The tape-recorder, microphone, camera, notebook and pencil, and now their digital equivalents, are the tools of the trade of field-working oral historians and folklorists. This paper discusses the contribution that fieldwork in oral history and folklore can make to identifying objects and their uses, documenting and interpreting the past, and recording the experiences of the men and women who used the objects. Illustrated with photos, audio-recordings and film from community projects.



This talk will be presented by Professor Margaret Bennett, Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.

Margaret Bennett’s interest in traditional culture began in Skye, where she grew up. She studied Folklore at Memorial University of Newfoundland then gained a PhD in Ethnology from Edinburgh University where she lectured at School of Scottish Studies from 1983 to 96. Author of 15 books, she has received many awards including Honorary Doctorates from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and the University of St. Andrews. Margaret is Honorary Professor of Antiquities at the RSA and a Professor at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland where she teaches Folklore across the performing arts.

Header image credit: Margaret Bennett recording a pre-wedding ‘blackening' in Wigtown (c) Margaret Bennett
Main image credit: Margaret Bennett recording Julia Colville, age 100, Milnathorte - 'My father was a cabbie in Dunfermline … all horses thae days…' (c) Margaret Bennett