Library & Cultural Services: History: Oral History Collections

Oral History Collections

Oral History collects memories and personal commentaries of historical significance through recorded interviews. The personal nature of oral history recordings makes them a fantastic primary source for anyone wanting to discover more about a certain event or era, as they preserve a diverse range of personal experiences that are often not well documented in written sources. Although many oral history collections are stored on physical tapes in libraries and archives, an increasing number are being made available online. Below is a selection of oral history collections that you can access online.

If you are planning your own oral history project, you may find the guidance on the Oral History Society website helpful.

General Oral History Collections

British Library Sounds: Oral History
A selection of oral history interviews from the British Library's Sound Archive. The interviews cover a range of topics, including politics, gender, disability, food and sport.
Library of Congress Audio
Online library of audio recordings from the US Library of Congress collection, including oral history interviews on a range of different topics.

Black History. Civil Rights. Slavery

Behind the Veil
A selection of recorded oral history interviews chronicling African-American life during the age of legal segregation in the American South, from the 1890s to the 1950s. The Behind the Veil Oral History Project was undertaken by Duke University’s Center for Documentary Studies from 1993 to 1995.
Black Oral History Collection (Washington State University)
Collection of interviews with African American pioneers and their descendants throughout Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and Montana, from 1972-1974. Topics discussed in the interviews include early black settlers, job opportunities, social life and community, living patterns, black churches, and black political involvement from the late 1800s through 1974.
Black Women Oral History Project Interviews, 1976–1981
Collection of interviews with black women from across the US who made substantial contributions to improving the lives of African-Americans and all people in their lifetime, through professional and voluntary activities, in their communities and nationally. The interviews took place between 1976 and 1981, and featured mostly women who were in their 70s, 80s and 90s at that time.
Born in Slavery: Slave Narratives from the Federal Writers' Project, 1936 to 1938
Contains more than 2,300 first-person accounts of slavery and 500 black-and-white photographs of former slaves. The narratives were collected during interviews with ordinary people in the 1930s as part of the Federal Writers' Project (FWP) of the Works Progress Administration.
Civil Rights History Project
Filmed oral history interviews of people involved in the Civil Rights Movement, from the Library of Congress collection.
Voices Remembering Slavery: Freed People Tell Their Stories
Audio recordings from the Library of Congress, featuring 23 former slaves discussing how they felt about slavery, slaveholders, coercion of slaves, their families, and freedom. The recordings took place between 1932 and 1975 in nine US states.

Disability

Disability Voices
Interviews from the British Library Sounds archive, charting the experiences of disabled people in the UK.

Gender and Sexuality. LGBTQ+ Studies. Women's Studies

Brighton Trans*formed
Records, in their own words, the lives and experiences of Brighton & Hove’s Transgender community. Using writing, memories, oral histories and photography, the project offers a snapshot of the rich variety of Trans lives in Brighton & Hove at a moment of significant change in how the community connects and organises itself.
LGBTQ History Digital Collaboratory: Oral History Hub
US-based resource which includes links to a growing number of LGBTQ digital oral histories.
Observing the 1980s
A collection of interviews from the British Library Sounds archive, offering insights into the lives and opinions of British people from all social classes and regions during the 1980s. Includes interviews relating to gay rights, HIV and AIDS.
Pioneering Women
In-depth oral history interviews from the British Library Sounds archive, documenting the lives of pioneering British women who pursued successful careers in their respective fields long before it was the norm for women to do so. The interviews feature reflections about an interviewee’s early life and background, education and their careers.
Speaking Out: Recalling Women's Aid in Scotland
A selection of recordings edited from interviews with women connected to the Women’s Aid movement in Scotland, both past and present.
The Suffrage Interviews
A collection of oral history interviews about the British first wave feminist movement, digitised from the LSE Archives. The interviews were conducted by the historian Brian Harrison between 1974 and 1981, as part of a project funded by the Social Science Research Council.
Suffragists Oral History Project
Collected interviews with leaders and participants in the American woman's suffrage movement.

Holocaust Studies

Jewish Survivors of the Holocaust
Contains interviews from two oral history projects: the Living Memory of the Jewish Community (C410) and the Holocaust Survivors' Centre Interviews (C830).
Refugee Voices
Collection of 150 filmed interviews with Jewish survivors of the Nazi Holocaust who rebuilt their lives in the UK. The interviews cover a very wide spectrum of experiences, including those of refugees who escaped to Britain before the outbreak of war in 1939, those who survived in hiding in occupied Europe, and those who survived the concentration camps. Information about each of the interviewees is available on the Refugee Voices website; access to the recordings of the interviews and transcripts is available via Box.
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
The Museum’s collections document the fate of Holocaust victims, survivors, rescuers, liberators, and others through documents, photos, films, books, posters, personal stories, and more. A large number of items (including oral history interviews) are available to access online in digitised format.

Local History. Essex. Colchester

Colchester Recalled
Collection of interviews with over 1,500 local people, covering a diverse range of topics, as well as live recordings of local events as they happened. To access the digitised recordings and interview transcripts, please contact: libline@essex.ac.uk. Please note that the link above directs you to a list of all the recordings with brief summaries of each one - you must be a registered University of Essex student or staff member to access this file.
Essex Record Office on Soundcloud
Collection of sound and video recordings covering all aspects of life and culture in Essex, with particular focus on oral history, broadcast material, music and dance.
Essex Sounds
Small selection of oral history interviews evoking specific moments/events in the history of the county of Essex.
Millennium Memory Bank
Collection of 396 personal oral histories from a broad cross-section of the UK population, recorded for the BBC local radio series The Century Speaks. The interviews focus on local, everyday experiences of the interviewees, who ranged in age from 5 to 107 and came from diverse ethnic and socio-economic backgrounds. The collection includes a number of interviews recorded in Essex.

Social and Cultural History

Elizabeth Roberts Working Class Oral History Archive
Includes transcripts of oral history interviews capturing memories of working-class life in North West England – specifically in Barrow-in-Furness, Lancaster and Preston. The interviews focus on the period from the late nineteenth century to the outbreak of the Second World War, and from the Second World War through to 1970.
Observing the 1980s
A collection of interviews from the British Library Sounds archive, offering insights into the lives and opinions of British people from all social classes and regions during the 1980s. Includes interviews relating to gay rights, HIV and AIDS.

War and Conflict

First World War Portal
This resource includes 50 oral history recordings of veterans and those who lived through the First World War, sourced from the Sound Archive at Imperial War Museums. The first-hand accounts span various theatres of war, offering a broad and fascinating scope of personal experiences, and all are accompanied by transcripts. Recording dates range from 1972 to 2002. The resource is searchable by keyword, or alternatively you can browse the collection of oral histories from the "Audiovisual Sources" tab.
Imperial War Museum Sound Archive
Oral history collection comprising of interviews with veterans of the First and Second World Wars. There is also substantial material relating to Britain and the Empire in the inter-war period 1919-1939, conflicts since 1945 and the Holocaust. Interviewees are largely drawn from Great Britain, the former Empire and the Commonwealth.
International Bomber Command Centre Digital Archive
An archive of primary sources relating to RAF Bomber Command and the war in Europe, 1939-1945, from multiple perspectives: on the ground and in the air, military and civilian, and on both sides of the conflict. The archive includes oral testimonies of veterans and other eyewitnesses.
Voices from the Home Front (Workers' War: Home Front Recalled)
Interviews documenting working lives and trade union experiences during the Second World War. Browse the collection by surname, location or occupation.