Document, Preserve, Share: MLA History Committee Releases History Toolkit
Submitted by: Lindsay Blake
Oral histories are an important resource for exploring the history of an organization. They provide a personal touch to history that is often lacking in official newsletters, annual reports, and policy briefs. To help support the development of more history projects within the MLA community, the History Committee is releasing the MLA Member History Toolkit.
The MLA Member History Toolkit is designed with oral histories in mind but is intended to be general enough that it can be used to plan for the recording and preservation of all kinds of activities: oral histories, meetings, presentations, and any other event that an organization may decide to record for historical purposes. Inspiration for this guide was taken primarily from a Quick Start Guide developed as part of Iowa State University’s Oral History Toolkit. Unfortunately, in the intervening period since this project was started, the Iowa State University resource is no longer available online. Other resources consulted include the MLA Oral History Manual, 8th Edition, along with online resources from the Library of Congress, the Smithsonian Institute, Baylor University, and the University of California Berkeley, among others.
The toolkit provides the steps and options one needs to consider as they plan, prepare, record, and share oral history projects. For that reason, the History Committee welcomes all MLA chapters, caucuses, and communities to use this toolkit to start their own history projects. The toolkit is designed to empower novice oral historians embarking on their first project or be a useful reference guide for those who have completed multiple projects already. It is not a formal manual full of extensive explanations about best practices, but more of a “quick start” guide to help get your project off the ground and moving in the right direction.
If you or your group want to start a history project, just grab the guide and go. You don’t need permission from the History Committee to get started, though you may want to reach out to the committee if you have questions. The ultimate goal of this project is to invite more people to share in the joy of documenting the various histories of MLA Caucuses, Chapters, and individuals important at these levels that may be missed at the MLA level. The more people who participate in saving history, the better MLA will be able to share the variety of experiences and diversity of voices that make up our vibrant organization.
Download the Oral History toolkit today and take a look at our MLA Oral History.