Introduction

Greetings Readers!

As this issue goes to press, summer wanes on the northern Great Plains and the clarion call of the classroom sounds. Before this issue reaches readers, Labor Day will have passed, the summer of 2009 will start to fade in our memories, and many of us will be making our final plans to attend the 43rd Oral History Association annual meeting in Louisville, KY, October 14–18.

Those individuals who attended last year’s annual meeting will undoubtedly recall the spirited discussion that followed the evening presentation by Dave Isay of StoryCorps. In consideration of that discussion, we sought out commentary with regard to the StoryCorps phenomenon. Accordingly, Nancy Abelmann, Susan Davis, Cara Finnegan, and Peggy Miller, all from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, and from a wide variety of disciplines, take on the meaning of StoryCorps for oral historians, memoirists, traditional historians, and others. Most assuredly their opinions will stir comments; I welcome them.

Also included in this issue of The Oral History Review are three essays presented in commemoration of Paul Thompson’s retirement from the University of Essex in May 2008. They celebrate “Community and Creativity ” in the context of collective and individual memory, specialties of Dr. Thompson over his lengthy and continuing career. Essays by Sally Alexander, Mary Chamberlain, and Daniela Koleva offer us insights on a significant ongoing debate in the world of oral history.

Additionally, an essay by Lenore Layman examines the concept of reticence in oral history interviewing by exploring the carefully chosen words of Australian power plant workers. Kevin Blackburn’s essay on war trauma touches upon some of the same areas of inquiry, specifically how individuals recall and verbalize those memories which are sometimes rather difficult to orate before a perfect stranger.

Of course, our book and media reviews provide the latest comment on new reading and viewing opportunities.

As always, be certain to keep The Oral History Review in mind in consideration of your research projects, specifically those capable of capitalizing on the multimedia opportunities we now have with Oxford University Press.

Happy reading,

Kim Porter
University of North Dakota