What happens to oral history collections when funding ends, projects conclude, or the people who created them move on? If you’re unsure if an oral history will still be safe and accessible in 10, 20 or 50 years’ time, it may be considered precarious.

Join us for a discussion with the Precarious Oral Histories Project, a national initiative working to better understand the extent of at-risk oral histories across Australia, and, as a first step, raise awareness of these collections.

The pilot phase of the Project developed evidence of a preservation crisis facing oral history collections in Victoria. Now, our work extends to focus across the nation, starting with NSW and the ACT.

We will talk about:

• the challenges facing community, academic and independent oral history collections
• detail why their preservation matters. 
• the project's approach to understanding “precarity”
• introduce the survey used to identify collections
• issues preventing the future-proofing of oral histories. 

To learn more, visit our website at https://precariousoralhistories.com

Presenter: Dr. Alexandra Mountain

Project Lead, The Precarious Oral Histories Project, ANU