Featured Projects

	This collection of interviews explores the experiences of Afghan American artists residing in the San Francisco Bay Area. As part of the California Story Fund initiative, these narratives explore the history of Afghans in California through the voices of contemporary writers, artists, and cultural curators.
	Taking the University to the People: The University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources Oral History Project documents the 150-year history of the University of California, as a land-grant university, that has provided scientific assistance and technology for the Golden State’s agricultural community and residents in a system in what past UC President Robert Dynes described as the "R, D, and D" model (Research, Development, and Delivery).
	These recollections of writers, painters, musicians, composers, and architects delve into the development of their aesthetic ideas, as well as the events and people who shaped their work.
	Propelled by a powerful history rooted in the struggle for civil rights, artists with disabilities are creating a vibrant arts culture that embodies the individual and collective experience of disability. Funded by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, the interviews in this collection explore the lives and works of seminal artists in dance and performance art.
	The Beverly Willis Oral History Project documents the life and work of Beverly Willis, FAIA, an American architect known for her work as a designer and an urban planner, a real estate developer, and a philanthropist.
	The University of California Program in Bioscience and Biotechnology Studies promotes research, teaching, and publication in the history of the biological sciences and its contributions to biotechnology and molecular biology. The Center offers comprehensive historical resources consisting of oral, archival, and web material to serve scholars, educators, and students around the world.
	The ongoing Community-Based Arts Oral History Project looks at approaches to art that originate in the community. The two projects currently presented are Noah Purifoy's Joshua Tree art project and the Mount Shasta Community Peace Mural. The interviews detail the development and process of each community-based project.
	Welcome to UC Berkeley's website on the Disability Rights and Independent Living Movement. Discover our rich collection of primary sources exploring the social and political history of the disability movement from the 1960s to the present.
	Doctor Atomic was written by composer John Adams for San Francisco Opera in 2005. The oral history was designed to document the process of writing and preparing the opera for the stage, with the interviewees reflecting on the music, Peter Sellars’ eclectic libretto, and the casting, rehearsing, and performance of the work.
	The Dreyer’s Grand Ice Cream Oral History Project tells the story of the transformation of a regional company into America’s most popular brand of ice cream. The twenty eight interviewees of this project include the company’s former owners, investors, and employees discussing everything from the development of Dreyer’s market-changing “slow-churned” ice cream to the company’s unique business philosophy.
	The Earl Warren Era Project (recorded 1969-1979) documents the executive branch, the legislature, criminal justice and political campaigns during the Warren Era in California. Focusing on the years 1925-1953, the interviews also provide a record of the life of Earl Warren and yield new information on the changes wrought in California by successive Depression, war, and postwar boom.
	This series of interviews explores the experiences of African American faculty and senior staff at UC Berkeley as part of the broader history of the University of California and its commitment to access and diversity.
	Food and Wine features interviews with individuals (chefs, restaurateurs, winemakers, and writers) who have helped spark the intellectual development of a Bay Area California cuisine and wine industries.
	The Free Speech Movement (FSM) Digital Archives document the role of Mario Savio and other participants in the Free Speech Movement at the University of California, Berkeley, between September and December 1964. The series also explores the movement's origins in political protest and civil rights movements, and its legacy of political activism and educational reform that can be traced throughout the country and the world.
	Hungarians Under Communism and Capitalism is a collection of oral histories containing accounts of everyday lives, thoughts, and reactions of “ordinary” Hungarians living during two different political and economic regimes.The emphasis is on what they remember, or experience now, as memorable and important.
	More than twenty pioneer physicians, administrators, and board members discuss their roles in the development of this innovative model health maintenance organization. The interviews all bear the series title: History of the Kaiser Permanente Medical Care Program.
	The Kaiser Permanente Medical Care Oral History Project is an in-depth, interview-based research project into many facets of Kaiser Permanente medicine and medical research, medical care delivery, and the politics, business, and economy of medicine in the United States since 1970.
	The Oakland Army Base Oral History Project documents the core functions of the base during its period of operation (1941-1998); the social life and work culture on the base; the impact of the base on the surrounding area, from the community of West Oakland to the Pacific Rim; and the process of base closure and realignment.
	This project records the stories of Portuguese immigrants and their descendants in the San Francisco Bay Area and beyond who represent various aspects of the history of this early immigrant group.
	The 2004 documentary America's Wine: The Legacy of Prohibition offers an unprecedented overview of the legacy of Prohibition and its continuing impact on the wine industry and everyday lives of Americans. Marking the 75th anniversary of Prohibition’s repeal, the film brings to life previously un archival photographs and film clips, and features nearly forty interviews with those who experienced Prohibition, including historians, winemakers, members of Congress, and public policy experts.
	In collaboration with the City of Richmond and the National Park Service, the Regional Oral History Office is interviewing residents of the Bay Area about their home front experiences during World War II. The project hopes to uncover how and why people from different backgrounds came to the Bay Area, and what they did when they arrived.
	Fifty-four individuals who have worked at, worked with, and/or closely observed the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) tell the story of its development. The interviews focus on the museum’s collection, exhibition, and education programs. Interviewees discuss different approaches the museum has taken to integrate art into community life, as well as how it has presented classics of modern art and new trends in contemporary art.
	Slaying the Dragon of Debt is a research project by the Regional Oral History Office of The Bancroft Library at the University of California, Berkeley. The first year of the project was funded under the auspices of the Shorenstein Program on Politics, Policy, and Values.
	In the early 1970s, the Suffragists Oral History Project, under the auspices of The Bancroft Library's Regional Oral History Office, collected interviews with twelve leaders and participants in the women's suffrage movement.
	Between 2004 and 2009, United States Forest Service Region 5 Oral History Project conducted more than 150 oral histories, addressing themes -- Forest Careers, Community, Timber Management, Changing Workforce, Fire Control, and Public Relations -- that have helped shape the region's and nation's Forest Service in the latter half of the twentieth century.
	Hundreds of oral histories examine the intellectual, social, and institutional history of the University of California from the early twentieth century to the present.
	Early Bay Area Venture Capitalists: Shaping the Business and Industrial Landscape documents through videotaped interviews with the first generation of venture capitalists the origins and evolution of the venture capital industry in California during the 1960s and 1970s. Through the words of participants, the project explores and explains how venture capital originated in the Bay Area, its intersection with national legislation and policy, the significance of its location, and its role in creating the electronics and biotechnology industries in California.
	The Western Mining in the Twentieth Century series documents contemporary events in the most historically important industry of the American West. The series comprises interviews with leaders in mining exploration, production and metallurgical treatment of ores, financing and development of mines, mineral engineering education, state and federal government organizations, and journals of the mineral industries.