Oral History

AAHS volunteers interview experienced archaeologists to preserve the experiences of those who followed the “founding fathers” of southwestern archaeologists. Oral interviews are posted to youtube and will be archived at the Arizona State Museum. We also link to similar interviews done by others. If you “follow” the AAHS YouTube channel @archandhist you will receive an email when a new video is posted.

The Oral History Project was begun as “Roots of Southwestern Archaeology” by Don Burgess, when he was AAHS president. It originally received support from the Southwestern Foundation for Education and Historical Preservation and continues under the leadership of Pat Gilman and Fran Maiuri.

Our colleagues at the Society for American Archaeology are engaged in a similar project.

SAA’s “Archiving the Archaeologists” series is an oral history project designed to capture personal insights and recollections of archaeologists near retirement or already retired. Archaeologists interviewed in the series reflect on their careers, how and why they became archaeologists, and their contributions to the discipline. This series not only archives the words and images of senior archaeologists, but it also provides other archaeologists, avocationalists, students, and the public insight into what it is like to be an archaeologist in a particular time and place. The series “Archiving the Archaeologists” is funded by the Society for American Archaeology and is a project of the History of Archaeology Interest Group.

Published interviews are posted on the SAA YouTube channel.