I think what people should do is show an interest in local history because one day (and I hope this never happens) there won’t be people like you, and there won’t be people like me, who have a little knowledge, or a lot of knowledge that they want to pass on. And it might just slowly, over years, just decline where nobody will ask, ‘Oh, what was that?’
How to Use Oral History
You can use oral history techniques to explore all sorts of subjects. Here are some examples:
- Students in a school interview their teachers about why they chose to go into teaching and what their first day was like, and make a display in the hall.
- A local history group interviews residents of a particular area to find out what has happened over the years to create a booklet and make a presentation to the local community.
- A drama group collects stories of 1960s pop culture from older people to use as the basis for a music-theatre performance.
The subjects and themes are endless and the collected stories and memories can be fascinating and used in many ways.
There are a number of important things to do before embarking on an oral history project. This web page is designed to help start the process, but it doesn’t have all the answers. Read through our advice below, find someone local to talk to if you can and check out resources on the internet:
- National Lottery Heritage Fund – Practice Guidance for Oral History
- BBC – A Guide to Oral History
- The Oral History Society
There are many other places on the web to help you out – just search oral history guidance.
When I look back at the years I worked in the mills, I feel it was like a prisoner’s life. No living standard.
Making a Maternity Teddy out of Wool Scraps from Joseph Dawson’s
Sue Barton | Transcript
I was making a teddy bear for my baby to be, when I was pregnant. And I actually stuffed it with wool that would have otherwise been thrown away. And so I actually had a teddy bear that was stuffed with mohair and alpaca wool! It weighed a tonne! And it was probably worth quite a bit of money!. I have no idea where that teddy bear is now. I cut it out from fur fabric and sewed it up myself. And I was going to buy the stuffing, you know, the kapok. Then I was sort of throwing all this into the, you know, the bin where you put everything. And I just thought, ‘Oh, do you know what, why not?!’ It was a nice souvenir to take away when I went off on maternity.
On the floor below me were a labourer and his name was Jack. And he lived on his own in Haworth. He didn’t know how to look after himself properly so he kept running out of electric and gas and all. So he didn’t have a fire and that, and he was always taking bobbins home, to burn in fire. Any broken bobbins and everything. He’d go around every room every day, and he’d come up to you, ‘Have you got any bobbins? You have any bobbins?’ That was his name; Jackie Bobbin we called him!
Oral history is based on the collection of memories and stories from people about a specific theme or subject. For Lost Mills and Ghost Mansion,s we interviewed and recorded over 80 people across Bradford who had worked in the textile trade. We did this because we wanted to find out about life in Bradford’s mills from people with first hand knowledge. Their true stories told us so much more than we could ever find out in other ways.
Jayne Pickard - Describing British Mohair Spinners’ Fleece Mill, Keighley
The wool mills of Bradford, once filled with the clatter of machinery and the vibrant chatter of the workforce, today sit empty, derelict or transformed into apartments. A far cry from the dyers, winders and twisters that filled the now empty mill spaces.
Marie and Julie Fearn Interview at BCB
Step by Step
Getting Started
- Choose your subject or theme and write a description of what you are looking for.
- Identify the groups you want to speak to and how to get in touch with them.
- Think about the publicity you need. Leaflet? Email? Mailchimp? Social media? A press release for local papers, TV and Radio?
- Do the admin: prepare a spreadsheet (or list) with details of the people you need to talk to. Organise folders for interviews. Keep everything tidy as you go along. Work out what everything will cost and who’s paying for it.
Be Prepared
- Think about risks and how to be safe, particularly when you are interviewing people you have never met before.
- Make sure you have something to record your interview on. Most modern smartphones are good recording devices, but you can buy specialist equipment.
- Work out the questions you want to ask and how long the interview should be. Be prepared for unexpected stories and memories – they can be pure gold!
- Prepare an agreement that says what you are doing and what you will do with the interview. Include basic information – name, address, gender etc and how to stay in touch. The person being interviewed should sign and date the agreement. Include the name of the interviewer for future reference.
Recording an Interview
- Before you interview someone, explain what you are doing and why. If you have an information sheet, give them a copy. Try to use a quiet space that doesn’t have outside noises or an echo. Put them at ease and make sure they have signed the permission form before you press record.
- Interview technique is important. There are lots of dos and don’ts – but make sure you are clear, you don’t interrupt or make noises (no umms or ahhs or silly laughs) and try to keep the interview on track. Be polite and let the person you are interviewing do most of the talking. Here are some online resources for interviewing techniques:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mVv_QAFhm1A <ahref=”https://www.heritagefund.org.uk/blogs/learning-listen-top-tips-great-oral-history-interview”>https://www.heritagefund.org.uk/blogs/learning-listen-top-tips-great-oral-history-interview
- After the interview, make sure you store the audio file somewhere safe. It is always best to transcribe your interview into text – it makes it easier to review and manage. You can use online AI transcribers – they usually cost something but they save time. We have used Cockatoo and Clearvoice. Always check an AI transcription, they are getting better, but there will be mistakes. You can transcribe an interview manually, but it does take time.
- If you want to edit your audio, you may need some training. Local radio stations, community groups and amateur film makers might help. We use Audacity software, which is free and good for our purposes.
- What will you do with your recorded interviews? Make a book? A radio programme? Build a website? Do a live presentation? Whatever you do, make sure the right people find out about what you’ve done and the great results you’ve got – especially the people you’ve interviewed!
Things to do...
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.
What to do next...
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.
What to do next...
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.
Lost Mills
Ghost Mansions
Lost Mills & Ghost Mansions
Photograph: UNSPUN by Tim Smith Photograph: Workers of Salts Mill from Eileen Mellor The Sangat Centre at Bradford Industrial Museum Northern Broadside did theatre productions in the derelict parts of the mill. When I was in there, I was thinking, 'I wonder if this is...
Archive
The Archive of Lost Mills & Ghost Mansions Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Lost MillsGhost Mansions
Ghost Mansions Case Studies
Photo: Bradford Museums and Galleries Cliffe Castle, Keighley, view from the Flower Garden with Signor Eugster de la Deheza, Ricardo Vines and Henry Isaac Butterfield (seated) c. 1890 I know that Robert Clough - he had a big mansion,...
Mediawall
Photo by unknown IPLost Mills & Ghost Mansions media wallLorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation...
Textiles Today
Laxtons have been making worsted and fancy yarns in Yorkshire since they were founded in 1907. After moving much of their manufacturing overseas during the late C20th, they recently brought it all back to the UK with the opening of a state-of-the-art new...
Changing Ways
Photos by: I could see at that time that the mills were starting to close around Keighley all over the town and I thought ‘I need to be moving on somewhere’ and that's when I left in 1975 and joined the fire service. Automation Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur...
Time Off
[In] Saltaire there were lots and lots of foreign people. There were hundreds from Germany, Switzerland, and Italy, like me. Everyone there, in the hostel I stayed in, kept saying, ‘How do you grow spaghetti in Italy?’. So I made it up! We went to [the] shop. We...
Local Area Studies and Map
I grew up next to Marriner’s and I actually watched it burn down. It would have been in the ‘70s. I was in my grandma's house when the fire started ‘cos she lived round the corner. And I watched it burn down stood next to Dr Who off the telly at the time. Which was...
Rights & Wrongs
In the 1970’s, unions demanded an increase of 15-20% in salaries and in 1974 the salaries went up from £20-25 to £70-75. In 1979, Thatcher got rid of the unions. She said higher salaries were causing inflation and that the maximum wage increase could be 5%. I got a...
Diverse workforce
The supervisors were white, whilst the machinists were Asians: Pakistani, Bengali and Indians. All very friendly. People looked out for each other and helped new ones get settled. This has changed. AD: How many people worked there? LM: 80-100 I should think, ‘cause...
Working life
Spinning Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. "Lorem ipsum dolor...
Wordsmithery winning scripts
Winning scripts We have four Wordsmithery winning scripts! There was a high level of submissions from across Bradford and the quality and range of writing styles was fascinating to read. The winners are: The Crack by Sarah Goodyear Not So Smart-Whips by Tahir...