I’ve had the opportunity for an oral history project come up, and I want to find as many similar projects as I can. The people that I will be interviewing are street prostitutes from a smallish city and, if I’m lucky, some of their drug dealers. This project is primarily aimed at documenting the history of the city that is likely to be neglected by typical “History of X City” type projects, and I plan to document their lives rather than their crimes.
My Google searches have not turned up many results. I’m not looking for scandalous “tell-all” books or books that have a strong agenda, such as an anti-prostitution book written about former prostitutes. I’m approaching this as a history project rather than anthropology or ethnography – their current occupation is merely the thread that ties them together and not the focus of the research. The books also don’t have to be about prostitution, I’m interested in any oral histories of people who are normally hard to locate or reluctant to participate: homeless, drug addicts, etc.
I’m also interested in any resources on how historians taking the histories dealt with events being recorded that the interviewee might not want published until after their death. I spoke with an archivist, and she recommended in that case – if the information actually ends up being recorded – redacting that information and developing through wills or other legal means a way for the full transcript and audio to be published after the appropriate amount of time has passed. (I’m using published loosely here, I don’t expect this stuff to be really published, but just stored in archives and used for research.)
I’m hoping for a bit of leniency with the 20 year rule since this is a question on historiography and I’m seeking out methods and projects that have likely been developed in the past 20 years rather than information about events from the past 20 years.
Just so everyon are aware, the 20 year rule does not apply to questions on historiography or other types of historical methods. :)
Very interesting question! I have done several oral history projects with former and current drug addicts in Northeast Florida. My best results have come from contacting institutions around subjects: rehab, NA/AA, drug courts, clinics, etc. Your project is a little more difficult. Maybe try the vice or sex crime division of your local police force? Lay out the parameters of your project in an email to a relevant official. They will know if those in their orbit will (or are legally able to) talk with you.
Remember that this profession revels in selective secrecy. Make your best attempt to keep everyone involved at ease. Feel free to PM me for more information about my methods.
I would look into anthropological field manuals for data collection. Very lengthy history of doing so against all odds. Susan C. Weller's book for example, on qualitative data, would be a good start
I don't know that I can be of any help on the recruiting side of this, but I have been working through an oral history project of my own -- although one that doesn't involve a neglected population or particularly sensitive information.
I wonder if you might benefit from taking a look at one of the many university IRB pages out there. The IRB process is actually quite a poor fit for oral history interviews, as this article does a good job of explaining. However, the ethical principles are (for the most part) sound, and would probably be particularly useful for a project such as yours.
I don't know whether you're doing this project for a university that requires this process, and if you're not you obviously wouldn't be obligated to adhere to any of these regulations. But I do think a number of takeaways could be important for you:
Participants need to have complete control over whether or not they choose to participate, and I'd hesitate to attempt to talk anyone into this. These interviews are theirs and not yours, and someone who you can talk into doing an interview is much more likely to change their mind about your using it later on. It's much better to lay everything out at the beginning.
Participants need to be able to choose to remain anonymous at any time in the process, or to have identifying information redacted for a specified number of years -- if you plan to deposit these interviews in a public archive. IRB has a number of different methods for preserving anonymity, from destroying all identifying information to replacing names with codes and keeping those codes in a separate place -- on a password-protected computer, for example.
There's a simple "do no harm" principle that runs through the IRB literature that's probably very relevant here. If there are risks to participation, make sure you explain that upfront -- though participants will probably already know. Your responsibility is to minimize those risks to whatever extent you can.
I don't know that this is applicable in your case, but I've been working through community leaders to recruit participants for my project. If you can do it, that's probably the best and most efficient way to go about this. Those leaders might want to see a list of the questions you plan to ask, so it's good to have some version of that formulated beforehand. I hope that helps.
In regards to technical questions about oral history. Donald Ritchie's Oxford Handbook of Oral History is a good introductory guide about the act of interviewing and garnering interviews. In regards to your specific project, their is a section on the legal ramifications of proposed projects. It is a good introduction to ethical and legal issues of oral history which might be helpful to you. Additionally, in regards to legal issues this article provides a good background on legal problems which can face oral history projects. http://www2.archivists.org/groups/oral-history-section/the-belfast-case-information-for-saa-members
Finally, Lynn Abram's Oral History Theory has a good section on Subjectivity and Intersubjectivity which might be good to keep in mind while interviewing your subjects. Good luck, this sounds like an interesting subject!