History Tape Seminars

From 1982 to 1988 the Oral History Research Office at Columbia University sponsored a number of interdisciplinary seminars on oral history. These seminars brought European and American oral historians, community historians, writers, sociologists and anthropologists to Columbia to present their work and thinking to their counterparts from the New York region. The presentations and subsequent discussions at the seminars were broad in scope and exciting in content. Because we often receive requests for copies of these seminars, we are making sixteen of them available for purchase, including:

Sally Alexander, British History Workshop Collective, on oral history, women's history and uncovering the hidden feminist consciousness of British women between the wars.
Rina Benmayor, Anna Juarbe and Blanca Vasquez , Center for Puerto Rican Studies, Hunter College, on New York Puerto Rican women garment workers oral history project and the resulting prize-winning radio show.
Daniel Bertaux, Ecole des Haute Etudes, Paris, on oral history and the life history methodology, with reference to his work interviewing Parisian bakers.
Jeremy Brecher, author of Strike and co-author of Brass Valley, on the Brass Valley History Project and community-based working-class history.
Paul Buhle, director of Oral History of the American Left, on interviewing political militants.
Anna Davin, British History Workshop, on the Workshop's experience with oral and community history.
Madeline Davis and Liz Kennedy, Buffalo Women's Oral History Project, on lesbian bar culture in the 1950s.
Susan Harding, University of California, Santa Cruz, on interviewing fundamentalist Christians in Lynchburg, Virginia.
Mark Naison, author of Communists in Harlem During the Depression, on oral history and the history of black nationalism.
Nell Painter, Princeton University, on the creation of her oral history-based biography of Hosea Hudson, Black leader and Communist militant.
Luisa Passerini, University of Turin, on the role of memory in oral testimony, with reference to her work on the response of Italian workers to fascism.
Allesandro Portelli, University of Rome -- two seminars -- concepts of time in the oral testimony of Italian steelworkers; the use of literary analysis on oral narratives.
Sam Schraeger, on storytelling, folklore and oral history, with reference to testimony on the Industrial Workers of the World in the American northwest.
John Kuo Wei Tchen, co-founder of the New York Chinatown History Project, on the history and practice of the Project, and the relationship of historians to ethnic communities.
Dennis Tedlock, SUNY - Buffalo, on his work among the Zuni.

Each seminar is about two hours in length and is contained on two compact discs. The first disc in each set contains the seminar presentation. The second consists for the most part of audience commentary and responses to questions. In some cases, reflecting the conditions under which recording was done, sound quality, although audible, varies during the question and answer section.

The price is $15.00 per seminar or $200 for the set of 16 seminars. Please contact the office to check on availability. Checks should be made payable to "Oral History Research Office."

To order or for more information contact:

Oral History Reseach Office
801 Butler Library, Box 20
535 West 114th Street, MC 1129
New York, NY 10027
Phone: (212) 854-7083
Fax: (212) 854-5378