oral history

noun

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

oral historian noun

Examples of oral history in a Sentence

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

Recent Examples on the Web

They were especially inspired after reading Hidden in Plain View: A Secret Story of Quilts and the Underground Railroad, which relies on an oral history relayed by the descendants of enslaved people in South Carolina. —Vanessa Romo, NPR, 19 June 2025

Staying Gold will share these details and more in its oral history. —Angel Saunders, People.com, 18 June 2025

When broadly defined, surviving slave narratives include short accounts found in court records, newsletters and the thousands of oral histories collected by the Works Progress Administration in the 1930s. —Ellen Wexler, Smithsonian Magazine, 18 June 2025

Butler draws on oral histories to illuminate the stories artists on the front lines of political action. —Literary Hub june 2, Literary Hub, 2 June 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1950, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for oral history

• ethnohistory
• consistory
• mystery