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Oral History Project
The overall purpose of the Project is to record, as part of the history of policing in Northern Ireland, the experiences of members of the Royal Ulster Constabulary GC and the extended police family. The Project will cover the entire period from the creation of the Force in 1922 until its replacement by the PSNI in 2001.
The Project has been awarded grant aid from the Heritage Lottery Fund.
Oral History is the recording of people's memories. It is the living history of unique life experiences. It is a vital tool for understanding of the recent past. It enables people who have been hidden from history to be heard, and for those interested in their past to record personal experiences and those of their families and communities.
While much written material exists for future historians to analyse the work and role of the RUC GC, first hand oral accounts are relatively rare. It is essential, therefore, that a comprehensive oral history archive of first hand recollections of recent times is compiled while it is still possible and before the passage of time has removed witnesses or dimmed the memories of those still alive.
The aim is to create a living oral history archive of the RUC GC using modern technology. The archive's core value will be the unique opportunity for the interpretation of recollections and commentary, which will complement the various contemporaneous accounts, paper and other material, ultimately becoming available at the Public Records Office etc.
The comprehensive oral history archive will be available, subject to agreed conditions, for bona fide research, writing, study and analysis of the RUC GC, its members and their families, policing policy, practice and procedures. This will allow future researchers to interpret the factual material, in conjunction with other evidence, and draw their own conclusions and lessons.
The Project will consist of two phases:-
Phase 1 will involve the collection of memories of policing from partition of Ireland, through the Second World War to the years of relative peace in the 1950's and 1960's. It is accepted that there will be few, if any, people who served in the pre-war RUC. There will, however, be a substantial number who joined in the aftermath of the war and who have experience of urban and rural policing in the post-war period, as well as combating the IRA campaign of 1956-1962.
Phase 2 of the Project will cover the years immediately proceeding, during and following the 'Troubles'. There are many serving and retired police officers who can provide a unique insight into the events of our recent past, giving a balance to their interpretation that has all to often been lacking.
The process for collection of the oral history of the RUC GC has been developed with the assistance of professional archivists and academics. All of the interviewers will be former police officers and will be trained with the assistance of the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum. Each interview will be recorded, digitally stored, transcribed and catalogued.
Phase 1 of the Project has been completed with some 160 interviews undertaken and documented. Phase 2 began in early 2010. However we will, during the life of the Project, look for interviews across the life of the RUC GC.
A computerised system has been developed which provides access to the interviews using a key word search which allows both the voice recording and the subsequent transcript to be called up for research or other purposes. While work on compiling the archive is still ongoing limited access to the archive is available subject to agreement with the Project Manager.
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