oral history

noun

|Updated on: 11 Jun 2018

Examples: oral history in a Sentence

Definition of oral history

1 : a recording containing information about the past obtained from in-depth interviews concerning personal experiences, recollections, and reflections; also : the study of such information

2 : a written work based on oral history

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oral historian

noun

See oral history defined for English-language learners

Examples of oral history in a Sentence

I'm reading an oral history of the Great Depression.

Recent Examples of oral history from the Web

In an oral history early in 1965, Kennedy described a meeting James Baldwin had arranged between him and some younger, more militant black activists in April 1963.

— david kaiser, Time, "Robert F. Kennedy Is Remembered as a Liberal Icon. Here's the Truth About His Politics," 5 June 2018
The oral history of Peter King ... Regrading the 2015 NFL draft ... the current state of the tight end ... and more.

— jacob feldman, SI.com, "Even in June, the NFL Storylines Don't Slow Down," 1 June 2018
Studio 360, the public-radio show and Slate podcast, shares an oral history of the Muppets.

— krista stevens, Longreads, "An Oral History of the Muppets," 29 May 2018
Each oral history is different for all of the people who come from this area: the Hopi, the Havasupai, the Apache, and other tribes.

— megan michelson, Outside Online, "How Navajo Activists Defeated the Grand Canyon Escalade," 24 May 2018
With their ever-growing collections of artifacts, local genealogies, photo histories and pioneer family’s oral history recordings, the museum has become one of the premier resources for historians and families with Florida ancestry.

— vincent crampton, OrlandoSentinel.com, "Explore Florida's Hardee County: Where Cracker history finds a home," 6 May 2018
This halau, built through a joint effort between community activists, the county, and the club, is a space where the two men and other community members hold classes for local kids on crafting, oral history, celestial navigation, and ecology.

— soleil ho, GQ, "Kohanaiki: Where the Mega-Rich Hide Away on Hawai'i," 20 Apr. 2018
At the time, Paul Bowles was traveling around Morocco recording the stories of Moroccan raconteurs for an oral history project funded by a U.S. government grant.

— sudarsan raghavan, Washington Post, "Rediscovered in the alleys of Tangier, Morocco’s last link to the Beat Generation feels broken," 12 May 2018
This summer, researchers will begin gathering 250 oral histories of Charlotteans who represent the city's past and present.

— cristina b bolling, charlotteobserver, "Meet the Charlotte native who's the new historian at Levine Museum of the New South | Charlotte Observer," 11 May 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'oral history.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

First Known Use of oral history

1950

in the meaning defined at sense 1

See Words from the same year

NEW! Time Traveler

ORAL HISTORY Defined for English Language Learners

oral history

noun

Definition of oral history for English Language Learners

: recorded information about the past that you get from talking to people about their experiences, families, etc.
: a book, article, etc., that is based on oral history