The right procedure helps promote best effect in conducting the interview. Select your subject with care. Propose the oral history to your intended subject, usually by letter. Follow up with a telephone call at least sign of delay. Set a time and place to meet.
Research continues from beginning to end, becoming most intensive before each interview session.
The interviewer needs a solid footing in each major subject of discusssion. Supplement printed materials with information from conversations with people who know the subject. An introductory meeting , without taping, allows full communication and facilitates the process of mutual acquainting. Explain the purposes of the documenting historian, communicating the sense of serving history with objectivity and free discussion. Explain the goals of the oral history project and give a full description of the process.