{'fraction_non_alphanumeric': 0.0258272800645682, 'fraction_numerical': 0.003228410008071025, 'mean_word_length': 4.698850574712644, 'pattern_counts': {'":': 0, '<': 0, '<?xml version=': 0, '>': 0, 'https://': 0, 'lorem ipsum': 0, 'www.': 0, 'xml': 0}, 'pii_count': 0, 'substrings_counts': 0, 'word_list_counts': {'cursed_substrings.json': 0, 'profanity_word_list.json': 0, 'sexual_word_list.json': 0, 'zh_pornsignals.json': 0}}
“Dead End of Oral History” and Writing of “The History of Cities and Villages of the Ukrainian SSR” (On the Example of Dnipropetrovsk Region)

The aim of the research
 is to determine the place of the “dead end of oral history” in the 
writing of “The History of Cities and Villages of the Ukrainian SSR”
The methodological foundations
 of the research are the principles of historicism and 
objectivity in combination with historical-comparative method and microhistorical approach.
The scientific novelty
 of the research lies in the formulation of the problem and in definition 
of such a specific phenomenon in the development of oral history as its “dead end”. The research 
shows that the “dead end” appeared with the advent of sound recording technique. The “dead end” 
branch developed especially actively in those countries where recording equipment was not 
available to the researcher. When the large-scale historical project “The History of Cities and 
Villages of the USSR” was implemented in the USSR, the authors of historical essays were tasked to 
collect memories of local residents and to use this material to cover the historical gaps, created by 
the lack of documentary sources. As a result, during the preparation of essays on the history of 
small settlements, the memories of local residents were actively recorded. 
Conclusions. 
As a result of the research, it was found that “the dead end of oral history” 
existed in parallel with the “progressive branch” and was actively used by the researchers for 
(re)construction of the past. One of the largest historical projects, where this “dead end” was used, 
was the writing of “The History of Cities and Villages of the USSR”
On the example of the Dnipropetrovsk region it was possible to determine that the authors of 
the historical essays turned to oral history only in cases when there was a lack of documentary 
sources. In order to make the handwritten memories “legal”, they were certified by the seals of the 
village councils. A key disadvantage of the “dead end” was the deformation of memories, which 
they went through when recording by ear. The deformation occurred both in thematic-semantic and 
presentational spheres. Thematic and semantic deformations were manifested in selective coverage 
of only certain topics: “revolutions of 1905-1907”, “armed struggle for Soviet power” etc. The 
presentation deformation can be seen in the adaptation of texts to the Soviet historical narrative