What is Oral History?

Overview

Researchers have used oral histories to capture the experience of everyday people.  They add a human perspective to historical events, and they can enrich and diversify the historical record.  Oral histories can empower narrators to tell their own stories and reflect on their own experiences.  

Some of the principles of a community-centered approach to oral history include:

  • Attention to inequities and divergent priorities:  Interviewers should be aware of the ways communities have been misrepresented or erased in the historical record, and attentive to the interests and priorities of their narrator, which may be different from their own.
  • Responsiveness to the narrator's needs:  Interviewers should be flexible and adaptable in how they describe and record the narrator's memories.  This includes adapting the process and the results to reflect the needs and priorities of the narrator.
  • Willingness to collaborate and share authority:  Interviewers should show respect for the knowledge and expertise of their narrators by making decisions together regarding the focus of the interview and questions covered in the interview.

The foundation for a collaborative oral history is informed consent.

Below are some examples of oral histories with local community members:

  • Filipino American poet and former Cabrillo instructor Shirley Ancheta
  • Watsonville Cannery Worker Fidelia Carrisoza 
  • Farmer Dick Peixoto of Lakeside Organic Farms in Watsonville

Shirley Ancheta Interviewed by Dr. Steve McKay

In this interview clip, Shirley Ancheta describes the social dances hosted as fundraisers for the Filipino American Caballeros de Dimas-Alang lodges in Santa Cruz and Watsonville. She reflects on her experiences participating in the dances as a young woman during the 1960s and 1970s. This is an example of an oral history that documents a community and cultural practices and reflects on issues related to feminism, immigration, and identity for first-generation Filipino Americans.  It might be used together with other primary source documents such as the 1957 picture of the Dimas Alang Float below.  These two resources were collected and preserved as part of the community archive Watsonville is in the Heart Links to an external site..

Juanita Sulay and Joan Millares on a Caballeros de Dimas-Alang Float

Black and white photograph of 6 young women and a child on a float for the 4th of July parade. They are dressed in Filipiniana-style dresses and 2 have sashes.

 

Fidelia Carrisoza Interviewed by Peter Shapiro

Fidelia Carrisoza was a striker and organizer during the Watsonville canneries strike (1985-1987).  In the oral history below she talks about being on the picket line with her daughter.  This oral history might be used together with photographs such as the image below of children on the picket line.

Women and children on the picket line at Watsonville Canneries, 1986

blackand white photo of women sitting with children with an "on strike" sign

Dick Peixoto Interviewed by Ellen Farmer

Dick Peixoto (pronounced Peh-SHOTE) was born in 1956 in Watsonville, California, the grandson of immigrants from the Azores Islands who have been farming in the Pajaro Valley for the past 100 years. Attracted by the organic price premium, Peixoto decided to transition to organic farming and began Lakeside Gardens on a 55-acre farm in Watsonville in 1996. His conventional farming friends thought he had “lost his marbles,” but Lakeside Gardens has been very successful and Dick has become a spokesperson for integrated pest management, hedgerows, and other organic farming methods. Many of their parcels border on hospitals and schools trying to reduce pesticide exposure.  Peixoto is outspoken on food safety, water supply, open space preservation, and other issues affecting agriculture, and is often quoted in the media on these topics.  He was interviewed as part of a larger effort by UCSC's Regional History Project Links to an external site. to document the history of organic agriculture on the Central Coast entitled Cultivating a Movement Links to an external site..

“Shirley Ancheta interviewed by Dr. Steve McKay Links to an external site..” February 16, 2022. Ancheta Family Collection. Watsonville is in the Heart: A Community Archive and Research Initiative.

Juanita Sulay and Joan Millares on a Caballeros de Dimas-Alang Float Links to an external site.. 1957. Photograph. Millares Family Collection, Watsonville is in the Heart: A Community Archive and Research Initiative.

"Fidelia Carrisoza interviewed by Peter Shapiro." 18 Nov. 2010.  larc.oh.shapiro_30, Labor Archives Research Center.  This is a clip from a longer interview Links to an external site..

Varela, Victor.  Photo.  "Beyond the Valley of the Jolly Green Giant." The Sun, 23 Oct. 1986.  Strike Binders, Agricultural Workers' History Center, Watsonville Public Library.

"Dick Peixoto Interviewed by Ellen Farmer."  18 Apr. 2007.  Cultivating a Movement, UC Santa Cruz:  Regional Oral Histories Project.