Scottish Oral History Group
FOR OUR LATEST NEWSLETTER SEE
www.oralhistoryscotland.org/20051.pdf
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Scottish Oral History Group
and
Scottish Working People’s History Trust
The 2005 conference
WORKERS ON WORK
-Recording the Experience-
was held on
Saturday 19 th November
The conference examined aspects of the 1984/85 miners’ strike in Scotland. It presented a picture of the strike from the viewpoint of some of those involved in the dispute, particularly miners and miners’ wives and featured both oral and film media. It also considered issues involved in the recording of personal experience from this time. The conference heard from the SWPHT and learned not just about the role of the Trust in collecting and promoting the history of Scotland’s working people, but also about specific ongoing projects. It debated issues around the recording of present-day experiences and the process of collecting workers’ testimony from the recent past.
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Contributors to the conference were
Jackie Aitchison
Midlothian Councillor and former joint union secretary at Bilston Glen Colliery, Midlothian
Guthrie Hutton
Writer and Historian. Author of the recently published book Coal Not Dole - Memories of the 1984/85 Miners’ Strike
Womens’ History in Mining Fife
Established to raise funding for the production of the film Here We Go – Women Living the Strike
Hamish Fraser
Professor of History at the University of Strathclyde and Chairperson of the SWPHT
Neil Macvicar
Resources coordinator for the SWPHT and voluntary gatherer of recollections of lowland farm workers
Ian MacDougall
Oral historian and writer and secretary to the SWPHT
Scottish Oral History Group
Founded in 1978 the SOHG functions in a co-ordinating and supportive capacity offering:-
- a central body through which the various groups and organisations involved in oral history can communicate;
- an information and advice service concerning the practice and theory of oral recording;
- a programme of conferences and workshops.
Scottish Working People’s History Trust
The SWPHT is a charitable body established in 1992 to champion the cause of working people’s history. The Trust has three main aims:-
- saving sources: to search for and assist in the preservation of surviving documentary source material of the history of working people;
- recording recollections: to interview working people throughout Scotland and record their recollections of their working lives, housing, education, recreational and other experiences;
- editing and publishing: to edit and publish these documentary source materials and oral recollections and encourage the making of television, radio, film and theatre productions about the history of working people in Scotland.
FOR OUR LATEST NEWSLETTER AND A FULL REPORT ON THE CONFERENCE AND THE ACTIVITIES OF THE SCOTTISH ORAL HISTORY GROUP SEE
www.oralhistoryscotland.org/20051.pdf
Website info from h.manson@abdn.ac.uk