Introduction - Sharing Authority: Oral History and the Collaborative Process

Oral historians have a unique, personal relationship with the men and women whose life stories provide their source material. In his path-breaking book, A Shared Authority: Essays on the Craft and Meaning of Oral and Public History, Michael Frisch urged oral historians to consider if and how it might be possible to create a “shared authority” between historian and narrator in oral history research, interpretation and presentation. This collection of articles and commentaries continues the discussion about the collaborative potential and dilemmas of oral history.