Note #8:
Principles and Techniques of Oral Documentation

• Introduction
• Physical Heritage
• Spiritual Heritage
• Oral Sources
• Significance of Oral Documentation
• Value of Oral Documentation
• Limits of Oral Investigation
• Methodology of Oral Investigation
• The Actual Investigation
• Report on the Investigation
• Bibliography

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The contemporary museum frequently and increasingly employs a wide variety of media (illustrations, slide programs, audio tapes, films, videos) to enliven and add a human dimension to its exhibits. In those museums sometimes called interpretation centres, the focus is placed more upon knowledge through promotion and the conveying of information than upon material objects.¹ This shift in emphasis is helping to carry the actual meaning of heritage beyond the rather narrow, albeit accurate, perception that people in general have of it.

Physical Heritage

People are generally more interested in the collective heritage, that is, "the common property of a community, a human group, viewed as an inheritance handed down from one's ancestors" (Larousse), while our official organizations (the Heritage Foundation, the Historical Sites and Monuments Commission and museums) have dealt exclusively with material values that can been seen and felt, such as works of art, buildings and dwellings, furniture and handicraft techniques (food preparation, garment making, household effects, tools and equipment incidental to various trades), as well as with means of transportation and communication. Such items and pieces of property are usually protected by law, with specialized agencies ensuring their preservation.

Spiritual Heritage

However, intangible values, i.e. man and his non-material, spiritual productions, are being overlooked and left to fall by the wayside. First of these is his language, that paramount vehicle by which the essential aspects of this inheritance are passed on; also, technical and artistic skills; popular sciences; beliefs and superstitions; songs, stories, legends and other types of oral literature; religious and social practices, rituals and customs.

Thus, to come to a more comprehensive and intimate understanding of a certain period, event, historical character or culture, more is needed than mere scrutiny of material paraphernalia that have been dug up. It is equally important to be able to talk with the players who originated such items and witnesses who can say things about them. Taking a material object and putting in back into the spiritual context in which it was produced always involves documentary research, with an oral investigation to round it out.

Oral Sources

Besides other valuable documentary sources (printed, handwritten, iconographic, cartographic or figurative), museums can also make good use of oral sources. The term "oral sources" refers to everything collected by the information-gathering process based on the methodological principles developed in this document. Whether the information is an account from oral literature, an autobiography, some anecdotes, custom or technical observation, the most common approach is to taperecord or videotape it, although the information is sometimes taken down by hand.

Significance of Oral Documentation

It has been said that "the common people write nothing, although they do almost everything. A legal requirement at best extracts a mark upon a document prepared by their clerks. They feel no need to put into writing what has been passed down from their forefathers, the body of knowledge possessed or the skills employed. They humbly are quite happy to just carry on."² Such was the thinking of the illiterate informant back in the 1940's. And it is still partly true of the average person today who, although better educated, is a child of modern civilization where oral media -- telephone, records, radio, television, movies, tape recorder, VCR and computer -- make up the daily business or pleasure routine and drastically reduce, if not totally supplant, the role of the written media.

It can thus be appreciated that if the ethnologist is ultimately to achieve an understanding of the mentality of a people, its collective soul, as it were, he must turn to the actual people in a given community for information rather than rely solely upon libraries and conventional records. He must perform an oral investigation, taking a firsthand look at facts, "carefully writing them out," "describing and classifying them with utmost care and precision." This method of capturing fully authentic, real-life facts, is often the only sure way of coming to intimate terms with the mentality of those who are unaccustomed to writing things down.³

Value of Oral Documentation

Oral sources thus provide firsthand data which, when collected and processed scientifically, generate results that are as reliable as written sources. Public opinion surveyors have been using this approach successfully for decades. Live interviews and telephone contacts enable them to achieve results which are very often surprisingly accurate.

The outstanding value of oral documents has been recognized long before our time. Early historians, those who related histories, as evidenced by the titles they gave to their books -- at least as far as Herodotus and Polybius are concerned -- relied primarily on oral sources. They would first go to eyewitnesses (individuals who saw or experienced the events), then they would consider oral tradition (those who heard about them), and finally written material.⁴

Oral sources are thus a means of verifying and rounding out written sources, where such exist, and of making up for them where they are lacking. And the historian of oral traditions all too often finds that written sources are lacking.

Limits of Oral Investigation

Although oral tradition has preserved some accounts for centuries with considerable accuracy, it has also been found that places, names, dates and facts can become blurred. Thus, cross-checking is needed to verify the authenticity of historical information.

An enthusiastic investigator is sometimes strongly tempted to construe as local elements things that are actually international in scope. Local investigation must therefore take the regional, national and international levels of investigation into account to benefit from their findings and avoid blundering.

There is also the danger of using the oral investigation as a catch-all into which anything old-fashioned is tossed helter skelter, including bits of hearsay and gossip, under the guise of contextual investigation or interdisciplinarity. Experience shows that, to be truly worthwhile, research must be carried out in an orderly manner, confined to specific parameters, indeed must deal with but one specialty.

Methodology of Oral Investigation

Definition

Oral investigation is the seeking of information on a given subject. It involves a researcher (or team of researchers), who asks for information, and one or more informants who provide the information sought after.

The investigation can be either direct or indirect. It is referred to as being direct when the research procedure involves personal contact. When only one informant is dealt with at a time, the investigation will be more restricted geographically. However, it will be unlimited in its results, for it can deal with just one subject, the folk tale, for instance, or delve into the overall folklore of an area. There is no objection to group contact where a specific group is involved, all members of which can be interviewed together.

On the other hand, an indirect investigation makes use of some type of go-between, such as a written questionnaire sent out to individuals who are likely to reply. Although indirect, the contact can still be personal. A team of collaborators might also be used to assist the investigator and extend his efforts. It will be virtually impossible to achieve personal contact with the informants in this type of investigation. It is therefore vital to coach any collaborators as thoroughly as possible, in keeping with the points developed later in this paper.

Obviously, direct investigation is the most effective and the easiest to control. It should be used wherever possible because of the greater authenticity of firsthand sources.

The comments outlined here are based upon the experience of a numerous folklore specialists, ethnologists and anthropologists. They are general enough in nature as to be applicable to any form of oral research. The investigator or student must adjust them to his particular circumstances as he develops his research approach.

Preparation

The investigator will save valuable time for both himself and others if he carefully prepares for the meeting with the informant. Background preparation and specific preparation are both vitally important.

Background preparation involves:

1. introductory courses on folklore or another social science offering an overall view of the areas of research peculiar to each discipline;

2. reading general reference works on the discipline under which the planned investigation falls;

3. thorough acquaintance with the community to be studied: being a native of the area is an asset, or at least having spent some time there, knowing the language and its regional peculiarities, being accepted by the people in the community or introduced to them by some of their own; being endowed with a curious mind and a desire to explore the community and being wary of common prejudices.

The following points are involved in specific preparation:

1. identification and selection of the subject to be investigated; needless to say, the subject must be of interest to the investigator;

2. reading about and familiarizing oneself with the subject selected;

3. preparation of questions for the investigation. In a direct investigation, the questions should be in point form according to subject and bits of information to be gathered, an outline or plan listing categories with brief examples. It should be used as a memory aid.

The Actual Investigation

1.Selecting and contacting the informant

To properly grasp how far to go in the investigation and anticipate the more or less predictable reactions of the people interviewed, the investigator must endeavour to imagine how he would react personally if someone came to interview him about his knowledge of oral history.

a)Who should be interviewed?

Experience has shown that anyone who has a good memory, respect for traditions and a keen sense of observation can be an excellent source of information.

Professional folklore specialists such as Marius Barbeau once tended to think that only the elderly should be interviewed. They had to be members of the common working class, live in the country and preferably be illiterate. Van Gennep, on the other hand, felt that women made better informants. Excellent investigations have been performed in settings of all types. Indeed, recent investigations have shown that significant collections of information have been gathered irrespective of the setting (city or rural) or the person (young or old).

The investigator must therefore proceed without bias and select his informants according to the subject being investigated. Of course, the elderly are in the best position to talk about bygone days or traditions that are waning or that have disappeared altogether. For customs that are part of the man's world only, such as certain types of cottage industry or bachelor parties, men are the obvious choice. The same is true of women with regard to child rearing, the daily household routine or purely feminine events (pregnancy, childbirth, etc.). On the other hand, young people tend to be well informed as regards current superstitions, profanities, tricks, jokes and riddles, as are children regarding games, rounds, nursery rhymes and suchlike.

If the investigator is not acquainted with the informants, he should work through resource persons, colleagues or friends who can use their connections to get information or provide a referral or recommendation. The investigator will find it more difficult to go into a community where he is not known to anyone.

Having such information regarding the potential and talents of the informant makes it easier to relate to him, and the investigator will not allow him to get away with claims of forgetfulness or ignorance.

b) Scheduling the interview

Much will depend upon the extent to which the investigator is available and the various occupations of his informant. The informant's age, state of health and degree of interest all come into play. Urgent work, such as the harvest, must not be interrupted. Find out when he has time to spare -- in the evening or on the weekend, in summer or winter, when he takes his vacation. Do not call when the informant eats, takes a nap or wants to rest. Know when to curtail the interview to avoid exhausting the informant, or when to prolong it if he is in fine fettle. Be prepared to take advantage of favorable circumstances and know how to set them up. Pace the interview to jog the informant's memory, but avoid fatiguing him. Remember that the elderly frequently suffer from poor health and interviews must be moved to times when they feel up to it.

When setting up the first appointment, it is best to meet the prospective witness personally and make a firsthand inquiry as to his availability. Avoid using the telephone whenever possible. Telephone conversations are generally too short and do not always put the person at ease. Similarly, as one interview concludes, make arrangements for the next one. Always be straightforward in manner and speak first to the master of the house.

c) Venue of interview

The informant is usually interviewed at his home, in the environment he is accustomed to. The person can be discovered in his real-life setting, with his daily concerns and in his "usual environment."

It is good to have the living room or other room set aside for the interview to avoid interruptions or intrusions. Storytellers perform best when they have an audience. It may prove helpful to bring along an informant who can then listen to another, to jog his memory.

Arnold Van Gennep performed investigations in France, Algeria and Poland, using an approach that Paul Sébillot found effective in Britanny:

I have often used, and nearly always successfully at that, a different method. Get a number of local people together in your home or in a friend's home. Get them to relax by offering them a cigarette or a drink. Things move slowly at first. But as you talk with them and set the lead by telling them something, they soon become involved. One storyteller gets going and memories start going to work. No sooner is one story over when somebody else comes up with a similar account and proceeds to tell it... actually coming up with things he had long since thought were erased from his mind.⁵

d) Dress and bearing

Due respect must always be shown for the informant. Wear simple, clean clothing that is neither too stylish nor too casual. Avoid any artificial familiarity. Show deference to family customs and never be overbearing. Also, you must speak the same language as the interviewee and make sure that he correctly understands what is wanted.

2. Handling the interview

a) List of questions

Since its purpose is to be a memory aid, it should not be referred to continuously during the interview. It is good to commit it to memory. The questions should also be flexible enough to allow the informant to express himself freely. Leading questions that elicit a yes or no answer or answers that are too cut and dried should be avoided. Such questions could embarrass the interviewee and he may not want to answer or he may cook up an answer merely to satisfy the investigator or tell him what he wants to hear. Caution is especially advised in matters involving the individual's beliefs or private life.

Avoid asking questions that either are too naïve or too involved. As he is on the receiving end, the investigator should not come across as a know-it-all. Neither should he play dumb. Terminology that is too technical smacks of uppishness and is to be avoided. Remember, the informant is the teacher and the investigator is the learner.

Simple, specific questions are in order. If the conversation begins to wander, it must be brought back on track. It is better to converse rather than bombard the interviewee with questions, for a relaxed, friendly conversation provides the basis for spontaneous testimonials.

b) Qualities of the investigator

The investigator must be sincere, unbiased and have an eye for accuracy. The investigator must reassure the interviewee as to his intentions, the purpose of the investigation and what will be done with the material collected. Experience has shown that informants enjoy helping a student or researcher accomplish his work.

The investigator must also be a good observer. He must scrutinize as thoroughly as possible whatever information is presented to him. He must welcome every remark with impartiality, an open mind and genuine scientific curiosity. He has to take notes -- many notes -- and get people used to seeing him taking notes while paying close attention to what is being said. If need be, he will show interested persons what he has written, for he has nothing to hide. The investigator considers no detail to be superfluous. He must learn not to rely upon his memory. He will never interrupt an informant, but will note anything he did not understand and ask for an explanation later.

Objectivity will prevent the investigator from moralizing and passing judgment. He must likewise avoid thinking that he can anticipate what his informant is going to say, for he could overlook possible variations and important details. Rather, he will assist the informant when he claims to have forgotten by suggesting details or giving examples to prod a sluggish memory. The investigator needs to exercise patience and use a systematic, psychological approach to create a climate of mutual friendship and trust conducive to the communication of traditional knowledge. He will show discretion about matters that are of no concern to him or when saying anything about other people who, unbeknown to him, may be related to the informant and who may later be of service to him.

c) Material to be collected

The investigator will collect any custom or piece of oral literature or any other specific matter about traditional life. He should never turn down information which goes beyond his field, for the day may come when he will bitterly regret having let something go by, never to find it again. He will look for the function of the fact and the need it fills. His description of it will only be enhanced and its role more defined in the overall picture. He will write down all possible variations, which will assist him in differentiating between that which is essential and that which is accessory. He will carefully note the material context (climate, economic status of the people, etc.) and the spiritual context (belief, naïvety, explanations supplied). He will carefully identify each of these items with the appropriate names and titles. He will establish as accurately as possible the period when they were used, noting whether they are still in use, falling into disuse or very current.

He will record the facts as they are presented, without interruption, and will complete them by supplementary questions (who?, when?, how?, where?, for whom?, why?). The fact must be complete with all its parts, its setting, the relationship between the parts and the whole, with the environment where it occurred and any pertinent detail. Where did the information given by the interviewee come from? When did he get it and where? Although it is best to get all sources, having a document with no source or with an unspecified source is better than having no document at all.

d) Information about the informant

Complete identity of the source of a piece of information significantly increases its scientific value. On the other hand, information with no source is unusable or loses a great deal of its value. Every effort should be made to get the following particulars about each informant:

• full name (first name, nickname, maiden name of married woman);
• age (preferably date and place of birth; the date of birth is much more precise than a person's age);
• full address (current address and various moves);
• current activities and previous or seasonal activities (his economic status);
• social context (living alone or with other people; family; level of education; rank in community);
• short biography including any detail that gives a clue as to his character or personality.

e) The investigator's equipment

The investigator should list everything he needs. The following list, although not exhaustive, applies to any type of investigation.

• tape recorder (with microphone, cord and adequate supply of tapes or cassettes; an extension cord is often necessary);
• camera (with films and flash for inside shots; various lenses for long-range or close-up pictures);
• hardbound note pad and clipboard (drawing board with clamp) and materials for writing or sketching (drawing paper, cards, rough paper);
• indelible pencils, lead pencils and pens;
• maps (to get to the desired location, look up the location of a house or other place referred to in the interview);
• measuring instruments (ruler, tape measure, magnifying glass) to record the dimensions of an object.

f) Recording

The investigator must know when to use the tape recorder. He must, of course, get the informant's permission to do so. Some investigators make it a practice not to bring their machine with them when first meeting the informant, so as not to intimidate him. Others bring it along right from the start. Each person must decide what is most appropriate in a given situation. Before proceeding with the actual recording, a trial run is advisable. Generally, short items are recorded to start with so the investigator can be sure that the equipment is is good working order. The informant can hear the sound of his own voice and be encouraged if he has some misgivings. Some interviewees prefer not to listen to themselves.

Before taping each item, the investigator can record a leader which contains the collector's name, the item number and title, the informant's name, the date of the recording and a few additional details.

Each case is different. The whole session can be taped continuously or in parts. If there are several parts, the setting of each must always be recorded. There are advantages to having a team of two investigators. One can ask questions and converse more freely with the informant, while the other looks after the recording and note taking. The two can take turns for a change of routine as things proceed.

When the recording session is over, the investigator can, while packing up, play a selection of items collected (preferably the concluding ones) to the interviewee and his family who have been kept in the background during the interview.

The investigator keeps a record of everything he gathers in what is called the investigation notebook. He numbers the items as they are gathered, marks down their title, the date and location, records the name of the informant and any other detail pertinent to his recordings. Only the righthand page is used. The lefthand page is kept for subsequent notes, such as the identification of a song, folk tale, custom, home remedy, technique, etc. Details can be added about the informant, his sources of information, the setting in which things occurred. Inaudible sections can be noted, as well as further questions to be asked later on. On the righthand page, a summary of the recording is made, under the number and title of the item.

g) Token of appreciation

Unless he has received specific funding or made some formal commitment, the investigator is under no obligation to offer a sum of money to his informant in exchange for his services. However, he may wish to give him a small gift (such as cigarettes, liquor or candy) as a token of appreciation. This is a matter for personal decision. We have found that it is quite sufficient to send a "thank you" card and a snapshot of the informant or a copy of some of the recorded material.

h) Ethics

As he goes about his work, the investigator must abide by the rules of ethics governing his relationship with the informant. Such rules dictate that he identify himself as an investigator and clearly state his purpose, the means that will be used and what will be done with the information gathered. He will establish a climate of honesty and trust, respect personal freedoms, property rights and confidentiality of the information obtained. He must give due credit to the informant for his assistance.⁶ In English Canada, an agreement or written contract usually is signed between the parties. This gives the institution or interviewer clear title to the contents of the interview. The interviewee may impose restrictions on use of the tape. For example, he/she might specify that it not be used until after a certain amount of time, perhaps not until after his/her death. Without such an agreement, next of kin could contest any use of the tape recorded material or resulting transcription. Such a practice is the exception rather than the rule in French Canada, since it may put the informant ill at ease or make him wary. The interviewer must use his discretion in determining the best course of action.

3. Conclusion of the investigation

When the investigator parts company with the informant, he still has one more job to do before the investigation is really over. That very day, while he still has the details of the interview fresh in mind, he must finalize his field notes to be sure that nothing has been left out. This applies to each investigation session.

Report on the Investigation

Upon returning home, the investigator organizes the results of his investigation before filing his sound documents and manuscripts in the archives of the museum or institution sponsoring him.

Collector's file card

This card, when properly filled out, helps to identify the investigator himself (name, address, age, title), the location and contents of his investigations, and the individuals from whom he collected his information (name, age, occupation, address). Such information will enhance the scientific value of the collection by providing the best possible identification, as well as the location in time and space.

Inventory file card

The inventory file card is the table of contents of recorded documents. The investigator records each item of the collection in order, starting with the number 1. He makes up another list (handwritten collection) if he has compiled documents without recording them. The title of the item, the type (folk tale, song, legend, riddle, etc.), the name of the interviewee, his place of residence (city or town) and the date the information was gathered are put after each number. The institution can use such data to make up indexes of collectors, informants, subjects and investigation locations.

Transcription

This crucial step, which will provide access to the interview material without having to constantly replay it, often causes a great waste of time. It is therefore preferable to transcribe recordings according to the classic procedure in humanities, the main rules of which are summarized below:⁷

1. To preserve the visual image of words and thus facilitate reading, each word used by the narrator must be spelled according to the rules of standard English, regardless of the way it was pronounced.

2. The narrator's syntax will be adhered to throughout. No word can be added or deleted without good reason and any changes made by the transcriber must be shown in square brackets.

3. Punctuation will follow standard rules of usage, without altering the narrator's phraseology.

4. Colloquial words or expressions which are not commonly used in English (i.e. not found in good dictionaries) are shown in italics and their English equivalents will be given in footnotes (where there are few) or in an appended glossary (where there are many).

This standard method of transcription has proved to be both the simplest and fastest. Linguists may take weeks or months to produce a phonetic transcription that faithfully reproduces a one-hour interview.⁸ However, this method requires only ten hours of work for all practical purposes in the framework of a museum or interpretation centre.

Storage

Data should be collected, in both written (notes or transcriptions) and oral form (tape recordings or videotapes) and be kept in duplicate: a master and a working copy.

This material should be filed according to collection, i.e. using files showing the name of the investigator, to which reference can be made by an index. If archives in the true sense of the word are desired, it is advisable to consult a clearly written, methodical guidebook.⁹

Sound tapes should be stored in a safe place at a constant temperature of 17°C (62°F) and a relative humidity of 38-45%.

Use in a museum

Researchers, display designers and teachers will be delighted to delve into this bank of firsthand documentary information. As it makes new approaches possible, providing both original and supplementary information, it is irreplaceable. Museological animation and interpretation can thus use the sound and visual memory of the electronic age to produce a more comprehensive reenactment of things that are no more -- from the most illustrious historical characters or landmarks to the most humble, nameless witnesses of an epoch, with the sights and sounds of daily life the way things were -- at work or play, in the country or in the city.¹⁰

Bibliography

A. Methodological guidebooks

Several authors have written notes with youthful investigators in mind or simply to recount their own experiences -- good and bad. The reading of one or more of these works is recommended, particularly that of Father Lemieux, whose investigations have focused particularly upon the Franco-Ontarian context. They contain much food for thought and talking points as a prelude to any investigation.

1. French experience

Le Braz, Anatole. La Légende de la Mort chez les Bretons armoricains. Paris: Librairie ancienne Honoré-Champion, 1912 (1st edition in 1893), 2 vol. Third edition revised and expanded with notes on analogous beliefs in other Celtic peoples by Georges Dottin, Professor at the Université de Rennes; pp. LVIII-LXVIII.

Saintyves, P. Manuel de folklore. Paris: Émile Nourry, 1936. Chapter III: "Le Folklore descriptif, Des enquêtes locales, régionales et nationales," pp. 77-108.

Van Gennep, Arnold. Manuel de folklore français contemporain, Tome 1, Volume I. Paris: Picard, 1943. Chapter 6: "L'obtention et le classement des documents folkloriques", pp. 58-75. Chapter 7: "La présentation des faits folkloriques," pp. 75-95.

2. French-Canadian experience

Barbeau, Marius. En quête de connaissances anthropologiques et folkloriques dans l'Amérique du Nord depuis 1911. Abstract of a course offered by the Faculty of Letters, March-October 1945 (typewritten manuscript, 82 pages). Quebec City: Archives de folklore de l'Université Laval, 1945. Part Three: "Relations entre le chercheur et les informateurs...", pp. 33-42. Part Four: "Comment on recueille les contes, les chants, etc.", pp. 43-37 (see also pages 47-52).

Lacourcière, Luc. De mémoire d'homme. 5 radio programs broadcast by Radio-Canada from June 28 to July 26, 1983. Research and interviews: Jean Blouin. Producer: André Major (transcript, 47 pages). [The sound track of these broadcasts and their transcript can be obtained by writing to: Service des transcriptions et dérivés de la radio, Maison de Radio-Canada, C.P. 6000, Montréal, H3C 3A8.]

3. Franco-Ontarian experience

Gervais, Gaétan and Serge Dignard. "Le projet d'histoire orale de l'Institut franco-ontarien." In Journal, Canadian Oral History Association/Société canadienne d'histoire orale, Vol. 5, No. 1 (1981-82); pp. 45-57.

Lemieux, Germain. Les Jongleurs du billochet. Conteurs et contes franco-ontariens. Montréal: Bellarmin, 1972. "Comment découvrir un conteur", pp. 29-31. "Méthode d'enquête", pp. 31-36. "Technique pour aider la mémoire des conteurs", pp. 36-40. "De la sténographie au magnétoscope", pp. 40-44.

4. Scottish experience

MacDonald, Donald A. "Fieldwork: collecting oral literature." In Richard M. Dorson, Folklore and Folklife. Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press, 1972; pp. 407-430.

5. French experiencein Africa

Lebeuf, Jean-Paul. "L'Enquête orale en ethnographie". In Jean Poirier, Ethnologie générale. Paris: Gallimard, La Pléiade, 1968; pp. 180-199.

B. Further issues relating to oral documentation

1. Oral history issues

Jean, Bruno. "L'histoire orale, phénomène social et institutionnalisation d'un savoir". In Nicole Gagnon and Jean Hamelin, L'Histoire orale. Saint-Hyacinthe: Edisem inc., "Méthodes des sciences humaines", No. 1, 1978, pp. 9-38.

2. Value and relevancy of oral documentation

Lacroix, o.p., Benoît. L'Historien au Moyen Age. Montréal: Institut d'études médiévales; Paris: Librairie J. Vrin, "Conférence Albert-le-Grand 1966", 1971, 301 pages. "Les sources", pp. 45-49; "La tradition orale", pp. 50-57; "La critique des sources", pp. 69-84.

3. Transcription of oral material

Pichette, Jean-Pierre. "Notre transcription". In Conrad Laforte, Menteries drôles et merveilleuses, contes traditionnels du Saguenay. Montréal: Les Quinze, collection "Mémoires d'homme", 1978 (2nd edition, 1980); pp. 11-21. The author defines and explains the problems inherent in transcribing of oral accounts and offers some simple rules to avoid them.

4. Archiving

Champagne, Michel and Denys Chouinard. Le Traitement d'un fonds d'archives: ses documents historiques. La Pocatière: Documentor; Montréal: Université de Montréal, Service des archives, 1987; 176 pages.

5. Development

Bergeron, Yves et al. L'Ethnologie au Québec. Quebec City: Ministère des Affaires culturelles, 1987; 64 pages. "Des outils et des méthodes:, pp. 22-35; "De la recherche à la mise en valeur, études de cas," pp. 36-47.

6. Further Reading

Dunaway, David D. and Baum, Willa K. editors. Oral History: An Interdisciplinary Anthology. Nashville: American Association for State and Local History, 1984.

Grele, Ronald J. ed. Envelopes of Sound: Six Practitioners Discuss the Method, Theory and Practice of Oral History and Oral Testimony. Chicago: Precedent Publishing, 1975

Harney, Robert F. Oral Testimony and Ethnic Studies. Toronto: The Multicultural History Society of Ontario.(43 Queen's Park Crescent East, Toronto, Ontario, M5S 2C3).

Ives, Edward D. The Tape Recorded Interview: A Manual for Field Workers in Folklore and Oral History. Knoxville, Tenn. University of Tennessee Press, 1980

Langlois, W.J. Editor. A Guide to Aural History Research. Victoria, British Columbia: Aural History, Provincial Archives of British Columbia, 1976.

McCacken, Jane. "The Role of Oral History in Museums." Canadian Oral History Association Journal Vol. 1 (1975-76): pp. 34-36.

Reimer, Derek. Editor. Voices: A guide to Oral History. Victoria, British Columbia: Queen's Printer for British Columbia, 1985

The Ministry of Citizenship, Culture and Recreation would like to thank Jean-Pierre Pichette, Professor at the Department of Folklore, University of Sudbury, for his research and preparation of this note.

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1. The Centre franco-ontarien de folklore in Sudbury, for instance, puts less emphasis upon the physical collections in its display areas and focusses upon the wealth of its oral documentation (thousands of songs, hundreds of folk tales and legends and dozens of accounts concerning handicraft techniques) recorded on tape and video.

2. Luc Lacourcière and Félix-Antoine Savard, "L'Histoire et le folklore," excerpt from Centenaire de l'Histoire du Canada by François-Xavier Garneau (Montreal, Société historique de Montréal, 1945), p. 12.

3. Jean-Paul Lebeuf, "L'enquête orale en ethnographie", pp. 181-186 (Cf. Bibliography).

4. Benoît Lacroix, o.p., L'Historien au Moyen óge, pp. 45-49 (Cf. Bibliography).

5. Paul Sébillot, quoted by Van Gennep, Manuel de folklore français contemporain, I-1, pp. 60-61 (Cf. Bibliography).

6. According to the Code of Ethics of the Société québécoise des ethnologues, which appeared in the Bulletin of the S.Q.E., Vol. 5, No. 1 (September 30, 1982), pp. 18-19.

7. See Jean-Pierre Pichette's article "Notre transcription", pp. 16-18, in Bibliography.

8. See Marcel Juneau's in-depth study of the thirteen-minute folk tale La Jument qui crotte de l'argent (Quebec City,Les Presses de l'université Laval, 1976), 143 pages.

9. See description in Bibliography of the book Le Traitement d'un fonds d'archives by Michel Champagne and Denys Chouinard.

10. For specific examples, see Yves Bergeron L'Ethnologie au Québec, pp, 36-47, in Bibliography.