> Oral history ain't worth the paper it is written on.
>  
> J. South


List members interested in seeing some of the ways oral history has been and can continue to be helpful should examine some of the 100+ websites with substantial oral history components recommended by the "History Matters" crew at George Mason University. No historian would endorse the blanket dismissal of oral history by J. South (above). 

We all know that oral testimony and histories sometimes contain errors. Like all other forms of evidence, they need to be scrutinized carefully and, wherever possible, confirmed by other sources of information.The fact that oral accounts can be mistaken hardly warrants the conclusion that all of them are worthless, or nearly so.

See: http://historymatters.gmu.edu/search.php?function=find

Doug Deal
History/SUNY Oswego

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