'The Vademecum for Oral Sources: a compass for operators, researchers, institutions'

The "Vademecum for the treatment of oral sources" is the result of a collective work that lasted 30 months and of an interdisciplinary discussion that involved scholars and conservators of different generations, representing the main subjects that deal with oral archives in Italy: the Italian Ministry of Culture , universities, historical institutes of the Resistance and many of the associations engaged in research with oral sources and interested in their protection.

The initiative began with a meeting organized in 2019 at the Archival and Bibliographic Superintendence of Tuscany and developed above all with an intense remote activity in which, on behalf of the Ministry of Culture, the following bodies participated: General Directorate of Archives, Central Institute for Archives, Central Institute for Sound and Audiovisual Heritage and Central Institute for Catalog and Documentation.

A first version of the "Vademecum for the treatment of oral sources" was publicly presented on 27^th October 2020, during the online seminar 'Not Just Paper - Taking Care of Oral Archives', organized by the Central Institute for Sound and Audiovisual Heritage.

After this initiative, the first version of the "Vademecum for the treatment of oral sources" was subjected to a public review until the end of January 2021 and subsequently revised and partially rewritten in the light of the comments received.

In the meantime, the initiative was presented at doctoral schools, conferences, public events and disciplinary and thematic associations, arousing interest and curiosity, especially from the new generations of researchers.

The initiative is promoted by: Italian Association of Voice Sciences, Italian Association of Oral History, Italian National Archival Association, Center for Computational Sonology, University of Padua, CLARIN-IT, Directorate General Archives, ISEC Foundation, Central Institute for Archives, Central Institute for Sound and Audiovisual Heritage, Central Institute for Catalog and Documentation, Central Institute for the Single Catalog, Institute for Computational Linguistics "Antonio Zampolli" of the National Research Council of Italy, Ferruccio Parri National Institute, Institute for the History of Resistance in Pistoia, Piedmont Institute for the History of Resistance and Contemporary Society, Archival and Bibliographic Superintendence of Piedmont and Val d'Aosta, Archival and Bibliographic Superintendence of Tuscany, University Ca' Foscari Venice, University of Siena.