South Jersey Lesbian Oral History Project: VOICES OF OUR HERSTORY
Participant Information
Purpose
SJLOHP Co-Founders Michelle Ayers and Joan Buehler are inviting you to participate in the SJLOHP, an oral history project. The co-founders will document, preserve, and share the personal life histories and reflections of lesbians who grew up and lived in South Jersey in the 1950s, 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s.
The edited collection will create a historical record for educational, research, and archival use in state, county historical societies plus university archives. The collection will ultimately be published in both printed and audio form for publishing to appropriate channels.
Voluntary Participation
Your participation in this interview is entirely voluntary. You may decline to answer any question and may stop the interview at any time.
Samples of Questions
The interviewers will be asking questions designed to stimulate your memory of coming out as a lesbian, and the people, places, and activities you experienced that may or may not have influenced or informed self-identifying as a lesbian. Some examples:
● Who was your first crush and how old were you? Why do you think now you had a crush on this particular woman?
● Can you tell us your coming-out story?
● Do you recall the first time you either read about or saw a public figure identified as gay or lesbian, who was it, and what were the circumstances?
● How did living close to a major city affect your identity as a lesbian?
● In your job or profession, did you perceive any consequences, positive or negative, from telling co-workers, bosses, or human-resources personnel that you were gay?
● Post-2013, do you feel as if lesbian couples have achieved equality in our society, compared to heterosexual couples?
Should you decide to take part, the interviewers will share the full list of intended questions with you before your interview.
Interview Recording
● Your interview will be recorded in audio format.
● The recording will be transcribed.
● You may request that the recorder and/or camera be turned off at any point during the interview.
● You may request to be identified by a pseudonym in the finished product. You may request that any people you talk about during the interview be identified by pseudonyms in the finished product.
Copyright and ownership
● SJLOHP is the owner of the content generated from your interview. You may request reasonable corrections for factual accuracy.
● You retain the moral rights to your spoken words.
● You grant the interviewer/project a non-exclusive, perpetual, royalty-free license[2] to use the interview materials as described above.
Upon completion of your interview and after it is edited to your
satisfaction, you will receive a printed copy that you may share
with family and friends if you desire.