Oral histories

I’ve collected oral histories for Essex Record Office (2020-21), and for my own personal projects (2021-).

Project Annie is a personal project about my late grandmother. Since 2021 I’ve been recording oral histories with her friends. When she was dying of terminal cancer I wanted to record her memories but felt unable to ask her (she was very sick). Project Annie is a way of filling gaps with her community. In 2023 I travelled to Vermont to stay with one of her best friends, Joan.

For Essex Record Office I volunteered on the National Lottery Heritage Fund-supported Marconi Project, collecting histories of the pioneering radio and communications company (also home to the world's first wireless factory) from the people that worked there. Over about 10 hours I interviewed (and sometimes coaxed) former Marconi employees. I also undertook oral history training with historian Rib Davis to better understand the practical aspects of recording, as well as ethics and the subtle power dynamics that can be at play while collecting histories.