I'm in my third year of my undergrad and have started to consider a Master's in History (I'm currently a History minor) after writing an essay on the Holocaust based on oral testimony. I've previously thought about journalism after my undergrad and found the interview aspect of the testimony extremely interesting. I'm not entirely sure that I want to focus on the Holocaust because, only being a Minor and having focused mainly on European History from 1800-1945, there are many gaps in my knowledge that would be applicable to this kind of interviewing process, and that I might be super interested in. That being said, are there any fields of study right now in which interviewing people that lived through or in a specific event or time is a considerable aspect? For example, I've been told to look into recent Canadian-Indigenous history as a good place to start although I don't have too much of an interest in Canadian history. I also realize that there would be a language barrier I'd have to pass for certain fields considering my only language other than English is French which I'm only partially fluent in.
Other than that, I'm also open to suggestions of points in history that may be more obscure or that I may not have considered that I may enjoy.
Thanks for the help!
Remember if no one takes testimony now, those views will be lost.
If you're in Canada, something more local would be more practical but that's not essential as you can do testimonies by phone.
Just find what interests you and go for that.
I'm more of a social historian and am in the UK. My testimonials are about poverty and race relations in London. It doesn't have to be a big topic like the Holocaust.
I would really suggest going through the Yiddish Book Center's Wexler Oral History project. Most oral histories surrounding Jewish history focus on the Holocaust, which has significant merit (I'm in Holocaust Studies myself) but there is so much else as well. Wexler focuses on all aspects of Yiddish, Jewish culture, the Holocaust, immigration, assimilation, religion, theatre, literature, its all really interesting.