19 tasks, each one witnessed by the sources that watched the job — and behind every one, a prompt you can use tonight.
You’ll split time between interviewing people, transcribing audio, and doing background research. Mornings often hold interviews or archival visits; afternoons are for listening, note-taking, and entering metadata in Microsoft Excel or Access.
Evenings or set days are for writing reports, preparing public talks in PowerPoint, or assembling articles for publication with Microsoft Word and Adobe InDesign. Expect some admin: scheduling, cataloging files on SharePoint, and coordinating volunteers or interns.
Common tools: Microsoft Word for drafts, Excel or Access for databases and cataloging, PowerPoint for presentations, and Adobe Acrobat or InDesign for final reports or booklets.
You may use SharePoint to store interview files, and SPSS if you’re doing quantitative analysis of survey data. Recorders and audio-editing tools are used for interviews; always keep original audio and a secure backup.
Use AI for time-saving tasks only: auto-transcription to speed typing, keyword searches, or summarizing long interviews. Always check and correct AI transcripts against the original audio—AI makes mistakes with names, dialects, and dates.
Don’t let AI write interpretive conclusions or replace source criticism. Keep a clear audit trail: note which parts an AI handled, keep original files, and verify every factual claim with the primary audio or documents.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), 3,450 people were employed in this occupational area with a 2025 median wage of $76,750 per year.
The lowest tenth earned $42,730 and the top tenth $131,810. Pay varies by employer—universities, museums, government—and by region, project funding, and whether you’re salaried or contract-based.
A history, anthropology, or archival studies degree helps. Learn practical skills: interview technique, audio recording, transcription, Excel/Access for databases, and basic editing in Word and InDesign.
Volunteer on projects at local museums, historical societies, or university labs to build a portfolio. Take short courses in ethics, oral-history methodology, and source criticism to show employers you know how to assess reliability.
Oral historians focus on collecting and interpreting recorded interviews as primary sources; they set up interviews, evaluate reliability of spoken testimony, and build collections around those narratives.
Traditional historians may work more with written archives and secondary sources; archivists prioritize preservation, cataloging, and access. Oral historians often wear both hats: they gather interviews and also handle cataloging in Excel, Access, or SharePoint.
Both matter, but if you must choose one first, learn interviewing technique: how to ask open questions, build trust, and record high-quality audio. Without good interviews you won’t have reliable primary material.
Quickly follow that with source criticism: evaluate memory errors, bias, and corroborate with documents. Good projects need clear interviews and careful comparison to other sources to judge accuracy.