Courses
Structured learning
Multi session courses on field collecting, the history and culture of Italians in California, and food in Italian culture.
Education
Education at IOHI
Learning is part of collecting. The Institute teaches the methods it uses, so that the work can be carried on by others.
Teaching the method
How to listen well enough to keep a story
Oral history looks simple and is not. A good interview depends on preparation, patience, good equipment and an understanding of the person across the table. The Institute teaches those skills through courses, workshops and lectures, and it gives students the chance to contribute real material to the archive.
Teaching is also a form of preservation. Every person who learns to record properly is another person who can keep a community's memory from slipping away.
Workshops
Hands on practice
Sessions on interview technique, recording equipment and the traditional music and dance of Italy, arranged on request.
Internships
University placements
Project based placements for students, supported by several university departments, working on the Italian Los Angeles guide.
Lectures and public talks
Alongside its courses, the Institute gives lectures on the history and culture of Italians, with particular attention to the folk and regional cultures of the many parts of Italy from which people in California came. Lectures can be arranged for schools, universities, associations and community groups.
Learning by contributing
The Institute's teaching has a distinctive outcome. Students do not only study collecting; they collect. Their interviews, photographs and papers are added to the archive, which means a course can leave a permanent record behind. That link between learning and contribution is what makes the Institute's education program unusual.