The links between oral history and gerontology have rarely been explored, but both share some common interests and research methodologies. For the oral historian, older people are the key to the past, as witnesses they speak it, reconstruct it and, sometimes are its inventors, its authors. Gerontologists also talk to older people, though more often, perhaps, they tend to observe them and those who are close to them: their carers, friends, practitioners and spokespersons. For both gerontology and oral history, the interview is a key research tool, both focus on remembering and both show concern for issues raised by participation, ownership and the presentation of the outcomes of their engagement with the lives of older people.

The authors, all leading UK oral historians, illustrate four very different approaches within an oral history tradition, and each has resonance and relevance for gerontologists. The aim is to stimulate further discussions and opportunities to share research approaches and findings in the hope that creative research partnerships may ensue in the future.

Contents: Introduction, Joanna Bornat and Josie Tetley; Transnational families, ageing and realising dreams of home, Paul Thompson; Remembering in later life: some lessons from oral history, Alistair Thomson; Sex, lives and videotape: oral history group work and older adult education groups, Graham Smith; Experience shared and valued: creative development of personal and community memory, Pam Schweitzer.