Nolan McGillivray's Reflection
This reflection, focusing on my experience conducting oral history, will detail the interview, research and compilation of the on the record project. This project, being my only introduction to the field of oral history up to this point, showcased both the challenges and rewards that come along with the undertaking of a venture into oral history.
The importance of oral history lies in its ability to access historical information that is only present the memories, stories and life events of individuals rather than archives, books and publications. The use of the oral history method for accessing such information is one which should not be overlooked within the greater context of historical study. Such method, consisting of initial research, interview practice, transcription and project publication, is one which requires an altogether different set of historical skills. This method, experienced personally by myself, was one which at first seemed daunting and overwhelming. Yet with my participation in the on the record project, I can confidently say it is a method which I have come to now understand and wholly respect.
Click here for Nolan's interviewee, Myra Pearce's page and link to the full interview.
| My own experience with this method began when I enrolled in this course. Not knowing exactly what oral history was, I enrolled in this course as the mention of alternative historical methods was on that intrigued me. My own involvement with the on the record project began when I was paired up with Guelph resident, Myra Pearce. Our initial visit, being one of polite conversation as it seemed Myra was more interested in my own personal life. After our initial conversation, I began research on some of the topics we had discussed up until that point. Myra, being born in Ireland, described to me her family’s initial connection to the Irish seas fishing industry. Her description of her hometown of Kilkeel (see Figure 1) and the country itself was one which intruded me as it was evident in her facial expression that this place was highly significant to her. |
|
Before my recorded interview with Myra, my initial research had been wholly focused on the Irish sea fishing industry, this was one topic which was discussed quite heavily in our initial conversation. Looking back on that experience, I feel as though I should have elaborated much more and tried to learn more about Myra before our interview. This is not to say that all the preliminary research was in vain, as much of my initial research aided in my overall understanding of Myra’s family within Ireland at the time. Had I approached our initial meeting with a more concrete idea of what I wanted to learn about Myra, perhaps my initial research would prove to be more beneficial as post interview research was required in this case.
On the day of our interview, I was surprised to see Myra with a notebook of her own as she too seemed quite prepared for this conversation. Our interview began with my questions concerning her early life in Ireland, the economic climates of the fishing industry at that time and her memories regarding her siblings and parents during that time. As our interview progressed at an almost biographical pace, began to understand Myra’s story as one which highlights the development of the 20th century thorough her eyes. Myra’s life story, and her experiences discussed in the interview can be understood through its own historical context. The information shared by Myra, consisting of her experiences as a child in Kilkeel, an adolescent in Belfast and an adult in Canada highlight both her strength in character and personality. The historical context, being that of the early to late 20th century can come to be understood through Myra’s story as a time of great change. The information shared by Myra, concerning the economic status of “fishing people” was useful to my overall research as her first-hand experiences of being in a lower income fishing household showcased the general economic trend in the rea at that time. The bulk of the fishing research conducted for this interview was quite statistical. Outlining the general economic trends of the industry, the sources uncovered for this segment of the interview lacked context as they were quite specific. This context was provided by Myra as I began to understand the research more fully when Myra explained it to me.
Focusing more on her family, Myra’s shared information regarding the industry was more general, yet provided me with a greater understanding of the industry and its economics. The rest of the research conducted, consisting of newspaper articles and photographs supplements the information in the interview as they too, provide specific context for Myra’s story. Her recollection of memories from the second world war proved to be quite interesting as it posed less of a research challenge for me. The numerous sources on events such as the first bombing of Belfast and the United Kingdom, were easy to find within the University of Guelph library online archives. Further sources used for this project, consisting of a photograph of a bakery, and a musical composition, continue to add context to Myra’s story as they are important specifically to Myra. Had this interview been conducted elsewhere on the same topic, it may have been easy to find such aforementioned sources as newspapers and journal articles, yet these sources specifically, are linked to Myra’s story.
|
The bakery photograph, depicting a Rockwood institution, Saunders Bakery, was significant to this project because It is a place which both Myra and myself had frequented in the past. This (see Figure 2) photograph therefore, depicting the bakery in 1977, showcases not only the long history of the local institution but also its significance to Myra as this was the place where she first secured permanent lodging in Canada.
The song referenced in the project, titled Green Door, is relevant as it was playing in the dining room of the ship on which Myra and her children came to Canada. This, memory, belonging to One of Myra’s children, was shared with me after the conclusion of the recorded interview, yet its significance for adding context and “life” into the story was not lost on me. |
 Figure 2: Storefront of Saunders Bakery in 1977. |
The overall research process was one which I had not yet encountered in university up to this point. In other history courses, when confronted with a topic, I conduct research in a very structured way as I usually have a thesis which I am trying to prove upon commencement of the research. This project however, challenged me to consult a variety of sources and topics as there is no thesis involved in this type of oral history. The consultation of sources in various formats such as photographs and archival references challenged me to broaden my overall idea of what historical research was.
The final part of this project, being that of transcription and upload to the website CWRC, was by far the most challenging. CWRC, being a collaborator website was at first for me, hard to understand. Yet with our numerous tutorial sessions and classes, its intimidating application became more comprehensible. The metadata portion of uploading to CWRC was the most tedious and challenging part of this application. Understanding the CWRC platform became easier as I gained more overall experience with the program. Uploading sources to CWRC was also a challenge for me as I initially struggled with discerning the bibliographical section from the historical documents section on the collaborator home page. Uploading sources, images and the audio files themselves was less of a challenge and more of a time-consuming process for me. As I chose to link segments of the interview to my CWRC page, I found myself uploading over ten separate audio files to the program. Unable to upload multiple files at once, and with the server’s poor speed, I was forced to simply wait as the process took me almost three hours. This is a consideration which I would take into account if I were asked to complete such a project again.
My decision to upload many separate audio clips alongside the full interview was ironically, an idea meant to save time as I thought linking the interview to the CWRC page would be much easier that way. The addition of the entire project to CWRC was overall, a positive experience as I feel that I learned much about this practice of oral history through the actual application of submitting my work to a project rather than a TA or professor. This experience as a hole, from the initial meeting and research to the uploading of sources and recorded interview taught me much about time management and proper preparation as I feel as though I would improve upon these aspects if asked to complete this assignment again. The oral history method as discussed in class was an altogether foreign method of historical research to me. From the initial ethics documents to the completion of the project, I feel as though I have learned a great deal about oral history and how it is conducted properly. The works read and discussed in the bulk of this class were beneficial to the overall completion of this project as ethical concern, proper procedure and interview setup were all discussed to great length before commencement of the project. Overall, to reflect on this project as a whole, I feel as though I could certainly do better yet look on this experience as a positive introduction to the oral history practice.
Bibliography (Works Consulted)
1. Portelli, Alessandro. “The Peculiarities of Oral History.” History Workshop Journal 12 no. 1 (1981). https://doi-org.subzero.lib.uoguelph.ca/10.1093/hwj/12.1.96.
2. Larson, Mary A. “Potential, Potential, Potential: The Marriage Of Oral History And The World Wide Web."The Journal Of American History 88, no. 2 (2001): 596-603. https://doi-org.subzero.lib.uoguelph.ca/10.2307/2675108
3. Wenger, G. Clare. “Interviewing Older People.” In Handbook of Interview Research edited by Jaber F. Gubrium and James A. Holstein, SAGE Publications, 2001.
4. Hughes, P.H. “An Examination Of The Northern Irish Sea Fishing Industry." Journal Of The Statistical And Social Inquiry Society Of Ireland 21 (1968): 174-200.
5. Shopes, L. “After The Interview Ends: Moving Oral History Out Of The Archives And Into Publication." The Oral History Review 42, no. 2 (2015): 300-310.