Voices of Princeton welcomes oral history efforts related to Princeton’s people, institutions, and history to become Voices of Princeton Partner Projects. Voices of Princeton can help provide resources, consultation, access, and archiving for your oral history project.
What can Voices of Princeton offer my project?
- Consultation and structure for planning and conducting interviews, including possibly developing questions and keywords specific to your project
- Training in oral history best practices and use of recording equipment
- Access to audio recording equipment
- Online access to audio files through the Voices of Princeton website
- Archival repository at the Historical Society of Princeton
- Space to conduct interviews at Princeton Public Library
- Industry-standard consent paperwork, ensuring the rights of your interviewees are protected
- Trained Voices of Princeton volunteers to facilitate interviews, if needed, as schedules allow
What do we ask of partners?
- Consultation with Voices of Princeton organizers
- Training on oral history best practices with Voices of Princeton organizers
- An overall project focus on Princeton-related topics
- Completion of Voices of Princeton consent forms for interview participants, keywords lists, and interview summary
- Permission for interviews to appear online, including on the Voices of Princeton, website, and to be archived at the Historical Society of Princeton
- Use of Voices of Princeton Partner Project logo on paperwork and other materials
Active Partner Projects
Voices of Princeton is currently pursuing a partnership with Princeton University’s Program for Community-Engaged Scholarship (ProCES) and Princeton University faculty directing their ‘Voces de la Diáspora’ Oral History Project. To learn more about this initiative, please see the latest news from Princeton University’s Department of Spanish and Portuguese.
As part of the Princeton Festival’s Juneteenth Celebration, the Princeton Symphony Orchestra invites guests to take part in an oral history project called “Let Freedom Ring.” Step inside an “antique phonebooth” recording studio, where you’ll be prompted to record your own reflections, thoughts, hopes, and dreams for a better America. PSO will take sound bites from the recordings to create and commission a new piece of music celebrating Black voices.
Please email voices@princetonlibrary.org to discuss your project.