This study addresses the urgent need to preserve the oral heritage of Traditional Malay Midwifery (TMM) through a dual approach: a semantic metadata schema and a domain-specific thematic thesaurus. Using oral history methodology, the framework captures both the content and the cultural depth of TMM practices. The metadata schema, grounded in standards but extended with culturally relevant elements, ensures midwives lived knowledge is accurately represented. The thesaurus, developed from practitioner vocabulary, maps the interconnections of concepts within the traditional knowledge system. Expert evaluations affirmed the model’s relevance, usability, and ethical soundness, emphasizing the importance of culturally responsive archival systems. This research demonstrates that digital preservation of intangible cultural heritage (ICH) must move beyond technical storage to embrace community voice, relational meaning, and ethical design. While developed for TMM, the framework is scalable for other community-based heritage, bridging informal knowledge and structured digital systems.