Primary Sources: Oral Histories



Library Databases

In the First Person (1500s - present)
Index to more than 3,350 collections of personal narratives (oral histories, letters, and diaries) in English from around the world. In some cases, the texts and/or audio files are linked and freely available. Most of the older materials are by subscription only.


Print Indexes & Directories

Oral History Index [REF D16.14 .O74 1990]
Oral History Collection [REF D16.14 .H43 1975]
Directory of Oral History Collections [REF D16.14 S54 1988]


Searching Other Libraries

WorldCat
Combined catalog of library catalogs in the United States. Good tool to locate specific collections or locate libraries with strong collections in a given area.
Search for the subject Oral History or Historia Latino-Americana

ArchivesUSA (Coverage Varies)
Directory of 5,400 repositories and 132,000 manuscript collections of primary source materials. Repository entries contain contact information for the custodians of the collections.



Collections Freely Available on the Web

Increasingly, libraries, museums and universities are information about their collections of oral histories available on the web. Some of them even include the audio and transcript of the interviews (very few though!) Because search engines like Google do not index sites by subject, it is hard to find relevant collection of oral histories. Here are a few search strategies to help you:

  1. Go to libraries and/or museums known for their focus on latino/a history:
    University of Texas at Austin - U.S. Latinos and Latinas and World War II.
    Archivos Virtuales (Library of Congress)
  2. Use a guide to primary sources on the web:
    U.C. Berkeley
  3. Search Google for:
    (Latinos or Latinas) and "Oral Histories" or Interviews and "Hispanic Americans or Interviews and (latinos or latinas).