The Archives and Oral History Special Interest Group is delighted to share our new report, ‘Archiving oral history in local authority archives’.
Based on responses from 48 archives across the UK, the report explores how local authority archives are collecting, preserving, cataloguing, and providing access to oral history collections.
When we sent out the survey in 2025, we wanted to know whether local authority archives were accepting oral history collections. Encouragingly, every archive that responded to the survey said that they were currently accepting oral histories, with most having accepted a collection within the last three years.
Archivists also reported significant challenges around cataloguing oral histories and providing access to them. While oral histories are widely valued, many collections remain largely inaccessible and under-used.
“They are suddenly one of the most popular resources with a noticeable uptick in demand for access. They provide us with challenges as it is hard to make them accessible and we lack the technical knowledge/expertise within our core staff.” (Respondent 40)
The report makes five key recommendations:
- Build ‘archive work’ into oral history projects
- Share guidance around cataloguing and providing access to oral histories for non-specialists
- Continue to invest in digitising at-risk formats
- Address the long-term preservation of digital recordings
- Advocate for the value of oral histories in a local authority setting
Over the coming months, we will be sharing a series of blog posts exploring each recommendation in more detail, including resources, case studies, and practical guidance.
We would like to thank everyone who contributed towards the report, particularly Hannah Tame, Emily Hewitt, Madeline White, and other members of the Archives and Oral History Special Interest Group, who helped develop and distribute the survey and provided feedback on the report. We are especially grateful to the archivists who took the time to complete the survey and share their experiences with us.
The Archives and Oral History Special Interest Group meets online once a month for informal discussions around everything archives and oral history related. If you are an Oral History Society member you are very welcome to join us!
If you work with archived oral histories you can also find a supportive community in British and Irish Sound Archives , which holds an annual conference and hosts online discussions and training in between.
Quotes from the authors
“I work at a national library but everything I do is based on acting as part of a wider ecosystem of archives, libraries and other repositories; local authority archives are at the heart of that. We wanted to run this survey and write this report to get a sense of how local and regional archivists are approaching oral history collecting and how we might be able to work together or help one another. Now you can read the report, I hope we can start to act on some of the recommendations.”
Charlie Morgan, Oral History Archivist, National Life Stories and the British Library
“I’m proud to look after oral histories in a local authority archive, building on decades of work across Essex to preserve people’s voices, experiences, and perspectives for future generations. As this report shows, archivists across the UK are working hard to ensure oral histories are preserved and made accessible, often in the face of significant challenges. I hope our recommendations lead to greater support and, ultimately, more resources for this work, which has so much to offer the communities they serve.”
Kate O’Neill, Sound Archivist, Essex Record Office
