Tell Me Something Good

The Oral History Association (OHA) made its home in Baylor University’s Institute for Oral History (IOH) effective Jan. 1. 

The OHA is an international society of organizations and individuals interested in advancing the practice and use of oral history. The OHA connects practitioners and supports their work to ethically collect, preserve, share and interpret memories which foster knowledge and respect. Under this new partnership, Stephen Sloan, Ph.D., associate professor of history at Baylor, serves as the OHA’s new executive director, and Steven Sielaff, B.A. ’02, M.A. ’13, is the new assistant director. 

Baylor’s Institute for Oral History is a leader in the field, recording and archiving oral histories for more than 50 years. The Institute is known for fostering oral history practice through workshops and creating a widely used oral history style guide, among other accomplishments. 

Located in the historic Carroll Library on Baylor’s campus, IOH is an interdisciplinary research department within Baylor Libraries. Its oral history memoirs assist scholars whose research covers such specialized areas as religion and culture, civil rights, music and theater, historic preservation, rural life, and women’s studies, as well as selected topics in economics, law, education and politics. The institute’s oral history collection also provides essential information for research on historical topics concerning Baylor University, Waco and McLennan County.