Audio | Oral History of Disasters and Pandemics (with Mary Marshall Clark)

A workshop led by Mary Marshall Clark, director of the Center for Oral History Research at Columbia University, on how to plan and conduct oral histories in communities affected by disasters and pandemics. Mary Marshall shared guidance on how to conduct life history interviews in the contexts of crises and disasters, including how interviewers can shield themselves from an overload of trauma, and how they can construct safe environments for narrators to tell their stories. The goal of this workshop is to provide oral historians with resources that have been proven in the field, and useful in a variety of contexts.

CCOHR Director Mary Marshall Clark leads a workshop on how to plan and conduct oral histories in communities affected by disasters and pandemics. Mary Marshall shared guidance on how to conduct life history interviews in the contexts of crises and disasters, including how interviewers can shield themselves from an overload of trauma, and how they can construct safe environments for narrators to tell their stories. The goal of this workshop is to provide oral historians with resources that have been proven in the field, and useful in a variety of contexts.

The workshop took place online through Zoom on Thursday, April 16th.