ABSTRACT
This chapter explains that the interview is the anchor of an oral history project. Oral history projects can document the history of a community or neighborhood, including the stuff of everyday life. The chapter outlines the activities in each phase of the interviewing process. An oral history interview is the co-creation of an interviewer and an interviewee, selected because he or she can recount firsthand information that will be kept permanently and be made publicly available. But to the oral historian, questions take on a uniquely important status, because they shape the oral history interview, giving it structure and focus. In an important sense, the interviewer's questions are what make each oral history interview unique. Characteristics of memory are important for oral historians to consider as they embark on a community oral history project. The Community Oral History Toolkit is based on the premise that you already have completed a thorough plan for your oral history project.
