As oral history techniques gradually seep into mainstream history and literature courses, increasing numbers of rural, urban, and suburban students across the country are interviewing members of their own communities to retrieve and preserve—in written, audio, and video form—the memories of local elders.

Students not only learn the history of their region and nation but gain valuable practice in skills of research, questioning, listening, shaping interview material into coherent narrative, and using technology to publish their work for audiences with an authentic interest. And as the following collection of student-gathered oral histories shows, young people also gain important exposure to perspectives outside their own, benefiting from relationships with an older, wiser generation.