Oral history and journalism were once described as "kissing cousins" by journalist Mark Feldstein, but how, exactly are they related? What lives at the intersection of these two sets of best practices, and how does the ambidextrous oral history-journalist trouble though moments when the practices diverge?

Working with oral history values/strategies alongside journalistic constraints can give rise to a new sensibility or sensibilities. We'll use oral history exercises/ training together with our collective momentum as reporters, documentarians and longform nonfiction writers to encourage more curiosity, play, collaboration and innovation without compromising rigor or loyalty to our respective realms. Sessions will take the forms of mini-presentations, interactive exercises, case studies, Read more here . . .

In this three-and-a-half day workshop, participants will learn the tools and techniques of oral history and consider together the many possible uses for oral history in our Hudson area communities: family/ history, community organizing, creating counternarratives, intergenerational relationship-building and envisioning collective futures.  Read more here…

Come all ye budding oral historians, radio documentarians, writers, filmmakers, media advocates, and photographers who wish to make use of oral history in your practices. This immersive upstate New York workshop is a rigorous introduction to the field of oral history. Read more here…

For many of us, family is the obvious—and sometimes most complicated—place to start our work as oral historians. In this workshop, participants will learn how to use oral history to document and preserve their family stories. We’ll discuss common challenges: convincing your family to participate, delving into sensitive subjects and secrets, and working with interviewees who may suffer from memory loss. We’ll also discuss the potential for oral history to repair and transform relationships. Read more here…

Project Design is a dynamic phase of oral history practice, giving oral historians a chance to discipline their thinking, address ethical challenges, identify sites for potential collaboration, assess their resources, define “success,” and brainstorm potential future uses beyond the archive. Read more here…

Oral history excels at complicating the narrative. How can we preserve and deliver these complex narratives when moving from speech to print? How can we make adequate space for our narrators’ voices and our own (authorial) voice? What does it mean to write in first person with someone else’s words? What is an oral history book? Read more here…

This two-day hands-on workshop––open to all––is based on our popular 10-day intensive, covering oral history theory, method and practice. Over the course of the two-day workshop, we'll address interview techniques, recording tutorials, ethics, memory, annotation and experimental outcomes. Read more…

Oral History Summer School is back in session for our second Oral History Intensive in Residence at Sylvan Motor Lodge. Come all ye budding oral historians, media makers, advocates and others who wish to make of use of oral history in your practices. This immersive upstate New York workshop is a rigorous introduction to the field of oral history. Over the course of 4 days, we’ll cover interview techniques, project design, and recording tutorials, plus sessions dedicated to ethics, trauma, advocacy, archives, and other related topics. Read more…

Oral History Summer School is back in session—this time in Portland, ME—at Salt Institute for Documentary Studies. Come all ye budding oral historians, media makers, advocates and others who wish to make of use of oral history in your practices. This immersive upstate New York workshop is a rigorous introduction to the field of oral history. Over the course of 4 days, we’ll cover interview techniques, project design, and recording tutorials, plus sessions dedicated to ethics, trauma, advocacy, archives, and other related topics. Read more…

Oral History Summer School is back in session with our first in-person workshop since the pandemic. Come all ye budding oral historians, media makers, advocates and others who wish to make of use of oral history in your practices. This immersive upstate New York workshop is a rigorous introduction to the field of oral history. Over the course of 4 days, we’ll cover interview techniques, project design, and recording tutorials, plus sessions dedicated to ethics, trauma, advocacy, archives, and other related topics. Read more…

In this specialized Project Design workshop, OHSS director and founder Suzanne Snider will train a project team from Middlebury College and Kolot Chayeinu for an oral history project of Kolot Chayeinu, a non-denominational Jewish congregation in Brooklyn, NY. This day-long training includes mini-presentations, conversation, small group exercises, and supportive “lab time” during which participants will work with Project Design prompts and workshop their ideas-in-progress for feedback. Read more…

This two-day hands-on workshop––open to all––is based on our popular 10-day intensive, covering oral history theory, method and practice. Over the course of the two-day workshop, we'll address interview techniques, recording tutorials, ethics, memory, annotation and experimental outcomes. Read More…

This two-day hands-on workshop––open to all––is based on our popular 10-day intensive, covering oral history theory, method and practice. Over the course of the two-day workshop, we'll address interview techniques, recording tutorials, ethics, memory, annotation and experimental outcomes. Read More…

This mini-intensive is based on our popular foundational workshop––covering oral history theory, methods and practice––but is designed more specifically to support training among colleagues and collaborators who wish to directly apply the training during the workshop, and to establish networks among organizations approaching common questions. Read more…

This two-day hands-on workshop––open to all––is based on our popular 10-day intensive, covering oral history theory, method and practice. Over the course of the two-day workshop, we'll address interview techniques, recording tutorials, ethics, memory, annotation and experimental outcomes. Read more…

Instructors: Suzanne Snider + Guest Instructors Nichole Canuso, Sarita Daftary, Alissa Rae Funderburk

Come all ye budding oral historians, artists, advocates, and researchers who wish to make use of oral history in your practices. This immersive summer workshop is a rigorous introduction to the field of Oral History. Over the course of ten days, we’ll cover interview techniques, project design, recording tutorials for online and in-person recording, and ethics, along with special topics related to the field. Read more.

This two-day hands-on workshop––open to all––is based on our popular 10-day intensive, covering oral history theory, method and practice. Over the course of the weekend, we'll address interview techniques, recording tutorials, ethics, memory, annotation and experimental outcomes. Read more.

Join us for our first 5-day foundational training! We’re excited to bring this work to a new location (Portland, Maine) in partnership/collaboration with the audio production company Future Projects (Josie Holtzman, Isaac Kestenbaum) at their Portland studio. This workshop will cover ethics, interview techniques and recording tutorials as well as sessions on memory, trauma, project design and archives…Read More

Come all ye budding oral historians, artists, advocates, and researchers who wish to make of use of oral history in your practices. This immersive summer workshop is a rigorous introduction to the field of Oral History. Over the course of ten days, we’ll cover interview techniques, project design, recording tutorials, and ethics, along with special topics related to the field. This is a great opportunity to jump-start a project in a supportive environment… Read More

We invite you and your kiddo(s) to experience listening, sounding, moving, imagining, composing, and dreaming together during this 4-session experiment in intergenerational Deep Listening. Deep Listening® is an evolving practice founded by avant garde composer Pauline Oliveros: through playful, body-affirming awareness exercises and sonic meditations we will tune in to ourselves and the planet and have fun…Read more.

Sady Sullivan in collaboration with Oral History Summer School invites you and your kiddo(s) to experience listening, sounding, moving, imagining, composing, and dreaming together during this 4-session experiment in intergenerational Deep Listening. Deep Listening® is an evolving practice founded by avant garde composer Pauline Oliveros: through playful, body-affirming awareness exercises and sonic meditations we will tune in to ourselves and the planet and have fun.

Neurodiversity celebrated - Sensory friendly

Tuesdays & Thursdays in May via Zoom

May 21 3pm - 4pm ET
May 26 3pm - 4pm ET
May 28 3pm - 4pm ET
June 2 3pm - 4pm ET……..Read More Here…

Oral History, a Queer Art will follow the course of our usual immersive workshops by offering foundational oral history training--theory, method, practice-- while inviting exploration into the way that oral history values and theory are arguably queer and/or well-positioned to support emergent complex queer narratives. This workshop will also seize upon the history and abundance of queer oral history projects, approaching this canon as both case study of insider history and as inspiration for new projects ….. Read More