Oral history in museum. Review of the projects run by museum institutions in Poland

Abstract

In recent years a considerable growth of interest in oral history can be observed in museum institutions. It is connected mostly with the narrative model applied when establishing museums (dominant in the Polish narrative), and the more and more popular participating approach. The oral history method and effects given by initiatives based on it seem both to fulfil the need for supplying evidence able to engage the audience in the presented story, and to be a way to engage different social groups in the museum activity. The aim of this article is to take a closer look on the projects run by Polish museum institutions and to give a preliminary analysis of how these possibilities can be used in practice. Particular interest was placed on institutions created in the last ten years. The author analyses projects coordinated by these centres focusing on, among others, the way their oral history collections are built, made available to the public and used to create museum exhibitions and museum projects.

Keywords

• oral history; museology; polish museums
• oral history
• museology
• polish museums