/oral-history-in-the-digital-age/

Metadata

• https://www.dublincore.org/specifications/dublin-core/cross-domain-attribute/
• https://oralhistory.org/metadata-assessment-and-planning-tool/
• https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1T8vxyRxkGHnmOct5KLCe08itESpSBweF/edit?gid=1001025847#gid=1001025847
• https://metadatatool.oralhistory.org/

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Thank You!

Graphics by Joe Paczkowski