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Indiana Oral History Roundtable collection

 Collection
Identifier: L419

Scope and Contents

This collection includes correspondence; printed newsletters; accounts of workshops; photographs; newspaper and magazine articles; and audio recordings from various contributors in Indiana and elsewhere ranging from 1962 to 1985 regarding the interviewing of people and recording oral history and aspects of the organization.

Dates

  • 1962-1985

Creator

Conditions Governing Access

This collection is open for research.

Conditions Governing Use

Legal title, copyright, and literary rights reside with Rare Books and Manuscripts, Indiana State Library, Indianapolis, IN. All requests to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted to Rare Books and Manuscripts.

Administrative History

The Indiana Oral History Roundtable was conceived in 1970 by Hubert Hawkins, director of the Indiana Historical Bureau and executive secretary of the Indiana Historical Society. The roundtable was founded in Indianapolis, Indiana in March of 1971 by fourteen people who represented the major campuses, the Indiana State Library and the Indiana Historical Society. The goals were to promote regular meetings of people engaged in oral history to compare programs; share new ideas; discuss means of furthering the cause of oral history in Indiana; stimulate programs already in existence and promote the formation of new ones. There are many possibilities for programs and actions, including workshops and to maintain a statewide bibliographical record of available oral histories. Dr. Martin Ridge of Indiana University was chosen as the first president. There were individual and institutional memberships, it met once a year and published a newsletter. The roundtable was sponsored by the Indiana State Library and the field agent/director of the library's oral history project served as the roundtable's secretary. A constitution and bylaws were developed in 1976. The organization was still making financial transactions at the end of 1984.

There were a number of organizations which were collecting oral histories, including the Indiana Division of the Indiana State Library, Indianapolis, IN. Tom Krasean was the first director, in 1967, of this statewide project to gather oral reminiscences of Hoosiers in all areas of activity. There are many oral histories, both audio recordings and printed transcripts, in the Rare Books and Manuscripts Division of the Indiana State Library. Other directors have included John Newman, Randall Jehs and Jerry Handfield.

The Indiana University Oral History Research Project and the project at DePauw (IN) University were among others working in this field.

The Oral History Association was founded in 1966 and is an international organization.

Sources:

Information found within the collection.

Oral History Association. "About." Accessed November 11, 2016. http://www.oralhistory.org/about.

Extent

2 Cubic Feet (6 manuscript boxes)

Language of Materials

English

Arrangement

This collection is arranged by subject.

Custodial History

This collection was received by Rare Books and Manuscripts as a donation.

Accruals

No further additions are expected.

Related Archival Material

Materials relating to this collection may be found in the following collections in the Rare Books and Manuscripts Division, Indiana State Library, Indianapolis, IN:

L570: Indiana State Library collection

L640: Oral history collection

Processing Information

Collection processing completed 2016/10/18 by Edythe Huffman. EAD finding aid created 2016/10/18 by Edythe Huffman. EAD finding aid updated 2023/01/13 by Lauren Patton.
Title
Indiana Oral History Roundtable collection
Status
Completed
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin

Repository Details

Part of the Rare Books and Manuscripts Repository

Contact:
140 North Senate Avenue
Indianapolis, Indiana 46204 U.S.A.
317-232-3671