The OHS is fifty years old this year!
Explore the timeline to discover the Society's own history and achievements over the last half century.
24 March – OHS annual conference ‘Tales out of school: oral history and education’ is held at the Geoffrey Chaucer School, London, funded by the Inner London Education Authority (ILEA) before its extinction. Speakers included Caroline Benn, Jane Mace, Penny Summerfield, Parita Mukta and a group of ex-pupils and ex-teachers telling the story of Tulse Hill school in Brixton which pioneered the promotion of black consciousness in the curriculum, famously with a visit from Mohammed Ali.
8 December – Memory as Evidence: Oral History in Eastern Europe one day Oral History Society seminar discussing the central role of oral history in Eastern Europe in the reconstruction of new societies.
Rob Wilkinson succeeds Rodney Mace as Society Treasurer. Al Thomson joins the Oral History journal editorial team.
Following his involvement in the International Yearbook of Oral History and Life Stories (the first issue is published by OUP in 1992) Paul Thompson steps down as an active editor of Oral History, accepting a role as Founder Editor. He leaves the committee the following year.
Oral History special issue on ‘The Crafts’ is supported by a grant from the Crafts Council and includes a colour section for the first time.
22/23 March – OHS annual conference ‘Reminiscence Reviewed’ at Lancashire Polytechnic, Preston.
7/8 September – Special conference on ‘Oral History and the National Curriculum’ at Crewe and Alsager College is addressed by Cmdr Saunders Watson, chair of the History Working Party on the [new] National Curriculum.
OHS’s Regional Network of oral historians is established with 26 accredited networkers to represent the Society across the UK.
Special issue of Oral History is dedicated to oral history and the National Curriculum.
16/17 May – Annual conference focussing on ‘Women and oral history’ is held at Conway Hall, London.
OHS republishes Jane Lawrence and Jane Mace, Remembering in Groups: Ideas from Reminiscence and Literary Work.
Lynne Amidon, the Society’s longstanding business manager steps down and membership affairs are handed to a subscription agent, BKT.
Padmini Broomfield, OHS Trustee and Regional Network Coordinator, talks about the purpose of the OHS's regional network and the benefits of being a member of the OHS. Filmed at the Oral History journal 50th anniversary event at the British Library, 2019.
23/24 April - Broadcast Live: Oral History, Radio & Television, Annual OHSconference, London, includes a series of special screenings at the National Film Theatre, including events featuring Arthur Scargill and Tony Parker, and a retrospective of ground-breaking Video Diaries.
Katherine Towsey (Kirklees Sound Archive) becomes the first OHS Regional Network Co-ordinator and organises the first network meeting in Sheffield.
30-31 October – 'Building Bridges: Oral History in Wales today', joint OHS conference with Llafur, the Welsh Labour History Society, in Cardiff
October – a revised OHS constitution is agreed (Oral History, vol.22 no.1 Spring 1994)
25th anniversary issue of Oral History (vol.22 no.2 Autumn 1994) looks back on the development of oral history (with articles on George Ewart Evans and Tony Parker) and considers what direction the field might take in the future (international perspectives on the memory and history debates).
25/27 March 'War and Memory in the Twentieth Century'. Annual OHS conference, University of Portsmouth.
22 October – Tony Benn addresses the OHS autumn conference, ‘Red tapes: oral history and Left networks’ at the National Museum of Labour History in Manchester.
21-23 April – ‘Talking about belief: oral history and religion’ in Bristol is the first OHS conference devoted to the theme.
The Society publishes its first legal and ethical guidelines - Copyright, ethics and oral history by Alan Ward - as a booklet and in Oral History vol.23 no.2 autumn 1995.
21 October – Sporting Lives - Oral History Society and Scottish Oral History Group joint autumn conference, University of Strathclyde.
OHS publishes Allan Redfern’s Talking in Class: Oral History and the National Curriculum.
18-19 May – OHS annual conference ‘Cradle to grave: health, welfare and oral history’ is held at Birkbeck College, University of London, marking fifty years of the NHS. A resulting book, Oral history, health and welfare, edited by Joanna Bornat, Rob Perks, Paul Thompson and Jan Walmsley is published by Routledge in 2000.
June – the International Oral History Association (IOHA) is founded at the ninth international oral history conference in Sweden. Al Thomson represents the UK on the founding board.
26 October – Moving Memories: Oral History and Film – Oral History Society autumn conference and Museum of London, Museum of London.
Death of oral history pioneers Raphael Samuel and Tony Parker (OHJ vol.25 no.1 spring 1997 obituaries).
Society membership reaches 950.
Thea Thompson describes Raphael Samuel and his approach to life and work.
Click on the image above to open in Soundcloud and see a transcript.
Recorded by Robert Wilkinson in 2008 for the Oral History of Oral History in the UK, funded by the British Library.
Wendy Rickard replaces Teresa Watkins on the Oral History editorial team, joining Joanna Bornat, Brenda Corti, Rob Perks and Al Thomson.
Spring 1997 issue of Oral History is devoted to ‘Sporting lives’, drawing on papers from the October 1995 OHS conference on the same subject.
14-15 March - First OHS committee ‘study away weekend’ is held at the Co-operative College near Loughborough.
10 May – OHS annual conference, ‘Vox pop: oral history and popular music’ with British Library’s National Sound Archive and the University of Westminster, features Billy Bragg interviewed by Alan Dein.
June - The OHS launches its first website, created by Pam Higham at Essex University.
Autumn 1997 issue of Oral History includes a new section on ‘Public History’ edited by Steve Hussey and Dan Weinbren.
Graham Smith succeeds Katherine Towsey as Regional Network Co-ordinator.
5 December - OHS committee meetings move from Conway Hall to the new British Library at St Pancras.
17 January – Oral History: Copyright, Ethics and Intellectual Property Rights, OHS seminar, Southampton Civic Centre.
Spring 1998 issue of Oral History features a revived ‘Oral history in schools’ section edited by Allan Redfern including ‘From the chalkface’ schools reports.
4-5 April – Annual OHS conference at Luton University on ‘Moving on: testimonies of migration’ attracts high attendance. It marks a move to a format of a single two-day annual conference and an autumn regional network event instead of spring and summer conferences.
April – Following the National Heritage Act (1997) Heritage Lottery Fund launches its revenue grants programme and encourages oral history applications under its priority funding area, ‘Heritage Information Projects’.
June - Beth Thomas becomes OHS Web Officer. The website is redesigned and the OHS domain name first registered.
24 October – The ABC Event: Getting started in Oral History, Oral History Society’s Regional Network, Nottingham.
Discussions between the Society, the British Library and the New Millennium Experience Company for a major Millennium Oral History Project collapse as NMEC withdraws support. BBC Local Radio picks up the proposal and launches ‘The Century Speaks’ in partnership with the BL who archive the raw material gathered by 42 local stations as the ‘Millennium Memory Bank’.
Oral History: The Journal of the Oral History Society (vol.27 no.1) is completely redesigned by Andy Smith with a new OHS logo, and printing moves to Fastpoint Colour Graphics after many years at Manchester Free Press. The issue focusses on migration.
March – After years of ad hoc oral history training at the British Library led by Rob Perks, a formal joint BL-OHS training programme is launched. Rob Perks, Graham Smith and Steve Hussey act as trainers. One-day ‘Introduction to oral history’ courses are run at the British Library and around the UK.
15-16 May – OHS’s first annual conference on the subject of ‘Landscapes of memory: oral history and the environment’ with the Centre for Continuing Education, University of Sussex.
Society membership reaches 1,000.
Graham Smith joins Steve Hussey as Oral History public history editor
