Cousins Once Removed? Revisiting the Relationship between Oral History and Business History

Abstract

This article analyses the evolving relationship between mainstream oral history and business oral history, and explores the ways in which the latter has been deployed and discussed in business history journals. Business historians have, until relatively recently, tended to utilize oral history as a means to fill gaps in the archive. Interviews thus made important contributions to business history studies, but much of their potential remained untapped. Recent critical engagement with issues of methodology and interpretation has seen a discernible shift in the ways that oral history is being understood by business historians. This article outlines this evolution and the possibilities that it raises for both business and oral history.

Marketing in the late Soviet garment industry

“…Additionally, the study uses oral history (Crawford and Baily, 2019). The one interested group whose “voice” is not included in the archival documents is the design team of PCDH.…”

“…However, these designers played an important role in the local market as they were responsible for the new designs for local garment manufacturers. Unlike the typical use of oral history to address the gaps in archival data (Crawford and Baily, 2019), this study uses it to give voice to the local designers. The interviews were recorded and transсribed.…”

Historical approaches for hospitality and tourism research

“…In the construction of business histories, for example, oral histories can help the researcher reconstruct the past by using the first-hand accounts of experiences within the organisation and developing lines of enquiry that help illustrate particular periods of growth, transition, crisis, conflict or alternatively, memories of job roles, practices, behaviours, people, management, customers and suppliers (Crawford and Bailey, 2019). Moreover, researchers adopting oral history have the capacity to give a voice to marginalised, unheard or overlooked groups.…”

História sob encomenda

“…A abertura às empresas seria saudável para o desenvolvimento metodológico da história oral, contribuindo para democratizar o ambiente empresarial e compreender as emoções ali contidas, segundo Keulen e Kroeze, 399 e para ouvir as histórias de vida de pioneiros e empreendedores de sucessomenos dotados de voz do que se pensa, segundo Robert Crawford e Matthew Bailey. 400 Realizada a etnografia do Museu da Pessoa, é possível validar em que medida esses argumentos se sustentam ou não em evidências concretas. Começando pelos comentários sobre a história oral, é de se pensar que, aparentemente, o caso do Museu da Pessoa agradaria a esses autores, e poderia, até mesmo, servir-lhes de exemplo.…”