UC Libraries Forum 2021: Leading with Innovation, Stronger through Collaboration

This talk provides an overview of the work of the Oral History Center of The Bancroft Library and opportunities for collaboration. The Oral History Center puts stories in the historical record that hadn’t been there before and might otherwise be lost. We preserve thousands of voices from all walks of life, political perspectives, national origins, and ethnic backgrounds through oral history interviews. We also produce interpretive materials, such as podcasts; train scholars in the field through educational initiatives, including workshops and internships; create curriculum for K–12; and write articles for scholarly and lay audiences. During shelter-in-place, we pivoted to remote interviewing, created a toolkit and hosted a webinar to train practitioners. We are committed to open access and all of our transcripts, articles, and podcasts are accessible online or in-person at no cost. We partner with other universities and organizations, such at the National Park Service and California State Archives, on projects ranging from the WWII home front to the birth of the Chicano Studies movement. Opportunities for collaboration include oral history projects; projects with oral histories and other archival materials; interpretive materials, such as multimedia showcases, exhibits, oral history performance, or podcasts; educational initiatives, such as building curriculum or conducting training; and digitization and preservation of oral histories; among others. Some benefits of partnerships include an enhanced scholarly experience (and donor relations) by supplementing existing or incoming archival collections with oral histories; highlighting the work of university alumni and leading university scholars; and creating more opportunities for public engagement.