You can still access the UC Berkeley Library’s services and resources during the closure. Here’s how
Using the Library during COVID-19
Many of our services are now being offered in new ways. To find the latest information on course reserves, book returns, 24/7 online help, and more, visit our Library services and resources during COVID-19 page. The information on that page supersedes all other information on the Library website at this time.
Oral History Center
Oral history dates to the beginnings of the University of California. Hubert Howe Bancroft conducted interviews in the 1860s in support of his 39-volume history of the West. In 1954, the Regional Oral History Office was established to conduct interviews with leading citizens of the West. In 2014 we became the Oral History Center of The Bancroft Library. Over the decades, we have conducted 4,000 interviews on almost every topic imaginable. The vast majority of these interviews have been transcribed and made available online.
How to Search Our Collection
In the search box below you are welcome to search the Oral History Center collection of interview transcripts. You may search using interviewee name, interviewer name, project title, interview title, or general subject terms. Please select Advanced Search to search full text of oral histories across the entire collection, as well as other features. To browse the entire Oral History Center collection, please see the Projects page.
Search the Oral History Center
News & Events
- Announcing Dates for 2021 OHC Educational Programs
- From the OHC Director: December 2020
- Oral History Center Staff’s Top Moments of 2020
- Aaron Mair: Sierra Club President 2015-2017, on Heritage, Stewardship, and Environmental Justice
- The Price of Place: Oral Histories of George S. Tolley and Howard R. Tolley