Examples of my work

I do project work, private commissions and contract work with individuals, artists, and professional people in the private and public sector. The subject matter varies. Often the work is archived in the Collection of Oral History & Sound at the Alexander Turnbull Library (ATL) in Wellington where it can be used for future research according to conditions set by the interviewees.

With permission from the people I have interviewed I sometimes make short audio stories or podcasts with material from interviews I’ve recorded. These are publicly available on Soundcloud – OHW – Oral History Stories (also available on iTunes)

I am particularly interested in an oral history methodology developed by Judith Fyfe and Hugo Manson which uses regular diary style interviews to create an accumulating record of lived experience in the voice of the individuals involved, a form of electronic note-taking.

NZ Coronavirus (COVID-19) Lockdown 2020 oral history project

The project was a rapid response to national emergency caused by the spread of Covid-19. Using equipment to make archival quality recordings by telephone, I followed oral history methodology to record individual experiences, day by day and week by week, as the lockdown progressed, to give a sense of this moment in individual lived experience, in NZ history and world history.

Broadly speaking, I asked participants to describe their whereabouts at the time of the recording, what was going on around them, their experiences and reflections on local, national and international events, mainly related to the Covid-19 pandemic. As well as asking details of daily life I took the opportunity to connect contemporary events with earlier personal life experiences. Wherever possible I explored these threads to provide a deeper record of individual personal history. The death of George Floyd at the hands of a Police officer, and the ensuing riots and protests in the USA and then in New Zealand, was a significant focus in interviews recorded as those events were unfolding.   Recordings became less frequent as the restrictions eased and more ‘normal’ life began to resume. I tried to ensure that I had recorded at least one interview at each of the applicable Alert Levels.

As the Covid pandemic continued through 2021 and 2022, and there were ongoing restrictions against the spread of the virus, I carried on recording with the participants to give a long run sense of the pandemic and its effects. Now, in 2023, I am drawing a line under the project and focussing on archiving the interviews and related photographs and ephemera that I have collected along the way.

Art Gallery Oral History Project

Since 2006 I have been recording diary style interviews with art dealers with the objective of creating a record of their day to day working lives in the business of selling and exhibiting art. These interviews are supplemented by a small number of recordings with practising artists and recordings of Artist Talks in dealer galleries.

Butchers Stories Oral History Project

Interviews with older butchers about retail butchery between 1950 and the present. During Stage 1 of the project I recorded interviews with older butchers living in the Wellington area. For Stage 2 I recorded interviews around New Zealand. I have also been collecting pictures of butchers shops.

Butchery has changed markedly during the working lifetimes of the butchers I interviewed. Small suburban shops were at the sharp end of social change affected by supermarkets, extended shop trading hours, migration, changes in workplace participation, economic ups and downs and wholesale meat supply. Successful butchering requires technical skill, business nous, long hours and difficult working conditions. Butchers have their finger on the pulse of their local communities and enjoy plenty of humour and banter with customers.

Both stages of the project have been supported by a New Zealand Oral History Award. Wellington Photographic Supplies (now sadly no longer) helped greatly by scanning many of the historic images I collected.

The project is archived at the ATL. I have published a short audio story using material recorded for the project A Butcher’s day – Wahine Day 1968

I am continuing to collect butcher related material. Please contact me through Facebook or by email if you know of older butchers who might be able to help with my research, or if you have any photographs of butchers shops.

Here are some other projects I’ve been involved in, with links to the catalogue records at the ATL: