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Also, re: word limits in SOPs
While @QWERTYMNB97 and @CoffeeCatsCorgis are probably right in that you will not be denied admission based on 30 words, I second @Sigaba's point.
As a professor, I can assure you we don't count words but we do see when you could have said something in so many less words. Egs I gave my students: 
What is important about all this... means "This crucial to X" In his book Bla bleh: the American Dream and the question of whatever comes next can simply be "Jane Smith (2001) explained that..."  "I am passionate about history" should never be a part of your SOP "The questions I have are: ...? ...? ...?" should be "Research with Professor X has sprung my interests around X, Y, Z, specifically how X and Y intersected in the context of... No passive voice or verbs to be/become/appear/seem. Trust me! These verbs say absolutely nothing. avoid too many lists, including coordinating conjunctions (and/or). "I am interested in X,Y,Z, in the context of W,V, and U, as it pertained to Black and Brown women and children in urban and suburban settings of the mid-to-late nineteenth to early twentieth centuries." See the mouthful?  So, yeah, you won't be thrown out for 30 words, but you should be able to downsize 30 words. 

For what it's worth, and to offer a different opinion, my thesis advisor told me that admissions committees don't have the time to care about a minimal overage like that, and it's more important to make sure that your SOP and writing sample are your best possible work. By all means, if you can cut the SOP down and it is better, do that, but I am under the impression that our applications will be judged by their actual content, as opposed to precise adherence to word count guidelines. It might be a more productive use of your time to get more opinions on the SOP from people in the field than to try and cut 30 words. 
I am, of course, just an MA student and not a faculty member, so take that with a grain of salt.

Well, Nope. For many reasons.
A 1000 word limit is an approximation of 1.5 pages SOP with Times New Roman 12 pt font. An excess of 30 words will have a negligible change in the size of the content.
Admission committee / PI looking at your SOP will be keen on getting to know you, rather than your word limit. Many universities vaguely say 1.5-2 pages or even no word limit for SOPs.
To arrive at a decision whether to accept or reject an applicant, many factors play a significant role, and a 30 word excess MOST PROBABLY WON'T!

I recommend you find a way to cut your SOP to the word limit. Find ways to reduce the use of prepositional phrases, streamline verbs by cutting participles and the use of the passive voice, and cut sentences to the bone.
You will never know if an admissions committee puts you in the "no" pile for "failure to follow simple instructions," or to lower the ranking of your application materials in other ways.
Please take a close look at your frame of mind during this process. In a handful of posts, you've indicated a preference for finding shortcuts by not taking the GRE, by not searching for information on how to phrase a self-introductory note to professors, by applying to "safety schools," by picking programs using a controversial definition of "fit," and now by disregarding instructions on word limits. To me, you're sending a mixed message about how hard you're willing to work as a graduate student.
IME, professional academic historians are very perceptive when it comes to reading between the lines, and, when among themselves, tend to speak candidly. It's a "buyers' market" when it comes to applying to history graduate programs. Do what you can to put your best foot forward in your use of the written word. Do not give readers a "wait a minute" moment. They may use that moment to move on to the next applicant.

just an update the chats went extremely well! 

Finalized all my application materials today  Now I just have to work up the nerve to hit submit!

just an update the chats went extremely well! 

just an update the chats went extremely well! 

Thanks, guys! Really appreciate the advice.
I'm getting ready to submit my apps in the next week or so -- I'm an MA student with a teaching position and a lot of extracurriculars, and I'm just getting them all done at once since my earliest deadlines are approaching. My attitude right now is "hope for the best and definitely prepare for the worst". I have really appreciated having this forum as a resource, wish I knew about it the first time! 

Good luck! You will do excellently. It never hurts to read up on the professor and have some general knowledge about their work. Overall, just try to have a stimulating, genuine conversation. 

I have a couple of meetings this week with faculty members! I'm so nervous. 

I'll be even more blunt than @dr. telkanuru. Don't fucking do it.
Unfair and cruel as it may be, your future career prospects heavily depend on the program you attend.

You mean school rankings that measure UG education? Irrelevant.
Graduate education does not work like undergraduate education. First, the application process is not centralized. You are not admitted to a school, you are admitted to a specific program. Your admission depends on many, many variables aside from your credentials. For instance, it depends on who else is applying. If you are an Americanist and fifty other people are applying to that same spot, your chances are less favorable than the five Latin Americanists (gross oversimplification). 
Second, rankings in grad school take into account faculty research productivity, which is a good thing but not entirely relevant to you. You want your specific advisor and the faculty you'll be working with to be active in terms of research, but the whole program ranking averages research in general.
Third, "fit" has become one of those words that we think we know what we mean, but we actually don't. Or at least I don't know how would anyone define it beyond being interested in more or less the same themes, say gender and violence in medieval Europe or East Asian environmental history. I was trained by three scholars who did not specialize in my geography (within the field), but had similar questions as I did. 
Finally, as @dr. telkanurumentioned, there is not such thing as a safety school in PhD work. 
 

There is no such thing as a safety school for PhD work. Don't go to a program just because it's the only one that will accept you.

I secured my 3 letters and I have a polished writing sample (@TheWitWitch thanks for the suggestions and the offer to help), so all I need to do is write the research part of my statement of purpose and reach out to potential faculty members I want to work with. 

Yah, mine is a historical writing sample.  
 
However, I was wondering... Would you be able to adapt your previous writing sample? And make it more of a history one? I mean, you have the sources, you conduct 20 interviews. What are they about? Is there any historical aspects in it? Maybe intersections?  
I suppose (but then again, just a thought)you could select maybe three interviews that contains topics that dialogue between them, and write a new one. Describe what kind of Oral History methodology you are going to use...maybe you follow more of an Alessandro Portelli (that conducts a more corporal type of analyzes) or maybe a Paul Thompson (a more traditional approach to Oral History).... Maybe establish a dialogue with the field of History of the Present Time, since they are very into Oral History and Trauma.... Define a period that embraces your interviews, what are they talking about, what historical vestiges do they portray in their narratives...
 
I do not know if this is doable on time, but I think it could demonstrate to the committee that even though you are switching fields, you already have a foundation in the historical research....Maybe, again, not start from scratch, but adapt what you already have....

I am not much of an Oral History researcher, but have a lot of friends who are. So, anyhow, if you need some help with it, just send me a message. I will be glad to help you. 

I don't know how to directly reply to the Kruse quote above, but I'm wondering if people have any experience with the opposite. I reached out to a potential advisor with just a basic introduction, and he immediately responded with an invitation to Zoom and ask questions about the program. What kind of things are useful to ask at this pre-application stage? 

Apologies for this incredibly late reply... it went really well, thank you for asking. Have you reached out to anyone yet? I've heard August/September is a good time to reach out, but like I said, I reached out in the last few weeks to a handful of professors who were all quite receptive. 

Congrats! How did the conversation go? So far I have a spreadsheet of faculty I want to reach out to. I'm still figuring out what to include in the introductory email, and when to send emails out.  

Update! I finished compelling a list of 8 doctoral programs for this cycle. I'm hoping they waive the GRE requirement again.  

Late summer, early fall.
As many as you can afford. It's nice that some faculty think that students have $800 for admissions... that was not my case. 

As many as you fit well with.