Why Oral History?

I wanted to share an amazing quote from the historian Louis Gottschalk, from his amazing study, Understanding History. Although I could never say it so beautifully, this is a magnificent explanation for the practice of oral history.

"Most human affairs happen without leaving vestiges or records of any kind behind them. The past, having happened, has perished with only occasional traces. To begin with, although the absolute number of historical writings is staggering, only a small part of what happened in the past was ever observed.... And only a small part of what was observed in the past was remembered by those who observed it; only a small part of what was remembered was recorded; only a small part of what was recorded has survived; only a small part of what has survived has come to historians’ attention; only a part of what has come to their attention is credible; only a part of what is credible has been grasped; and only a part of what has been grasped can be expounded or narrated by the historian."