Archivi orali e università italiane: un quadro diacronico

The contribution presents a detailed picture of when and how the oral archives entered Italian universities, as well as the various seasons of research and militancy activities characterizing the multifaceted universe of those who have collected, curated and studied oral sources. Various case studies are examined: from the total disappearance of oral documents, to shining cases of archives recovered and returned to the community. The issues of the potential and limits related to the reuse of oral sources are discussed, always starting from opposing examples. The text closes on the urgent need to find a collective and public response to individual problems that are increasingly widespread and by no means solved by the transition from analogue to digital.