Oral History

Our project is about capturing those bits of our story that may not get documented, but is an important part of understanding our history. We do this both through direct interview, and through written memoirs (which we sometimes combine into a fuller piece of writing.) Our aim is to gather material of which people have direct memory, telling not only facts, but experiences, feelings and reactions. 

We believe this is a way of deepening our understanding of our history, and of broadening our resources. Our life together as Baptists is not simply represented by big events or significant decisions in committees, written up in minutes. It is also lived out day by day, week by week in our congregations, and our acts of service. The projects we undertake focus on this part of life. 

If there are people whose stories you think might be of interest to our wider community, representing Baptist life in all its facets, that's the kind of material we are looking for. If you would like to know how to make and store recordings, what use they be put to (and the various legal, technical and ethical questions to address and how to address them) please get in touch at baptisthistoricalsociety@gmail.com

We are particularly interested in contributions from (but not limited to)

• those who grew up in churches in the 1950-90s
• those who were church musicians
• those who ran youth groups (including Brigades etc), Sunday schools — or who took part in them
• those who were involved with Association life
• those who were involved in church planting or church closing