This webinar, organised by the International Council on Archives’ Expert Group on Legal Matters (EGLM), will consider the nature of oral history and its place among the many varieties of archival material. While oral history is often created and collected outside the routine business of organisations, it remains a powerful means of recording memory, identity, and experience, raising important questions about its recognition as archives.
The session will also explore the legal issues that arise in the practice, preservation, and presentation of oral history. These include contract, copyright, data protection, defamation, privacy, confidentiality, and ethics – all of which shape how oral history is created, managed, and made accessible.
By combining case-based discussion with reflections from experienced practitioners, the webinar aims to highlight both the opportunities and challenges that oral history presents for archivists, researchers, and legal professionals.
KEY INFORMATION
Date
Friday, 5 September 2025
Time
15:00–16:45 CET (Paris time). To confirm the date/time of this session in your time zone, please use the following link.
Language
English.
Date
Friday, 5 September 2025
Time
15:00–16:45 CET (Paris time). To confirm the date/time of this session in your time zone, please use the following link.
Language
English.
Programme
- Keynote Presentation
Speaker: Mark Wong
Exploring whether oral history – created and collected rather than accumulated through everyday organisational processes – can be formally recognised as archives.
- Panel Discussion
Panellists: Dr Nompilo Cindy Ndlovu, Charlie Morgan, and Mark Wong
Moderator: Eric Chin
Topics include:
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- The relationship and corroborative effect of oral history and archives
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- Oral history projects that reveal the power of oral testimony in shaping communities and social memory
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- Legal considerations (contract, copyright, data protection, defamation, privacy, ethics, and more) across the whole process: from interviewing to preservation and access
- Q&A and Open Forum
Audience questions and reflections
Speakers
Dr Nompilo Cindy Ndlovu
Nompilo is an oral historian whose PhD in Historical Studies explored mass violence, memory, and transitional justice in post-colonial Zimbabwe. She holds degrees in Social Development and Gender Studies from the University of Cape Town (UCT) and is an alumna of the African Leadership Centre’s Peace and Security Fellowship for African Women, including a secondment at the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD). With over a decade of experience in academic and policy settings, her work engages qualitative methods, life histories, and vernacular archives – with field experience including a post at UNAMID in the Darfur conflict zone. Dr Ndlovu lectures in the Department of Historical Studies at UCT and maintains affiliations with the United Nations, the African Union, the International Oral History Association (IOHA), and the South African Commission for Gender Equality.
Charlie Morgan
Charlie Morgan is the Oral History Archivist at National Life Stories and the British Library, where he has worked since 2017. He is Chair of the Archives and Oral History Special Interest Group in the Oral History Society and was the lead author of the Oral History Society’s guidelines for remote recording during the Covid-19 pandemic. During a recent Coleridge Fellowship at the British Library, Charlie conducted research into the relationships between archives, oral histories, and UK public inquiries.
Mark Wong
Mark Wong is a Senior Specialist (Oral History) at the Oral History Centre, National Archives of Singapore, where he leads projects on politics, the public service, and Singapore’s experiences with COVID-19. He is also a PhD student at the University of Canberra, researching archived oral histories. He was formerly Vice President of the International Oral History Association (2018–2023).
Moderator
Eric Chin
Eric Chin is General Counsel and Chief Sustainability Officer for the Public Libraries, National Library, and the National Archives of Singapore. He was previously State Counsel at the Attorney-General’s Chambers and General Counsel at the National Heritage Board. He served for five years as Director of the National Archives of Singapore, which proudly houses the Oral History Centre. Eric is a member of the Expert Group on Legal Matters and co-chairs the ICA Climate Change Working Group.
