Oral History in Britain

In Britain the practice of using sound recording equipment as a means of collecting oral evidence goes back quite a few years. The longest established projects are based on institutions concerned mainly with folklore and linguistics. Pride of place goes just outside our national boundaries to the Irish Folklore Commission, recently reconstituted as the Department of Irish Folklore at University College, Dublin. Here field collectors began using dictating machines in the 1930s for collecting oral material relating to all aspects of Irish folk tradition. In the 1950s the School of Scottish Studies at Edinburgh University, the School of English at the University of Leeds, and the Welsh Folk Museum also established national projects. There are a number of smaller centres carrying out similar projects on a more regional basis. (See the list of Oral History Centres in Britain and Ireland for details.)