Oral Histories in Special Collections

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Oral History FAQ's:

I want to browse a list of all oral history collections.
I want a list of each oral history interview in the Leo catalog. [Explain this]
From that list, I want to search among them. [Explain this]
I have particular catalog search terms and want to limit results to oral histories.
Go to Highlighted Collections.
How do I conduct an Oral History interview?

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Note: "Finding Aids" are descriptions of entire collections that put the interviews in context. "Individual Catalog Entries " are direct results in Leo for individual interviews.

Shenandoah National Park Oral History Collection, 1961-2000, SdArch SNP

Approximately 130 interviews and/or transcripts conducted between 1961-2000 from former residents of the Shenandoah National Park during in the 1930s. Interviews designated "restricted" are available on-site in Special Collections only.
Finding Aid
Individual Catalog Entries

Shenandoah Valley Oral History Collection, 2005-2006, SdArch 29

Audio interviews, transcripts, and background material dating from 2005-2006 conducted by James Madison University students in Professor Daniel Kerr's course Selected Themes in U.S. History, HIST 339. Interviewees were primarily from Rockingham and Augusta Counties. Topics range from labor and civil rights activism, Native Americans, Latino immigrants, ex-offenders, the homeless, and gays, lesbians and bisexuals.
Finding Aid
Individual Catalog Entries

Christopher B. Martin Oral History Collection, c. 1980s, SdArch 31

Transcripts of oral history interviews with Eugene Souder, pastor (SdArch 31-1) and F. Everette Smith, president of the local Farm Bureau Assn. (SdArch 31-2), concerning the coming of the Coors Beer Company to the county.
Finding Aid

From the Special Collections Webpage, you may use the oral histories tab in the search box to quickly limit your search to oral histories.

From the Library webpage, navigate to the Leo catalog. Select keyword search in Leo and limit location and material type as shown below. You can enter search terms in any field below.

This will give you a numeric list of all interviews, as seen in the screenshot below. Most interviews were conducted as part of a person's research on a particular topic or were donated from an organization. SdArch stands for "Sound Archives." ex.: an interview numbered SdArch 5-1 is related to an interview numbered SdArch 5-2.

Further refine your search by clicking "Limit Search" shown in the screenshot above, which will give you the following options shown below. The only selection box that will be useful for refining your oral history search is the box shown below that defaults to Title--change that to Author or Subject then enter your name or term.

Dr. Daniel Kerr's Oral History and Social Justice Website--this provides the most up to date information and resources pertaining to oral history procedures.

updated 5/20/10 th