Oral History and Public Memories

How does oral history, based as it is on individual memory,affect beliefs about the history of a whole community? Is oralhistory compelling enough to influence an interpretation ofa community's history when powerful groups insist on a differentinterpretation? Hamilton and Shopes have chosen a collectionof articles that present a range of perspectives, a diversityof problems, and a variety of specific sites in which to testanswers to these questions. Oral history interviews often turnup surprises, and this book is full of surprises. In the first section, David Neufield begins his article, "ParksCanada, the Commemoration of Canada, and the Northern AboriginalOral     

Clio's Southern Sisters: Interviews with Leaders of the Southern Association for Women Historians

In the 1950s, the outstanding historian Anne Scott was finishinggraduate school and looking for a job. Oscar Handlin sent herto the University of North Carolina. She said, "When I got downhere, I was told that the University of North Carolina had neverhired a woman in the history department, and never would." FletcherGreen, the chair, told Oscar Handlin, "Could you send me a youngman to teach American history next year?" Handlin replied, "I’vealready sent someone to Chapel Hill, Fletcher." The departmentrelented and let her teach four sections of the introductorycourse, but did