At the beginning of July, Recording Voices & Documenting Memories welcomed Katie Shaffer to the oral history team. A fortnight in, we asked her a couple of questions about what first interested her in the project:
“I was originally wanting to volunteer. I was looking for something interesting to do, and I love museums and history. I came to the NCSML and actually thought I’d volunteer in the library (as I’m a librarian by training). Then I heard about the oral history project and it caught my interest. It was something new.”
“I started out tagging profiles, adding subjects to biographies which were already up on the web. But now I edit footage, select clips and create online profiles for some of the interviewees.”
What are your favorite and least favorite bits of the work?
“My favorite is certainly listening to the interviews. I’ve learned so much about Czech, Slovak, and world history and politics. Each of the stories is so unique and fascinating. My least favorite part is dealing with technological issues. I’ve picked up a lot since I started working here, but there are still glitches which can take away your momentum when you’re working on an interview.”
Which interview have you enjoyed working on the most so far?
“I really have liked every single one. They are all unique, but equally inspiring and moving. But, I have to say, I loved working on Jan Kocvara's interview. He seemed like such an ordinary person at the beginning of the interview – but then his story of working in radio…
“I didn’t think of radio work as particularly dangerous or world changing, but his story was eye-opening. What he was saying on air clearly changed people’s lives and those who didn’t like what he was doing saw his work as very intimidating – so intimidating he felt his life was in danger. This gave me an entirely different perspective on a job you don’t always think of as all that dangerous.”
“I really liked the progression of his interview, from growing up in Slovakia to interviewing famous people, then feeling his life was in danger and ending on a note of ‘I was making history.’”
What is your view of such oral history projects, and has this changed since you started working on Recording Voices & Documenting Memories?
“Sure. And I think a lot of interviewees have said this too – recording the history of people who lived, not leaders or those written about in history books, gives you different perspectives. You can relate more, perhaps, because these people were just living their lives. And this way you learn about daily life. Especially for me, with no experience of living under communism, you get little bits of insight like ‘oh, that’s how that worked!’
“And it’s entertaining to watch. The spoken delivery of these stories adds insight that you might not get in a transcript.”
You’ve been working on selecting particularly striking excerpts from people’s interviews for the past couple of weeks. In the course of your work, which single clip has struck you the most?
“There are a couple I really liked from the interview with Klara Sever. I really like the one in which she is talking about the priest [who helped protect her family during WWII], because I like the way she says it.
“But the one that sticks with me is the clip about her family being released from Žilina labor camp, because the series of events she describes is so extraordinary.”
“This clip gives you the idea that certain instances can change your life in a second. If her father hadn’t been out working on the road, if no one had picked up that note and if his uncle hadn’t had that connection in that small village – who knows? She herself calls it a ‘miracle.’”
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