ORAL HISTORY

The Ah-Tah-Thi-Ki Museum's Oral History Program preserves Seminole history, memory, and culture by recording Tribal members telling their own story. The program utilizes the best practices available to the field, abiding by the guidelines of the Oral History Association and the American Alliance of Museums.

The Oral History Collection also houses material related to preserving the Seminole’s Miccosukee and Creek languages. The program preserves language in a variety of ways. Whenever possible, interviews are conducted in the native language of the speaker. Native language interviews are translated into English when appropriate. The Ah-Tah-Thi-Ki’s language initiative is only available to Seminole Tribal Members.

ORAL HISTORY COLLECTION

The collection is comprised of hundreds of VHS, DVD, CD, audio cassette tapes, DAT tapes, reel to reel, BETA, and other media formats. The program is currently in the process of digitizing all of the existing oral history interviews and conducting new interviews. While the Oral History Collection and Language Resources are available to Seminole Tribal Members only, there are a select number of non-Seminole interviews that are available to the public. As a service, we frequently assist Tribal members in acquiring Seminole recorded resources from outside institutions such as the University of Florida, the State Archives of Florida, and the Smithsonian.

Some oral histories are used as podcasts, in exhibits, or as part of audio tours. Click here to listen to or download some Museum Podcasts.

Click here to access oral history resources.