ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book focuses on the management steps that will help people take a project plan and put it into action to support the interviewing process and complete the project. In many oral history projects, especially community oral history projects, outcomes can be a motivating factor for project organization and may have an impact on interview content. Overall, community oral history project management involves an understanding of oral history and insight into the community. In a survey response, veteran community oral historian Geneva Kebler Wiskemann described it this way: community oral historians should make sure historical focus is clear, a project team has time and energy to do the planned number of interviews, a project has a reasonable and manageable scope, interviewers are trained, team members begin working early with a proposed repository, and the project purpose is clear to the community.
