Menelusuri sejarah lisan di Jawa Barat: Sebuah langkah awal dalam upaya menyelamatkan sumber sejarah

Abstract

The tracing of oral history in West Java is the research’s result to obtain some information about the witnesses’ experiences and historical actors from various circles. Oral history has its significance when written documents remain scarce or extinct. There where a lot of information regarding the past still scattered or missed from the record, while the lifespan of the resources limited. However oral history will enrich: research methods, history sources (oral), and enrich the history writing substantively. Can be used as a source for anyone who wants to do historical research, and in general for science development. Oral history which managed properly will provide unlimited information in numbers/pages, often even giving rise to information that has not been written. This becomes the main concern as well as an initial step for the History Education Department Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia to carry out the writing and to gather collective memory as an effort to save these historical sources. The disappearing of oral historical sources in one generation means a great loss in historical writing.