On Tues (11.18) get a behind-the-scenes look at the challenges and rewards of archiving family history. We'll chat with David Walker, Archivist at The Easton Foundation & Louise Bourgeois Archive. Here's his article that's our starting point: tiny.cc/z14v001. Register here: tiny.cc/hwl-walker-r...

ATE CORRECTION Tues, 9.23.25
Archive Reveal: Anti‑Social Design

Come hear from creators of the first "anti-social" media app, MINUTIAE. Join us to explore a unique digital archival collection and discuss “anti‑social” design in today’s hyper‑connected world.

Register: tiny.cc/ohac-hwl-minutiae

Our A-To-Z oral history continues..."I" is for Institute for Research on Women, Gender, and Sexuality Oral History Collection. In these repressive times, documenting transforming how we think about gender and sexuality is more important than ever.
blogs.library.columbia.edu/rbml/?p=9438

A message to well-meaning librarians and faculty who want students to document their protest movement with oral histories…https://blogs.cul.columbia.edu/rbml/2024/06/27/oral-history-advice-to-those-wishing-to-collect-ongoing-memories-of-student-protest/

This month’s A-to-Z features the vexing “E” word! Yes, ETHICS.

Amongst the many #oralhistory dilemmas, a question with wide applications:

⚖️ just because you can legally do something, does that make it ethical to do so?? 🤨

blogs.cul.columbia.edu/rbml/2024/04...

An A-to-Z continues with one of the shortest, but informative oral histories in our collections: D is for the legendary Carol Doda.

“Have you seen the show? Well, maybe you better stick around and see it and add your own footnotes.” Do your research!

blogs.cul.columbia.edu/rbml/2024/01...

#Oralhistory of Lockerbie first responders from @ohcollective
Andy Clark and UoWS Colin Atkinson.

It’s with great sadness, but joy in his legacy and memory, that OHAC and the oral history community observes the passing of Ronald J. Grele, Director Emeritus, Columbia Center for Oral History (CCOH).

blogs.cul.columbia.edu/rbml/2024/01...

I wrote about it for the first time in 2014, the twenty-fifth anniversary. It had taken me most of that time to understand how it had shaped my professional life, what I do. Who I am.

tinyletter.com/metafoundry/...

A compelling post about the history of philanthropy in America as context for the many early oral history collections here at Columbia. Context necessary for borderline shady "captains of industry" with their ill-begotten gains... blogs.cul.columbia.edu/rbml/2023/11...

In an A-to-Z of Oral History this month: the new Voces Cubanas Collection featuring narrators who lived through the transition rule after the Cuban Revolution and events of the following decades. Rich and nuanced stuff in face of continued U.S. embargo and news blackout: tiny.cc/0s5fvz

What stories might these archival materials detailing land purchase, ownership deeds, and agreements tell us about Palestinian possession and the process of dispossession before 1968?

dlc.library.columbia.edu/bseiso

We've got collections news! At long last a finding aid for the Oral History Research Office microfiche w/ records dating back to 1945, six interviews on being LGBTQ at #ColumbiaUniversity, and the #LoveInAction collection documenting narrators’ experiences in the Student Interracial Ministry.

I gave a talk to a group from NPS Alaska today about Alaska segregation and Alaska Native oral history. Hearing elders talk about this time period of explicit segregation and educational assimilation always makes me both sad & empowered that they held on & tried making things better 4 future youth 🗃️

OHA hosted a panel with U.S. grantmaking orgs for oral history projects, preservation, programming, etc. Especially good advice for independent oral historians! blogs.cul.columbia.edu/rbml/2023/09...

Grad intern Flor Barceló did an amazing job processing and making bilingual materials for a recently acquired collection of oral histories with Cuban narrator recorded from 2004-2010. blogs.cul.columbia.edu/rbml/2023/10...

Pining for a conversation about transcription since writing this post—process, ethics, costs, labor) and history in this archive: blogs.cul.columbia.edu/rbml/2023/03...

Would y’all attend a conversation about this? Is it too inside, behind-the-scenes?🤔

🚨 Calling all Methodology. Kweens! Amplifying the Oral History Master’s Program’s fall programming focus on oral history methodology: blogs.cul.columbia.edu/rbml/2023/09.... $FREE.99 and online. 👑

Need reference help for accessing oral histories in our collections? Curious about how to get started conducting oral histories? OHAC’s research guide is a good place to begin! guides.library.columbia.edu/oral_history