Oral History in Research
Lisa Cruces, Hispanic Collections archivist at the University of Houston Libraries Special Collections, recently attended the University of Texas at Austin Voces Oral History Research Summer Institute. Held in Austin, the week-long institute was designed for faculty and graduate students working with oral history.
Attendees of the Voces Oral History Research Summer Institute. Photo courtesy of Maggie Rivas-Rodriguez, PhD.
Scholars from across the country attended the institute, which was co-taught by Maggie Rivas-Rodriguez, PhD, UT Austin, and Todd Moye, PhD, University of North Texas. Participants examined a range of topics related to creating, teaching, and researching with oral histories. Composed of lectures, site visits to archives, and guest speakers, including Monica Perales, PhD, UH Center for Public History and Department of History, the institute aimed to empower scholars to create oral histories and to thoughtfully make them accessible through collaboration with repositories and publication.
“My chief reason for attending the institute was to learn more about oral histories and how they can help expand the documentation and history of Latinx communities in Houston,” Cruces said. “We have rich histories in Houston to preserve, but not all of them are textual. Secondly, I’m eager to support the work of UH faculty, Mark Goldberg for example, who is working on documenting the Jewish Latina/o community. Now, we’re one step closer.”