ABSTRACT
This conclusion presents some closing thoughts on the key concepts covered in the preceding chapters of this book. The book begins with a discussion of historical organizations and oral history. Its focuses on oral history in historical organizations takes the practice of oral history through its full life cycle, examining the roles and work of historical organizations as commonly and widely used repositories which they are but as both creators and curators of these primary source documents. The large and growing numbers of historical organizations, with missions based in the practice of public and local history, are well suited to support the practice of oral history. Historical organizations are valued teachers of history. Through use of oral history, with its parallels to common public and local history practices in historical organizations, these organizations can preserve and make available information that, as oral historians know, might otherwise be lost.
