Collecting personal memories of life in our sexually diverse community is an unending process.  And ... we always need help.  The Rainbow History Project collects these memories on audio tape, copies, transcribes, stores, and makes them available (depending on narrators' restrictions) for listening and review.

We need volunteers to:

•         arrange taping sessions
•         copy tapes
•         transcribe tapes
•         index tapes

Although we happily accept oral histories gathered by anyone in the community, we also hold training sessions for volunteers collecting oral histories in the name of the Rainbow History Project.  We encourage you to join one of these sessions.   The training sessions last an hour to an hour and a half and are held in central locations in Washington DC.  Volunteers are taken through the process of collecting an oral history and the Rainbow History Project's steps in handling the tapes.  For an overview of one of our training sessions go here.

In collecting oral histories, it is important to give the narrators control over their story.  We require all taped oral histories to be have release letter which gives the Project copyright on the tape and yet allows the narrator to specify restrictions and identifying names for the tape.

We also ask that all taped oral histories have a summary sheet when they are deposited with the collection.  This helps us classify and index the tape.

If you are interested in attending one of the training sessions and/or in volunteering to be a documentor and help collect
oral histories, get in touch with us at

or call us at (202)907-9007.
 

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