I had planned to have a technology audit completed by this week for the Tulsa Historical Society oral history project but the people I need to facilitate this are not available for a few more weeks. I had been waiting to complete an RFP for digitizing the analog tapes until I knew what technology was in place because that would determine how the digital files should be delivered. Should they arrive on CD, DVD or external USB hard drive? Should the file format be MP3, WAV or something else? These remain open questions for a few more weeks so I turned my attention more to the Ritchie text to finish reading it early. I am so glad I did because chapter 6 discusses exactly these kinds of issues and perhaps more importantly, on page 175 I was introduced to the Society of American Archivists and the Oral History Association.

I had not really thought about oral histories as archives so when it came up in the book I felt a little silly for not recognizing the connection. And I never even considered that there was a professional organization specifically for oral historians but what a resource! The OHA publishes Oral History Evaluation Guidelines that will be very helpful in every phase of my project from here on. Most notably, it provides guidelines to help establish the firm goals and plans required for real consideration by grant funding organizations. Another resource is the National Archives and Records Administration.

So in the next few weeks I will be getting acquainted with these resources, assimilating the OHA guidelines, performing a broad search for grant opportunities and at least getting a start on an RFP to digitize the analog tapes. And as soon as THS personnel are available I will complete the technology audit and write out my technology “wish list.”

It’s building momentum…very exciting indeed!