As part of the Storytelling workshop that we’re doing, University Settlement organized a field trip to the Oral History Museum. There, the group learned about the different aspects of capturing personal histories including the use of photographs and how to ask questions (which is more involved than one would think). Unlike a regular museum tour, we participated in different workshops that detailed the different work that the Oral History Museum is involved in. Interestingly enough, they’re currently working on capturing stories of the Chinese elderly population in Toronto.
The highlight of the day was listening to examples of people interviewing others the WRONG way. This is seriously an example of someone who interviewed a Chinese lady…
“Tell me about your childhood”
“It was pretty good bu-“
“Your felt like your brothers were given more attention?”
“No, not really. I thin-“
“But the men in your family were treated better?”
“No, what I want to say is tha-“
“Women were treated like second class citizens?”
“… No.”
We all got a good laugh out of this, but it’s also a bit scary to think that this person got paid… It seems so easy to just press record and ask questions, but for people who do this properly there are so many opportunities to capture amazing stories, especially when you least expect it. Needless to say, the person who recorded that interview is no longer working with the Oral History Museum.
All in all, it was really refreshing to see what these “curators” are up to rather than just walking around and looking at stuff. We learned a lot that will definitely help us when we start our story telling project at University Settlement.
Cheers,
Hitoshi & Vince
As part of the Storytelling workshop that we’re doing, University Settlement organized a field trip to the Oral History Museum. There, the group learned about the different aspects of capturing personal histories including the use of photographs and how to ask questions (which is more involved than one would think). Unlike a regular museum tour, we participated in different workshops that detailed the different work that the Oral History Museum is involved in. Interestingly enough, they’re currently working on capturing stories of the Chinese elderly population in Toronto.
The highlight of the day was listening to examples of people interviewing others the WRONG way. This is seriously an example of someone who interviewed a Chinese lady…
“Tell me about your childhood”
“It was pretty good bu-“
“Your felt like your brothers were given more attention?”
“No, not really. I thin-“
“But the men in your family were treated better?”
“No, what I want to say is tha-“
“Women were treated like second class citizens?”
“… No.”
We all got a good laugh out of this, but it’s also a bit scary to think that this person got paid… It seems so easy to just press record and ask questions, but for people who do this properly there are so many opportunities to capture amazing stories, especially when you least expect it. Needless to say, the person who recorded that interview is no longer working with the Oral History Museum.
All in all, it was really refreshing to see what these “curators” are up to rather than just walking around and looking at stuff. We learned a lot that will definitely help us when we start our story telling project at University Settlement.
Cheers,
Hitoshi & Vince
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