Students in Hilary Iris Lowe‘s class, The Theory and Practice of Oral History, will begin an oral history project to understand what happened to the Philadelphia History Museum, which closed its doors in 2018. They will engage area cultural and history organizations and professionals to begin to understand the context for the museum’s demise. Central to our research is the question: Why can’t the City of Philadelphia sustain a history museum dedicated to its own history?

This course explores interdisciplinary foundations, practical considerations, and theoretical issues surrounding oral history as a process and a product. Since the 1930s, American historians have collected oral histories that reveal primary source evidence of past events and experiences, anthropologists have used oral history as a mode of ethnographic encounter, and even art historians have used them alongside visual arts to understand both artists and art movements.

This course will introduce students to the interdisciplinary history of oral history scholarship, the complexities of ethical and legal best practices of oral history projects, and rudimentary oral history project planning.

Every student will also be involved in collecting oral histories as part of a team, documenting a Philadelphia cultural institution.