Top down/bottom up: using oral history to re-examine government institutions

Institutional history, which fell into disfavour over the last generation as historians focused on social and cultural history, has been regaining interest. Oral historians, who once argued over the merits of top-down and bottom-up approaches, have discovered that the methodology works well at any level; and for institutions it works best when approached from both directions. Offering a model for other institutional projects, this paper focuses on the oral history programme conducted by the US Senate Historical Office with former senators and staff. Recognising that perspectives depend on where people stand and that it could not interview everyone, the project sought a core sample that cut through the various strata within the institution. Interviewees have helped Senate historians understand how the seemingly arcane rules of the Senate work, why those rules have survived for so long and how a seemingly unchanging institution has slowly transformed itself in dramatic ways.