The first ever oral history of life in the North Sea Oil industry is being launched tomorrow (17 March) at the University of Aberdeen. A grant of £10,000 from the National Life Story Collection at the British Library, added to substantial investment by the University, will fund the first 50 in-depth interviews in what is planned as a three-year project.
A ‘Lives in the Oil Industry’ research fellow will compile the oral history, covering a broad cross-section of those involved in the industry since exploration began in the 1960s. Those interviews will range from roustabouts to geophysicists, from company executives to trade unionists, from divers to financiers.
Terry Brotherstone of the History Department, who is co-ordinating the project with Dr Lorna McKee of the Social Sciences and Law Faculty, said: “I am very pleased that the University of Aberdeen will now be able to play its proper role in recording the history of the industry that, in so many different ways, has shaped the city, and the lives of many of its citizens, for the last generation or more.”
Dr Robert Perks, Director of the National Life Story Collection said: “The British Library is delighted to be collaborating with the University in a project which we hope will be a distinguished addition to our existing collection about, for example, the steel and the food industries, the book trade and the artistic community.”
Mr Brotherstone added: “We are glad to have the assistance of Professor Alex Kemp of the Economics Department who is currently writing the official history of the North Sea Oil industry and Professor René Leboutte of the History Department who is a well-known expert on the social and economic history of energy production.
PHOTO OPPORTUNITY: Mr Terry Brotherstone, Department of History; Dr Lorna McKee, Department of Management Studies; Professor René Leboutte, Department of History; and Dr Perks will be available for a photocall on Friday 17 March at 9.00am . They will be assembling at the Department of Continuing Education Foyer on Regent Walk.