Experts’ Answers to Oral History Questions

100 Questions/7

Translated by Mandan Karimi

2025-12-4

We asked several researchers and activists in the field of oral history to express their views on oral history questions. The names of each participant are listed at the beginning of their answers, and the text of all answers will be published on this portal by the end of the week. The goal of this project is to open new doors to an issue and promote scientific discussions in the field of oral history.

In this project, a question is asked every Saturday, and we ask experts to present their views in the form of a short text (about 100 words) by the end of the week. All answers will be published together so that the audience can compare and analyze the views.

The content is the opinions of the senders and does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the Oral History website. Although the answers are supposed to be based on about 100 words, in order to be polite and not to leave the discussion incomplete, in some cases, answers longer than this are also accepted.

This time, we asked experts to submit their answers by Sunday night so that all answers can be published on Tuesday.

Question 7:

How do documents contribute to oral history in the stages of oral history research, from interviewing to editing?

Mohammad Mehdi Behdarvand

Documents in oral history research are the backbone of the research and accompany the researcher from beginning to end. In the design phase, documents provide the basis for asking detailed questions by introducing the period, key individuals, and events. In the pre-interview, studying documents increases the researcher's understanding of the narrator and the field and prevents generalizations. During the interview, referring to documents activates the narrator's memory, reveals temporal and numerical errors, and allows for more detailed questions. After the interview, documents are also a criterion for validating statements and resolving contradictions, and in the final editing, they make the text documented and scientifically defensible.

Hassan Beheshtipour

Documents fall into six main categories: formal, informal, organizational, media, audio-visual, and digital. Combining these documents with oral history completes historical research because oral history reflects the “spirit” and “feeling” of the event, and documents provide its “skeleton” and factual context. The simultaneity of the two elevates memoir to a reliable and multi-layered source. Without documents, narratives are subject to memory errors, and without oral history, documents are devoid of the human dimension. The use of documents both helps the narrator recall details and places the narrative in a network of evidence, creating a polyphonic and critical dimension.

Mohammad Mehdi Abdollahzadeh

Documents and oral history are two wings of research in contemporary history. In the preliminary study phase, especially in topic-based projects, documents help identify suitable people for interview and better understand the scene and event, and increase the researcher's knowledge. In the development of a research plan, documents are the basis for developing research questions and interview questions. During the interview, documents also help the interviewer to clarify gaps in the narrator's memory, the chronological order of events, and the location of events. In the final editing phase, documents are used to verify and precisely adjust the chronological sequence of events so that the text is documented and coherent.

Abolfath Momen

Documents are the main criterion for determining the authenticity of events and help the oral historian identify people, topics, time and place of events, as well as the position of the role-players. Documents, which are prepared during decision-making, reflect the fine and coarse details of the incident and help the narrator recall memories. During the interview stages, documents are used to design main and supplementary questions and illustrate characters, events and places. During the editing stage, they also prevent marginalization by preserving the language and authenticity of the narrative and by presenting it in a footnote or appendix, they make the narrative documented and referable.

Seyyed Vali Hashemi

One of the main keys to oral history is the "interview". Because the interview, or "narration of the event", by the narrator, is the main element of oral history. In order to become an acceptable text, each interview must be verified by having all the conditions, including detail, attachment of documents, photographs, maps, manuscripts, and sketches, and then compiled. The compilation, or the final work, must explain the entire event of a historical event related to the same subject. In fact, both the interview and the compilation must be inclusive and, so to speak, prevent bias and be comprehensive of individuals.

Hamid Ghazvini

In oral history, documents play a fundamental role and are essential for several reasons: they help the narrator recall memories, increase the credibility of the narrative, and supplement oral data. Documents also clarify the chronology of events that the narrator has forgotten, and are instrumental in selecting topics, designing questions, and identifying influential people or witnesses to the event. They reveal lesser-known angles and clarify time, place, and details that the narrator has forgotten. Conversely, oral narratives can also evaluate documents and reveal errors and shortcomings that lie within them.

Abolfazl Hassanabadi

 One of the interviewer's skills is the skill of searching and accessing private and public archives in pursuing the subject under study. Written and non-written documents have an essential function in all stages of oral history, from initial topic research and project design to data deepening, content verification, and ultimately publication, although the form of their use is different at each stage. Especially in recent years, "photographic oral history" has gained a special place and has been able to significantly increase the quality and depth of oral history interviews by helping to recall forgotten information and create greater emotional connection.

Seyyed Mohammad Sadegh Feyz

The document is a value in itself, and when it is consistent with the text and is placed below the subject in order to establish an important claim on the part of the narrator, it both gives the text and imposes a higher value on itself. It is natural that there is no need to present a document for clear issues; but wherever the narrator's statements are a matter of reflection or raise questions for the audience and they cannot easily accept the narrator's words, the oral history researcher will be forced to bring a primary document. This document can be a photograph or a text or even a valid quote.

Gholamreza Azari Khakestar

Documents, as sources of study and reference, play a fundamental role in all stages of oral history. First, because they are produced at the same time as the event occurred, they are an accurate source for understanding the details of the event, and by studying them, the interviewer can gain a grasp of the subject and ask more effective questions. Second, documents are important in clarifying and completing narratives, and they help to remove ambiguities, correct memory errors, and strengthen the credibility of the narrative. For this reason, documents play a decisive role not only in the interview process but also in the compilation and publication stages, and without them, oral history cannot present an accurate picture of historical realities.

Gholamreza Azizi

Documents are important tools for oral history researchers because they allow for more precise questions to be designed and, during the interview and editing stages, the narrator’s statements to be verified in order to reduce intentional or unintentional distortions in the reconstruction of the past. However, this creates a paradox, since one of the main functions of oral history is to fill gaps in documents and answer questions that are not found in other sources. Therefore, oral history and documents should be used in a complementary, not competitive, interaction.

Shafigheh Niknafs

Historical documents, such as administrative correspondence, reports, minutes, judicial documents, media documents, and letters, provide detailed information about the time, place, details, and people involved in events. These documents are usually produced in the course of administrative work and without a research purpose, and therefore reflect part of the objective reality of society; although they may also have a governmental orientation. However, the details contained in the documents help the researcher to analyze memory in a broader context and, with a more accurate understanding of the past, to design better questions, weigh narratives, and document and enrich the content of the interview.

Mohammad Mohsen Mashafi

Documents as primary sources increase the historian's or interviewer's knowledge of the subject and can give them a mastery of the subject that is -relatively- on par with the narrator's mastery of the story. Only when these conditions are met are the grounds for a historically quality interview prepared. Mastery of the content of documents gives the interviewer the initiative in the interview and allows him or her to properly guide the conversation. On the other hand, documents can play a role as indicators in the verification stage of the narrator's statements or in determining their accuracy - during the interview or editing stage.

Fatemeh Doostkami

Documents play a fundamental role in oral history research and are an important tool for the researcher to understand the subject more accurately. At the beginning of the research, documents make it possible to clarify the dimensions of the problem and historical context, direct the questions, and adjust the interview approach. During the interview, presenting documents causes the narrator to focus more, activates forgotten layers of memory, and prevents the narrative from scattering, thereby increasing the accuracy and credibility of the interview. In the editing stage, documents allow for verification of the narrative, recovery of links between events, and resolution of ambiguities resulting from the passage of time, adding to the strength of the final text.