Oral Histories

Oral histories are recorded interviews of the personal recollections and perspectives of people who participated in or witnessed notable events of California’s past

Oral Histories - Available Online

We continue to update the list of the locations and access to these oral histories as follows:

California State Archives Oral History Program, Sacramento

The collection includes more than 200 interviews with people who have had significant roles in California state government, including former members of the legislature, constitutional officers, agency and department heads, and those who have shaped public policy or have been identified as being influential in political and public developments at the statewide level. Tape recordings and transcripts are available to the public.

California Museum, Sacramento

The California Museum opened in 1998 through a partnership with the State of California as a private non-profit institution focused on California history and culture. The museum’s collection includes 60 interviews dealing with California Native Americans.

Historical Research Center, CSU Bakersfield

The California Odyssey Project contains 56 interviews on the impact of the 1930s migration on rural California.

Oral History Center of The Bancroft Library, UC Berkeley

Oral histories date to the beginnings of the University of California, including with histories conducted in the 1860s by Hubert Howe Bancroft. The collection includes 4,000 interviews, most of which are available online.

Claremont Graduate University Oral History Program

The Claremont Graduate Oral History Program was inaugurated in 1962. It consists of interviews with persons associated with the history of Southern California, particularly those involved in its economic, political and cultural institutions. It includes the China Missionaries Oral History Project.

CSU Fullerton Lawrence de Graaf Center for Oral and Public History

The Lawrence de Graaf Center for Oral and Public History was established in 1968 as a teaching, training, research, publication and public service archive. It contains more than 6,000 oral histories covering a wide range of people and topics from California and beyond.

CSU Long Beach Virtual Oral/Aural History Archive

The CSULB oral history collections have been assembled from a number of sources and cover topics ranging from women’s social history, labor and ethnic studies to Long Beach Area history and the musical developments in Southern California. Some of the interviews in the Asian American, Mexican American and women’s history collections were recorded as early as 1972.

Cal State Los Angeles Chinese American Oral History Project

These oral histories have been conducted by Cal State Los Angeles students since 2016. This project examines the demographic and cultural shifts from Chinatown to the new ethnic enclaves scattered throughout the San Gabriel Valley.

UCLA Library for Oral History Research, Los Angeles

The UCLA Center for Oral History Research (COHR) conducts in-depth, multi-session oral history interviews with individuals who have been a part of the history of Los Angeles and its many communities. COHR has particularly strong collections in the history of social movements, communities of color, the arts, Los Angeles politics and government, and the history of UCLA.

CSU Northridge Tom & Ethel Bradley Center

The center contains more than four dozen oral histories from African American photographers, Civil Rights leaders and organizers, individuals involved with the history of Los Angeles, Journalism, Mexicans in Exile, and the United Farmworkers. The collection includes audio and video histories, as well as personal papers of many individuals and organizations.

California Social Welfare Archives Oral History Collection/University of Southern California

The California Social Welfare Archives (CSWA) Oral History Collection contains audio and video recordings of interviews documenting the history and lessons of influential social workers and social welfare programs.

Marin County Free Library Oral History Program

The Marin County Free Library Oral History Program consists of nearly 300 recordings and their corresponding transcripts of a broad spectrum of Marin’s long-time residents – from ranchers to politicians, including descendants of early pioneer families. Some are available online.