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While working on an exhibit relating to local and regional amusement parks for the Summit County Historical Society (Ohio) more than two decades ago, I found primary source materials to be quite scarce. However, when I was installing the exhibit in a local shopping mall weeks later, scores of passersby stopped to view the photographs and artifacts. Many of these people shared firsthand memories of the parks with me. I realized that the scant body of primary sources I had found in repositories could be increased by preserving these people’s memories.The Speaking of Summit oral history project was the result. Beginning with some of the visitors I met while installing the exhibit, I interviewed people whose lives had been touched by experiences at amusement parks.The interviewee list included descendants of former owners, ride operators, concessions workers, and, of course, the people who rode the roller coasters. Because other sources of information were hard to find, I was mindful that by conducting oral histories I was creating and preserving primary sources that would have lasting value. Eventually, these interviews provided material for a book called Shootin’ the Chutes:Amusement Parks Remembered.1 The interview  Chapter Nine Archiving Oral History By Stephen H. Paschen F tapes and transcripts, part of the Summit County Historical Society’s holdings,are housed in the climate-controlled archives of the Akron–Summit County Public Library. In later years, while employed at the archives, I was able to make the collection available to other researchers for a variety of projects. Maybe you only want to conduct a handful of interviews for a book, an exhibit, or a radio or television production.Why worry about the long-term preservation and availability of your modest collection?There are two reasons why you might want to make sure the materials find a permanent home after your project is completed. First, oral history literally and figuratively gives voice to history. It is the unique, direct testimony of people who experienced the past. Subject to the flaws of human memory, oral history not only documents what might not be documented in written records (which also are produced by humans who make mistakes in formally recording events), but it also directly  F  .  Pictures evoke memories and can inspire oral history projects. When an exhibit of archival photographs of amusement parks in northeastern Ohio opened at an Akron shopping mall, people stopped by to share their memories. Lacking primary sources on the parks, the Summit County Historical Society realized that their stories could help us understand how, in the era before television , urban workers spent their leisure time. Akron’s Summit Beach Park, seen here in a 1919 picture, was remembered by many interviewed for the Speaking of Summit oral history project . The interviews and transcripts , now in the University of Akron’s archives, have been used by other researchers. Courtesy of the Summit County Historical Society delivers the perspective and feeling of one person at a time. Each archived interview is a primary source document that contributes a unique account for future researchers to examine and interpret. Second,when recruiting interviewees,it is more compelling to tell each prospective interviewee that not only will his or her individual story appear in a final product such as an exhibit or television show, but it also will be preserved for posterity and available to future researchers. Oral history, in my view, verifies that each interviewee’s life is significant in its own way, separate from the bigger topic, and worthy of preservation as part of history. Archiving involves record-keeping, attention to long-term preservation, selection of an appropriate repository for the collection, and the application of accepted archival standards for storing and making the collection available. - Oral history, to be effective and useful, must be documented using procedures that recognize the importance of preservation and accessibility (or usefulness) of the interviews.Three central issues determine the effectiveness of record-keeping. The interview files, whether paper or electronic, must be kept accurately, updated on a timely basis, and maintained in a rational arrangement or order. Interview files include the documents that serve as the interview’s formal record. The recordings themselves must be identified clearly so that each recording may be matched to its corresponding interview file. Also, because it is the format most researchers desire, a transcript of each interview (see chapter , “Transcribing Oral History”) should be prepared and systematically filed for ease of use. Useful archival interview files begin with...

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