Videotaped Oral Histories: Problems and Prospects

Few people have considered the ramification of recording oral history interviews on videotape. By 1970 development of videotape, field cameras, and video recorders had made video recording available as a tool to historians. A video recording of an interview can help scholars observe and understand the environment and the nonverbal elements of the interview, including the interviewee's appearance and body language. Unfortunately, because of confusion and competition in the video industry, archivists and scholars must choose among many video formats of varying quality and applicability.