About us

AROHA was initiated by Lisa Savijn of the Aberdeen City Council Oral History Unit, David Atherton, then Cultural Services Education Officer with the City and Hugo Manson of the University of Aberdeen in 2003. The inaugural meeting of the Association was held in November of that year at the Aberdeen Central Library. Since then, a number of presentations and training workshops have taken place in different parts of Aberdeen and the surrounding region.

Lisa Savijn, MA (Hons.) Medieval History

I joined Aberdeen City Council as the Oral History Officer in 2003. Although my academic background is the medieval period, my personal interest in the social and political backdrop to World War II led me into this particular branch of history. I have never looked back and greatly value the privilege of speaking to people whose personal experiences and memories of their time literally do bring history to life. One of the most cherished experiences I have had in this post is getting to know Aberdeen City through the eyes of those people who were born here and have seen its evolution through most of the Twentieth Century. Lisa has now moved to Wales with her husband James and her son Peter.

Hugo Manson

Hugo Manson, a New Zealander living in Aberdeen since 2000, has been working as an oral historian for the last 25 years and was co-founder of the New Zealand Oral History Archive (now the Oral History Centre in the Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington). He has worked on many major oral history projects, most recently on an oral history of the UK North Sea oil and gas industry. Hugo has now left the History Department and is moving away from Aberdeen

Fiona-Jane Brown

I'm a local quine, brought up in Peterhead, and now living and working in Aberdeen. My first foray into oral history was interviewing my grandparents for my hospital radio show in Peterhead back in 1994. My academic background is History and English literature, with a bit of Gaelic thrown in for good measure. I've always loved stories, writing them, and telling them, so it isn't surprising that I should now be associated with AROHA. I met Lisa through reading about her Food project in the local paper, and discovered a fellow enthusiast for other people's stories. I have recently gained an M.Litt. (with distinction) in Ethnology & Folklore from the Elphinstone Institute, and researching the beliefs in North East fishing communities, which involves quite a bit of oral history! I am also now involved with the Formartine Project as Oral History Project Officer.

Our Recent Projects

Aberdeen City Council Oral History Unit

Aberdeen City CouncilThe Oral History Unit (City Council) has been running for over ten years and has worked with groups and individuals throughout the city to record and preserve the memories and history of our community. Working with the city as a whole it has produced several large-scale oral history books:

  • Far Wis Ye When The Sireen Blew?
  • We’r Far Fae Hame Now
  • Work Welfare And The Price Of Fish
  • The Backie Washhouse Sauna
  • Auld Torry: O’ Fish And Fowk

Working with smaller groups, usually self-appointed groups within community centres or housing complexes, we have produced many smaller books that have concentrated on particular areas within Aberdeen:

  • Woodside Nae Mair
  • Here’s Tae Us, Far’s Like Us
  • Frae A The Airts To Haudagain
  • A Richt Bourachie O’ Fowk
  • From Stockethill And Back Again
  • No Way To Live

Also a book of short stories and poems written by local writers and inspired by art, reminiscence and everyday occurrences in Aberdeen:

  • Whigmaleeries: A Word In Your Lug

We have an extensive archive of World War II reminiscence, including photographs, recordings and written accounts, memories of local industries such as granite, the mills and of course the fishing industry. We are currently working on a project to archive historic eating and cooking patterns in the city.

Lives in the Oil Industry

Lives in the Oil Industry Oral History Project, one of the biggest projects of its kind now comprises life history interviews with nearly two hundred people throughout Scotland, the Northern Isles, the UK and beyond. The tapes from the project will be available to researchers through the University of Aberdeen and the Sound Archive at the British Library in London. As well as documenting the oil and gas industry, the recorded tapes – some seven hundred hours in all – contain valuable information about Aberdeen and the North East of Scotland for the use of researchers now and in the future.

Full details about Lives in the Oil Industry can be found at www.abdn.ac.uk/oillives