LibGuides: Anthropology Research Guide: Oral Histories and Traditions

Oral Histories and Traditions

Below is a brief introduction to oral histories and their use in research, oral history databases, and information on how to find additional oral histories online.

You can find additional oral history collections on our Primary Sources Research Guide.

Oral Histories

What is an oral history?

The Oral History Association defines oral history as a, "...field of study and a method of gathering, preserving and interpreting the voices and memories of people, communities, and participants in past events. Oral history is both the oldest type of historical inquiry, predating the written word, and one of the most modern, initiated with tape recorders in the 1940s and now using 21st-century digital technologies."

Oral histories could be passed down in families or communities through the practice of storytelling or songs. Today, they are often recorded and transcribed in order to preserve history.

Why do we use oral histories?

Oral histories are a primary source that provide researchers with personal memories and stories that can humanize facts and events. They can also amplify the voices of people and communities that are absent from historical narratives and research, expanding our understanding of the human experience.

Oral History Databases

Oral History Online This link opens in a new window
Includes more than 2,700 collections of Oral History in English from around the world. Features Ellis Island Oral History Project, Civil Rights Documentation Project, Japanese American Relocation Digital Archive, and Slave Narratives from the Federal Writers Project, 1936-1938. Tutorial.
African American Communities This link opens in a new window
Primary source collection focusing predominantly on Atlanta, Chicago, Brooklyn, and North Carolina, this collection presents multiple aspects of the African American community through personal diaries and scrapbooks, pamphlets, newspapers and periodicals, correspondence, official records and in-depth oral histories. Tutorial.
North American Indian Thought and Culture This link opens in a new window
Contains autobiographies, biographies, publications, oral histories, personal writings, photographs, drawings, and audio files of American Indians, Alaska Natives, and Canadian First Peoples. Tutorial.
North American Immigrant Letters, Diaries, and Oral Histories This link opens in a new window
Provides a unique and personal view of what it meant to immigrate to America and Canada between 1800 and 1950. Composed of contemporaneous letters and diaries, oral histories, interviews, and other personal narratives. Tutorial.