The process of oral history can be described as the creation of a mosaic portrait of the past, with many overlapping perspectives on a given topic; the content of an oral history project is provided by a number of people (called participants or narrators) who share their memories of similar experiences, in live interviews. The Fires of Wisdom Project has focused on our narrators' experiences attending Mills College, and their experience of Mills as a women's college. The practice of oral history shares specific techniques with other disciplines, specifically the fields of folklore, ethnology and anthropology.
(Suzette L. Davidson)

Here are definitions of oral history from other sources:

"Oral history is a technique in which the interviewer conducts a series of taped interviews with the participants (narrators) in a particular historical event or period.
Often, the intention is that these tapes become available to the public at a specified future time (frequently after a substantial delay) in order to convey historical insight. In many cases, these interviews will be historical recollections of the character of a society or an institution rather than the interviewee's subjective perceptions."
( Non-Medical Research Issues, Stanford University )

"Oral history is an account of something passed down by word of mouth from one generation to another. Oral history is considered by some historians to be an 'unreliable source' for the study of history. However, oral history is a valid methodological and theoretical way to explore history. Each time anyone reconstructs a memory, there are changes in the memory, but the core of the story may contain a grain of truth. Oral historians attempt to record the memories of many different people when researching a given event. Since any given individual may misremember events or distort their account for personal reasons, the historical documentation is considered to reside in the points of agreement of many different sources, rather than the account of any one person.
"Oral history is now often used when historians investigate 'history from below', a form of historical narrative which was developed as a result of the Annales School and popularized in the 1960s. This form of history focuses on the perspectives of regular individuals within society as well as individuals and regions that were not previously considered historically important.
This includes women, the working classes, as well as regions such as India or Africa. This form of history is applicable mainly to modern studies, where journals and letters are easily found; in ancient studies the lives of the common individual were not often recorded."
(Word iQ )

"Simply talking with someone for background is not oral history. Oral history involves interviews for the record, explicitly intended for preservation as a historical document. Informed consent means that those being interviewed fully understand the purposes and potential uses of the interview, as well as their freedom not to answer some questions, and their identification in research and writing drawn from the interview. Legal releases are linked to issues of evidence and copyright. If a researcher makes explicit use of an interview in written work (both in direct quotation and paraphrase), the interview should be cited in a footnote, so that others can identify and locate that information within the framework of extant evidence. Recorded interviews involve copyright, and interviewees must sign an agreement that establishes access for those who use the interview in any way. If the interviews are deposited in a library or archives, legal releases will establish ownership of the copyright and the terms of access and reproduction. If the interviews are published, legal releases will satisfy publishers' concerns over copyright.
(American Historical Association)

(For further information see: John A. Neuenschwander, Oral History and the Law)"

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