ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the issues involved in stewardship and their implications for an organization's mission, planning, and short- and long-term goals. Stewardship takes different forms for different historical organizations. Most historical organizations serve as repositories, often developing and expanding their historical collections in the process. Stewardship is where the unique role of historical organizations in the field of oral history comes into focus. The administrative or support actions associated with oral history preservation and access, transcribing is probably the most discussed and most questioned by oral history practitioners. Historical organizations such as museums, libraries and archives, and historic sites are among the common oral history repositories. Stewardship care for recordings made by individuals is a sign of respect, both for the narrator whose voice is on the recording and for the information itself. Responsible stewardship of oral histories involves the multiple decisions and tasks that often fall to historical organizations regarding their preservation and access.
