An Oral History is a method of gathering and preserving historical information through recorded interviews with participants in past events and ways of life. It is both the oldest type of historical inquiry, predating the written word, and one of the most modern, initiated with tape recorders in the 1940s. (Taken from Oral History Association website at http://omega.dickinson.edu/organizations/oha/)

The oral history program here was started in 1974 when the Archives was founded. It was and still is a way to preserve the history of this institution along with generating interest about the Archives. Oral histories are also fun to read because participants are often quite candid in their interviews.  

The interviews are done by professionally-trained oral historians, librarians, archivists, family member or fellow employee. Dorothy Carpenter Archives has had all these types of interviewers for its oral history program, such as a professionally trained one for the Medical Center’s fiftieth anniversary in 1991. The interviewees/participants in the Archives’ program have been faculty, staff, relatives of employees and community members with a connection to the Medical Center .  

Oral history sessions are recorded onto audio cassette tapes in the Archives. Each session generally lasts for about an hour and an oral history is about 10 hours, on average. A professionally trained person then transcribes them, creating hard copies of the sessions. The hard copies are then made available to the public for reading. 
 
Visit our Oral History Snapshot page to read about selected oral history participants and listen to audio clips of their oral histories.  You can also click on selected names from the list below to access Oral History Snapshots.
 
Available Oral Histories:

Administration

Back to the main menu.

Anatomy

Back to the main menu.

Biochemistry Back to the main menu.

Cardiology

Back to the main menu.

Emergency Services

Back to the main menu.

Internal Medicine

Back to the main menu.

Library

Back to the main menu.

Medical Genetics

Back to the main menu.

Microbiology/Immunology

Back to the main menu.

Neurology

Back to the main menu.

Nursing

Back to the main menu.

Obstetrics

Back to the main menu.

Oncology

Back to the main menu.

Ophthalmology

Back to the main menu.

Otolaryngology

Back to the main menu.

Pathology

Back to the main menu.

Pediatrics

Back to the main menu.

Physiology/Pharmacology

Back to the main menu.

Private Diagnostic Clinic

Back to the main menu.

Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine

Back to the main menu.

Radiology

Back to the main menu.

Support Staff

Back to the main menu.

Surgery

Back to the main menu.

Urology

Back to the main menu.

Miscellaneous

Allied Health

Alumni Community members Hospital Employees Relatives of Employees

Back to the main menu.


| Site Map | Suggestions | Back to Carpenter Library |