PORT ANGELES — What’s the story? And what’s the best way to tell it?
The Clallam County Historical Society will teach locals how to draw out oral histories for families or historical purposes in a workshop from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Thursday at the Museum at the Carnegie, 207 S. Lincoln St., Port Angeles.
An RSVP is required by Wednesday.
Morning session
The morning session will include instructions and tips on how to conduct an oral history.
In the afternoon, instructor Dona Cloud will take an oral history from former Mayor Gary Braun on his time working for the Port Angeles Fire Department.
Kathy Monds, executive director for the Clallam County Historical Society, said the program is meant to train more people on how to properly take an oral history.
The class will cost $10 for members of the historical society and $12 for nonmembers. Participants are asked to bring a lunch.
Cloud said she learned how to take a history by practicing since the 1970s.
Important points
Some of the points she will highlight are the importance of letting the person know how the history will be used, what kinds of questions to ask and how to preserve the history.
“We always get requests about how to do oral histories or to do someone’s oral history,” Cloud said.
“What we hope to do is give people an idea of what is involved in interviewing people and what they should be looking for.
“One of the main things we want to emphasize is they should have an idea of what they want to talk about before they interview them and to be sure they have some background information.
“The more you know about a person, the better the interview is going to be.”
Cloud said she also recommends people document the “who, what, when and where” of everything.
“That is important whether you are doing it for a family or whether for historic purposes or to go to the historical society,” she said.
For interviews that will be published or go to a historical society or library, obtaining release forms is also a good idea, she said.
“Otherwise, you probably can’t use them legally,” she said.
To RSVP or for more information, phone the Clallam County Historical Society at 360-452-2662.
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Reporter Paige Dickerson can be reached at 360-417-3535 or at paige.dickerson@peninsuladailynews.com.
