In Their Own Words

This week I was back at the Imperial War Museum. I have now moved from documents to sound archives. The experience was very different. The documents have been incredibly valuable but it can be time consuming (deciphering handwriting), people tend to write in a different tone to the way in which they speak and you don’t get to ask questions. The oral history I worked with yesterday was in some ways the opposite of this. I could sit back and listen and just like a radio programme, fall into imagination without distraction. After a while the room disappeared and I was somewhere (and some time) else entirely. Once they got over the initial stilted delivery, the interviewees used their own ‘voices’ rather than the more formal communication of a letter. In addition, the interviewers were excellent at asking the right questions and drawing out examples.