While we receive modest institutional support, we are a predominantly self-funded research unit of The Bancroft Library. We must raise the funds to cover the cost of each oral history. For our more comprehensive projects, we undertake ambitious fundraising campaigns. We rely on support from foundations and other institutions, but most of our funding comes from generous individuals who believe in the power of oral history.
The OHC provides interpretive materials for some of the thousands of oral histories through podcasts, blog posts, newsletters, and videos.
Podcasts
The Berkeley Remix is a podcast from the Oral History Center. Titles include: From Generation to Generation: The Legacy of Japanese American Incarceration, Voices for the Environment: A Century of Bay Area Activism, First Response: AIDS and Community in San Francisco, and Fifty Years of Save Mount Diablo, among others.
The Oral History Center is deeply engaged with the teaching mission of the university. Through our educational programs, we are training generations of scholars in the possibilities of oral history. This section of the website is about learning how to do oral history. It includes information on everything from day and weeklong workshops, to remote interviewing tutorials, interview tips, and graduate internship and fellowship opportunities.
If you are a K-16 educator who wants to use oral history in the classroom, see the K-16 resources below.
More about our educational programs
Annie Somthida
Annie Somthida
Other directories
Current staff bios
University Archives
About the archives
The University Archives documents the history of the University of California, particularly the Office of the President and the Berkeley campus.
Collections include official records, reports, publications, correspondence, digital files, maps, photographs, audiovisual materials, oral histories, memorabilia, and the papers of Berkeley faculty.
The earliest material relates to the College of California (1855-1868), the founding of the University in 1868, and early plans and activities of the president and the Board of Regents. The University Archives began as a repository of University of California printed documents in the mid-1870s. It was designated as the official repository of University administrative records of enduring historical importance in 1964.
Archival materials illuminate campus life, academic and administrative activity, faculty governance, research and teaching, student activities, sports, and community relations. Special strengths include political and activist literature, especially in the form of leaflets, and student publications.
Uses of the archives
The archival collections are used heavily by students, faculty, staff, and administrators throughout the University of California system. They are also used by a wide range of researchers beyond Berkeley, including scholars and genealogists. The pictorial collections are often featured in campus publications.
The University Archives has its own ongoing exhibition program (in the Rowell display cases on the second floor corridor between the Bancroft and Doe Libraries) and contributes to other exhibitions when their subjects fall within its scope.
Transferring records to the archives
The Office of the President has designated the University Archives, housed in The Bancroft Library, as the official repository for records documenting the history of the Berkeley campus and of the University of California system. Archives staff members select, preserve, and make available for use inactive records of permanent value, which relate to the history, function, and activities of the university community. Inactive records are those with no current administrative use to the unit that created them. These materials are collected by the University Archives for their enduring administrative, fiscal, legal, or historical value. Transferring records from your unit to the University Archives ensures that your historically significant correspondence, policy files, and other administrative records will be preserved for future generations of researchers.
When you are considering a transfer of records, please consult the University of California Records Retention Schedule and contact the University Archives at 510-642-8173.
Staff will visit you in your office to examine your unit’s records, arrange for their transfer, and offer additional assistance as needed. Completing a transfer form will provide a record of the materials given. More instruction details are here.
Explore the archives
Save Mount Diablo
About the project
By the early 1970s, the Bay Area was in the midst of great social and cultural change. With plans for the extension of BART into the East Bay, and suburban sprawl threatening Mount Diablo and other open spaces, Save Mount Diablo (SMD) answered a call to action. SMD was founded by Dr. Mary Bowerman and Arthur Bonwell in 1971. It became a nationally accredited land trust based in the San Francisco Bay Area comprised of biologists, conservationists, hikers, cyclists, equestrians, bird watchers, artists, and people who just loved to look at and enjoy the mountain. SMD has been preserving lands on and around Mount Diablo and educating the public to the mountain’s natural values since its founding. The organization’s focus on educational programs and protecting Mount Diablo’s connection to its sustaining Diablo Range has grown substantially over the years, due in part to new leadership and the growing severity of the climate crisis. As an organization, Save Mount Diablo is both an exceptional example of local land conservation efforts, as well as representative of national and international environmental activism that extends beyond the Bay Area. This oral history project began in 2021 as SMD approached its 50th anniversary. Most of the interviews were conducted remotely due to the global COVID-19 pandemic.
Notice of interest in unprocessed collections
If you are interested in viewing a collection noted as unprocessed or unarranged in UC Library Search, please submit the Notice of Interest in Unprocessed Collections form. Collections will be assessed in light of specific requests, and access may be possible in some cases. Generally, however, access to unprocessed collections cannot be provided.
Application for access to restricted materials
Complete the Access to Restricted Materials form to initiate your request, which will be routed to the appropriate curator for review.
Please note that completion of this form but does not guarantee access to materials. Review of applications may not be completed while the researcher waits, nor can materials always be made available within the researcher’s stated timeframe. It may frequently be necessary to deny access entirely.