ORAL HISTORY PLAN for
Washington County, Oregon
Cynthia Lopez, Oral History Project Archivist Eva Guggemos, Pacific University Archivist Beth Dehn, Curator of Education and Folklife, Washington County Museum June 2015
WASHINGTON COUNTY ORAL HISTORY PLAN Project Goal: Plan a unified approach to collecting, preserving, and making accessible oral histories in Washington County, reflecting its diverse and changing population. Funding provided by the Library Services and Technology Act through the Oregon State Library Created by:
Cynthia Lopez, Project Archivist Eva Guggemos, Pacific University Archivist Beth Dehn, Curator of Education and Folklife, Washington County Museum Participating Institutions:
Pacific University Washington County Museum Project Advisors:
Rachel Arkoosh, Pacific University Collection Management Services Librarian Megan Drake, Pacific University Systems and Applications Librarian Cover photos courtesy of Washington County Heritage Online:
www.washingtoncountyheritage.org Hasuike Family Photo
Washington County Museum Children’s Day Parade Centro Cultural Photography Collection Intel workers, 1980s Washington County Museum
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WASHINGTON COUNTY ORAL HISTORY PLAN Table of Contents INTRODUCTION
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Project Summary Description of the Process Results of the Washington County Oral History Planning Project Oral History Background Using this report WASHINGTON COUNTY ORAL HISTORY INVENTORY Existing Oral History in Washington County: the Inventory COLLECTION DEVELOPMENT Demographic data Survey results Small group interview results Washington County Museum Oral History Recommendations Gaps Assessment: What Needs to be Collected? List of gaps PRESERVATION PLAN Preservation Best Practices for Analog Audio and Video Washington County Oral History Community Survey Input Recommendations for Preserving Oral Histories in Washington County Digital File Management and Preservation Workflow ACCESSIBILITY PLAN Community Database Needs Plan for using Omeka for Washington County oral histories Metadata Considerations Legal Considerations for Oral History Dissemination Online Recommendations for Washington County Oral Histories online Future oral history collection: update legal release forms SUSTAINABILITY
4 4 6 6 8
CONCLUSION LIST OF PARTICIPANTS Libraries and Historical Societies Community Groups and Community Members BIBLIOGRAPHY
APPENDIX A: DIGITIZATION BUDGETS APPENDIX B: PLAN SUMMARY APPENDIX C: AUDIO AND VIDEO RECORDING RECOMMENDATIONS APPENDIX D: SAMPLE INTERVIEW RELEASE FORM
10 10
12 12 17 19 20 21 22
28 28 30 33 36
38 38 39 41 42 44 44
46 47 48 48 48
50 53 54 55 57
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INTRODUCTION Project Summary The Washington County Oral History Planning Project was a year-long project intended to plan a unified approach to collecting, preserving, and making accessible oral histories in Washington County, reflecting its diverse and changing population. The goal was addressed through three primary objectives. The first objective was to create an inventory of the existing oral histories in the county. Hundreds of oral histories had been collected since the 1970s, yet there was no way to find the vast majority of them. The second objective was to plan for the curation of new oral histories, and as part of this, to identify underrepresented communities within the county whose experiences are not well documented, yet are of vital interest to preserve. The project involved the communities themselves in selecting the most crucially important stories to record and preserve. The final objective was to create a plan for preserving the existing oral histories and making them available to the public online. This would preserve the long-term access to the thousands of hours of recordings that already exist in the county, yet are at imminent risk of being lost due to age. At all points, the project aimed to discover and align with what members of the community with an interest in oral history want and need in terms of preservation of oral histories, and the creation of new oral history collections.
Description of the Process The project objectives were accomplished in the following ways. Objective 1: Identify existing oral histories within Washington County and make it easy for the public to locate them. This will provide, for the first time, an overall view of the oral histories that have been collected in Washington County thus far. A. Inventory known collections at the Washington County Museum, Pacific University Library, Cedar Mill Community Library, Forest Grove City Library, Tualatin Historical Society and Beaverton Historical Society.
➲ Nearly 900 oral histories were located; see D below B. Systematically contact other local libraries and historical societies to identify more recordings.
➲ A list of all libraries and historical societies contacted can be found on page 48 C. Conduct an online survey of a wide range of community groups outside the library/museum world to identify more recordings.
➲ A list of all community participants starts on page 48
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D. Compile the inventory data from the above sources and publish it online, including data about the oral histories’ locations, topics, formats, conditions, and public availability.
➲ A discussion of methods and analysis of the inventory starts on page 10 ➲ The inventory can be found here: http://wcoralhistories.omeka.net/items/browse Objective 2: With input from community members, identify the most urgently needed areas for new collections of oral histories. A. Conduct an online survey of community groups outside the library/museum world to solicit opinions on which stories need to be recorded (included in the community survey listed in Objective 1-C)
➲ 105 surveys were emailed out; 55 responses were received. B. Create a comparison report on our collections survey results vs. demographic data, comparing themes covered by existing oral history collections with county demographic and social statistics from the U.S. Census and other sources. The report will attempt to identify populations that are present in the county, yet have little or no historic documentation.
➲ Comparison report starts on page 12 C. Based on the community survey and comparison report, select 3-4 community groups from whom to solicit more detailed information about collection development, such as indepth ideas on which stories are most crucial to collect and preserve.
➲ Interview results start on page 19 Objective 3: Create a plan for sustainable collection development, preservation, and access for oral history recordings within Washington County to be shared online for the benefit of cultural institutions statewide. A. Using data gathered from Objective 2, publish a list of “gaps” in our oral history recordings. Disseminate this list to the libraries, museums, historical societies, and community organizations that were surveyed for the grant project, and solicit their help in collecting in these areas. Recommend best practices for creating new recordings based on existing standards.
➲ The list of gaps can be found on pages 22-27 ➲ Recommended best practices for new recordings can be found in Appendix C B. Preservation/Digitization plan: Considering data gathered from Objective #1, assess the feasibility of preserving oral histories in their current formats (such as audio cassette) and develop a plan and budget for converting them to digital format. The emphasis in this plan will be on achievable, practical solutions.
➲ Preservation/Digitization plan starts on page 28
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➲ Preservation/Digitization budget can be found in Appendix A C. Accessibility plan: Create a plan for hosting oral history audio/video files in a community database. This plan may draw on existing resources established by WashingtonCountyHeritage.org, Pacific University’s previous LSTA-funded grant project.
➲ Accessibility plan starts on page 38 D. Proof-of-concept: Digitize and put online at least three oral histories from existing collections.
➲ Proof-of-concept exhibit can be found here: http://exhibits.lib.pacificu.edu/exhibits/show/oral-histories
Results of the Washington County Oral History Planning Project As shown throughout the body of this report, this planning grant succeeded in all of its objectives. The Collection Development, Preservation/Digitization, and Accessibility plans describe the ways in which oral history collections can best be preserved, developed, and made accessible to the public. These important objectives were achieved in part through a great deal of outreach and community involvement. The results of this project include a proof-of-concept digital exhibit of audio and video oral histories that the public can access; a full inventory of all currently known oral histories in Washington County and where to locate them; and a clear plan for feasibly digitizing all of the existing oral histories. There is also a set of recommendations for recording new oral histories now and in the future. Each of these items is intended to engage and support the community in oral history access, preservation, and collection development. While the primary purpose of this project was to create a plan that could be used by cultural institutions and the broader community, another outcome has been the continued strengthening of partnerships between cultural institutions and community organizations for the purpose of developing and preserving the valuable cultural resource of oral histories in Washington County.
Oral History Background In the most general sense, once the life experience of people of all kinds can be used as its raw material, a new dimension is given to history.1
1
Paul Thompson, Voice of the Past: Oral History (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000), 5-6, accessed April 22, 2015, ProQuest eblibrary.
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Why oral history? Oral histories capture an alternate kind of history that is different than what is expressed in documents and texts. People who would not choose to, or be able to, share their stories in writing can still tell their stories orally. Memories told through oral recordings preserve the stories of under-represented communities and people from all walks of life in a way that textual histories cannot. In addition to providing diverse viewpoints, the act of collecting oral histories is cocreative between the interviewer and the interviewee. It is relational, often community building, and provides the opportunity for shared authority in the recording of history. And finally, the oral nature of the recorded histories provides additional information and depth of understanding through asides, accents, intonation, and other vocal elements. By listening to oral histories, people can gain and deepen perspectives of widely shared public experiences such as wars, economic upheavals and social transformations, as well as personal experiences such as aging or moving to a new community. “Oral histories certainly can be a means for transforming both the content and the purpose of history...it can give back to the people who made and experienced history, through their own words, a central place.”2
Oral histories in Washington County The value of collecting oral histories has been recognized for many years. National projects like the WPA’s collection of former slave narratives have highlighted this. Within the local context, historical societies, libraries, and archives in Washington County, Oregon have been collecting oral histories for over 50 years. These oral histories originate from disparate projects, were conceived of and recorded for a variety of purposes, with a wide variety of equipment, by interviewers of varying levels of experience. The common thread between them is that they are physically located in, and/or deal with people, places, stories and issues pertaining to, Washington County. And yet, taken together, they comprise the extant oral history of the county, the most diverse county in Oregon and the state’s second-most populous.3 The oral history collections in Washington County are aligned with many aspects of history that connect them to the wider Oregon and United States histories, such as early settlement, agricultural history, Prohibition, the Depression, World War Two, Latino history and immigration. They are also unique, with ties to the environment and local landscape features, logging, heritage farms and businesses through oral histories of the Tualatin River, the development of the high tech industry, and the Save Helvetia movement, which preserves the voices of rural community members protesting urban expansion. Oral history and location are often 2
Thompson, The Voice of the Past, 3. Pacific University Library, Washington County Oral Histories: A Planning Grant. Full Grant Proposal Library Services and Technology Act (2013): E-6, accessed June 8, 2015, http://www.oregon.gov/OSL/LD/LSTA/2014/14-081mfull.pdf 3
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intertwined; individual and community identity can be deeply connected to a sense of place.4 And yet, these local, place-specific stories have significance as a body of work that resonates far beyond the boundaries of Washington County. These oral recordings have never before been collectively surveyed, conserved, or made widely available to the public. Neither has there been a coordinated effort to ensure that a range of diverse viewpoints are collected and preserved in the future. Since the 1960s, Washington County has changed tremendously, transitioning from a rural farming community to the heart of the “Silicon Forest.” Over the past 50 years its two largest cities, Hillsboro and Beaverton, have increased their populations 11 times and 15 times over, respectively. Washington County retains only 30% of its farmland since 1964; over 320,000 acres have been converted to housing, industry, and other uses.5 6 Large corporations including Intel, Nike, IBM, Columbia Sportswear, and Netflix employ tens of thousands of residents, and the vibrant economy has attracted skilled workers from all over the world. At the same time, the remaining farms have turned increasingly to labor from Mexican immigrants and other Latino Americans. The county’s diverse population, 30.6% of which is Latino, Asian, African American, or other people of color, is the highest percentage in the Portland metropolitan area. Over 23% of residents speak a language other than English at home.7 These factors make Washington County an especially fruitful place to collect local memories that inform multiple themes: stories of immigration, of rural communities, and of the disruptive yet fertile arrival of new industries.
Using this report The inventory created for this planning project provides, for the first time, an overall view of the oral histories that have been collected in Washington County thus far. The inventory can serve as a planning tool for cultural and community organizations that are developing their own oral history collections to help them avoid duplication, to ensure that a range of diverse viewpoints is collected and preserved in the future, and to provide background information in areas where they may want to collect more oral histories. The list of gaps can be used to for determining new areas of oral history to collect, as a jumping-off point for enhancing existing oral history plans; and a way to add in more voices to augment a historical theme.
Linda Shopes, “Oral history and the Study of Communities: Problems, Paradoxes, and Possibilities,” The Journal of American History 89 (2002): 593. 5 U.S.D.A. Census of Agriculture, “Farms, Land in Farms, Value of Land and Buildings, and Land Use: 2012 and 2007,” 2012 Census Volume 1, Chapter 2: County Level Data, http://www.agcensus.usda.gov/Publications/2012/Full_Report/Volume_1,_Chapter_2_County_Level/Oregon/st41_2_ 008_008.pdf (accessed May 28, 2015). 6 U.S.D.A. Census of Agriculture, “Farms, Acreage, and Value 1964 and 1959,” Volume 1, Part 47: Oregon, http://agcensus.mannlib.cornell.edu/AgCensus/getVolumeOnePart.do?year=1964&part_id=401&number=47&title=Or egon (accessed May 28, 2015). 7 U.S. Census Bureau, “Selected Characteristics of the Native and Foreign-born Populations,” 2009-2013 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates for Washington County, Oregon, http://factfinder.census.gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview.xhtml?src=CF 4
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The preservation recommendations can be used to help budget and plan for the preservation of a variety of oral history media. The access recommendations can be used to find guidance for legal considerations and release forms, as well as the exhibition and use of the oral histories on the internet. The report overall can be used as a way to manage a geographically dispersed and endangered collection of recordings. It can also be used by libraries, historical societies, and community groups in Washington County for grant writing and other funding requests.
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WASHINGTON COUNTY ORAL HISTORY INVENTORY Existing Oral Histories in Washington County: the Inventory One of the goals of this planning project was, with input from community members, to identify the most urgently needed areas for new collections of oral histories. This would result in a list of gaps in the oral history inventory of the county that could be filled with future oral history recordings. The first step in determining this was to inventory all of the oral histories Washington County and compile information about what has already been collected. All of the oral history collections that could be accessed in Washington County were inventoried in the Fall of 2014. Larger collections were inventoried in person by the Project Archivist. Information about other oral history collections was compiled through an online survey which was administered to each library and historical society in Washington County, as well as several community groups, businesses, and cultural organizations in, or serving, the county. The purpose of the survey was to identify any additional recordings that could be included on the oral history inventory as well as to solicit opinions regarding which oral histories need to be recorded, and regarding preservation of oral histories through digitization. Based on the in-person and survey inventories, the current collection of oral histories in Washington County contains approximately 900 interviews covering 19 aspects of the county’s history. Some topics are covered in individual interviews, and some are represented in collections that contain multiple interviews. A set of codes was developed in order to summarize the range of topics represented in the county oral history inventory, following typical qualitative data coding techniques. Some of the interviews fit into more than one category, which was to be expected, as topics in a single interview could range from moving to Tigard after WWII, to experiences working as a logger, to starting a business that is now a local landmark (although this much information was often not available for each interview). These interviews were coded for each appropriate category. For the example just given, the interview would be coded into the Longtime or Prominent Resident, History of Place, Forestry, and Business/Organization categories. Because coding and categorizing is by nature subjective, two additional people were asked to code a selection of the oral history inventory. Coding was also developed further through input at community meetings and interviews. As a result of this additional input, some categories were collapsed and others were added. It should be stressed that for the purpose of the inventory, the content of each interview was determined entirely by what was noted on the media label, and occasionally from indexes, notes, and transcripts if they were available, rather than by listening to each oral history recording in full.
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WASHINGTON COUNTY ORAL HISTORY INVENTORY TOPICS 278
300 250 200 150 100 50 0
138
110 44 1
3
32
6
22
49
31
14
48 15
5
3
80 22
7
Due to time constraints, some of the collections in the inventory were not counted on an individual interview level and are therefore not included in the numerical count of topics in the main topic chart above. However, the topics covered by these collections align with the topics covered in the main topic chart. The following four collections were categorized with the topic to the right and only counted once. List of oral history collections without individual inventory count Collection Name
Topic
●
Henry Elementary School Collection
●
Hillsboro Schools
●
Garden Home History Project Collection
●
Longtime and/or Prominent Residents; History of Place
●
8th Air Force History Society Collection
●
WWII & Veterans
●
Tigard Public Library
●
Great Depression
The Washington County oral history inventory can be found here:
http://wcoralhistories.omeka.net/items/browse
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COLLECTION DEVELOPMENT Determining gaps in the oral history of Washington County was accomplished through an analysis of demographic, survey, and interview data.
Demographic data Demographic data for Washington County was used in this project for two reasons. First, it was examined in order to determine the demographic characteristics of the county and its population in terms of gender, race, ethnicity, veteran status, disability status, religion, national origin, economic status, and industry. The first seven categories were chosen because they represent demographic groups protected by federal anti-discrimination laws. The final two categories were chosen because the economy and economic status was found to be a theme in many of the current and suggested oral history topics. Second, demographic data was intended to be used as a method of comparing the characteristics of the county population with those of the oral history population as a way of attempting to identify underrepresented populations in the oral history collections. Suggestions for future oral history activities with these populations would then be addressed in the gaps assessment section. A direct, statistical comparison of demographic characteristics with those of the oral history collection in Washington County is not possible, due to incomplete or nonexistent demographic information about the oral history interviews. In many cases, interview topics were indicated by only a few words or a sentence on a tape label. Sometimes oral history materials were identified only by an interviewee’s name. It is therefore not possible to determine the demographic characteristics of the populations represented in the oral history recordings, except in a few cases when a particular characteristic was one of the primary topics of the interview, such as veteran status. However, though direct comparisons cannot be made, the demographic data are still a useful indicator of possible directions for new oral history recordings. By examining the inventory topic list, we can begin to understand where there are populations that are underrepresented, or, conversely, where there has been a lot of coverage by oral historians. A reminder once again that oral history topic areas were defined based on written information about each recording, such as a title or a name, and not by listening to the entire oral history or evaluating the transcript. The comparison information offered here is therefore preliminary. Demographic Summary: Under-represented groups in Washington County oral histories Based on the comparison of demographic data to the existing oral histories in Washington County, there are some aspects of the county population that appear to be under-represented, or are not represented, in the oral history collection. The below chart shows each area of underrepresentation that could be determined based on the available demographic and oral history inventory data. Although not every underrepresented group can be addressed in this way, the demographic data 12
provides useful insights into certain aspects of the county population. A detailed description of the demographic comparison follows.
Under-represented groups in Washington County oral histories based on demographics Disability Community Disability status as reported to the U.S. Census in 2012 accounts for 9.6% of the civilian, noninstitutionalized population of Washington County.8 The experiences of people with disabilities are currently not specifically covered in the oral history collection in Washington County.
U.S. Census Bureau, “Selected Social Characteristics in the United States,” 2009-2013 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates for Washington County, Oregon, http://factfinder.census.gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview.xhtml?pid=ACS_13_5YR_DP02&src=pt (accessed June 3, 2015). 8
13
Women
Oral history interviews by sex
According to the U.S. Census 2013 estimate, the current male/female population in Washington County is 49.3% male, 50.7% female.9
4% 38%
male
58%
female
unknown
The current male/female representation in the oral history inventory are 58% and 38%, respectively, as shown in the pie chart to the left. 4% are unknown. Women’s histories are therefore less represented in existing collections.
Faith Communities There are currently no oral histories about faith communities in the Washington County collection. Yet a significant percentage of the population, 31%, is affiliated with a religion. According to the Association of Religious Data Evangelical Protestant Mainline Protestant Orthodox Archives while 69% of the county Catholic Other Unclaimed population does not claim a religious affiliation, those that do have an affiliation span several religious traditions.10 Of the 31% religious-affiliated population, 25% claim an affiliation with Christian religions such as Evangelical Protestant, Mainline Protestant, Catholic, and Orthodox. The remaining 6% of that population affiliates with a variety of religious faiths, such as Muslim, Jewish, Bahai, Buddhist, Hindu, and Zoroastrian.
Religious traditions in Washington County from Association of Religious Data Archives, 2010
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ibid The Association of Religious Data Archives, “County Membership Report – Religious Traditions, 2010”, County Report for Washington County, Oregon, http://www.thearda.com/rcms2010/r/c/41/rcms2010_41067_county_name_2010.asp (accessed June 3, 2015). 10
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Race While it is not possible to determine the race of each person interviewed in the TWO OR MORE RACES 4 Washington County NATIVE HAWAIIAN AND OTHER oral history inventory, 0.5 PACIFIC ISLANDER it is somewhat ASIAN 9.6 possible to determine gaps. For example, AMERICAN INDIAN AND ALASKA 1.1 NATIVE although 2.1% of the population of BLACK OR AFRICAN AMERICAN 2.1 Washington County is WHITE 82.7 Black or African American, there are 0 20 40 60 80 100 no oral histories labeled as being about African Americans’ experiences in Washington County. The same can be said of interviews about the Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander population. There are relatively few oral histories that are marked as including the Asian and Native American populations’ experiences as well.11
Race in Washington County - U.S. Census 2013 estimate
Hispanic/Latino ethnicity According to the 2013 U.S. Census estimate, approximately 16.1% of the population in Washington County reports being Hispanic or Latino, of any race.12 % HISPANIC/LATINO - ORAL Because some oral history 14.7 HISTORIES projects were conducted specifically about the experiences of Latinos living in % HISPANIC/LATINO Washington County, it is 16.1 COUNTYWIDE possible to create an estimated percentage of oral histories 0 20 40 that represent members of this population and compare it against the percentage of Hispanic/Latino population in the county. Based on this comparison, the representation of the Hispanic/Latino population in the oral history collection is slightly under represented: 14.7% vs. 16.1%, respectively.
Hispanic/Latino countywide vs. representation in oral histories, U.S. Census 2013 estimate
11 12
U.S. Census Bureau, “Selected Social Characteristics in the United States.” ibid
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Occupations and Industries The top five industry types in Washington County, by number of paid employees are listed below.13 Retail Trade
28,549
Manufacturing
27,908
Health Care and Social Assistance
25,222
Professional, Scientific, and Technical
22,379
Wholesale Trade
21,415
Many of the oral histories in Washington County that relate to industries and occupations fall either into agriculture/farming, forestry/logging, or high tech categories. Others are histories of historical family businesses. Based on county business statistics, other major industries to consider exploring through oral histories in Washington County would be Retail and Wholesale trade, Manufacturing, Health Care and Social Assistance. Possibly under-represented groups in Washington County oral histories based on demographics Foreign born According to the most recent information available from the U.S. Census (2013), 16.3% of the population of Washington County was foreign born.14 Of that 16.3%, the below graph shows the breakdown by continent. While the oral history Foreign born population breakdown - U.S. inventory in Washington Census 2013 estimate County does include an immigrant oral history 40,000 35,000 project as well as histories 30,000 of people from a variety of 25,000 cultural backgrounds, it is 20,000 not currently possible to 15,000 determine how many oral 10,000 histories of foreign born 5,000 people are currently 0 Europe Asia Africa Oceania Latin North included in the inventory. America America However, we did not find oral histories for certain populations that are significant in Washington County, such as Russian,
U.S. Census Bureau, “Geography Area Series: County Business Patterns” 2009-2013 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates for Washington County, Oregon, http://factfinder.census.gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview.xhtml?src=CF (accessed June 3, 2015). 14 U.S. Census Bureau, “Selected Social Characteristics in the United States.” 13
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Asian Indian, Vietnamese, and Korean. It would be relevant to consider including foreign-born narrators in future oral history projects. Low-income status According to the 2013 U.S. Census estimate, the percentage of adults in Washington County living below the poverty level is a total of 18%.15 It is not possible to determine the number of oral histories that address the experiences of people living with poverty and therefore whether they are underrepresented in the historical record. However, it would be pertinent to consider possible economic status when designing a future oral history project. Well-represented groups in Washington County oral histories based on demographics Veterans Oral histories of veterans’ experiences have been collected by several 15 organizations in Washington County. The percentage of interviews of 10 8.2 veterans in Washington County was calculated based on tapes labeled as 5 being about veterans’ experiences. (Note: a collection of veterans’ oral 0 histories at the 8th Air Force History % veterans in county % veterans in oral history Society in Beaverton was not collection inventoried at the individual interview level and therefore was not included in this comparison). This percentage was compared with 2013 Census estimate on the percentage of the current population living in Washington County that are veterans.16 Currently, the percentage of oral histories on the experiences of veterans, 10.2%, exceeds the percentage of veterans in the population of Washington County, which is 8.6%.
Percentage of veterans in the oral history collection vs. in the county overall 10.2
Survey results At the beginning of the planning project in the Fall of 2014, an online survey was distributed to libraries, historical societies, businesses, cultural and community groups asking respondents to identify areas of oral history they think are important to collect. One open-ended question was asked about this topic: Q1
Thinking about members of your community, organization, and/or the population you serve, what is your recommendation for the most urgently needed oral histories to be collected? You can include names of people, groups, places, events, and/or topics to cover.
U.S. Census Bureau, “Selected Economic Characteristics” 2009-2013 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates for Washington County, Oregon, http://factfinder.census.gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview.xhtml?src=CF (accessed June 3, 2015). 16 ibid 15
17
Responses to this question are shown below. The answers given on the survey, at first glance, appear to match a subset of the inventory topics. Stated another way, there was no category or broad thematic area suggested on the survey that was not already addressed in the inventory. Longtime and/or prominent residents took precedence as an area of interest for survey respondents, many of whom suggested interview candidates by name.
Suggested Oral History Topics from Survey 19
20 18 16 14 11
12
10
10 8 6
5 3
4 2
6
5 1
2
1
2
2
2
6
3 1
0
If the topic categories are examined at a more detailed level, a primary difference from the inventory becomes apparent in the “Other specified community” category. In the survey, a wider variety of specific communities was suggested, mostly (but not entirely) in terms of race and ethnicity, than are reflected in the inventory. “Specified community” from survey
Inventory ● ● ● ●
Native American Japanese Latino Chinese
● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●
African American Hawaiian East Indian Korean Native American Scandinavian Japanese Swiss-German LGBTQ 18
Small group interview results The experiences of under-documented groups have historically been difficult for archives to capture, but recording oral histories makes it possible both to collect and to disseminate their ideas in a way that is widely accessible. As a recent article in American Archivist argues, oral histories can represent a way for diverse populations to become “active participants in the creation, appraisal, description, and use of their own archives.”17 Involving these communities in identifying and selecting stories from their past to document would have a lasting impact on the historical record for the region. As Thompson notes, “Reality is complex and many-sided; and it is a primary merit of oral history that, to a much greater extent than most sources, it allows the original multiplicity of standpoints to be recreated.”18 Several small-group interviews and presentations were conducted with individuals and people from organizations that were either underrepresented in the current oral history collection based on demographics, serve underrepresented groups in the county population, or represented a topic area that was mentioned as being of interest to many, either via the survey or in other interviews/presentations. The organizations that participated in small, focus-group style interviews were Community Action, Westside Transportation Alliance, and Westside Economic Alliance. These interviews centered on identifying areas of importance, urgency, and interest specific to each group, and then listing specific people, places, and/or ideas to begin to address the development of the collection in these areas. They also responded to the current list of oral history topics, noting areas that were missing or where they’d like to see the collection deepened. One group interview and brainstorming session was conducted with members of the History Roundtable in Washington County - representatives from libraries and historical societies with an interest in developing the oral history collections in the county. This group identified both new topic areas, and existing areas where they’d like to see more topic development. Four interviews with individuals were conducted: Martha Calus-McLain, Director of Alulmni Relations at Pacific University on important alumni stories to capture; Sundarrajan Rajagopal, founder of the Hindu Cultural and Educational Society of America and the Portland Balahai Temple, on the East Indian community in Washington County; Briece Edwards, Senior Archaeologist at the Tribal Historic Preservation Office in the Land and Culture Department at Grand Ronde, on recommendations for including Native American history in Washington County; and Jose Jaime, business owner and Board Member of Centro Cultural, together with Alfonso Lopez-Vasquez, Director of Diversity at Pacific University, on recommendations and ideas for developing more oral histories about the Latino community in Washington County.
17
Dominique Daniel, “Documenting the Immigrant and Ethnic Experience in American Archives,” American Archivist (2010):82. 18 Thompson, Voice of the Past: Oral History, 6.
19
And finally, presentations about the oral history collection development efforts were given to two community and cultural organizations, during which ideas were generated for more oral history topics to cover gaps. These organizations were the Hillsboro Arts and Culture Council and the Interreligious Action Network. The below diagram shows the communities and/or areas of interest covered in the interviews. Each interview generated a large number of suggestions for future oral history collection, which are contained within the gaps list starting on page 22.
Washington County Museum Collection Development Recommendations In addition to the information gathered through the surveys, interviews, and demographic data, Beth Dehn, Curator of Education and Folklife at the Washington County Museum, provided the museum’s perspective and recommendations on directions for new collection development. Washington County Museum (WCM) Oral History Recommendations WCM is the most active collector of oral histories in the county, and possesses the largest collection of recordings. Because of its prominence, the Museum’s Curator of Education and Folklife has developed specific recommendations for its collecting priorities. WCM’s Strategic Plan for 2011-2015 states that its strategic goal for Artifacts, Archives and Acquisitions is to, “Acquire and manage collections which embody our cultural memory and contemporary experience.” The strategic objective for contemporary collecting is, “To identify and secure materials and collections for the Museum representing the ethnic, artistic, cultural, entrepreneurial, inventive and corporate contributions of the County.” In addition to long-term preservation of public memory, oral history subject areas may be selected to build content for upcoming exhibits. Exhibits and complementary oral histories that tie to local school district curriculum goals are particularly important. Based on these goals, Washington County Museum (WCM) had already identified several strategic collecting areas for oral histories since 2011. Japanese American population who experienced internment during WWII 20
High-tech sector of Washington County Interviews with Braceros/broadened to the Latino/Hispanic experience in WaCo Former City of Hillsboro employees
WCM is also alert to the need to represent growing ethnic populations in the county. Our region is currently the fastest growing and most culturally diverse county in Oregon, with: A 16.1% Hispanic population The largest community of East Indians in Oregon Fast growing Asian and South Asian communities Based on the considerations outlined above, I recommend the following subjects be prioritized for future collecting in the County: Hispanic/Latino Experience o Urgent focus on interviews connected to Braceros o Catholic churches involved in assisting migrant labor camp conditions. o Cultural events, practices, etc. High-tech sector o Women in the field o Workers from abroad who migrated to the county o Diversity of jobs Government/municipal o Documenting rapid growth/change in the county o Economic transition
Gaps Assessment: What needs to be Collected? The following assessment contains a list of topics and sub-topics that can be considered gaps in the current oral history inventory of Washington County. Topics indicated in the survey or interviews as being of highest priority are noted. This list consists entirely of and ideas gathered from the demographic, survey, and interview data provided by community members and stakeholders. When thinking about filling gaps with a current or future oral history project, Shopes suggests planning a community history project around a historical question or issue rather than collecting a series of life-history interviews, and also thinking broadly about narrators who might be missing. Who might have a different perspective to share, beyond narrators with a long-term connection to the location or issue at hand? What about considering outsiders that have a connection to the topic or issue, for example?19 Projects could also be organized around a specific timeline or era. Thinking in new ways about how each oral history narrator may be able to add to the historical record would provide a great benefit to the oral history inventory of Washington County.
19
Shopes,“Oral history and the Study of Communities: Problems, Paradoxes, and Possibilities,” 596.
21
For example, one of the topic areas considered of highest importance by survey and interview respondents was life histories of longtime and/or prominent residents of Washington County. As shown previously, this also happens to be the topic area in the Washington County collection for which the most oral histories have been recorded. While interviewing older, longtime, and/or prominent residents of Washington County is both urgent and of great interest, it might be of use to think of these interview subjects as resources for some of the topics listed below, and to tie their interviews to some of the gaps in the oral history inventory. This could be accomplished by adding one, or a few, questions on a specific topic area listed below, that are relevant to the narrator’s life experiences. Above all, this list of gaps is merely a starting point; it would be impossible to create a list covering all topics of interest for oral history projects in Washington County.
Gap in oral history African American community history: Black Student Union at Pacific University; oral histories of aging Black citizens of Washington County Agriculture and farming: Sustenance farming, Helvetia movement, development of vineyards; craft agriculture and locovore movement; nurseries; Donation Land Claims and homesteaders; multi-generational farming families of Washington County; century farm owners; failure to establish dairy industry in Western Washington County
Asian community history - Oregon Korean Community Center; Asian Health & Service Center;
Details
survey, interview, demographics
Althea Pratt Broome; elderly residents at Sisters of St. Mary’s of the Valley; Harlan Flint of Scholls, resides on family’s original century farm Trinh Vu at Portland Community College for Vietnamese community; Catholic diocese for variety of connections to Asian communities
Cities and towns of Washington County: organize oral history around a city, town, or geographic area/unincorporated place, such as Metzger, Helvetia, Old Orenco; Lost towns and communities Clubs, Granges, Lodges, Fraternal organizations: Oddfellows, Royal Neighbors, Knights of Columbus, Lions Clubs, Elks Clubs, Vet’s Lodges; Rotary
Community Action: History of the organization; exploring spinoff agencies and organizations; creation of programs; connections with other institutions and other organizations in Washington County
survey, interview
survey, interview, demographics survey, interview
Cemeteries
Centro Cultural de Washington County: see Latino history section for detailed and related suggestions
Identified via
Servando Loredo, one of the founders of Centro Cultural; Sabino Sardineta, former Executive Director Hillsboro Pharmacy is a good place to meet locals who gather socially and many have long histories in Washington County; Save Helvetia group; Aloha Optimist Club; Rebeckas Lodge of Sherwood Programs created by Community Action: such as ACES (After school Community Education) program for homeless youth; Project Homeless Connect; Neighborshare program; Westco emergency fund;
survey, interview
survey, interview
survey, interview
survey, interview
22
Gap in oral history
Details
Identified via
Senior Home Repair program; Tenant Hotline; Wood Co-op; Energy Assistance program; Crop Gleaning; Sewing project; Poor People’s Congress; consumer advocacy; welfare advocacy; youth groups; Rural Awareness project; Women’s Resource Center; Manpower; Volunteer Transportation Project; Summer Youth Employment Program; PACTO – project to help migrant workers with rent and emergency needs; solar training project Community revitalization: re-visioning of town centers, etc. Cultural development: Ethnic markets; Beaverton Arts Commission (oldest Arts Commission in Oregon); Multicultural Center at Portland Community College Rock Creek Daily life: clothing, making food, cultural traditions and folkways of all cultures living in Washington County Development: urban-rural divide; Urban Growth Boundary, industrial development; housing developments, PacTrust, Orenco development and Oregon Nursery Company; Hillsboro Airport
interview
interview interview Current and former mayors, county chair, city managers, planners, county residents, Hillsboro Chamber
demographics
Disability Community history Disasters: Dixie Mountain Fires, Columbus Day storm, floods, and other natural disasters Diversity in Washington County: population growth and the changing cultural landscape of the county; histories of ethnicities, races, and languages in the county; Portland Community College Rock Creek Diversity Council;
East Indian community history: founding of the Hindu temples in Washington County and growth of Hindu religion in the area; Hindu education center; Indian dance schools; growth of the community from one Indian grocery story in community to many businesses and events such as Festival of Colors and other cultural programming
interview
interview
survey and interview Priest Sri Rajagopal, founder of the Portland Balaji Temple and the Hindu Cultural and Educational Society of America; Srimanth Chinnam, owner of Swagat restaurant; Sumathi Raj, owner of Chennai Masala restaurant; Tinny Srinivasan, owner of Trinitron power supply manufacturing company; Krishna Regupathy, Intel; Subha Chakrapani, owner of Gokul International; Hari & Anju Kataruka, mortgage consultants; Shivi Vanka, owner of dance school
survey, interview, demographics
23
Gap in oral history Economic development and transition: shift from primarily agriculture to technology; urbanization; location of earliest changes; farmers' (and others') resistance to change, disappearing timber industry, economic impact of the many different people that have moved to Washington County, including migrant laborers, high tech workers; impact of transportation on the economy; impact of available, clean water; Chambers of Commerce; trade unions Education: Beaverton High School and other specific schools (Beaverton HS is about to celebrate 100th anniversary); adult education, PCC Rock Creek training for specific industries and providing staff for growing tech companies, Head Start and early education, education of childcare providers, citizenship, tenant rights, weatherization, financial edicuation, early learning hubs, GED; Pacific University first-generation college students and “Golden Guard”
Details
Identified via
Teufel family, Unger family, VanderZandens, VanDykes, Gary Imbrie, Swiss community of early farming families; chambers of commerce; former Hillsboro Chamber of Commerce President Robert Herb
survey, interview
*Identified as a priority area*
interview
Emergency planning: first responders, volunteer fire department
interview
Employment: the finding and working of jobs, concept of breadwinning Environment: Environmental movements and organizations; Tualatin Riverkeepers, Tualatin National Wildlife Refuge; Federal case against the Tualatin River region, Clean Water Act, Fanno Creek and efforts to restore it; availability of clean water and impact on the economy - understanding landscape and water's impact over time; wildlife of Washington County Eras: Great Depression, 1940s, 1950s, etc – history by decade Faith Communities: Inter-religious Action Network; addressing open-carry gun laws in a church context at United Church of Christ in Hillsboro; Sisters of St. Mary of Oregon Forestry, Lumber: Tillamook Burn; loggers; Stimson Lumber and Stimson mill union workers from the 1970s; others who were supported by/involved in the timber industry both in the ‘ 60s and ‘70s and now Government: city, county, role in development and land use, political aspects; economic transition; rapid growth and change; elected officials and oldest living city managment Hawaiian Native and Pacific Islander history: history of Hawaiian students at Pacific University and the Nā Haumāna O Hawai‘i, Pacific University's Students of Hawai‘i Club; when Hawaiians first moved to Washington County Healthcare: hospitals; Asian Health and Service Center; Virginia Garcia Clinic; Tuality Healthcare
interview
survey, interview
interview Jewish Federation of Greater Portland; Islamic Society of Greater Portland
survey, interview, demographics
survey, interview Wink Brooks, former Hillsboro Planning Director; David Lawrence, Hillsboro City Manager
survey, interview
survey, demographics survey, interview
24
Gap in oral history
Details
Identified via
High tech: role of Tech Labs at Tektronix; Oregon Graduate Institute, Intel, Fugitsu construction, Ronler Acres; women in high tech field; workers from abroad; diversity of jobs
Bill Walker, Tom Bruggere
survey, interview
Housing: affordable housing development Industry: Nike, Columbia Sportswear, other sportswear operations; frozen food industry, canning, lumber mills, nurseries, industrial agriculture Immigration: Unique waves of immigrants and why they came here; ethnic groups that came to Washington County at certain times and stayed- i.e. Chinese, Japanese, Dutch, Swiss, Scottish, Swedes, Italians, Vietnamese, often connected to locations as well, such as Helvetia; refugee populations; immigration or migration of Latinos to Washington County Insurance: Standard Insurance influence on development; Dawson Creek development; Commonwealth development; influence of financial community Japanese history: Japanese farmers, citizens, and families of Washington County, including families that experience internment during WWII. Land use: annexed land; past to current use and future desired conditions; talk with private land owners, farmers, local nonprofits, irrigation districts Landmarks and public art: why they are there; how they were created and who advocated for them; how they were named and recognized Latino history: In general, look at large, long-term resident families. Original families that moved to the area – the parents may have passed, but their children may still be around and they would be a top priority for oral history. Also community organizations: Centro Cultural; Los Amigos; Guadalupanas/os; Marriage encounter groups through the Catholic Church; Virginia Garcia Clinic; V.I.V.A; Valley Migrant League; ORMETEX; SOL Industries; Latino Leadership Network; Community Action; Dia de los Ninos; Fiestas Patrias; Hillsboro Chamber Latino Cultural Festival; the Pulga (indoor market); Yesenia’s Market; Colegio Cesar Chavez; Ornelas Enterprses, Inc.; Pro Landscape, Inc.; Pacific University’s history of bilingual education; English-only measures; Minute Men demonstration; North Plains migrant camps; St. Alexander Church in Cornelius; St. Matthews Church in Tigard and Forest Grove – Church history is a priority due to the large impact; then civil and law systems, then education history (creating more sophisticated, informed change agents); Anglos as advocates for the Latino community; Hispanic-Police-Community Relations Coalition; Bracero program; LGBTQ history: both from decades ago and relatively current; political movements and organizing
interview Julia Brim-Edwards, Nike; Scott Reames, Nike Historian
interview
Older members of SwissGerman families in the Helvetia area: Elmer Guerber, Vern Nussbaumer.
survey, interview, demographics
John Reese, Mark Fisher (Standard Insurance)
interview
survey, interview
interview Debbie Raber, Hillsoboro Historic Landmark Advisory Committee
interview
*Identified as a priority area*
Hector Hinojosa’s family, Rubio family: Andy, Lorenzo, Maria, and Carmen; Endelia Hernandez; Gregory Meklem; Maria Loredo; Angelo Gomez, Immigration & Civil Rights attorney; Margaret Garza and her in-laws’ family; Gonzala and Juan Lira family; Samuel Nunez, pastor of Adventist church in Forest Grove
survey, interview, demographics
25
Gap in oral history Libraries Migrant population: history of camps; home-based Head Start with Latino families at migrant camps; Information & Referral guide for migrant workers Native American history: for history of place, the tangible environment, transportation, migrant labor, and any other themes, look at the existing oral history collection at Grand Ronde and connect with Tribal members around oral history project themes to build context; include a Tribal member in project advisory group. Contact the Land and Culture Department at the Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde for more information. Newspapers and radio stations: KUIK recordings and history Organizations: nonprofits, volunteer organizations such as VISTA and Americorps, Oregon Food Bank, Good Neighbor Center, Labor Ready, Housing Development Corporation, Home Plate, Citizen Participation Organizations; Center for Intercultural Organizing; Washington County Energy Coalition; Legal Aid; Washington County Gleaners; Washington County Woodcutters; HARDE (Home Access & Repair for the Disabled and Elderly); political, business, and philanthropic organizations Politics - why and how things happen from a political standpoint; voter registration and change of representation in Washington County; political party shifts; political interest groups Poverty – addressing poverty through grassroots advocacy; ways in which it has been addressed over time
Details
interview
*Identified as a priority area*
Social issues: homelessness, special needs programs, addressing poverty, aging population, philanthropic groups Social services: medical assistance and clinics, counseling and mental health, emergency assistance (hotels, food stamps, etc.), pre-natal outreach, energy services, Rural Awareness Project, Homeless shelter (see Organizations section for more social service ideas)
survey, interview
survey, interview, demographics Don McCoun, host of "Washington County Today"
survey, interview
*Identified as a priority area*
survey, interview, demographics
Bonnie Hays, county chair
survey, interview
*Identified as a priority area*
interview interview
Prisons and crime Recreational centers: Boys and Girls clubs, Tualatin Hills Park & Recreation District, Elsie Stuhr Center
Identified via
Bob Wayt, Communications Director at Tualatin Hills
survey, interview
interview
survey, interview
26
Gap in oral history
Details
Identified via
Transportation: water, train and old rail lines; horses; public transit infrastructure; advent of car culture in the county; Blue Line coming to Hillsboro, creation of the WES (Westside Express Service), building and realignment of roads such as Cornell and the Sunset Highway; development, population change, and transportation connection, especially along Max lines; trails created and maintained by Tualatin Hills Parks & Rec, Westside Transportation Alliance, Bicycle transportation history; history of walking and place in Washington County - including community safety and accessibility; efforts to develop a “Westside Connector”
Tom Brian, former Washington County Commission chairman; Trimet for Blue Line information; Washington County Bicycle Transportation Coalition; Metro; Oregon Walks, 1000 Friends of Oregon
survey, interview
Utilities: availability of clean water and environmental issues; transition from distributed sewer agencies to United Sewerage Agency (USA) in 1978 (now Clean Water Services); Electric utility and development attributed to low-cost power War and Veterans: World War Two; Vietnam; more recent wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, both veterans’ and others’ experiences
*Identified as a priority area* Les Aucoin
interview
Washington County Fair
interview
Women’s history
interview, demographics
Youth development and organizations: Boy and Girl Scouts, youth camps
interview
27
PRESERVATION PLAN Part of the sustainable collection development objective in the Washington County Oral Histories planning grant was to create a Preservation and Digitization Plan, building on the results of the inventory. The feasibility of preserving oral histories in their current formats (such as audio cassette) was determined, as well as a plan and a budget for converting them to digital format with an emphasis on achievable, practical solutions.
Preservation Best Practices for Analog Audio and Video Oral histories are a vital part of our cultural history and need to be preserved. By building a preservation program through digitization, the recordings will be transferred before the carriers become obsolete. This offers oral historians and researchers further access to the recordings20 Current recommendations for preserving analog audio and video recordings emphasize digitizing the media to ensure access to the recordings continues over the years.21 22 Analog magnetic tape formats, such as audio cassettes and VHS tapes, are susceptible to deterioration within ten years to a few decades, and it is difficult to ensure that they will be playable in the future, both because the players may become obsolete and because the tapes are at risk of breaking down.23 24 Digitization of analog media The standard recommendations for digitizing analog materials include specific digital formats and storage media. The quality of digital files can vary widely. For example with audio recordings, bit depth, sample rate, and file format all impact the quality of digitized audio media. Achieving the highest level of quality requires technical knowledge, the resources to access professional equipment, and enough storage space on a server or elsewhere to hold the current and future files. As Pennington and Rehberger note, “once a tape becomes digital, future migration of that file depends heavily on the original quality of that file captured.”25
20
Sarah Cunningham, “The Preservation of Analog Oral History Collections through Digitization,” in Oral History in the Digital Age, edited by Doug Boyd, Steve Cohen, Brad Rakerd, and Dean Rehberger. Washington, D.C.: Institute of Museum and Library Services, 2012, http://ohda.matrix.msu.edu/2012/06/preservation-of-analog-collections-throughdigitization/ 21 ibid 22Scott Pennington and Dean Rehberger, “The Preservation of Analog Video through Digitization,” in Oral History in the Digital Age, edited by Doug Boyd, Steve Cohen, Brad Rakerd, and Dean Rehberger. Washington, D.C.: Institute of Museum and Library Services, 2012, http://ohda.matrix.msu.edu/2012/06/preservation-of-analog-video-throughdigitization/ 23 Association for Recorded Sound Collections Technical Committee, “Preservation of Archival Sound Recordings,” (2009):1, http://www.arsc-audio.org/pdf/ARSCTC_preservation.pdf, accessed June 3, 2015. 24 Dr. John W. C. Van Bogart, “Magnetic Tape Storage and Handling: A Guide for Libraries and Archives,” Published by the Commission on Preservation and Access, and the National Media Laboratory (1995), http://www.clir.org/pubs/reports/pub54/Download/pub54.pdf, accessed June 3, 2015. 25 ibid
28
For audio recordings, the Library of Congress’ recommended digital format for master files is WAVE (the actual file extension is .wav). Both the Library of Congress’ and the American Library Association’s recommended sample rate is 96 kHz with a 24-bit depth; however 44.1 kHz sample rate with a 16-bit depth is acceptable. An access copy can be shared online or on a regular CD in .mp3 format.26 27 For video recordings, the Library of Congress recommends saving video files as close as possible to the final production version and original resolution size. Unlike audio, for video there is less agreement about a standard file format to use for archiving. This is due to the way video files are encoded and decoded, and whether/how the original file has been compressed. It is important to choose a format that provides high quality and functionality (such as picture clarity through high image resolution), is common across platforms, widely adopted, and welldocumented.28 29 30 Quicktime file format (.mov) fits this description and is the recommended format for video digitization should the Washington County Oral Histories project continue with a large-scale digitization effort. An access copy can be shared online or on a regular DVD in a compressed .mov or .mp4 file format. Achieving the highest quality of audio and/or video for migrated oral history recordings is not always possible for under-resourced organizations. Lack of resources, technical expertise, and available staff time can be some of the barriers to digitizing oral history collections. In this case, it is still worthwhile to do as much as possible to preserve analog oral history recordings through digitizing them, taking an incremental approach.31 Details on how we recommend handling the digitization of the files through a vendor start on page 34. Preservation of analog media in its current form It remains important to preserve the original recorded media. Storing audio/visual tape media in a hard case protects the tape housing and minimizes dust. The Library of Congress recommends that to preserve tapes for a minimum of ten years in institutional collections, they should be stored between 65-70 degrees Farenheit at 45-50% relative humidity. Tapes should Library of Congress, “Recommended format specifications 2014-2015,” http://www.loc.gov/preservation/resources/rfs/rfs20142015.pdf, accessed on November 4, 2014. 27 American Library Association, “Minimum digitization capture recommendations,” http://www.ala.org/alcts/resources/preserv/minimum-digitization-capture-recommendations#time-based_media, accessed on November 18, 2014. 26
28
Chris Lacinak, “A Primer on Codecs for Moving Image and Sound Archives and 10 Recommendations for Codec Selection and Management,” 11, http://www.avpreserve.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/AVPS_Codec_Primer.pdf, accessed on November 4, 2014. 29 Kara Van Malssen, “Digital Video Preservation and Oral History,” in Oral History in the Digital Age, edited by Doug Boyd, Steve Cohen, Brad Rakerd, and Dean Rehberger. Washington, D.C.: Institute of Museum and Library Services, 2012, http://ohda.matrix.msu.edu/2012/06/digital-video-preservation-and-oral-history/, accessed on November 4, 2014. 30 Library of Congress, “Sustainability of digital formats,” http://www.digitalpreservation.gov/formats/sustain/sustain.shtml, accessed on November 4, 2014. 31 Jaime Schumacher et al., “From Theory to Action: ‘Good Enough’ Digital Preservation for Under-Resourced Cultural Heritage Institutions,” Institute of Museum and Library Services (2014):3, http://commons.lib.niu.edu/handle/10843/13610, accessed on November 4, 2014.
29
not be exposed to bright light and magnetic fields, and should be stored at a distance from radiators, vents, and sources of vibration. Played tapes should not be rewound after being played until right before the next time they are to be played.32
Washington County Oral History Community Survey Input Respondents to the Washington County Oral History Planning survey consisted of representatives of libraries, historical societies, and business, cultural, and other community groups located in Washington County. They were asked four questions regarding the preservation and digitization of their current and future oral history collections. The first two questions asked respondents whether they would consider digitizing, and how they would rank priorities for digitizing. The second pair of questions asked respondents to elaborate on their answers to the first two questions. The question of preservation was addressed in terms of digitization because that is the current best practice for long-term preservation of analog recordings. Survey questions about preservation and digitization Q1
Would your group or organization consider digitizing your existing, or any future, oral histories?
Q2
Please rank the below items in order of importance to you when thinking about digitizing your oral histories
Q3
Would you please tell us more about the most important factors to consider when you think about digitizing oral histories?
Q4
Can you please tell us more about why you do not see yourselves digitizing?
Library of Congress, “Care, Handling, and Storage of Audio Visual Materials.” http://www.loc.gov/preservation/care/record.html, accessed on November 11, 2014. 32
30
Would you consider digitizing existing and/or future oral histories?
19%
14%
Q1: Would your group or organization consider digitizing your existing, or any future, oral histories?
17% 50%
yes & current ability to digitize yes but need training and/or equipment maybe, it depends on the resources needed no, we don't see ourselves digitizing
Q2: Please rank the below items in order of importance to you when thinking about digitizing your oral histories.
Digitization Priorities Learning recommended digital formats for future recordings Training on how to use current oral history recording equipment Public demand for the oral histories Training on how to digitize cassettes and other analog media Person hours available to do the work Money to purchase equipment 0
50
100
150
200
Responses to Q1 show that a total of 81% of respondents are open to digitizing their current and/or future oral history collections or are already doing it. Responses to Q2 show that person hours, resources to acquire equipment, and public demand take precedence over learning and training activities when ranking digitization priorities in order of importance. Responses to Q3 and Q4, highlighted below, indicate that whether thinking about factors to consider when digitizing oral histories, or possible barriers to digitizing, respondents’ concerns were similar. Most responses fit into four categories: organizational capacity, financial resources, organizational priority, and demand/access. 31
● Organizational capacity: Staff hours & training The most significant consideration mentioned by respondents when asked to elaborate about factors to consider when thinking about digitizing existing and future oral histories was organizational capacity in terms of staff/volunteer hours and training on equipment. This aligns with the ranking of digitization priorities from Q2. You have to get the people somewhere to do this. We used to have workshops, but after 12 years the interest has dwindled. We had lots of willing Jr. High and High School Students. Now we have none. Oral Histories are great, but time and energy is just not on our side right now. We are a small organization, all volunteer. Although we have done oral histories in the past, at the current time we do not have the bandwidth. The amount of time to make a cassette into a web-ready transcript, digital file, and information page is our greatest limiting factor in our digitization project. There are interested people, but time and abilities to understand electronic equipment is a barrier. ●
Financial resources
We are a small library and our resources and space are very limited. We are a very small organization and we do not have it in our budget. Time is money these days. ●
Organizational priority
...local history collection is not now a community top priority for the public library... As a small organization, we always seem to have a long list of things to do and I’m not sure how high this would rank on the priority list, even though I do believe capturing oral history is important and worthwhile. ●
Demand and access
[One] consideration is the demand that our community would have for such resources. Long-term storage needs, making the files available and discoverable by the public How to ensure they are not deleted and the time to future-proof them from being lost.
32
Recommendations for Preserving Oral Histories in Washington County Many of the hundreds of oral histories inventoried in Washington County are in analog format. The most common analog format is cassette tape, followed by paper transcript and VHS videotape.
Most of the tapes are 15 to 40 years old, and appear to be in fair to good condition.33 However, because magnetic tape media such as audio cassettes and video tapes are at risk of breaking down, the long-term preservation of these oral histories depends upon each institution’s ability to migrate the analog media to digital formats. It is also important to continue preserving the analog media in its current form because it is the original recording. Preservation of analog media in Washington County in its current form As noted above, it is desirable to continue the preservation of analog oral histories in their current form on audio and video tape, in addition to the digital formats. Even though digital reformatting will provide new, accessible copies, the originals contain the most authorative version of the recordings and are valuable physical artifacts. Currently, oral history collections in the county are stored in a variety of location that do not offer the stable temperature and humidity recommended by the Library of Congress for institutional collections. However they do align with the home storage recommendations, which are “a cool room (room temperature or below), relatively dry (about 35-40% humidity or RH), clean, and stable environment (avoid attics, basements, and other locations with high risk of leaks and environmental extremes).”34 A primary concern for continued preservation of oral history tapes in Washington County is the lack of covers, or damaged covers, for some of the audio cassettes and video tapes.
33
Specs Bros, “Basic Inspection Techniques to Sample the Condition of Magnetic Tape,” http://www.specsbros.com/whitepaper.html, accessed on October 30, 2014. 34 Library of Congress, “Care, Handling, and Storage of Audio Visual Materials.”
33
Remedying this situation would be a good first step in preserving these media by protecting them from dust, which contributes greatly to tape deterioration. Digitization of analog media in Washington County It is clear based on the survey responses that person-hours to do the work is the primary concern for organizations and institutions in Washington County that have oral histories to digitize. At the same time, there is interest in digitizing analog oral histories if the resources are there. Therefore, because digitization is the recommended approach to the long-term preservation of analog oral history recordings, the staff hours issue must be addressed. In order to accomplish digitization, the available options are either to have recordings digitized by a professional audio/visual technician, or to acquire equipment and train in-house staff to digitize the materials. Both options require financial resources. In Washington County, the first option is recommended, as it addresses the lack of available staff time and is more economical. A budget for each option is available in Appendix A. Option 1 shows the cost of digitization by a professional; Option 2 is digitization in-house and leaves the cost of staff time open for estimation; a possible estimate is 1.5 hours of staff time for every hour of recorded material. There are risks, such as tape loss or damage, in sending the sole copies of tapes to a digitization service. However, the risks involved in undertaking to digitize sole copies in-house are potentially equal; those with no professional experience working with analog tape media might not recognize tapes that are fragile or require special attention, or when equipment needs to be maintained; therefore tape damage is still a concern. Transcoding Digital Files Types of digital media, by interview In addition to the oral digital notes history recordings in digital transcript analog formats, there CD, not specified are also recordings in DVD, not specified digital formats such as mpeg .mp3, .wav, and .avi wma files, among others. vob Digital oral histories avi mts make up 28% of the mp4 collection of known wav oral history recordings mp3 in Washington County. Many of these digital 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 files do not conform to the recommended format, bit depth, or sample rate for preservation, and therefore must be transcoded so that they conform to the preservation recommendations.
34
Digitization Service We recommend outsourcing the digitization of oral history recordings to a professional audiovisual technician. For this oral history planning project, a proof-of-concept digitization sample was undertaken with a local digitization service. We selected a professional service that had over 20 years of experience digitizing archival audio/visual media as well as local references. Because the vendor was local, many of the risks of shipping recordings through the mail were avoided, because we could hand-deliver the material. A variety of analog media were delivered to the service to be digitized. The digitization of the sample batch was successful. Media conformed to the preservation standards for both archival and access copies, and the originals were returned undamaged. The vendor also assured us that in all his years of doing business, he had never lost a recording. He was also able to repair, at minimal cost, several tapes that would have been unplayable without his intervention. In one case, a side-by-side comparison of digital video files created from a VHS tape had an unexpected result: the higher-resolution preservation file in .mov format did not look as sharp or clear as the access file in .mp4 format. We queried the vendor and learned that this can sometimes be the case, because at times a file with less information can look sharper. However, the .mp4 file had been created from the .mov file. The .mov file still contains the most information and can be used for editing and making copies. The budget for using a professional audio/visual technician to digitize the analog, and to transcode the digital, oral histories in Washington County is based on the number and type of media in which oral histories are contained, using the current inventory as the basis for estimating. The budget can be found in Appendix A. Transcription Transcription of oral histories has traditionally been recognized as an essential step in making interview contents accessible to researchers and also serves as an additional method of preservation. Transcripts allow for a faster perusal of the content of an interview, easy quoting and citation of the material, and are generally more comfortable to researchers as a source to work with than the audio track of an interview. Archival paper is also known to last longer than any audio or video preservation media, so transcription may ensure long-term preservation of interviews.35 Finally, with transcripts in digital form on the internet, search engines can help researchers to find subject matter in a transcript that may not be easily found in an online oral history recording.36 On the other hand, the orality of an interview may be lost when a transcript is shared. Digital oral history recordings make it easier for researchers to access the actual oral interview 35
Linda Shopes, “Transcribing Oral History in the Digital Age,” in Oral History in the Digital Age, edited by Doug Boyd, Steve Cohen, Brad Rakerd, and Dean Rehberger. Washington, D.C.: Institute of Museum and Library Services, (2012), http://ohda.matrix.msu.edu/2012/06/transcribing-oral-history-in-the-digital-age/ 36
Michael Frisch with Douglas Lambert, “Mapping Approaches To Oral History Content Management In The Digital Age,” in Oral History in the Digital Age, edited by Doug Boyd, Steve Cohen, Brad Rakerd, and Dean Rehberger. Washington, D.C.: Institute of Museum and Library Services, 2012, http://ohda.matrix.msu.edu/2012/07/mapping/
35
material, and some oral history programs may opt to share only digitized audio and video online, making the interviews easily accessible and the primary source. Each oral history program must determine its own priorities regarding access to its histories and the method and format of their delivery.37 The transcription of recorded material can be expensive and time consuming. Even projects that have access to volunteer transcriptionists require management, editing, and oversight of the transcripts and process. Because transcription may be a priority for some oral history programs in Washington County, this plan recommends pursuing a variety of options for transcription of oral histories. One option could be an on-demand transcription service such as that provided by the company CastingWords; another could be crowdsourcing volunteers to transcribe using a plugin on a digital exhibit platform. The Omeka online exhibit platform, which is currently being used for the proof-of-concept oral history site, has a free utility that allows public contributions of transcripts. This could be the most efficient way to gather transcriptions for digitized oral histories in the future. Some of the oral histories located in Washington County have been transcribed, but many of the existing transcripts do not exist in digital form. The recommendation for this project, is to digitize the paper-based transcripts as PDFs and digitally “attach” them to their associated recordings. This is easy to do on platforms such as Omeka, and documentation for scanning PDFs already exists.38
Digital File Management and Preservation Workflow Many of the organizations that hold oral histories within the county participated in an earlier collaborative project, WashingtonCountyHeritage.org.39 This project, which focused on the digitization of historic photographs, developed a workflow for creating, maintaining and preserving digital objects. We recommend following a similar workflow for digital file management in this project. However, due to the much larger size of video and audio files, as well as the relative instability of encoding for these files, more robust digital preservation measures should be followed. At a minimum, each oral history recording should exist in three formats: a compressed format for access purposes (such as .mp3); a master digital copy in an uncompressed format (such as .wav); and the original analog recording format (such as audio cassette).
Linda Shopes, “Transcribing Oral History in the Digital Age.” See the Washington County Heritage Online Training Manual, http://tiny.cc/wchomanual 39 Washington County Heritage Online (WCHO) is a cooperative project of local libraries, museums, and cultural institutions in Washington County, Oregon. Like the Washington County Oral History Planning Project, the WCHO is supported by a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services through the Library Services and Technology Act, administered by the Oregon State Library. The WCHO website can be found here: http://cdm16047.contentdm.oclc.org/ 37 38
36
Independent File Storage Solutions: Minimum Recommendations Type Compressed Digital File (access copy, such as .mp3) Uncompressed Digital File (master copy, such as .wav)
Analog original recording
Storage Locations -Local server or hard drive -Archival disc (such as Archival Gold DVD) -Online streaming access location, such as Omeka -External hard drive (recommended due to size of files) -Archival disc (such as Archival Gold DVD), stored in a separate geographic location from the hard drive -Off-site cloud server, if financially feasible, such as Amazon Glacier -In a clean, dry, cool location, in a good physical enclosure
Please note that these minimum recommendations should provide a basic level of back-up security for the short term digital preservation of these recordings (probably less than 10 years). For the longer term, a sustainable approach for smaller institutions within the county to preserve their oral history recordings will likely require them to participate in a collaborative effort. Digital files are prone to many kinds of loss and deterioration. They can easily be misplaced, or passwords into their locations lost; formats for digital files change often; hard drives fail and even archival-quality DVDs have a short shelf life. Responsible long-term stewardship of these files requires multiple back-ups in storage media that can be too expensive or difficult for small organizations to maintain in the long term, such as Amazon cloud server space. Ideally, stewardship also entails the creation of digital preservation metadata files, a schedule for migrating files into new formats and storage platforms on a regular basis, file fixity checks, and so on.40 Ideally, the long-term preservation of the digital recordings would be handled centrally by an institution such as the Pacific University Archives, which has the technical infrastructure and expertise to support it. The cost to the Archives for doing this, however, is not insignificant and it should be considered within the context of a funding model, perhaps with start-up money supplied via a grant. Pacific University’s digital preservation plans can be accessed at: https://sites.google.com/site/pacificarchives/digital-preservation-plan We will continue to monitor the best practices for handling digital files and conform to the consortium-wide developments that occur in this area.
See the National Digital Stewardship Alliance’s “Levels of Digital Preservation” chart, http://www.digitalpreservation.gov/ndsa/activities/levels.html 40
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ACCESSIBILITY PLAN We work hard to interview narrators, document communities, and preserve oral histories because we want individual stories to, eventually, connect to the historical record and contribute to a larger social, cultural, and human understanding.41
Community Database Needs Creating access and connections to oral history collections is as valuable as developing and preserving them.42 In the Oral History Association’s Principles and Best Practices for Oral History, providing and protecting the accessibility of oral history interviews are listed as key best practices for oral historians.43 For many decades, oral history recordings have been difficult or at least time-consuming to access. Additionally, the use of transcripts made from the recordings has eclipsed use of the original recorded material, causing the orality of the data, and all of the nuances contained within it, to be lost.44 Disseminating oral history recordings online markedly increases their accessibility and use by researchers and members of the public, which in turn contributes to a greater understanding of, and connection to, the history being preserved. There is currently no county-wide database/asset management system that hosts oral history audio, video, or text files in Washington County. In choosing a system, several needs and requirements were considered. These included: ● ability to host a variety of media, such as audio, video, and text ● sustainable cost structure ● storage space, number of items/objects permitted, and configuration ● user-friendly, attractive design for the public-facing side ● availability of plug-ins and customizations ● ease of initial set-up ● ease of use by multiple users at multiple locations with minimal training ● ability to add media and update database from several different locations ● examples of other institutions’ successful deployments of oral history project media on the platform/database ● granular user permissions levels to prevent overwriting of records
41
Douglas A. Boyd, “Search, Explore, Connect: Disseminating Oral History in the Digital Age,” in Oral History in the Digital Age, edited by Doug Boyd, Steve Cohen, Brad Rakerd, and Dean Rehberger. Washington, D.C.: Institute of Museum and Library Services (2012), http://ohda.matrix.msu.edu/2012/06/search-explore-connect/ 42
Mark Tebeau, “Case Study: Visualizing Oral History,” in Oral History in the Digital Age, edited by Doug Boyd, Steve Cohen, Brad Rakerd, and Dean Rehberger. Washington, D.C.: Institute of Museum and Library Services (2012), http://ohda.matrix.msu.edu/2012/06/visualizing-oral-history/ 43
Oral History Association, “Principles and Best Practices for Oral History.” http://www.oralhistory.org/about/principles-and-practices/#best, accessed on December 4, 2014. 44
Michael Frisch, “Mapping Approaches to Oral History Content Management in the Digital Age.”
38
Given the above needs and requirements, Omeka was chosen as the best data/asset management option for this project. Omeka has been used as a database/asset management system by several online history collections that include a variety of media. An installation of Omeka on Pacific University servers already exists and can be leveraged for this purpose. Omeka is a free, open source platform with extensive documentation, tutorials, and a large and active community of users that share information about it. It is customizable, offers searchable content, and contains built-in Dublin core fields. It can host a variety of audio, video, and text media. Omeka offers a digital object model of one item-many files, with metadata attached to the item. This is a very effective model for oral history collections. For example, a single oral history item may include an audio file, a text transcript file, and some image files. All of these files are connected through the oral history item and its metadata. Omeka is also Section 508 compliant. Omeka particularly stands out as a tool for curation. It provides a structure for online exhibits that allow users to present digitized materials in a coherent fashion. It is designed for presentation of materials within a contextualized narrative, in a simple and easily understood way for both the internal user and the public. In addition, Omeka recently received an IMLS grant for “Omeka Everywhere”, which will increase user access to online and in-person experiences in galleries that will include mobile and other touch applications.45
Plan for using Omeka for Washington County oral histories Digital objects will be published on the exhibits.lib.pacificu.edu website, which is run on the Omeka platform. The site will make it simple for researchers and members of the general public to find the oral histories and to understand the context within which they were created. The initial setup of the Washington County oral history database on Omeka was completed by the Pacific University Archivist. The Project Archivist, with assistance from the University Archivist, undertook an initial upload of ten digital oral histories as a proof-of-concept. The Dublin Core element set was used as the metadata standard. Care was taken to align the metadata standards with the general standards for the State of Oregon. Records from this project can be harvested to the Orbis-Cascade Alliance’s communal instance of ExLibris Primo. In addition to the proof-of-concept exhibit, a table displaying the entire oral history inventory for Washington County has been uploaded to Omeka. Clicking on an oral history entry leads to a page containing detailed information about the item. Although the inventory records are preliminary (they were written based on tape labels, rather than through listening to the content), we structured them following accepted standards. Their metadata fields align with Dublin Core standards, and the content within the fields aligns with standards including Describing Archives: A Content Standard (DACS) and the Getty Art & Architecture Thesaurus (AAT). They stand Leon, “IMLS funds Omeka Everywhere,” Omeka.org blog post, http://omeka.org/blog/2014/09/18/imlsfunds-omeka-everywhere/, accessed December 11, 2014. 45Sharon
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ready to be upgraded with additional content such as name and subject fields and more detailed descriptions. Omeka will allow us to add this content as it becomes available. It will also allow us to either automatically harvest or export metadata records in a variety of formats, so that they can be ingested into higher-level databases. A future goal for the oral histories project would be for all of the material to be described in records that could be uploaded to international bibliographic databases, such as WorldCat. For any community institutions who wish to add additional records into the inventory in the future, it is possible to add them manually. Although training community users on metadata creation is outside the scope of this project, the process for creating records is very user-friendly and entirely browser-based. Any interested groups may contact the Pacific University Archives for details. Washington County Oral History Inventory Screenshot http://wcoralhistories.omeka.net/items/browse
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Metadata Considerations Rachel Arkoosh, Pacific University’s Collection Mangement Services Librarian offered her perspective and insights regarding metadata considerations for this project. METADATA SCEME FOR WASHINGTON COUNTY ORAL HISTORIES The preliminary challenge to designing and documenting a metadata scheme for our oral history collection(s) is our lack of definite knowledge of the content. The current survey has provided a record of the existence and assumed scope of the transcripts and recordings. As the content becomes verified, analyzed, and digitized, there is always the possibility the metadata scheme will require alteration. Possible altering events could be the change of focus, creation of subcollections, and technical requirements to create digital objects. With these limitations in mind, there are several known factors that can assist in our scheme design. Our known primary user for these collections will be individuals seeking primary and secondary sources on specific social, economic, and cultural events and trends in Washington County in the last 200 years. This pre-existing group of researchers, teachers, and students will drive the highlighted attributes and access points within the scheme. Yet, when collections become widely and publicly accessible, unanticipated and possibly surprising user groups may also emerge. With an eye towards new interpretations, greater access and unknown audiences it is key at this early junction to meet the needs of our current users without rigidly excluding potential future needs. Possible future needs could include new sub-collections, additional geographical or chronological limiters and new digital formats. A second known factor for the context of the creation of the metadata is the cross-organizational nature of the collection. With various levels of staffing, training and oversight at each of the cultural institutions; creating and maintaining consistent and quality metadata is a challenge. To mitigate potential degradation, our metadata scheme must be straightforward and accessible to a novice metadata creator. The assumed nature of the content of the collection, the known users of the collection and the initial and ongoing creation of the metadata of the collection strongly suggests the use of a standardized element set such as qualified Dublin Core. The accessibility of the simple elements coupled with the interoperability of the international standard provides for long-term stability of the metadata. The extensibility of Dublin Core also allows for future growth as the collection becomes more understood and possibly expands. In addition, Omeka, the digital collection management software proposed for this project, supports Dublin Core fields. Were this project to move forward, the initial scheme design would include the administrative and descriptive elements exposing the original format, digital format, contributors, recording bodies, projects, date of resource creation, language of resource, rights, and a description. While a free-text description field can be well defined by local content guidelines, the crucial missing access point would be the subject of the object. The crowdsourced nature of the metadata creation does not lend itself to such in-depth controlled vocabularies such as Library of Congress Subject Headings. As the design, documentation, and evaluation of this metadata scheme will need to come from a centralized entity, it is suggested for the quality of the metadata for the subject field to also be controlled by a smaller administrative body. Another 41
small trade-off with the efficiencies of dispersed metadata creation could also be the reduced ability to apply semantic encoding schemes within certain elements. Well-crafted documentation can provide support for more straightforward requirements (such as date), but the overall formal semantic interoperability will be reduced without a more controlled environment. Given the current assessment of needed functionality, shared term definitions will suffice for this collection. By leveraging the current personnel at our cultural heritage institutions to create a uniform digital collection though a tight set of international metadata standards we are able to provide greater access to resources highlighting alternate and underrepresented viewpoints within our community.
Legal Considerations for Oral History Dissemination Online Although the internet is a cost-effective and democratizing dissemination tool for oral histories, posting oral histories on the World Wide Web presents several legal and ethical issues.46 47 Most of these issues relate to the details of the informed consent given by each oral history narrator. Informed consent addresses not only the narrator’s consent to be interviewed, but also copyright to the material as well as current and future use of the recording and any excerpts and transcripts that may be produced from it. Informed consent is given by signing a legal release form. Both the narrator and the interviewer sign this form. Legal release forms for oral histories typically include an explanation of copyright or ownership of the interview, stipulate where the materials will be kept, and the narrator’s right to edit the transcript and retain copies for their own use. They also include a future use clause, stating how the oral history will be accessed and used in the future. This clause is the primary area of consideration when internet dissemination of oral histories is being contemplated. According to the Oral History Association, “When media becomes available that did not exist at the time of the interview, those working with oral history should carefully assess the applicability of the release to the new formats and proceed - or not - accordingly.”48 When a future use clause is broad, it can be understood to include potential dissemination on the internet. However for interviews that were recorded before it was a regular practice to digitize and share interviews through the World Wide Web, relying on a broad future use clause may be questionable on ethical grounds, for privacy reasons. The best future use clauses that address dissemination through the internet are those that expressly and clearly state that electronic upload and internet distribution are possible.49
46
Donald A Ritchie, Doing Oral History. (New York: Oxford University Press, 2003), 80.
47
John Neuenschwander, A Guide to Oral History and the Law. (New York: Oxford University Press, 2009).
48 49
Oral History Association, “Principles and Best Practices.” Neuenschwander, Oral History and the Law.
42
In order to address the internet dissemination issue for narrators who have not signed a form either specifying or broadly including internet use of their interview, the safest course of action is to not make those interviews available online.50 An alternate best practice is to contact each narrator individually to secure consent for this use of their oral history. In some cases, when a narrator is deceased, their next of kin can be contacted to consent to this use. Neuenschwander asserts that a good faith effort should be expended to locate narrators for this purpose.51 For the use of interviews for which consent could not be secured (for example, if the narrator and/or their next of kin cannot be found), or if a project determines that their broadly worded legal release document is sufficient consent for internet dissemination, an online statement making the terms of use clear to users before accessing the online files, provides an additional protection. Such an agreement can also define the copyright and can specify use, for example for non-commercial or research purposes only, or allowing users to listen to an interview and take notes, but not directly quote from or publish the material. Allowing citations of the material would depend on deciding what use is permissible first (i.e. whether quotes are allowed). Creative Commons public licenses are a good resource for specifying types of use of copyrighted material. For example, a Creative Commons license could specify scholarly noncommercial use with attribution to the copyright holder.52 A different option may be used for restricted oral histories for which the restrictions have not yet expired or will never expire. For any online oral history project, a clear copyright protection statement as well as guidelines for use of the oral histories is a good way to introduce users of the site to what is permissible in terms of use. For example, the proof-of-concept exhibit for the Washington County project contains a “Conditions of Use” section that states:
Oral histories in this collection may include video, audio, textual, and pictorial materials. These materials are provided by Pacific University and collaborating institutions for education and research purposes. These are not public domain materials. The copyright for each recording is held by both the recorded narrator(s), and the organization that originally collected the interview. It is the responsibility of each user to assess the legal implications of using any excerpt or item in scholarly work and securing necessary permissions to do so. To inquire about obtaining copies, excerpts or other information, or to report privacy or copyright concerns, please contact the Pacific University Archives:
[email protected]
50
ibid
51John
Neuenschwander, “Major Legal Challenges Facing Oral History In The Digital Age,” in Oral History in the Digital Age, edited by Doug Boyd, Steve Cohen, Brad Rakerd, and Dean Rehberger. Washington, D.C.: Institute of Museum and Library Services (2014), http://ohda.matrix.msu.edu/2012/06/major-legal-challenges/ 52 ibid
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Recommendations for Washington County Oral Histories online While access is a key aspect of oral history, following legal and ethical guidelines to protect the interests, rights, and concerns of the narrators whose interviews they hold is an important responsibility as well.53 In Washington County, there are legal releases on file for many, but not all, of the oral histories in the existing inventory. Each institution’s releases cover ownership and use in a different way. For example, one release specifies use of the recorded media and transcript under the terms of the library’s use policy; another release states that the interview can be used however the historical society sees fit and that any specified conditions apply only during the narrator’s lifetime. Additionally, in some cases it was the practice of the interviewer to record consent onto the audio or video media itself, rather than ask for a signed document. Before embarking on an upload of digital oral history files that can be accessed on the internet, institutions should be mindful of each narrator’s consent and make a decision about sharing the interview online based on their understanding of the consent given. In some cases when there is no legal release form, or the current form on file does not address internet dissemination, narrators can be contacted to secure consent and give permission to have their interviews shared online. In addition, a prominent section on the Omeka exhibit home page contains a clear copyright protection statement (see box on page 43) as well as an explanation of the rights and responsibilities of oral history users that adds another layer of accountability to the users and exhibitors of the oral histories. Because of the variety of ways in which future online researchers might encounter the oral histories online (for example, via a Google search that bypasses the narrative frame of the Omeka site), usage and access rights should also be addressed within the descriptive metadata for each item. We recommend that as oral histories are described for online platforms, they each include a rights statement and an access statement. Several statewide and national archives groups are currently developing standards for how to form these statements, and we recommend continuing to follow these developments. In the meantime, the standard statements outlined on the “Oregon Digital” web site (administered by the University of Oregon and Oregon State University) represent a good model.54
Future oral history collection: update legal release forms Neuenschwander states, “Ethically speaking, I think the new Best Practices for Oral History...strongly suggest a more detailed explanation of potential future uses including uploading to the Internet.”55 For oral histories collected in Washington County in the future, release forms should address the possible dissemination of the recording and transcript online, 53
Anthony Seeger, “Intellectual Property and Audiovisual Archives and Collections,” Folk Heritage Collections in Crisis, http://www.loc.gov/folklife/fhcc/propertykey.html, accessed June 3, 2015. 54 "Copyright, Access, and Use." Oregon Digital. Web. 2015. https://oregondigital.org/copyright 55 John Neuenschwander, “Major Legal Challenges Facing Oral History in the Digital Age.”
44
as well as permission to use a narrator’s likeness and/or name in association with the interview and the project.56 As noted at a group interview by members of the history roundtable, it would be helpful to create a general oral history release form that could be used by all cultural and community organizations in Washington County. We recommend basing such a form on the one developed by The Smithsonian Folklife Center,57 a modified version of which can be found in Appendix D.
56
ibid The Smithsonian Institution Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, Smithsonian Folklife and Oral History Interviewing Guide, (Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution, 2003), accessed June 8, 2015, http://www.folklife.si.edu/resources/pdf/InterviewingGuide.pdf 57
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SUSTAINABILITY OF A COLLABORATIVE DIGITAL ORAL HISTORIES SITE AND ONGOING ORAL HISTORY PROGRAMS The sustainability of a project is defined by the extent of its ability to operate independently over time, such as a period of years. Making Washington County’s oral histories available online and developing the county’s oral history collections is feasible. The long-term sustainability of such a project, including maintenance and expansion of the online exhibit and continued development of digital collection policies depends upon the interconnected elements of collaboration and resources. Collaboration The long-term sustainability of the Unified Oral History Project in Washington County greatly depends upon collaboration and partnership between stakeholders and community organizations. Building and maintaining strategic partnerships (applying for grants together, creating collaborative oral history projects); sharing knowledge (continuing to update and maintain the oral history exhibit and inventory, learning from each other’s institutional strengths; stepping in to help with each other’s weaknesses); and creating change together (sharing a vision for the future and taking action together) will gradually deepen the connections between all involved and create connection and a sense of shared purpose. Resources Stable funding is an important resource for sustainability, but it is not the only resource to consider. The existing resources that support the sustainability of the Washington County Unified Oral Histories Project are:
An oral history plan that can be used to pursue funding opportunities, to develop new projects, and to expand on existing oral histories Partnerships such as the relationship between Pacific University and the Washington County Museum Sharing of information resources – with each other, such as grant opportunities, leads for new oral histories, and transcription resources. Co-supportive action, such as disseminating and publicizing any new oral history work as a group to the public at large. For example, when an organization completes their oral history project, all libraries and historical societies participate in disseminating the work using social media or other means of sharing the histories. The more organizations that participate, the more powerful the impact of each project. Leadership, such as the project leadership provided by the Pacific University Archives for the oral history planning project, and potentially for a wide-scale digitization project in the future. Pacific University represents a stable home for the technical aspects of the program.
Securing funding will be necessary to move forward with the preservation and access plans as well as with new collection development. Applying for grant funds as a group rather than as an independent library or other cultural institution may prove to be an effective practice. 46
To that end, Appendix B provides an oral history plan summary and some fundraising recommendations and some pull-out wording that can be used by any organization(s) who wish to seek financial resources for an oral history project.
CONCLUSION Where no history is readily at hand, it will be created.58 The Washington County Oral History Planning Project has made great strides toward creating a unified approach to preserving and developing oral history collections in Washington County, and to managing dispersed and endangered oral history collections. It is our hope that the planning project benefits scholars, researchers, libraries, and museums as well as the population of Washington County as a whole, whose history will continue to be preserved through oral history recordings. The results of the project can serve as a model for managing dispersed and endangered oral history recordings.
58
Thompson, Voice of the Past: Oral History, 1.
47
THANK YOU TO ALL OF THE PARTICIPANTS AND CONTRIBUTORS TO THIS PROJECT! Libraries and Historical Societies Aloha Community Library Association Aloha Historical Society Banks Historical Society Banks Public Library Beaverton City Library Beaverton Historical Society Cedar Mill Community Library Cedar Mill Historical Society Cornelius Public Library Forest Grove City Library Friends of Historic Forest Grove Garden Home Community Library Garden Home History Project Gaston Community Library Hillsboro Historical Society Hillsboro Main Library North Plains Public Library North Plains Historical Society Oregon College of Arts and Crafts Sherwood Historical Society Sherwood Public Library Tigard Historical Association Tigard Public Library Tualatin Historical Society Tualatin Public Library Tuality Health Resource Center Washington County Cooperative Library Services Washington County Museum West Slope Community Library
Community Groups and Community Members Adelante Mujeres Amber Ames, Hillsboro City Recorder Anjali Dance Company Beaverton Cultural Inclusion Program Beaverton Dispute Resolution Center Bienestar Martha Calus-McLain, Pacific University Director of Alumni Relations Centro Cultural de Washington County Children’s Opportunity Fund Initiative 48
Community Action Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde Cultural Coalition of Washington County Daughters of the American Revolution – Beaver Chapter Daughters of the American Revolution – David Hill Chapter Briece Edwards, Senior Archaeologist, Tribal Historic Preservation Office, Grand Ronde Forest Grove Grange #282 Forest Grove Lodge #2440 Genealogical Society of Washington County Good Neighbor Center Helvetia Community Association Hillsboro Arts & Culture Council Hillsboro Community Foundation Inter-Religious Action Network Council Jose Jaime, J and L Translation Services; Centro Cultural Board Member Kinton Grange #562 Latino Leadership Network Alfonso Lopez Vasquez, Pacific University Director of Diversity Oregon Black Pioneers Oregon Chapter 8th Air Force History Society Oregon Jewish Museum and Center for Holocaust Education Sundarrajan Rajagopal, Founder of Hindu Cultural and Educational Society and the Portland Balahai Temple Scholls Grange #338 Sherwood Rotary Club Swedish Roots in Oregon Tigard Chamber of Commerce Tigard Grange #148 Tillamook Forest Center Tualatin River National Wildlife Refuge Vision Action Network Westside Cultural Alliance Westside Economic Alliance Westside Transportation Alliance Winona Grange #271
Thank you to Oregon’s Library Services and Technology Act Program and the Institute of Museum and Library Services!
49
BIBLIOGRAPHY American Library Association, “Minimum digitization capture recommendations,” http://www.ala.org/alcts/resources/preserv/minimum-digitization-capturerecommendations#time-based_media, accessed on November 18, 2014. Association for Recorded Sound Collections Technical Committee. “Preservation of Archival Sound Recordings.” 2009. http://www.arsc-audio.org/pdf/ARSCTC_preservation.pdf, accessed June 3, 2015. Association of Religious Data Archives. “County Membership Report – Religious Traditions, 2010.” County Report for Washington County, Oregon, http://www.thearda.com/rcms2010/r/c/41/rcms2010_41067_county_name_2010.asp (accessed June 3, 2015). Boyd, Douglas A. “Search, Explore, Connect: Disseminating Oral History in the Digital Age.” in Oral History in the Digital Age, edited by Doug Boyd, Steve Cohen, Brad Rakerd, and Dean Rehberger. Washington, D.C.: Institute of Museum and Library Servicesdpu (2012), http://ohda.matrix.msu.edu/2012/06/search-explore-connect/ Cunningham, Sarah. “The Preservation of Analog Oral History Collections through Digitization.” in Oral History in the Digital Age, edited by Doug Boyd, Steve Cohen, Brad Rakerd, and Dean Rehberger. Washington, D.C.: Institute of Museum and Library Services, 2012, http://ohda.matrix.msu.edu/2012/06/preservation-of-analog-collections-throughdigitization/. Daniel, Dominique. “Documenting the Immigrant and Ethnic Experience in American Archives.” American Archivist (2010):82-104. Frisch, Michael with Douglas Lambert. “Mapping Approaches To Oral History Content Management in The Digital Age.” in Oral History in the Digital Age, edited by Doug Boyd, Steve Cohen, Brad Rakerd, and Dean Rehberger. Washington, D.C.: Institute of Museum and Library Services, 2012, http://ohda.matrix.msu.edu/2012/07/mapping/ Hahn, Christopher. Doing Qualitative Research Using Your Computer: A Practical Guide. Los Angeles: SAGE, 2008. Lacinak, Chris. “A Primer on Codecs for Moving Image and Sound Archives and 10 Recommendations for Codec Selection and Management.” http://www.avpreserve.com/wpcontent/uploads/2010/04/AVPS_Codec_Primer.pdf, accessed on November 4, 2014. Leon, Sharon. “IMLS funds Omeka Everywhere.” Omeka.org blog post, http://omeka.org/blog/2014/09/18/imls-funds-omeka-everywhere/, accessed December 11, 2014. 50
Library of Congress. “Care, Handling, and Storage of Audio Visual Materials.” http://www.loc.gov/preservation/care/record.html, accessed on November 11, 2014. Library of Congress. “Recommended format specifications 2014-2015.” http://www.loc.gov/preservation/resources/rfs/rfs20142015.pdf, accessed on November 4, 2014. Library of Congress, “Sustainability of digital formats.” http://www.digitalpreservation.gov/formats/sustain/sustain.shtml, accessed on November 4, 2014. Neuenschwander, John. A Guide to Oral History and the Law. (New York: Oxford University Press, 2009). Neuenschwander, John. “Major Legal Challenges Facing Oral History in the Digital Age.” in Oral History in the Digital Age, edited by Doug Boyd, Steve Cohen, Brad Rakerd, and Dean Rehberger. Washington, D.C.: Institute of Museum and Library Services (2014), http://ohda.matrix.msu.edu/2012/06/major-legal-challenges/ Oral History Association. “Principles and Best Practices for Oral History.” http://www.oralhistory.org/about/principles-and-practices/#best, accessed on December 4, 2014. Pennington, Scott and Rehberger, Dean. “The Preservation of Analog Video through Digitization.” in Oral History in the Digital Age, edited by Doug Boyd, Steve Cohen, Brad Rakerd, and Dean Rehberger. Washington, D.C.: Institute of Museum and Library Services, 2012, http://ohda.matrix.msu.edu/2012/06/preservation-of-analog-video-through-digitization/ Ritchie, Donald A. Doing Oral History. (New York: Oxford University Press, 2003). Schumacher, Jaime; Thomas, Lynne M.; VandeCreek, Drew; Erdman, Stacey; Hancks, Jeff; Haykal, Aaisha; Miner, Meg; Prud'homme, Patrice-Andre; Spalenka, Daniell. “From Theory to Action: ‘Good Enough’ Digital Preservation for Under-Resourced Cultural Heritage Institutions.” Institute of Museum and Library Services (2014), http://commons.lib.niu.edu/handle/10843/13610, accessed on November 4, 2014. Seeger, Anthony. “Intellectual Property and Audiovisual Archives and Collections.” Folk Heritage Collections in Crisis, http://www.loc.gov/folklife/fhcc/propertykey.html, accessed June 3, 2015. Shopes, Linda. “Oral history and the Study of Communities: Problems, Paradoxes, and Possibilities,” The Journal of American History 89 (2002): 588-598. 51
Shopes, Linda. “Transcribing Oral History in the Digital Age,” in Oral History in the Digital Age, edited by Doug Boyd, Steve Cohen, Brad Rakerd, and Dean Rehberger. Washington, D.C.: Institute of Museum and Library Services, (2012), http://ohda.matrix.msu.edu/2012/06/transcribing-oral-history-in-the-digital-age/ The Smithsonian Institution Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage. Smithsonian Folklife and Oral History Interviewing Guide. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution, 2003. Accessed June 8, 2015, http://www.folklife.si.edu/resources/pdf/InterviewingGuide.pdf Specs Bros. “Basic Inspection Techniques to Sample the Condition of Magnetic Tape.” http://www.specsbros.com/whitepaper.html, accessed on October 30, 2014. Tebeau, Mark. “Case Study: Visualizing Oral History.” in Oral History in the Digital Age, edited by Doug Boyd, Steve Cohen, Brad Rakerd, and Dean Rehberger. Washington, D.C.: Institute of Museum and Library Services (2012), http://ohda.matrix.msu.edu/2012/06/visualizing-oralhistory/ Thompson, Paul. Voice of the Past: Oral History. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000. Accessed April 22, 2015, ProQuest eblibrary. U.S.D.A. Census of Agriculture, “Farms, Acreage, and Value 1964 and 1959.” Volume 1, Part 47:Oregon,http://agcensus.mannlib.cornell.edu/AgCensus/getVolumeOnePart.do?year=1964 &part_id=401&number=47&title=Oregon (accessed May 28, 2015). U.S.D.A. Census of Agriculture. “Farms, Land in Farms, Value of Land and Buildings, and Land Use: 2012 and 2007.” 2012 Census Volume 1, Chapter 2: County Level Data. http://www.agcensus.usda.gov/Publications/2012/Full_Report/Volume_1,_Chapter_2_County _Level/Oregon/st41_2_008_008.pdf (accessed May 28, 2015). Van Bogart, John. “Magnetic Tape Storage and Handling: A Guide for Libraries and Archives.” Published by the Commission on Preservation and Access, and the National Media Laboratory (1995), http://www.clir.org/pubs/reports/pub54/Download/pub54.pdf, accessed June 3, 2015. Van Malssen, Kara. “Digital Video Preservation and Oral History.” in Oral History in the Digital Age, edited by Doug Boyd, Steve Cohen, Brad Rakerd, and Dean Rehberger. Washington, D.C.: Institute of Museum and Library Services, 2012, http://ohda.matrix.msu.edu/2012/06/digital-video-preservation-and-oral-history/, accessed on November 4, 2014.
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APPENDIX A Option 1: Using a professional digitization service Digitization, Transcoding, and Basic Preservation budget worksheet.
Numbers based on actual inventory count
ITEM
UNIT COST
# OF UNITS
TOTAL
500 audio cassettes digitized
$8.00
1
$4,000.00
130 video cassettes digitized
$8.00
1
$1,040.00
20 other formats digitized
$13.50
1
$270.00
110 digital audio files transcoded
$4.00/ea
110
$440.00
100 digital video files transcoded
$6.00/ea
100
$600.00
1-TB hard drive
$130
16
$2,080
deliver & pick up by Visual Tronics
$10/trip
20 trips
$200
Archival gold CDs
$210/spindle of 100
7
$1,470
Archival gold DVDs
$130/spindle of 50
5
$650
Access quality DVDs
$17/spindle of 50
5
$85
Access quality CDs
$17/spindle of 100
7
$119
Cassette tape covers
$25 for 25
8
$200
VHS tape covers
$35 for 100
1
$35
TOTAL:
$11,189.00
Option 2: In-house digitization ITEM
UNIT COST
# OF UNITS
TOTAL
VHS player
$50
1
$50
VHS digitizer (ADVC 110 advanced converter)
$350
1
$350
1-TB hard drive
$130
16
$2,080
Archival gold DVDs
$130/spindle of 50
5
$650
Cassette player/digitizer
$350
1
$350
Audacity audio capture software
free download
Audio repair software
$100
1
$100
Archival gold CDs
$210/spindle of 100
7
$1,470
Access quality DVDs
$17/spindle of 50
5
$85
Access quality CDs
$17/spindle of 100
7
$119
10 other/uncommon formats digitized professionally
$13.50
2
$270.00
Cassette tape covers
$25 for 25
8
$200
VHS tape covers
$35 for 100
1
$35
$0
Staff hours TOTAL:
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APPENDIX B Oral History Plan for Washington County, Oregon Summary of Outcomes for Use by Small Heritage Organizations in WA CO Key Findings from Inventory of Oral Histories in Washington County 17 organizations inventoried for oral histories. Approximately 900 oral history recordings exist within the county Oral histories cover 19 key aspects of the county’s history A full roster of interviews can be found at: http:wcoralhistories.omeka.net/items/browse o Please share this list with your patrons to help direct their research. The inventory can be searched for subjects of interest. The most cost-effective, county-wide plan for digitizing oral histories is to have recordings digitized by a professional audio/visual technician. This addresses the lack of available staff time and is more economical. Pacific University is currently applying for a grant from the National Historic Publications and Records Commission to fund a countywide digitization project. How to Use this Report as an Independent Organization Use this report as a planning tool for oral history projects. o Use list of “gaps” for determining new areas of oral history to collect. Use digitization recommendations for budgeting migration of analog to digital. Use this report for guidance of legal considerations and release forms. o A sample release form can be found in Appendix D of the oral history plan. Reference this report in grant narratives. This report contains a great deal of data that demonstrates due diligence in inventorying what oral histories exist in the county, determining gaps in oral history content, and making a digitization plan. Referencing an LSTA/IMLS planning grant will carry weight for most grantor organizations. How to Use the Oral History Inventory The Oral History Inventory now exists as an avenue for all heritage organizations in the county to consult: http:wcoralhistories.omeka.net/items/browse Please help maintain the accuracy of the inventory by adding oral histories your organization records to the inventory. Although training community users on metadata creation is outside the scope of this project, the process for creating records in the oral history inventory is very user-friendly and entirely browser-based. Any interested groups may contact the Pacific University Archives for details.
Local Grants for Oral History Projects Regional Arts & Culture Council- Project Grant due August Oregon Heritage Commission- Heritage Grant due September Cultural Coalition of Washington County- Opens September Oregon Cultural Trust National Grants for Oral History National Endowment for the Humanities National Historic Publications and Records Commission 54
APPENDIX C Audio and Video Recording Recommendations These recording recommendations are aimed at organizations with limited budgets. AUDIO RECORDING DEVICES The following audio recording recommendations highlight a few options that record high-quality sound, on hand-held recording devices. Three main standards that are used in this recommendation are: Records in an uncompressed, standard format such as WAV Solid-state memory recorders with digital Uses an external microphone, or has external mic option Recommended recorder (option 1): Roland R-09HR Records WAV 24-bit/96kHz linear PCM high-resolution, low-noise recording Records to SD or SDHC memory card Plug for external mic Currently priced $200 Recommended recorder (option 2): Zoom H2n Records in WAV up to 24-bit/96kHz and MP3 up to 320kbps Plug for external mic Currently priced around $160. Recommended recorder (option 3): SmartPhone with external microphone [Note which models/whatever. Do you need special apps???] External Microphones for Smart Phones For Apple and Android devices, using an external microphone can turn an iPhone, iPad, or iPod into a high-quality stereo recorder when used with the voice recording app that is included with most devices. If the built-in app is not sufficient, audio recording apps that record in .wav and .mp3 formats are available on iTunes and the Google Play store. For higher-quality audio recording information visit: Vermont Folklife Center Audio Equipment Recommendations: http://www.vermontfolklifecenter.org/archive/res_audioequip.htm VIDEO RECORDING DEVICES The following video recording recommendations highlight a few options that record high-quality video, using consumer-grade video cameras. Three main standards that are used in this recommendation are: 55
Records in a standard format, such as ACVHD or MP4, that can be easily transcoded to an archival format such as MOV. Solid-state memory Has external mic option and manual controls for audio, iris, and focus
Canon VIXIA mini X full HD Camcorder Records full HD video resolution, supports AVCHD & MP4 recording formats Records to SD, SDHC, or SDXC memory card Plug for external mic Some manual controls Currently priced $339 Zoom H4 Handy video recorder Records full HD video resolution, supports AVCHD & MP4 recording formats Records to SD, SDHC, or SDXC memory card Plug for external mic Some manual controls Currently priced around $300 Canon 8GB Vixia FH R50 full HD Camcorder Records full HD video resolution, supports AVCHD & MP4 recording formats Records to SD, SDHC, or SDXC memory card Plug for external mic Some manual controls Currently priced around $248 Using a smart phone, such as an iPhone, to record oral history video Specific apps or just whatever is on the phone natively? Must use an external microphone – see audio recommendation above A tripod attachment will be needed in order to use it with a regular tripod – these are currently priced at around $15. Make sure there is enough storage available on the phone. Additional considerations for video recording: Keep in mind that good lighting makes footage much more clear A tripod is a must Record original in highest possible resolution; can compress to smaller file type/sizes for access copies
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APPENDIX D SAMPLE INTERVIEW RELEASE FORM
Project name:_________________________________________________________________ Date:________________________________________________________________________ Interviewer: __________________________________________________________________ Name of person(s) interviewed: ___________________________________________________ Address: ____________________________________________________________________ Telephone number:____________________________________________________________ Date of birth:__________________________________________________________________ By signing the form below, you give your permission for any tapes and/or photographs made during this project to be used by researchers and the public for educational purposes including publications, exhibitions, World Wide Web, and presentations. By giving your permission, you do not give up any copyright or performance rights that you may hold. I agree to the uses of these materials described above, except for any restrictions, noted below. Name (please print): ____________________________________________________________________________ Signature:____________________________________________________________________ Date:________________________________________________________________________ Researcher’s signature:_________________________________________________________ Date:________________________________________________________________________ Restriction description: _________________________________________________________
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