Who we are?
Living History North East has been helping to document and record the lives and experiences of individuals throughout the region. Recording oral histories provides an opportunity for us to hear things otherwise hidden from history. To make this successful we must also make it accessible.

How we can do this?
Living History North East has established a Regional Oral History Database, using the CALM system. The purpose of the database is to document the oral history collections and their content. The database already registers over 1000 oral history recordings and related documents from across the north-east region.

Why we do this?
Living History North East is not an archive but a centre dedicated to the promotion and collection of living memory through individual communities. We enable communities to do this through training, workshops, advice and support.

This nationally recognised system offers an opportunity for the first time for organisations, communities and individuals to register their collections and contribute to this unique look
at the region’s heritage.

What is out there?
At present, there are many scattered collections with and without catalogues in the oral history sector.

By creating a regional database that will be available to everyone there will be:

• A much stronger resource to draw upon.
• An invaluable resource for to researchers of family history, historians, academics or just people interested in people.
• A strong network, especially for smaller groups.

What is included on the database?
The database already holds the Living History collection, and has the potential to hold many more.
Living History has also been working in partnership with Tyne and Wear Archives to digitise and document some of the 6,000 recordings held at the archive.

The content of the database is varied. Some of the earliest recordings are from the 1960s; these include interviews with Boer War Veterans. Others offer insight into the industrial heritage, war years, school memories and much more.

The database is a valuable record of our changing environment through personal accounts.

What else can we do?
There is an additional option for your recordings, to digitise the collections. This will help against the deterioration of existing records. We can provide advice and information on digitisation of recordings. We can also link you up to a growing network involved in recording oral histories,

What we can do for you?
Living History North East can provide advice, support, training and signposting, which will allow increased access to collections and more professional storage of these valuable recordings.