Subject Guides: Oral History: Oral History Collections

BYU Oral History Collections

Charles Redd Center for Western Studies Oral History Program
Contains oral history project case files, audio interviews, and bound transcripts of oral history interviews completed by the Charles Redd Center for Western Studies between 1959 and 2013.
Saints at War Project
The Saints at War Project collects documentation on veterans from various wars ranging from the Mexican-American War to current conflicts. Includes many oral history interviews as well as manuscripts, photographs, diaries, and more.
Fruits of Their Labors: Orchards in Utah Valley
Audio and transcripts of interviews conducted by BYU students as part of the project Fruits of their Labors: Orchards in Utah Valley, primarily in 2023.. Also includes photographs.
More Oral Histories in BYU Library Special Collections
BYU Library Special Collections holds many oral history collections. Oral histories can also be found among manuscripts and other materials in various collections.This link is to the Oral Histories subject in the Special Collections catalog. You can also search the catalog for more oral histories.
The Cambodian Oral History Project
The Cambodia Oral History Project is seeks to capture these stories of the older generation in Cambodia, where family histories are uncommon and few records have survived. Includes over 4,700 interviews.

Oral History Databases Accessible via the BYU Library

Oral History Online (ASP) This link opens in a new window
Oral History Online provides in-depth indexing to more than 2,700 collections of Oral History in English from around the world. The collection also provides keyword searching of more than 329,400 pages of full-text by close to 10,000 individuals from all walks of life. It also contains pointers to over 4,200 audio and video files and almost 19,000 bibliographic records.
North American Immigrant Letters, Diaries, and Oral Histories (ASP) This link opens in a new window
A compilation of first hand sources beginning around 1840 and extending to the present on immigration to North America. Index of over 100,000 pages of personal narratives including letters, diaries, pamphlets, autobiographies and oral histories. 35,000 pages of the Ellis Island Oral History project indexed. Some photos and audio of actual immigrants.
Oral Histories Collection on the Civil Rights Movement (Gale) This link opens in a new window
The Ralph J. Bunche Oral History Collection is a unique resource for the study the American civil rights movement. Includes transcriptions of more than 500 interviews.
North American Indian Thought and Culture (ASP) This link opens in a new window
North American Indian Thought and Culture includes biographies, auto-biographies, personal narratives, speeches, diaries, letters, and oral histories.
The Sixties: Primary Documents and Personal Narratives 1960 - 1974 (ASP) This link opens in a new window
The Sixties: Primary Documents and Personal Narratives 1960–1974 brings the 1960s alive through diaries, letters, autobiographies and other memoirs, written and oral histories, manifestos, government documents, memorabilia, and scholarly commentary.

Here are links to some of the many other resources for oral histories. This is not a comprehensive list. Some links are to resources that provide additional links to more oral history collections.

Other Oral History Collections

FamilySearch Oral Genealogies
FamilySearch has conducted over a million oral history interviews in many countries, particularly Africa, Pacific Island countries, and other places with few if any written records where oral genealogies may be the only records available for genealogical research. The database includes audio files, transcripts, genealogy charts extracted from the interviews, and in some cases photographs.
Oral History Centers and Collections
Links to centers and collections for oral history created by the Oral History Association.
StoryCorps
StoryCorps is an American non-profit organization whose mission is to record, preserve, and share the stories of Americans from all backgrounds and beliefs. StoryCorps has a free database with over 325,000 Oral histories.
Doris Duke American Indian Oral History Project
Over 5000 oral histories of Native Americas collected by seven universities. FamilySearch has a description and links to these collections.
African American Oral History (FamilySearch Research Wiki)
FamilySearch has compiled a list of numerous collections of African American oral histories and transcripts available online or in print.
Veterans History Project (Library of Congress)
The Veterans History Project at the Library of Congress collects, preserves and makes accessible the firsthand recollections of U.S. military veterans who served from World War I through more recent conflicts and peacekeeping missions. Includes many oral history interviews.
Visual History Archive
Steven Spielberg founded the Survivors of the Shoah Visual History Foundation with the aim of videotaping 50,000 first-person accounts by Holocaust survivors and witnesses from over 34 countries. Requires free registration.