The Suffolk Record Office collection of Oral History tapes

Your local Suffolk library should have a copy of the catalogue of tapes in the Suffolk Record Office Oral History Archive. The tapes can be ordered though the County Library service.

A Heritage Lottery Funded project ‘Suffolk Voices Restored is digitising the oral tape collection of the Suffolk Record Office. SLHC volunteers are helping the Ipswich Record Office to undertake this project.

Catalogue of George Ewart Evans Tapes

In the National Sound Archive in the British Library is a collection of recordings made by George Ewart Evans, the pioneer of oral history recording, who used much of this material in his books.Because of their considerable local interest, the Suffolk Local History Council has made a 65-page catalogue of all 172 Ewart Evans entries from the archive. Most of the entries in our catalogue contain the date of the recording, the name of the speaker and the location, and a brief synopsis of the subjects covered, plus the National Sound Archive reference number. You can consult this catalogue in the SLHC office, or we can supply a copy - price on application - e-mail admin@slhc.org.uk.

The catalogue of the National Sound Archive is available on the World Wide Web at www.cadensa.bl.uk. If you wish to hear any of the tapes you will need to register as a ‘reader’ at the British Library, 96 Euston Road, London. This can be done quite simply on a first visit by providing proof of identity. Thereafter, with a reader’s ticket, it is possible to order a tape in advance by telephoning 01714 127 418 and quoting the catalogue number.