What is Oral History?
Oral history is a field of study and a method of gathering, preserving, and studying the voices, memories, and experiences of people through in-depth interviews.
From Sister Irene Muñoz Oral History Interview
Sister Irene Muñoz describes the medical services provided by the Muscatine Migrant Committee in the 1970s and 1980s.
From Maria Mercedes Aguilera Oral History Interview
Maria Mercedes Aguilera shares her memories of Cook's Point barrio, a predominantly Mexican neighborhood in Davenport, Iowa.
From Rosa Mendoza Oral History Interview
Rosa Mendoza remembers moving with her parents across states following agricultural seasonal work.
Why use oral history interviews?
Primary Sources
Oral history interviews provide testimonies of events of personal and historical importance and as such are primary sources. The interviews are a window into the past through the first-person narration of the interviewee. They address family history, childhood, migration stories, work, and other life experiences. Some interviews are accompanied by related documents that include correspondence, newspaper clippings, memoirs, and photographs.
Personal narratives
The narrators offer different points of view that help our understanding of historical events. Their life experiences shaped their opinions and how they perceived certain events. There is more than one version of history.
Agency
The Mujeres Latinas Oral History Project gives Latinas/os/es/xs a space to tell their own story, struggles, achievements, and contributions. Interviewees become protagonists and narrators of history.
Humanizing the Past
History is not only found in museums, institutions, or history books, rather history is present in lived experiences. It is important to remember that these were real women, people, and families. They are more than a statistic or historical fact. The interviewees generously donated their stories to help our understanding of Iowa's Latine/x history. By understanding the past, we are able to comprehend the present.
Language
The voice recordings of the Mujeres Latinas Oral History Project interviews preserve the linguistic diversity of each interviewee. The interviews include a rich diversity of accents, idiomatic expressions, and even examples of code-switching between English and Spanish.
Critical Thinking
The Mujeres Latinas Oral History Project documents Latine/x experiences in Iowa and the United States. Students and researchers can explore, learn, and engage with a range of subjects such as migration, agricultural migrant work, cultural traditions, historical events, early Mexican migration to Iowa, social and political activism, and more. Each oral history interview holds significant value to our understanding of Latine/x history in Iowa.
Dolores Carillo Garcia interviewed by Iowa City feminists about her decision to picket the Oscar Mayer plant in August 1970.
The Mujeres Latinas Oral History Project
This page explores how oral history can be used in research and as a teaching tool providing new insights to Latine/x history in Iowa.
The Iowa Women's Archives (IWA) started the Mujeres Latinas Oral History Project in 2005 to preserve the history of Latinas, their families, and communities in Iowa. The project continues the work of Grace Núñez who under the guidance of Rusty Barceló and Ernest Rodríguez conducted oral history interviews in the 1990s on the early migration of Mexicans to Bettendorf and Davenport, Iowa. There are more than one hundred oral history interviews conducted primarily in the mid-2000s, in English and Spanish, by IWA graduate assistant Teresa García; UI librarian Rachel Garza Carreón; Columbus Junction educational liaison Georgina Buendía Cruz; UI graduate student Iskra Núñez; and the curators of the Iowa Women’s Archives, Kären Mason and Janet Weaver.
Many interviews are featured on the Migration is Beautiful website. The PEOPLE section is composed of biographical vignettes based on the oral histories and related materials housed at the Iowa Women's Archives.
The Mujeres Latinas Oral History Project interviews are organized by towns. All interviews include audio recordings and transcripts, accessible at the Iowa Women's Archives. Additionally, some interviews include additional related materials such as photographs, correspondence, memoirs, or newspaper clippings. See the Mujeres Latinas Oral History Project finding aid for a more detailed description.
Follow the instructions below on how to request and access the Mujeres Latinas Oral History Project oral history interviews.
How to Access the Mujeres Latinas Oral History Project?
Oral History and Latine/x Spanish Heritage Language Learners
A Spanish Heritage Speaker is a person that grew up surrounded by Spanish at home or in their community in an English-dominant society. Heritage language classrooms aimed to provide heritage language learners a safe space to reconnect with their language and culture. The Mujeres Latinas Oral History Project includes over thirty oral history interviews in Spanish. Here are some of the benefits of incorporating oral history interviews in heritage language classrooms.
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The value of lived experiences: Heritage Language Learners (HLL) are holders and creators of knowledge in relation to their own and their family histories, experiences, culture, and language. By exploring and working closely with primary resources centered around real-life people with whom they can connect and relate to allows them to recognize the value of such knowledge. |
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Foster Creativity Activities and assignments can be centered around oral histories. Students can learn and explore different Latine/x experiences in the U.S., the rich cultural diversity among Latinidades, and listen to different accents. Spanish Heritage Language Learners can work with existing oral histories such as the Mujeres Latinas Oral History Project or even conducting an interview. The process of planning, writing questions, recording the interview, transcribing, and reporting can be done in Spanish as a task-learning assignment. This multi-step project can be adjusted to meet classroom learning objectives and allows students to acquire and continue using Spanish beyond the classroom. |
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Self-Confidence and Empowerment: By engaging with oral histories in Spanish, Latine/x Heritage Language Learners are encouraged to connect to their cultural and linguistic heritage. Knowledge is not only found in textbooks, but also in lived experiences. |
Bibliography
Baeza Ventura, Gabriela, et al. “Recovering the US Hispanic Literary Heritage: A Case Study on US Latina/o Archives and Digital Humanities.” Preservation, Digital Technology & Culture, vol. 48, no. 1, Mar. 2019, pp. 17–27.
DeBlasio, Donna Marie, [et Al.]. Catching Stories a Practical Guide to Oral History. Swallow Press, 2009.
Foulis, Elena. "Participatory pedagogy: Oral history in the service-learning classroom." Journal of Higher Education Outreach and Engagement 22.3 (2018): 119-134.
Foulis, Elena, and Jennifer Barajas. "Weaving our histories: Latin@ ethnography in the heritage language classroom." Journal of Folklore and Education 6 (2019): 98-107.
Lazo, Rodrigo. "Migrant archives: New routes in and out of American Studies." Teaching and Studying the Americas: Cultural Influences from Colonialism to the Present (2010): 199-217.
Sacks, Howard L. “Why Do Oral History?” Catching Stories: A Practical Guide to Oral History, Swallow Press, 2009, pp. 12–24.
“How Can I Use Oral History as an Educator?” Oral History Association, https://oralhistory.org/how-can-i-use-oral-history-myself-as-an-educator/.
“Introduction to Oral History.” Baylor University for Oral History, https://www.baylor.edu/content/services/document.php/43912.pdf. 2016.
“Oral History: Defined.” Oral History Association, https://oralhistory.org/about/do-oral-history/.