Meeting with Diane, 10am.

This morning I met with Diane at HAHS to go over my Oral History project. She is setting me up with a man name Ken G. He is an elderly man living in San Lorenzo that lived during and was very active in WWII and the Cold War. He was a Marine during WWII, actually fighting on Iwo Jima. After the war he worked in construction, digging out bomb shelters here in the Bay Area. He has been very involved in Veteran organizations and is a current member of HAHS. He seems, so far without my actual contact, a very interesting man. I will be calling him next week to set up an appointment, to be scheduled after April 26 sometime.

The aim of this project is to discuss the man’s views of the early Cold War, ranging from the end of WWII until the mid-1960s, in preparation of an exhibition in the distant future. Since the man was involved in WWII, he can (hopefully) offer a rich perspective about the tensions stemming from the hot war. His military background also influences his opinions and views of both wars. The goal of the interview is to undercover how the Cold War ultimately affected Hayward: did the city change during the Cold War? How was the community affected? How did citizens behave? To uncover the impact of the cold War on the daily lives of people who lived and worked in the Hayward Area.

Diane set me up with some great materials. Aside from the information about the interviewee, she also gave me some materials on conducting oral interviews (“Interviewing: Conducting Oral history Interviews” and “Conducting Oral history Interviews: A How-To Manual”), an official release form, a collegiate essay about the Cold War (“Hayward, an American Cold War City”), and a list of some questions directly concerning the Cold War. There will be collaboration between Diane, Dr. Ivey, and me over the key questions to discuss with Ken.

The basic process of conducting an oral history is slightly more involved than one might expect.
>>Before the interview, one must do quite a bit of background research on the prime goal, in this case the Cold War. I need to find out as much about the Cold War as possible so I can understand references and dig deeper into the memories of the interviewee. Diane said the “basic research is to ask the next basic question.”
>>I will be sending a list of the primary questions to the interviewee so he can think about his answers and prepare his response in advance.
>>After the interview takes place, I will transcribe the event and send it back to Ken for his edit, especially spelling of names and make sure he is still comfortable with the publication of his answers.
>>Then a final edition will be given in print to both HAHS and Ken. The final version will include a synopsis, field notes, and a glossary-type section to include definitions and summaries of possible unfamiliar names/events/terms from the interview itself.

I am very excited to being researching the Cold War. Since I’ve taken a course dedicated specifically to the Cold War I do have a decent background of information, but I need to review the significant events and key players, as well as the history of Hayward/San Lorenzo during this time period.