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United States History: Primary Sources by Type: Oral history

Find published oral histories

Tips for finding oral history sources in UW Libraries Search:

  • Limit your search by year of publication.
  • Search for books written by key participants and organizations.
  • Use the subject headings "personal narratives," “oral history”, "diaries", "interviews", and/or "correspondence," in conjunction with your search. (Note that "oral histories" is a different subject heading than "oral history.")
  • Browse the shelves in the appropriate subject area (DS 16.14 is the call number for books *about* oral history as a practice).

Examples of keyword searches:

  • Trade unions history "personal narratives"
  • "African Americans" interviews
  • "Japanese Americans" diaries

Digitized collections of oral histories

This is just a short selected list of digitized oral histories available on the web. For a longer list, see the Oral Histories page on the History research guide from UW Seattle. 

Doing oral history

UW Libraries Oral History projects

Oral history projects from UW Libraries, UW Faculty and Departments, and organizations that have partnered with UW Libraries.

More digitized collections of oral histories

This is just a selected list of digitized oral histories available on the web. Search In the First Person to find other oral history websites.