What can oral history reveal about fairground life that conventional archives cannot? In conversation with three retired showwomen, historian Véronique Faber and filmmaker Alexandra Rice recorded memories of work, family life and skills learned through practice. Together with Nele Wynants, they reflect on what happens when women remember their working lives collectively – and on how oral history can preserve traces of a mobile and performative culture that might otherwise be lost.

Since 1883, Der Komet has been a pioneering journal, serving as a compass for fairground entrepreneurs and travelling traders. The periodical played a vital role in the professionalization of the fairground industry and chronicled over 140 years of German fairground culture. As such, it is a valuable resource for researchers interested in the cultural history of fairgrounds, media and film history, and the history of knowledge and technology. Current digitization campaigns, supported by the SciFair project and its partners, aim to make this rich historical material accessible to a wider…