Interview Permissions, Depositing, & Forms
The Samuel Proctor Oral History Program is committed to ethical oral history practice and long-term preservation. If you hope to deposit interviews in the SPOHP archive, all required permissions and documentation must be completed before interviews can be accessioned. SPOHP follows the standards and best practices of the Oral History Association, the field’s primary professional organization.
Before You Begin
If you are planning an oral history project for a class, thesis, dissertation, community initiative, or independent research project, we encourage you to contact SPOHP as early in the planning process as possible. Early consultation is an important best practice: it helps ensure that your project is structured for ethical interviewing, proper documentation, and, when appropriate, long-term preservation and public access.
Required Documentation
Interviews considered for accession into the SPOHP archive must include complete documentation. In most cases, this will include:
- consent documentation
- a deed of gift
- a digital audio recording
- a completed biographical data form
Incomplete documentation may prevent an interview from being accessioned into the archive and, when relevant, made publicly accessible.
Depositing Interviews in the Archive
SPOHP may be able to preserve oral histories beyond the life of a single class or project through long-term archiving and, when appropriate, public access. Many interviews in the archive are made available through the University of Florida Digital Collections (UFDC), SPOHP’s primary platform for public access.
In general, donated interviews will be accessioned into an existing collection when appropriate. Larger groups of interviews may be eligible to form a distinct project or collection, depending on scope, documentation, and fit with the archive.
Only interviews with complete permissions and documentation can be considered for accession. If your goal is long-term preservation or possible public access, we strongly encourage you to reach out to SPOHP before beginning your project.
Access, Rights, and Restrictions
Most digitized interviews in SPOHP’s archive are openly accessible via UFDC, but some materials are restricted due to deed-of-gift agreements, narrator-requested embargoes, rights limitations, or privacy considerations.
Because rights and access conditions vary across projects, depositors should be clear with narrators about how interviews may be preserved, accessed, and used in the future.
IRB and Research Compliance
If you are conducting oral history research at the University of Florida, you should consult the UF Institutional Review Board (IRB) office directly for guidance specific to your project.
If your work involves members of Tribal communities, you should also familiarize yourself with any relevant Tribal Nation protocols or Tribal IRB requirements that may apply.
Forms
This page includes SPOHP’s core oral history forms and templates for conducting, documenting, and preserving interviews:
- Biographical data form
If you do not yet see the form you need, please contact SPOHP directly.
Need Help?
If you have questions about permissions, depositing interviews, or preparing documentation, please contact SPOHP at spohp@clas.ufl.edu or (352) 392-7168. We are happy to talk with you early in the process and help you determine the best path for your project.