Collections Survey

Many oral history collections face uncertain futures due to limited resources for long-term preservation and access management. By completing this survey, you can help ensure your collection is recognised and included in the Precarious Oral Histories Project’s public catalogue. The survey does not require you to upload interviews or transfer your collection. Instead, it gathers information that will help improve discoverability, inform future preservation initiatives, and strengthen advocacy for support for at-risk oral history collections.

Precarious oral history collections are collections of interviews that may not have long-term support, funding, or preservation systems in place. Unlike collections held by major state or national institutions, they may be at risk of being lost, becoming inaccessible, or not being properly managed in the future. If you’re unsure whether your collection will still be safe and accessible in 10, 20, or 50 years, we encourage you to complete the form.

A few things to note before you get started:

  • The form takes roughly 10–20 minutes to complete. This may vary depending on how much you already know about your collection and how much detail you wish to provide.
  • The survey will be available to complete until October 31, 2026.
  • Please check your collection is eligible. We are collecting submissions about precarious oral history collections located in Victoria, New South Wales, and the Australian Capital Territory, Australia. You must be the collection holder or their authorised representative to complete the form.
  • Please read over our Guide to Completing the Collections Survey. This document can help survey users understand whether your oral history collection is eligible, what information you need before starting, and how the information provided will be used and published. It also provides question-by-question guidance, and FAQs to help users complete the form clearly and confidently.

There are two ways to complete the collection survey.

The first is using our online survey tool. This is a quick and efficient way of completing the survey. Your responses are saved automatically. You can leave the survey at any time and return later using the same browser and device to continue where you left off.

The second is to download the Word File of the survey. Here, you can manually complete the form and email this document back to our team at the Precarious Oral Histories Project.

If you have any questions, or would like any support completing the survey, please contact us.