Oral history is a field of study and a method of gathering, preserving, and interpreting the voices and memories of people, communities, and participants in past events. Oral history is the oldest type of historical inquiry, stemming from the oral traditions of myriad cultures across the globe, predating even the written word. It is also a modern profession, owing its recent emphasis on preservation to technologies ranging from wax cylinders, to wire recorders, to analog tapes, and ultimately the explosion of pure digital capture devices and formats.
Oral history as a practice refers to both the interview process and the output that emerges from it. In order to gather and preserve meaningful information about the past, oral historians might record interviews focused on narrators’ life histories or topical interviews in which narrators are selected for their knowledge of a particular historical subject or event. The value of oral history lies largely in the way it helps to place people’s experiences within a larger social and historical context, and conversely, to contextualize social and historical events through how people lived them. The interview becomes a record useful for documenting past events, individual or collective experiences, and understanding of the ways that history is constructed. - The Oral History Association
The Rakow Library collects and preserves stories about the art, history, science, and technology of glass. Part of our collection includes oral histories, captured and interviewed by the Corning Museum of Glass and from other individuals and organizations. These oral histories offer us a way to preserve the past and help future generations understand what it was like to work with glass as an artist, scientist, factory worker, and many other professions.
Our collection of oral histories focuses on the impact of glass in Corning, NY, and around the world. The recordings in our collection explore a wide range of topics and professions, including:
- glass artists and technicians
- glass factory employees
- Corning Museum of Glass institutional history
- topics unique to Corning, like the flood of 1972.
The Rakow Research Library has more than one hundred oral histories on a variety of topics. To discover the interviews in the collection, search the catalog. Watch the Rakow Research Library Conversation Series on YouTube.
Learn More
Online Resources
- Oral History Association
- Organization for people interested in preserving oral histories.
- Find best practices, guidelines, and other resources.
- The Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts In America
- A collection of oral histories about craft in America.
- Listen to oral histories and read transcripts.
- Samuel Proctor Oral History Program
- A project capturing local history and creating an archive.
- Find sample deed of gift forms and other resources.
- Institute for Oral History at Baylor University
- Find webinars, guidelines, and other resources.
At the Library
- Rakow Research Library Conversation Series on YouTube
- Conversations with Corning Incorporated employees.
- Rakow Research Library search results
- Discover materials related to oral histories in the Rakow Research Library.
- Recording Oral History by Valerie Raleigh Yow
- Read at the Rakow Research Library or borrow through interlibrary loan.
