Why do we preserve oral history?
History is written by people who study original sources, personal diaries, letters, and other correspondence. All of these materials are worthy of preservation, but nothing brings history to life like someone’s oral history. Listening to someone speak their truth is a transformative experience. To hear about a how the soil health affects crop production, how one bad year can put an entire family farm at risk, or how generations of families have farmed the same piece of land, can transport the you to a specific time and place.
Nodaway County farmer Clarence Myers
At the NCHS museum we are proud to have a collection of oral histories from people involved in agriculture, farming, and ranching in Nodaway County. Transcripts of the interviews are available to you on this site, and audio recordings are housed at the museum.
To cite these interviews: Name of interviewee, interviewed by Name of Interviewer, date of interview, city, state of interview, Collection of the Nodaway County Historical Society.