American Life Histories: Manuscripts from the Federal Writers' Project 1936-1940
Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service Oral Histories
Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library Oral History Program
Subjects include: Agriculture in Illinois, Illinois StateCraft (follows different subjects such as the ERA fight, governors projects, pension crisis), Organizations and Agencies (IHPA Legacy interviews).
"The Bracero History Archive collects and makes available the oral histories and artifacts pertaining to the Bracero program, a guest worker initiative that spanned the years 1942-1964."
Rosie the Riveter/World War II American Home Front
In collaboration with the National Park Service and the City of Richmond, the Oral History Center conducted over 250 interviews focusing on the World War II Home Front experience. Starting with over one hundred interviews focused on the home front experiences in the Bay Area, we focused on why people from different backgrounds came to the Bay Area, what they did when they arrived, and what they learned from the fluidity and flux of wartime life that affected decisions they made after the war ended. What did women learn about the relationships between work and family life? How did attitudes change toward education? How did war affect race relations and reshape civil rights struggles? Did new ideas about sexuality take root, and if so, why and where? What happened to entertainment? To what degree did religious organizations provide people with a new sense of community? Oral histories collected are used in the National Park Service’s Visitor Education Center at the Rosie the Riveter/World War II Homefront National Historic Park and the Bancroft Library and available online below in transcript — and when possible — with videos synced to transcripts.
The Politics in Missouri Oral History Project & The Marshall Dial Oral History Collection
The Politics in Missouri Oral History Project consists of one hundred sixty full-text transcripts and fifty-five full-audio recordings of oral histories given by Missouri political leaders and activists form this important collection. The interviews were taken beginning in 1996 and include sessions with Warren E. Hearnes, Claire McCaskill, and Emory Melton, among many others. Mid- to late-twentieth century Missouri political history remains under-studied and the Society is working to increase understanding and promote awareness of this important field. Researchers, academics, current political activists, government officials, and the general public are encouraged to use these records to more fully define local and state political history as well as the significant role Missouri has played in issues and movements at the national level.
The Marshall Dial Oral History Collection includes transcripts of interviews with residents of the Missouri Bootheel for Marshall Dial's radio program, "Stories they Tell." Most interviews were conducted in the 1980s.
Unions and Labor History Collection
This is a collection of stand-alone interviews pulled together by Archives and Special Collections around the topic of unions and labor in Montana. The collection includes interviews with railroad employees, miners, Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) workers, and union members. These interviews were conducted from 1979-1994. The original interviews are held at Archives and Special Collections, Mansfield Library, University of Montana-Missoula.
Through the Voices of Labor: Preserving the Montanans at Work and New Deal in Montana Oral History Interviews project, the Montana Historical Society digitized three major oral history projects in its collections: Montanans at Work, Metals Manufacturing in Four Montana Communities, and New Deal in Montana/Fort Peck Dam. These 600+ interviews conducted in the 1980s capture the stories of Montanans in the mining, agriculture, and forest products industries, as well as Montanans working in Depression-era New Deal programs, especially the construction of the Fort Peck Dam.
Seattle General Strike Project
In 1977, Rob Rosenthal interviewed 35 men and women who participated in or remembered the 1919 General Strike. He recorded the interviews while researching his MA thesis After the Deluge: The Seattle General Strike of 1919 and its Aftermath (UC Santa Barbara, 1980). Now a Professor of Sociology at Wesleyan University, Rosenthal has generously agreed to share these oral histories with the Seattle General Strike Project. These audio MP3 files and transcripts comprise a rare and valuable resource. The narrators speak not only about the events of 1919 but about later aspects of Pacific Northwest labor and political history.
Greater Lowell Oral History Collection
The Greater Lowell Oral History Collection is a compilation of oral history interviews from several oral history projects conducted by the Center for Lowell History, the Lowell National Historical Park, the Lowell Historical Society, the Library of Congress, as well as many other organizations that focus on the residents of the Greater Lowell, Massachusetts area, their culture, and their history.
Working for the Triangle Shirtwaist Company
In this oral history interview conducted by historian Joan Morrison, Pauline Newman told of getting a job at the Triangle Company as a child, soon after arriving in the United States from Lithuania in 1901. Newman described her life as an immigrant and factory worker. Like many other young immigrant workers, she chafed at the strict regulations imposed by the garment manufacturers. One of the greatest industrial tragedies in U.S. history occurred on March 25, 1911, when 146 workers, mostly young women, died in a fire at the Triangle Shirtwaist Company. Although she was not working in the factory at the time of the fire, many of her friends perished. Newman later became an organizer and leader of the International Ladies Garment Workers’ Union.
Genora (Johnson) Dollinger Remembers the 1936-37 General Motors Sit-Down Strike
Long-form oral history account of the 1936-37 strike in Flint, Michigan from one of its leaders.
New Bedford Textile Worker's Strike of 1928 Oral History Interviews and Research Papers
The heart of the collection are the 55 oral history interviews, originally recorded on audiocassette of strike participants, family members of strikers, and strike leaders, along with transcripts and notes to a selection of these interviews.
Noteable New Yorkers: Frances Perkins
Dean Albertson interviewed Frances Perkins for the Oral History Research Office between 1951 and 1955. This interview is among the most widely used in the Collection, and because of its length and wealth of detail any serious student of the New Deal, New York state politics, or American reform movements in general, must consult the text. Perkins's vivid memory and direct contact with the major political figures during her time in office contribute to the richness of the interview.
Oral Histories of the American South
"Oral Histories of the American South" is a three-year project to select, digitize and make available 500 oral history interviews gathered by the Southern Oral History Program (SOHP). These 500 are being selected from a collection of over 4,000 interviews, housed at the Southern Historical Collection, that cover a range of fascinating topics. Topics include: Civil Rights, Environmental Transformations, Piedmont Industrialization, Southern Politics, and Southern Women.
U.S. Labor & Industrial History World Wide Web Audio Archive
The following recordings are drawn from numerous audio archives, though most come from -- or are processed at -- the University at Albany. They are organized by topic. Many of our older recordings were prepared for the Web in the early years of the Internet when phone modems and low bandwidth were quite common. We are now in the process of upgrading older recordings to downloadable MP3 files.
UCLA Library Center for Oral History Research
Justice for Janitors Movement in Los Angeles from the 1980s through early 2000s.