Tape Recorded Interview: Manual Field Workers Folklore Oral History

by Edward D. Ives

Book Overview

Since 1980, The Tape-Recorded Interview has been an essential resource for folklorists and oral historians--indeed, for anyone who uses a tape recorder in field research. Now, Sandy Ives has updated this manual to reflect the current preferences in tape-recording technology and equipment.

When this book was first published, the reel-to-reel recorder was the favored format for fieldwork. Because the cassette recorder has almost completely...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0870498789
• ISBN13: 9780870498787
• Release Date: July 1995
• Publisher: Univ Tennessee Press
• Length: 128 Pages
• Weight: 0.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Working the Field

Ives' book is a fine introduction to fieldwork. It's especially useful for oral historians and folklorists, but there are good, practical ideas that are useful for anyone who uses a recorder to document cultural traditions and local history. It's a good introductory manual, and it's also interesting to read to gain a better understanding of ways that Ives completed his fieldwork for his research for his books. This book is practical. The section that describes "what to do when it won't work" is especially useful. Although some material is dated, mainly because the manual doesn't discuss a lot of the newer digital technology, additional supplements about digital recording technology will fill out the gaps. But it's also worth remembering that many people continue to use tape recorders for fieldwork. Ives has a fine style of writing. The anecdotes and reminiscences reveal his great experience and expertise as an old pro, and they make the book an interesting read, especially for a "How-to" manual. An added plus to this book is that Ives produced a video called "The Oral Historian's Work" which demonstrates and reinforces a lot of the techniques that are presented in the text. Couple the book with the video, and a beginning fieldworker is well prepared for a foray into the field.

a very good instructional book on tape recorded interviews

This book is a very good instruction manual on the tape recorded interview. He talks about both the technical and nontechnical aspects of the interview. It is an excellent primer for the starting interviewer. I recommend it highly.