ABSTRACT
Equipment management is another major area of responsibility for a community oral history project director and project team. Access to good equipment in working order, as the story illustrates, is critical to the success of an interview and a project. This chapter covers equipment options, training sessions, equipment maintenance, and other community oral history project equipment needs. It then reviews the list and recommendation for an external microphone and for the additional items oral historians use when recording interviews before acquiring the materials for their project needs. The recording kit and the data file preservation kit are staples of a community oral history project. Maintaining a recording equipment kit is an ongoing task. Responsibilities include checking the kit before and after each interview, accounting for all items to make sure they are in good working order. Oral history is technology-based. A recording equipment workshop familiarizes team members with the equipment and helps assure consistent interview sound and/or video quality.
