Minutes of History: Talk and Its Written Incarnations

• Published in: Social science history Vol. 46; no. 3; pp. 643 - 669
• Main Author: Gibson, David R.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York, USA Cambridge University Press 01.01.2022
• Subjects: Behavior problems; Cuban Missile Crisis; Historians; Meetings; National security; Presidents; Research Article; Woodward, Bob; France; Cuban missile crisis; Richard Nixon; minutes; ethnomethodology; National Security Council; organizational memory; Vietnam War; John F. Kennedy; organizational records

Meeting minutes (and similar records) provide a cherished window into the internal workings of important bodies, but scholars usually have little option but to trust their veridicality. However, the production of a record of talk as it happens is a difficult task, especially when talk is animated an...