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Oral history

ACT-UP Oral History Project view detail comment email this

The digital exhibit space for "a collection of interviews with surviving members of the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power, New York." Features interview transcripts, videos, tributes, forums, and more. Each text transcript is accompanied by a separate index. From MIX (the New York Lesbian and Gay Experimental Film/Video Festival), with funding from the Ford Foundation and the New York State Council on the Arts. Project leaders are author Sarah Schulman and filmmaker Jim Hubbard.
http://www.actuporalhistory.org/
Topics: Film, Movies, & Video, Film: Genres & Themes, History, Infectious Diseases, Nonfiction by Genre, Women's Health

Last updated Jun 10, 2004


The Bancroft Library Regional Oral History Office (ROHO): Featured Projects view detail comment email this

A browsable collection of oral histories, with a focus on California. Topics include bioscience and biotechnology, disability rights, the Earl Warren era, diversity at UC, food and wine, Free Speech Movement, "Rosie the Riveter WWII American Homefront Project," suffragists, history of the University of California, and Western mining. From the University of California, Berkeley.
http://bancroft.berkeley.edu/ROHO/projects/
Topics: History

Last updated Aug 22, 2006


Basque Oral History Project view detail comment email this

Audio interviews with Basque people in the American West, accompanied by brief text biographies. Browsable by last name. Presented online by the Basque Museum of Boise, Idaho through a grant provided by the Basque government. (The audio files did not play in Netscape.)
http://www.basquemuseum.com/oralhistory/
Topics: History, Nonfiction by Genre

Last updated Jun 13, 2004


Black Oral History Collection view detail comment email this

Features interviews with "African American pioneers and their descendants throughout Washington [state], Oregon, Idaho, and Montana, from 1972-1974." Topics discussed "include early black settlers, job opportunities, social life and community, living patterns, black churches, and black political involvement from the late 1800s through 1974." Includes sound files and descriptive records. Browsable and searchable. From Washington State University Libraries.
http://www.wsulibs.wsu.edu/holland/masc/xblackoralhistory.html
Topics: Black Resources, History, Nonfiction by Genre, U.S. History By Place, United States History

Last updated Jan 4, 2006


California Explores the Ocean: San Diego Historical Society - Oral Histories view detail comment email this

A searchable collection of over 50 transcribed interviews with "fishermen, cannery workers, fishing boat owners and captains, fishmongers, and others involved in commercial fishing, sport fishing, and boat building. Many belonged to immigrant Italian and Portuguese families that settled in San Diego from around 1910 to 1930." More than half of the interviews feature audio. A collaboration of the San Diego Historical Society and the University of California, San Diego.
http://ceo.ucsd.edu/photographs/sdhs/oral/
Topics: Agriculture, History, Nonfiction by Genre

Last updated Aug 4, 2003


Center for Columbia River History (CCRH) view detail comment email this

This agency "is dedicated to examining the 'hidden histories' of the Basin and to helping people think about the historical record from different perspectives." This site includes photo, document, and oral history archives; curricula for "Columbia River Studies," an interdisciplinary high school course; an events calendar; and student projects. The CCRH is a regional partnership of Washington State University at Vancouver, Portland State University, and the Washington State Historical Society.
http://www.ccrh.org/
Topics: History, U.S. History By Place

Last updated Feb 11, 2003


Center for Oral History: University of Hawai'i at Manoa view detail comment email this

This site "preserves the recollections of Hawai'i's people through oral interviews and disseminates oral history transcripts to researchers, students, and the general community." Find brief histories of communities, ethnic groups, government, historical events, individual lives, and occupations. Some transcripts include sound files.
http://www2.soc.hawaii.edu/css/dept/oral_hist/
Topics: History, Nonfiction by Genre, U.S. History By Place

Last updated Jul 30, 2003


Civil Rights Oral History Interviews view detail comment email this

This site consists of a series of interviews with people who have "ties to both the civil rights movement and to Spokane [Washington state]." Conducted by a reporter for the Spokesman-Review, the interviews were used to create "Through Spokane's Eyes: Moments in Black History," a series of articles published in February 2001. The site includes photographs, brief descriptions of the topics covered, and audio files of the interviews. Searchable. From Washington State University.
http://www.wsulibs.wsu.edu/holland/masc/xcivilrights.html
Topics: Black Resources, Constitutional Law & Civil Liberties, History, Nonfiction by Genre, Photograph Collections: History

Last updated Jan 21, 2004


Complete Coverage: The 9/11 Records view detail comment email this

Under court order, "the city of New York [in August 2005] opened part of its archive of records from Sept. 11, releasing a digital avalanche of oral histories, dispatchers' tapes and phone logs. ... For the first time, about 200 accounts of emergency medical technicians, paramedics and their supervisors were made public." This site provides the unedited audio dispatches and oral histories of dispatch transmissions, along with articles and commentary. From the New York Times; some sections require free registration.
http://www.nytimes.com/indexes/2005/11/30/nyregion/nyregionspecial3/index.html
Topics: History, Nonfiction by Genre, September 11 & Beyond

Last updated Nov 7, 2007


HistoricalVoices.org view detail comment email this

Historical Voices is creating "a significant...online database of spoken word collections spanning the 20th century." Galleries lists their eclectic collection of databases and links. Following another goal of the project, there is also research on "sound digitization, system architecture, federated searching, metadata implementations, online delivery, and multimedia education."
http://www.historicalvoices.org/
Topics: Government, History, Internet, Libraries & Archives by Type, Music, Nonfiction by Genre

Last updated Oct 3, 2002


Living Voices/Voces Vivas view detail comment email this

This Web site from the Smithsonian features audio profiles of Native Americans and Native Hawaiians. "People of many ages, traditions and perspectives tell their own stories, reflecting the wide range of contemporary Native experience in Canada, Mexico, Panama, and the U.S." Files on this site are in English (there is also a limited Spanish version of the site); the foreign-language profiles may be ordered separately on CD.
http://www.nmai.si.edu/livingvoices/
Topics: History, Internet, Native Americans, Nonfiction by Genre

Last updated Aug 30, 2002


National Story Project with Paul Auster view detail comment email this

The monthly broadcast of the National Story Project was born when writer Paul Auster returned to National Public Radio's Weekend All Things Considered to focus on telling not just his own stories, but also those of listeners. Read or listen to stories that have aired since November 1999. Stories may be submitted to the Project by post or by e-mail.
http://www.npr.org/programs/watc/features/1999/991002.storyproject.html
Topics: History, Nonfiction by Genre, Society & Social Science, United States History

Last updated Nov 10, 2004


Oral History of Human Genetics: The Intelligent Archive view detail comment email this

Collection of oral history transcripts on the history of human genetics. As of April 2009, only a few of the oral histories are available, but they are very detailed and contain supplemental material such as timelines and related papers. Also provides a bibliography, chronology of human genetics (1900-2000), and project background. This ongoing project is a collaboration between historians of science at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and Johns Hopkins University.
http://www.socgen.ucla.edu/hgp/
Topics: Health, Health & Medical Disciplines

Last updated Apr 23, 2009


Oral History: Recording and Preserving the Voices of Washington's Government view detail comment email this

The website for a program that records, transcribes, and publishes "the recollections of legislators, state officials and citizens who have shaped Washington State's political history." Provides the texts of oral histories published to date, information about the program, links to legislative and oral history resources, and advice for creating oral history materials for exhibits and educational programs. Searchable. From the Washington Secretary of State.
http://www.secstate.wa.gov/legacyproject//
Topics: History, Nonfiction by Genre, U.S. History By Place

Last updated Sep 9, 2008


Oral History: University of California, Riverside view detail comment email this

Transcripts, audio, and video clips of over 30 oral histories of UC Riverside professors, administrators, and others associated with the university. Includes a photograph of each person interviewed. From the University of California, Riverside.
http://www.ucrhistory.ucr.edu/
Topics: California: Education, History, Nonfiction by Genre

Last updated Aug 15, 2003


Regional History Project at the University Library view detail comment email this

"The Regional History Project has been documenting the history of the Central Coast of California and the institutional history of UC Santa Cruz since 1963, through oral history. This web site includes the complete catalog of our collection, a photo gallery of historical images of the Central Coast of California, [and] oral history resources." Contains selected oral histories in full text, with emphasis on agriculture and Lick Observatory. From the University of California, Santa Cruz.
http://library.ucsc.edu/regional-history-project
Topics: Agriculture, California: Education, History, Nonfiction by Genre

Last updated Oct 26, 2009


The Rutgers Oral History Archives: World War II, Korea, Vietnam, Cold War view detail comment email this

This is "an enterprise to record the personal experiences of the men and women who served on the homefront and overseas. It is based on in-depth interviews of individuals who lived through these conflicts." This project has hundreds of oral history interviews, a photo gallery and a list, with illustrations, of shoulder patches and badges of honor.
http://oralhistory.rutgers.edu/
Topics: History, Libraries & Archives by Type, Military, Nonfiction by Genre, Photograph Collections, Photograph Collections: History

Last updated May 29, 2006


September 11, 2001, Documentary Project view detail comment email this

This "presentation of almost 200 audio and video interviews, 45 graphic items, and 21 written narratives" presents "heartfelt reactions, eyewitness accounts, and diverse opinions of Americans and others in the months that followed the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and United Airlines Flight 93." From the American Memory Project of the Library of Congress.
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/collections/911_archive/
Topics: Film: Genres & Themes, History, Nonfiction by Genre, September 11 & Beyond

Last updated Aug 12, 2005


StoryCorps view detail comment email this

Information about "a national project to instruct and inspire people to record each others' stories in sound." Features audio clips of stories recorded at New York City's Grand Central Station, as well as links to radio broadcasts of interviews. Also includes information about the StoryBooths, which will be built across the country for recording oral histories to be housed at the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress.
http://www.storycorps.org/
Topics: History, Internet, Music, Nonfiction by Genre

Last updated Sep 22, 2009


Studs Terkel: Conversations with America view detail comment email this

Includes audio recordings of interviews Studs Terkel -- oral historian, playwright, radio news commentator, sportscaster, film narrator, jazz columnist, disc jockey, and music festival host -- did for his books and a multimedia interview of Terkel himself (who died in October 2008). Provides a model for those interested in the methods of oral history. Searchable. From the Chicago Historical Society.
http://www.studsterkel.org/
Topics: History, Musical Genres, Nonfiction by Genre, United States History

Last updated Nov 6, 2008


Talking History: Aural History Productions view detail comment email this

This center aims to "provide teachers, students, researchers, and the general public with as broad and outstanding collection of audio documentaries, speeches, debates, oral histories, conference sessions, commentaries, archival audio sources, and other aural history resources." Offers a weekly Internet broadcast (focusing on all aspects of history) and program archives (browsable by date, and searchable). From the University at Albany, State University of New York.
http://www.talkinghistory.org/
Topics: History, Internet, Media, Music, Nonfiction by Genre, Sports, Recreation, & Entertainment

Last updated Jan 1, 2004


Telling Their Stories: Oral History Archives Project view detail comment email this

High school students from the Urban School of San Francisco conducted and transcribed interviews and created audio and video files about Holocaust survivors, U.S. soldiers who helped liberate concentration camp prisoners, and Japanese Americans held in internment camps in World War II. Includes links to related sites.
http://www.tellingstories.org/
Topics: History, Judaism, Nonfiction by Genre, United States History, World War II

Last updated Jun 1, 2006


University of California History Digital Archives: Oral Histories view detail comment email this

Provides access to "digital transcripts of formal oral history interviews" conducted by the UC Berkeley Regional Oral History Office and the UC Santa Cruz Regional History Project. Includes librarians, teachers, administrators, and chancellors. From the University of California History Digital Archives, University of California, Berkeley.
http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/uchistory/archives_exhibits/histories_interviews/oral_histories/
Topics: California: Education, History, Nonfiction by Genre

Last updated Aug 23, 2003


Veterans History Project view detail comment email this

This site describes a project to collect "oral history interviews, memoirs, letters, diaries, photographs, and other original materials from veterans of World Wars I and II, and the Korean, Vietnam, and Persian Gulf Wars and the Afghanistan and Iraq conflicts (2001-present)." Includes guidelines for participating in the project, including tips for interviewing veterans and writing memoirs. From the American Folklife Center of the Library of Congress.
http://www.loc.gov/vets/
Topics: Communities & Groups, History, Military, Nonfiction by Genre, Photograph Collections, Photograph Collections: History, Photograph Collections: Regional, United States History

Last updated Apr 3, 2005


The Voices of WWII view detail comment email this

Designed to help schools in Washington state educate students about World War II, this site offers lesson plans and ideas that apply to the Washington State Essential Learning Requirements (EALRS), transcripts from more than 130 interviews of Washington state World War II veterans, and step-by-step directions for those who would like to conduct their own World War II oral history interviews. From the producers of the documentary "When We Were Kids ... We Went to War."
http://www.wwiihistoryclass.com
Topics: World War II

Last updated Nov 8, 2004


Weaving Women's Words: Seattle Stories view detail comment email this

The stories of 30 "Seattle Jewish women born in the early decades of the twentieth century [who] opened their life stories and their homes to two oral historians and a photographer." Includes notes on the interview process, commentaries, the narrators' words and biographies, a list of recurring themes, and photographs of artifacts owned by some of the women. A collaborative project of the Jewish Women's Archive and the Museum of History & Industry (Seattle).
http://jwa.org/exhibits/seattle/
Topics: Judaism

Last updated Dec 2, 2007


Women and Timber: The Pacific Northwest Logging Community, 1920-1998 view detail comment email this

This site describes an oral history project that explores "women's roles as key participants in the development and maintenance of the logging community and culture that has, in many ways, helped define Pacific Northwest history." Includes an explanation of the project methodology, oral history transcripts, and a list of sources. From the Center for Columbia River History.
http://www.ccrh.org/oral/women&timber/
Topics: History, Nonfiction by Genre, U.S. History By Place

Last updated Oct 22, 2004





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