Often, people think the study of history means studying governments, battles, and national leaders. These are important history topics, but historians learn much about history by studying the lives of everyday people as well.
Social history is the history of the everyday experiences and beliefs of ordinary people.
Top of Page Asking Social History Questions Imagine that you are a social historian studying family life in Massachusetts in three different periods of history. In this lesson, you will use oral histories to explore social history. You will start by studying oral histories collected as part of the Federal Writers' Project in the 1930s. Then you will conduct some oral history interviews yourself. When you have finished this section, go ahead to Oral History and the Federal Writers' Project .