USMC Oral History Program

Oral HistoryOral history is a vital part of the documentation of Marine Corps history and serves to supplement and complement the written record of historical events. The Marine Corps Oral History Program began during the Vietnam War. At that time, the program focused on interviewing Marines involved in current operations. Thousands of interviews were conducted in the field and at many Marine Corps bases to capture Marines’ experiences and perspectives while still fresh in their minds. Top priority of the Oral History Program continues to be current Marine Corps operations. As a result, the program has produced a rich collection of field interviews spanning almost four decades.

Another key aspect of the Oral History Program is an ever expanding collection of career-length fully transcribed interviews of ranking Marine Corps leaders and other distinguished Marines and former Marines. Taking a broad view of what constitutes oral history, the Marine Corps Oral History Collection also includes a large collection of recorded presentations, briefings, debriefings, speeches, and similar "spoken history."

The Oral History Section processes the interviews so as to make them researcher-friendly. All interviews in the Collection are catalogued in a searchable data base and have either a summary or full transcript describing the interviews’ contents. Currently, the oral history collection consists of approximately 13,000 items covering virtually all aspects of 20th century Marine Corps history. Volunteer-submitted interviews are always welcome. Browse the sections, below, for specific instructions and requirements.

Conducting Interviews

The Marine Corps appreciates your interest in the oral history program and your willingness to become involved. Whether you are submitting an interview of an active-duty Marine, a veteran, or embarking on a self-memoir project, there are often questions about what subject matter to cover in the interview, what procedures to follow, and what supporting paperwork is required. We hope to answer those questions here.

Please read all sections of these instructions, even if you are not a first timer, so that you fully understand the requirements for submitting an interview. If you have questions, please contact the Oral History Program for additional information and guidance.

When you have finished the interview and completed the required interview summary and release, send all materials to:

Oral History Section
Marine Corps History Division
3079 Moreell Avenue
Quantico, VA 22134

Required Forms for Oral Histories

Summary Form

Interviews must be accompanied by a comprehensive and informative summary form for the interview to be accepted and archived in the Marine Corps Oral History Collection. This form is simply a means by which the interviewer records the who, when, where, and most importantly, the contents of the interview. A blank summary form can be downloaded from this site, filled out, and printed for submission with the interview. If submitting your interview on a CD,- the preferred medium- download the summary form, fill it out and save it to your computer as a Word document (.doc) so that you can later include it on the submitted CD. Replace the text on the first six questions from “Interviewee’s Name” through “Dates Covered in Interview” with the requested information. Replace the instructions after “Length” as well. All questions to be replaced are also italicized. Make sure all answers are centered. Fill the fields with as much data as necessary.

Release

Unless the interviewee is on active duty, a release is required that bequeaths full ownership of the History Division’s copy of the interview and associated documents to the U.S. Marine Corps. If submitting your interview on a CD you may also consider filling out the release form, have it signed, and scan it to your computer in order to submit it also with the CD that contains the sound file and summary form. Scan the form using a low resolution and save the scanned image in .tiff format.

Formats

Compact Disc (CD)

Submitting your interview as a digital recording and your supporting documents in the proper format on a CD is strongly encouraged. Consider saving all files related to the interview to your computer hard drive so that together they can be burned to one CD at the same time. The interview recording should be saved using a .wav file extension or wave file format. (Note: There are many cheap file conversion software packages available on the internet that can be downloaded right to your computer). Including biographical information of the individual (about one or two paragraphs normally) although not required is encouraged. Photographs should be scanned at 400 dots per inch (dpi) and saved in .tiff format. Altogether each part of your submitted CD should have files in the following formats: the interview should be a wave file (.wav), photographs (.tiff), release form (.tiff), and the summary form in Microsoft Word (.doc).

Label the CD across the top using a Sharpie fine point permanent marker with the last name followed by the rank. Directly under that write the first name and middle initial. At the bottom simply write the date of the interview using a 3 letter abbreviation for the month, for example: 25 Jul 2006. When burning a CD, be sure to use CD creating software to make a “Data CD”. Double check that all data was successfully transferred and that the CD can be read by other computers before submitting it.

A note on archival issues: all CD submissions will eventually be copied onto other archival medium but the best medium to submit interviews with and to act as “use” copies is a standard CD.

Videotape

If videotaping an interview, if possible, please submit the recording on Mini-DV. Mini-DV is the standard in most modern camcorders and digital video (DV) is an acceptable archival format for its ease of use and high quality recording. Label the video with the last name and rank followed by the first name and middle initial. Also, write the date using a three digit abbreviation for the month; i.e. 25 Jul 2006. Submit all supporting documentation on the CD also if possible, and again label with identical information. If you wish to send VHS interviews, they will be accepted and accessioned into the collections, please follow the same rules for labeling.

Cassette

Oral History Section staff will have to convert any cassette recordings to a digital format and save it to CD so we strongly prefer that a digital format be used for sound files. If submitting cassettes, make sure to clearly label the cassettes with the last name and rank followed by the first name and middle initial. Also, write the date using a three digit abbreviation for the month; i.e. 25 Jul 2006. Please note: the USMC cannot accept micro-cassettes of any length.

Preliminary Matters

Setting Up the Interview

When setting up the interview make sure you use a room that is quiet and where you are least likely to be disturbed.

Always - ALWAYS - begin your audio or video recording with the name of the interviewee, including a middle initial. Do not simply start talking. Spell the interviewee’s last name aloud on the recording, even if it’s as simple a name as “Smyth” or “Browne.” As a note, “Bill Jones” is not appropriate for historical records; use the full legal name of “William B. Jones,” instead. Nicknames and call signs are fine for inclusion as long as the individual’s true name is provided at the outset.

Specify the date and location of the interview and your own name at the outset of the interview after naming the interviewee. If interviewing an active duty service member, specify the member’s current unit, to include company, battalion, regiment and division or, if an aviator, similar sized units. DO NOT INCLUDE SSNs OR SERVICE NUMBERS. To do so raises Freedom of Information restrictions regarding the use and release of the interview. If you have a second interview session, or if the initial session extends to a second recording, start the subsequent session in the same way. Recordings can get separated and, without this opening identification, may be lost or discarded due to lack of proper identification.

Finally, one-on-one interviews are the best. Multiple interviewers or interviewees create cross talk and make intelligible interpretation and transcription difficult, if not impossible. If a third party enters the room while you are interviewing, pause the recording.

A Quality Recording

If possible, try to use an external microphone for each participant using a “Y” connector to plug both microphones into the microphone jack of your recording device. You can find these devices at a Radio Shack, electronics supply store, or online. Watch that you get the right size plugs for your recording device. Standard microphone jacks usually take a 1/8 inch plug. Built-in microphones on most recording devices often render a poor quality recording.

Equipment Check

While you are recording your initial preliminaries and before you begin the interview, glance at the recorder to see that it is operational and actively recording. Check your levels if you have a device with a recording display. Many recorders have a jack that you can plug earphones into and listen as you record. For cassette recordings, stop the recording for a moment and replay the last few seconds to ensure you are recording and the recording level is audible. Many professional oral historians have had the humbling experience of discovering after an interview that, due to an incorrect switch setting, no recording was made of their interview.

Documentary Material

Any hard copy material sent with the recorded interview, such as photos, cruise books, letters, maps, etc., are separated from the recorded interview and forwarded next door to the Personal Papers Collection at the Marine Corps University. When filling out the summary form, note the documentary material submitted with the interview and although separated, they will always remain connected intellectually. Consider whether documentary material you’re planning to submit really is historically significant or merely personally significant. They are not the same, and the distinction requires hardheaded and unsentimental judgment. You may contact the Oral History Section for assistance in making this determination.

Classification

Although not usually a problem for volunteer interviewers, classified interviews are not accessible to the public or to most researchers or scholars. Classified interviews are discouraged. Some interviews will be understood to be classified, such as those conducted with certain officers during combat operations. Those aside, advise your interviewee to avoid classified content whenever possible. Classified interviews present significant problems of transcription, storage and eventual declassification.

Possible Questions

A few suggested questions that might be helpful to volunteer interviewers, or to those embarking upon a self-memoir, are included below. Only you can determine the appropriate questions for a particular interview subject. The questions below are only for starters. Ask other questions that will paint a comprehensive picture for researchers and scholars who will review your interview. Keep in mind that as a government historical organization we do not seek war stories alone, we primarily seek an account of a Marine’s involvement in the larger picture of great events in our Corps’ history, and in our nation’s history. If all of that involves a war story or two, all the better, but simply relating a personal war story is not our primary goal. Put that war story in the context of a mini-social history. Make your interview relevant to the wider historical context in which so many Marines have gallantly participated. Finally, avoid acronyms and fully identify—on the recording as soon as they are uttered—any acronym the interviewee uses. Sad experience proves that today’s commonly understood acronym is tomorrow’s impenetrable puzzle.

Some suggested areas of research and query:

In what unit did the interviewee serve; in what operational events; where, when, and with whom did he/she serve; what were the names of commanding officers; what duties; what ships; combat experience; who was the enemy; what insights were gleaned from the service; how did he/she live and fight; what difficulties were encountered; what gear, weapons, and equipment worked well and what didn’t; what did he/she eat; where did he/she bed down; did weather affect activities; perspectives on leadership, good and bad.

Here is a standard format for starters: