51st Annual Conference

Oral traditions have long been considered less reliable and legitimate forms of knowledge, and have thus been ignored or largely overlooked as primary sources of information for research. However, in the last ten years, this Western historical bias towards the written word has increasingly been challenged by a number of institutions and community groups in two different ways. Some strive to preserve marginal perspectives and testimonies through a range of oral histories, while others create podcast series that critically engage with their collections to serve broader constituencies. This panel seeks to survey these initiatives, whose numbers have dramatically increased during the pandemic. Panelists from museums, non-profits, and libraries will describe their innovative approaches to producing oral histories and podcasts, which may now also include a video component; the educational and cultural significance of such initiatives, and how they can increase the understanding and accessibility of materials traditionally used by scholars to a broader and more diverse audience.