Angelica Juliani
In the Fall 2021 semester, my oral history classmates and I independently conducted oral history interviews as the capstone project of our semester-long Monmouth University oral history course with Professor Melissa Ziobro. Most of us would be interviewing people for the first time. This was an exciting end of semester project to look forward to since many of us students would be putting our first marks in the world of history.
Before our interviews came around, we needed to learn the basics of oral history as well as what’s important in order to put a successful and meaningful oral history out into the world. We also learned what materials were important when conducting an interview, as well as the different ways an interview can be done. For example, some interviews are done for documentaries with large camera crews, other interviews are done with audio only. Every situation is unique. Creating meaningful oral histories is not as simple as hitting record. It is important to show up to the interview prepared – with working cameras or recorders, as well as the required paperwork, and good questions. Over the course of this class, my classmates and I were given a breakdown of the steps necessary to prepare and execute an interview from start to finish.
Our first major task, outside of our readings and class discussion, was to create a time log and a summary for an interview that already existed. This helped us to understand interviewing techniques, and the work that goes into processing an interview. These interviews we were processing had been conducted by the National Guard Militia Museum of NJ, and our work would live there and at the Library of Congress Veterans History Project. We each received our own oral history to work with.
We were eventually trusted to do our own interviews – some for the Monmouth Memories oral history program, some for the Monmouth County, 9/11, and Its Aftermath oral history program, and some for Paradoxical Paradise: Asbury Park.
In this new day and age, some interviews are done over Zoom. My interview for the Paradoxical Paradise project was done over Zoom for the convenience of the interviewee, which is always important to consider. I interviewed Angela Ahbez-Anderson, a local politician and a woman who is very involved in her community of Asbury Park. Angela is focused on helping the youth of Asbury. She runs beauty pageants, poem contests, as well as helping young kids improve their grammar. Angela also runs a program that helps women find jobs as well as finding resources to secure a comfortable life for themselves and their children.
Oral history made it possible for me to get Angela’s story and impact on her neighborhood out into the world. It’s an important tool for academics as well as the general public in finding information in almost any topic, as well as, at a more personal level, a way to ensure one’s own legacy is preserved for their family for generations to come.