LibGuides: History: Oral Histories

Finding Published Oral Histories

To find published oral history transcripts as well as video interviews in the WSU Libraries' collection use Search It and enter the terms interviews or oral histories in conjunction with your topic. For example:

interviews "civil rights"
"oral histories" war

Swiftwater People by Bert Russell
Call Number: MASC F752.S28 S94 1979
Publication Date: 1979
Interviews with homesteaders, log drivers, railroad men, women, flunkeys, mule skinners, gamblers and Wobblies telling about the early days in the remote and newly settled St. Joe Country.
Addicts Who Survived by D. T. Courtwright; H. Joseph; D. Des Jarlais
Call Number: Holland and Terrell Libraries HV5825 .C68 1989
Publication Date: 1989
"... the nether world of the drug user, ... an engrossing portrait of life in the drug subculture during the classic era of strict narcotic control."
Speaking History by Laurie Mercier; Sue Armitage
Call Number: Holland and Terrell Libraries E661 .S64 2009
Publication Date: 2010
This oral history reader features the words of ordinary people who describe how they shaped, viewed, and remembered American history.

Digitized Collections of Oral Histories

After the Day of Infamy
Interviews following Pearl Harbor
Centers & Collections (Oral History Assn)
Civil Rights Digital Library
Substantial oral history content
Densho
PNW Japanese American oral histories; registration required
Duke Collection of American Indian Oral History
Access to typescripts of interviews conducted with hundreds of Indians in Oklahoma regarding the histories and cultures of their respective nations and tribes.
Frontline Diplomacy
Transcriptions of interviews with 20th century American diplomats
NCJW Oral History Project
500 oral history interviews focused on the Jewish community of Pittsburgh
Nevada Test Site Oral History Project
150 interview transcripts with selected audio & video
Oral Histories of the American South
500 oral history interviews documenting the history of the south
Regional Oral History Office
University of California Berkeley collection
Rutgers Oral History Archive
Over 500 interviews many dealing with WWII
September 11, 2001 Documentary Project
Includes interviews, images, video and other material
University of Florida Oral Histories Program
Interviews with Native Americans including Seminoles, Cherokees, and Creeks; projects on African Americans in Florida, Civil Rights action in St. Augustine (1964), and the University of Florida.
Veteran's History Project
In addition to interview transcripts, the project also includes correspondence and images
Voice/Vision Holocaust Survivor Oral History Archive
More than 50 interviews of survivors