Oral History Guidelines

Guidelines to create metadata for oral histories and other interviews.

Reminders:

• These instructions are a sub-set of the full metadata guidelines but may not cover all options; be sure to look at help guides for individual fields to see additional examples and formatting guidelines

• Occasionally, items may have project-specific exceptions to these rules

• Institution and collection values will always be determined by administrators

• Placeholder information is denoted by {{{3 brackets}}} which should be removed; other punctuation is intentional (examples show final formatting)

• Note that oral histories are usually a specific type of interview, characterized by narrative responses about events in a person’s past; information in this guide will generally apply to other kinds of question-and-answer or narrative interviews, but may need to be adjusted (title, description, subjects) to reflect the content

Title

Note

• Every interview should have one main title that describes interviewee(s) and date(s)

• Only include information that is known (e.g., some interviews may not have a date)

• More Title formatting and examples

Main Title

Guideline	Examples
Single interview/date: Oral History Interview with {{{name}}}, {{{month day}}}, {{{year}}}
Leave out any unknown information Do not include titles, nicknames, etc. (e.g., Dr.)	Oral History Interview with William Webb Oral History Interview with Oscar Mauzy, July 24, 1968 Oral History Interview with Barney Christy, 1985
Multiple interviews/dates: Oral History Interviews with {{{name}}}, {{{year}}} (or {{{year - year}}})
As appropriate, represent multiple names, dates, etc. Shorten dates (and names, if needed) to keep titles a reasonable length	Oral History Interviews with George Clarence Moffett, 1965-1966 Oral History Interviews with Sarah T. Hughes, 1969 Oral History Interview with Katherine L. Lathrop and Paul V. Harper, January 26, 1995

Added Title

Guideline	Examples
If there are multiple interviews in a single bound transcript, add a separate title for each interview	Oral History Interview with George Clarence Moffett, May 3, 1965 Oral History Interview with George Clarence Moffett, July 26, 1965 Oral History Interview with George Clarence Moffett, July 1966

Series Title

Guideline	Examples
For some special projects, there may be be a series title	Business Archives Project Green Pioneers in North Texas World War II Pearl Harbor Survivors Oral History Project Human Radiation Studies: Remembering the Early Years
In specific instances, this could also apply to archival series

Other Titles

• When in doubt, do not include additional titles (see other title documentation for more information)

• If names include organizational acronyms, it may be appropriate to include an alternate title (though generally the name should just be written out elsewhere in the record)

Creator/Contributor

Note

• Creators will be the interviewer(s) and interviewee(s)

• When applicable, other persons/organizations involved may be listed as contributors (e.g., recording engineer, transcriber, translator, compiler, donor etc.)

• Entries may only include a single name; for multiple names (e.g., two interviewers), you will need a separate entry for each name

• Remember that a name can only be a creator or contributor (not both)

• Every entry must include the role and type (person or organization); “organization” is rarely used in these cases, but could apply to a sponsor/funder/etc. for an oral history project in certain cases

• More Creator and Contributor formatting and examples

Guideline	Examples
Individual names (type = personal)
Format a personal name as: last, first middle Personal names must have a surname and should not be included when unavailable (e.g., signed “Aunt Jennie” with no additional information) Do not include titles (e.g., Rev.), degrees (e.g., Ph.D.), etc. unless necessary to distinguish the person; for married women, use the woman’s name, if known Use an authorized form of the name if available/relevant Other forms (e.g., abbreviations) can be added to “info”	Bouldin, H. M.
	Foster, Samuel B.
	Bodansky, Meyer, 1896-1941
	Carmean, E. A., Jr.
	Hunt, Mrs. Andrew
	Name: James, Thomas Leroy Info: Thos. L. James
Agency/organization names (type = organization)
Use an authorized form of the name if available/relevant Write out the name as it is written (e.g., in signature line or letterhead) For organizations with divisions, list each part largest to smallest, separated with periods	United States. Army.
	Galveston Artillery Club
	Committee for a National Trade Policy (U.S.)
	Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Missouri, Ohio, and Other States
	Colombia. Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores.

Publisher

Note

• Only used when the interview is formally published

• More Date formatting and examples

Guideline	Examples
For transcripts, use the printer/publisher that created the bound/published version	Name: University of North Texas Location: Denton, Texas
For recordings, the organization that formally published and made publicly or commercially available) – this is rare	Name: St. David’s Episcopal Church (Austin, Tex.) Location: Austin, Texas

Creation Date

Note

• More Date formatting and examples

Guideline	Examples
Use the date or the interview in the form YYYY-MM-DD	1968-07-24
If there are multiple interviews in a single bound transcript, only add a single creation date entry using one of these formats:
Use a less specific date (e.g., just YYYY-MM if there are multiple interviews in a single month)	1966-07
If there are 2 or 3 dates, especially separated by long periods of time, they can be listed individually with multiple date format: {YYYY-MM-DD,YYYY-MM-DD}	{1974-12-31,1975-02-20}
Use a range if there are a large number of dates, or if multiple dates are too cumbersome, e.g., YYYY-MM/YYYY-MM or YYYY/YYYY	1969-06/1969-08 1967/1969
If this is unknown, leave the creation date blank

Language

Note

• More Language formatting and examples

• Add language(s) written/spoken in the interview

• Add multiple languages if needed

Content Description

Note

• Start the content description with “Interview with … “

• When important, other descriptive elements can be included at the start, e.g., “Photocopy of a transcript …” or “Recording of an interview …”

• Most descriptions will be around 1-3 sentences

• Adjust the description based on known information and type of content

• More Description formatting and examples

Guideline	Examples
Generally use the rough format: Interview with {{{name}}}, {{{a profession/characteristics that define why they’re being interviewed}}} from {{{city, state}}}. {{{Brief details summarizing the whole interview and highlighting important parts.}}} Adjust the description to match the content if it does not fit in the rough format well.	Interview with former Democratic member of the Texas House of Representatives DeWitt Hale, an attorney from Corpus Christi, Texas. The interview includes Hale’s personal experiences as a member of the Sixty-first Legislature, as well as his views on one-year versus two-year budgets, revenue bills, corporate income tax, welfare legislation, state minimum wage law, education legislation, the creation of new four-year colleges, beer and liquor lobbies, changes in state sales tax base, personal legislation, redistricting, and the “one man, one vote” U.S. Supreme Court decision. The interview also includes Hale’s comments on fellow politicians.
	Interview with Cheryl Hall discussing her career writing for the Dallas Morning News and her perspectives on the field of journalism. Hall also talks about her childhood and family, as well as her educational background.
	Transcript of an interview with architect Kirk Teske discussing his experience designing buildings, the shift toward sustainable building and LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification, and the connection between design and health.

Physical Description

Guideline	Examples
Transcripts: # p. ; h cm.
List the number of pages (according to pagination and height rounded up to next whole centimeter (cm.) If pages are unnumbered, list the pages of content in [square brackets] – this also applies to unnumbered sections or appendices	64 p. ; 28 cm. 89, [4] p. : port., map ; 29 cm. [10] p. ; 28 cm.
For recordings:
AUDIO: # sound recording(s) ([time]) : digital VIDEO: # recording(s) ([time]) : sd., col. ; digital sd. for sound col. for color image (vs. b&w) digital (if born-digital; do not include if digitized from tape) Note: for [time], do not zero-pad (e.g., 05) or include zero units (e.g., 0 min.)	1 sound recording (1 hr., 7 min.) : digital
	1 video recording (28 min., 33 sec.) : sd., col. ; digital

Subject

Note

• 2 subject values (any type) are required for every record

• 1 UNTL-BS term is required for all Portal/Gateway records

• LCGFT terms are not required, but several are relevant to the format of oral histories (listed below)

• Ideally, at least one subject should be added that is “more specific” to the individual item content

• More Subject formatting and examples

Guideline	Examples
University of North Texas Libraries Browse Subjects (UNTL-BS)
Add a term for individuals, since these are personal accounts	People - Individuals
Depending on the content, it may be appropriate to add one or two additional UNTL-BS terms	Education - Colleges and Universities Government and Law - Elected Officials - Senators Social Life and Customs - Clubs and Organizations Business, Economics and Finance - Medicine - Doctors
Keywords (KWD)
Depending on the content, add one or two keywords that are specific to the item Keywords should be lowercase and plural, unless they are proper names	medical research anecdotes WWII state legislatures
Library of Congress Genre/Form Terms (LCGFT)
Most of these genre/form terms are likely applicable	Oral histories Interviews Personal Narratives Autobiographies Biographies
Named Person (named_person)
Add the name of the interviewee, since the content is about their life/experiences	Creighton, Tom Saunders, Allan W. (Buck) Stovall, Jesse F., Jr.
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH)
If the oral history talks about a major historical event, especially war-related (e.g., Pearl Harbor, 9/11, World War I, etc.), consider adding an appropriate term from this list, or from the LC authorities LCSH terms may need to be reformatted from the version that displays in a library catalog, e.g., change em-dash to – We do not include form subdivisions that overlap with LCGFT (e.g., Oral history) We do not include geographic subdivisions that overlap with coverage (e.g., {topic} – Texas – Denton or {topic} – United States)|	Prisoners of war Vietnam War, 1961-1975 Pearl Harbor (Hawaii), Attack on, 1941 World War, 1939-1945 – War work {note: “war work” is used for war efforts on the homefront} Korean War, 1950-1953 Persian Gulf War, 1991 September 11 Terrorist Attacks, 2001

Coverage

Note

• Add information about the places/dates that the content is about

• This will likely not match creation information

• More Coverage formatting and examples

Guideline	Examples
Place Name
If relevant, add the place(s) that are discussed in the interview Choose a place already on the list (usually the case) or add new place name following appropriate formatting	United States - Texas India United States - Illinois - Cook County - Chicago
Coverage Date
Add a single coverage date entry for the date or date range described in the content Formatting follows the same rules as the date field	1937/1970-01 2000-08 1937/1970-01
Time Period
For Portal records, add relevant time period(s) that correspond to the date(s) covered	mod-tim (Modern Times (1939-Present)

Relation

Note

• Relationships only apply when we have multiple items in the Digital Collections that should be connected

• If you are unsure whether this applies, look at the relation field guidelines for a description of the types of appropriate relations

• More Relation formatting and examples

• For each entry, choose the appropriate relation type and add {{{title, ARK}}} for the related item

• Relationships are reciprocal, so A >> B and B >> A

• Here are examples of relations that may be applicable to oral histories:

Audio/video recording & typed transcript

Recording	Has Transcription	(points to typed version)	Oral History Interview with Arthur Oviedo, April 16, 2001, ark:/67531/metapth845116
Typed version	Is Transcription of	(points to original recording	Oral History Interview with Arthur Oviedo, April 16, 2001, ark:/67531/metapth845079

Audio and video recordings of the same interview

Video	Has Format	(points to audio)	Interview with Dr. Walter Mignolo [audio], ark:/67531/metadc307061
Audio	Is Format of	(points to video)	Interview with Dr. Walter Mignolo [full video], 1948], ark:/67531/metadc307063

• Occasionally, there may be multiple relationships among several versions, e.g., a video could “have format” (audio) and “have transcription” (text); the audio would “be format of” (video) and “have transcription” (text); the text would “be transcription of” (audio & video)

• Other, lesser-used relationships (see guidelines): has version/is version of (i.e., multiple versions of the same content in the same format); has translation/is translation of (for multiple versions in different languages); is part/has part or based on/basis for (e.g., for a “full” version and a “partial” version or edited/summary version – not for different parts in a series that have entirely different content)

Resource Type

Note

• More Resoure Type formatting and examples

• For text: book (if bound) or text (if < 50 p./not bound)

• For recordings: sound or video

Format

Note

• More Format formatting and examples

• For printed transcripts: text

• For sound recordings: audio

• For video recordings: video

Identifier

Note

• These are the most commonly-used identifiers for oral histories; occasionally others may apply

• More Identifier formatting and examples

Guideline	Examples
Local Accession/Control Number
Use the value assigned by the partner	OH_0030 OHB_0096 GPV_17_millican_reflections-02
Call Number
Some items, especially bound volumes, may have a separate call number (e.g., from a catalog record), if so, include the value without the copy (e.g., c.2)	OH 657
UNT Catalog Number
For oral histories cataloged at UNT, you may include the record number (at the end of the record URL)	b3311416

Collection

Note

• More Collection information

• Generally, the collection(s) should not be changed

• IF the oral history has significant content about events in World War I or World War II, add a collection for that war

  • World War One Collection

  • World War Two Collection

Note

Note

• More Note formatting and examples

Guideline	Examples
Use a display note for any information not appropriate for other sections that would be useful for users (not required) For items cataloged at UNT (or another library), catalog record notes may be included with their labels	Summary: Interview with A.W. Dupree, Jr. concerning his experiences as a resident of Hamilton Park, Texas from 1966 to 1990. Dupree discusses his youth in Dallas, his service in the U.S. military during World War II, his musical career, his decision to buy a home in Hamilton Park, home improvements, church activities, the desegregation of Hamilton Park School, Pacesetter, commercial encroachment, and the “Buy Out.”
	Contents: April 5, 1984 interview [leaves [1]-31] – February 21, 1985 interview [leaves [32]-86] – May 14, 1985 interview [leaves [87]-160] – May 31, 1985 interview [leaves [161]-290]