Bay Area Holocaust Oral History Project
Anne Grenn Saldinger, Executive Director
info@bahohp.org, 650-570-6382

Collection: Life history interviews of survivors and witnesses of the Holocaust. The archive includes a variety of Holocaust-related experiences, including concentration camp experiences as well as those who participated in the resistance, survived in hiding, were part of the kindertransport, and more. We also have one of the largest collections of histories of those who took refuge from Nazi Germany in Shanghai, China.
BAHOHP has over 1700 audio and video interviews, comprising over 5000 hours. Interview range from thirty minutes to four hours, averaging about two hours.
BAHOHP began conducting interviews in 1983, and the project is ongoing. The interview is a complete life history, from childhood to the present day, with special emphasis on the period between 1933 and 1945.

Access: Audio, video and transcripts available at institution. P.O. Box 25506 San Mateo, CA 94402 http://www.bahohp.org

Responded 4/18/2007

Berkeley Historical Society
Therese Pipe, Acting Coordinator of Oral History
tpipeln@jps.net; (510) 841-5493

California History Room, San Rafael
Laurie Thompson,
ljthompson@co.marin.ca.us, (415) 499-7419

Collection: Over 300 recordings and their corresponding transcriptions of interviews covering a broad spectrum of Marin's long-time residents, ranging from ranchers to politicians and including descendents of early pioneer families. One particular series focuses on Frank Lloyd Wright and his design of Marin County's Civic Center. The interviews are about 2-3 hours each. 1974 to 1984 interviews were conducted by Carla Ehat, with partner Anne Kent, and later Genevieve Martinelli. Program was revived in 1999 and ongoing interviews are being conducted by Marilyn L. Geary.

Access: Yes, transcript and audio at institution and online. See http://www.co.marin.ca.us/depts/lb/main/crm/oralhistories/oralhistmore.html

Responded 9/16/07

California State Military Museum, Sacramento, CA
Bill Davies, bill.w.davies@us.army.mil, 916-442-2883

Collection: Veteran oral histories. Over 150 interviews, World War II to the present.

Access:: Transcript, audio, video at the California State Military Museum and Resource Center, 1119 Second Street, Sacramento, CA  95814. www.militaryhistory.org. All interviews are shared with the Library of Congress.  Selected interview shared with the US Army Military History Institute, Carlisle Barracks, PA.

Responded 3/18/2007 

Celebrate Fremont Oral History Project
Patricia Schaffarczyk, pathikes@yahoo.com

Collection: 31 video interviews, 34 narrators. Interviews 1 to 2 hours. Narrators are residents of Fremont, California. The interviews were done between Dec. 2005 and June, 2006. Participants discussed how they and their families came to Fremont, discussing from 1880s to the present 2006.

Access: Yes, at institution, 190 Anjza Street Fremont, Ca 94539.

Responded 8/1/07

Freedom Archives - San Francisco,
Claude Marks,415 863-9977 

Collection: Progressive politics and culture, Black studies, Chicano, Native American, Puerto Rico, Latin America, Central America, women, poetry, music. 9000 hours, numerous interviews and interviewers, ranging in length. Some materials are only in Spanish, most is 1969 - present.

Access: Audio and video at institution, 522 Valencia St., San Francisco, CA 94110. Catalogued materials searchable online, www.freedomarchives.org

Responded 3/19/2007

Fremont Main Library, City of Fremont
Janet Cronbach, jcronbach@aclibrary.org (510) 745-1429

Collection: Local history of Fremont, Union City and Newark. Some Californiana.
Approximately 87 tapes representing interviews with almost as many interviewees. Most interviews 30-60 minutes.There are two main groups, one set collected 1971-1972. The second collected in the early 1980s. Both focused on the development of Fremont (incorporated in 1956) Not ongoing.

Access: Transcript and audio available, with some restrictions. Fremont Main Library 2400 Stevenson Blvd. Fremont, CA 94538 (510) 745-1444. http://www.aclibrary.org. The library does not have equipment for playing reel-to-reel tapes. We are hoping to have the interviews digitized and stored on CDs. The set from the 1980s has been transcribed. The earlier set has not. We would welcome volunteers to work on transciption! These materials are available by appointment.

Responded: 5/18/2007

GLBT Historical Society, San Francisco
Martin Meeker, mmeeker@library.berkeley.edu.

Collection: Gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender history. Focus is primarily but not exclusively on northern California. Particular strengths of the collection include social movements, bar culture, organizational involvement. Approximately 1000 interviews, which run in length from about 30 minutes to 30 hours.,
Interviews date back to the late 1970s. Timeframe covered in interviews is 1930s-current. The project is ongoing.

Access: Yes, transcript, audio, video, but with restrictions, 657 Mission Street, 3rd Floor, San Francisco CA,  415-777-5455  www.glbthistory.org"

Responded 3/27/2007

Hayward Area Historical Society & Museums, Hayward CA
Diane Curry, Curator/Archivist, diane@haywardareahistory.org,
510-581-0223

Collection: Mostly local history, community remembrances, personal histories, connections to the community, occasionally tied to state, national and world events. 15 taped interviews and an additional 8 video interviews transferred to DVD. Most of the interviews on the tapes have been conducted within the past 6 years and relate generally to the post World War II era. The 8 interviews on DVD were conducted in the 1970s, but the subject matter range is about the same.

Access: Audio and video available to the public, with restrictions. Hayward Area Historical Society & Museums 22701 Main Street Hayward, CA 94541 510-581-0223 www.haywardareahistory.org

Responded: 4/13/2007

Holocaust Center of Northern California,
Judith Janec, jjanec@hcnc.org, 415-777-9060 x 206,

Collection: Oral testimonies, in video and audio, that focus on the experiences of Holocaust survivors, including refugees, children sent on the kindertransport, hidden children.  Also included are testimonies of liberators. 620 individuals; 866 audio and video tapes.  Interviews range from 30 minutes to 2 1/2 hours.  In addition, there are 314 transcripts for audio interviews. Interviews were conducted between 1981-1996 and  describe events during the years of the Holocaust, 1933-1945.  Interviewing is not presently ongoing.

Access: Transcript, audio, video, at institution: Holocaust Center of Northern California  121 Steuart Street  San Francisco, CA 94105.  http://www.hcnc.org/

Responded 3/20/2007 

In Our Own Words - The Negro Spirituals Heritage Keepers
Sam Edwards or Lyvonne Chrisman, (510) 869 4359

Collection: Negro Spirituals, the folk music of enslaved African Americans. Initial interviews will include 10 people. DVD interviews are 60 minutes. Focus: How interviewees learned about Negro Spirituals and what they are doing to preserve Negro Spirituals in the Oakland community. Interviews conducted between June and August 2007. Interviews ongoing.

Access: Transcript will be available online, at http://libriary.mills.edu. Oral histories available on DVD. Project will be completed in December 2007 and available to the public at the Oakland Public Library History Room, Mills College Library and African American Museum and Library in Oakland. And, at a later date at Music Departments at other libraries

Responded: 9/15/07

Labor Archives and Research Center, San Francisco State University
Susan Sherwood, Catherine Powell, Carol Cuenod, Conor Casey,larc@sfsu.edu,

Collection: Oral histories pertaining to labor and the labor movement in the San Francisco Bay Area. Generally, interviews cover events from the 1930s to the present.

Access: Transcript and audio at institution, 480 Winston Drive, San Francisco, CA  94132 http://www.library.sfsu.edu/about/depts/larc.php

Responded 3/18/2007

Legacy Oral History Program, San Francisco Performing Arts Library & Museum,
Basya Petnick, program manager, basyap@sfpalm.org/415-255-4800; Jeff Friedman, founder, jfleg@prodigy.net, 415-295-5239.

Collection: Life-history interviews with individual narrators, with an emphasis on their significant occupational history in the performing arts in the San Francisco Bay Area. Narrators occupy a variety of roles, including creators/ interpreters/educators/administrators/writers, etc. who are at-risk in the dance, music, theater and other hybrid forms of performance communities. Around 80 life-histories, collected primarily in analog audio tape format, but also more recently including digital audio and video tape formats.  Interviews range from 2 to 22 hours in length, but normally average 4-8 hours. Final formats vary from archived audio and/or video tapes with bound transcripts and accompanying papers collected, to digital DVDs.
Interviews collected beginning in 1989, continuing to the present. Time-frames discussed range from early twentieth century to the present.

Access: Transcript, audio, video, other online and at institution. Legacy Oral History Program  San Francisco Performing Arts Library & Museum  401 Van Ness Avenue, 4th floor  San Francisco CA 94102. http://www.sfpalm.org/programs/legacy

Responded 3/19/2007 

Livermore Heritage Guild, Livermore, CA. Neal F. Cavanaugh, nealfcavanaugh@sbcglobal.net.

Collection: Aspects of early Livermore, California: life in the 20's and 30's, life as a local newspaperman, early families, local industries (brick works, wine making, etc.), and others. Approximately 46 interviews (although others are still not cataloged). Interviews range from 30 minutes to a couple of hours.
Interviews started in 1974. Most were conducted between 1981 to 1987 and discuss Livermore in the 20's, 30's and 40's. Interviewing is ongoing, though at a much slower pace.

Access: Transcript, audio, video at institution, Livermore Heritage Guild, P. O. Box 961, 3rd and K Streets, Livermore, CA 94550. http://www.lhg.org.

Responded 3/26/2007

Lives of Hungarians under Communist and Capitalist Governments 1956-2006, Berkeley CA.
Virginia Major Thomas, ThomasVirginia7@gamail.com, 707-576-6671

Collection: Everyday lives of Hungarians under the Communist (Kadar) and the post-1989 Capitalist governments, what they remember or experience now as significant and memorable. Spontaneous and unscripted, they are primary sources for students and historians. As of 7/07, there are 19 oral histories in Bancroft Library, UC Berkeley, 15 of them online. There is one narrator per interview. All are in English, either originally or translated "on the spot". Their length varies from one to four hours, 15 to 65 pages. Interviewing is ongoing, begun in 2001 and continuing every year thereafter. Nine women and ten men have been interviewed, ranging in age from 42 to 80. Their occupations include medicine, journalism, teaching, film making, business administration, government administration, academic administration, police, tourism, waiter in a restaurant, and librarian.

Access: Transcripts available at the Bancroft Library and online at Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley, CA http://bancroft.berkeley.edu/ROHO/projects/hungary

Responded 7/7/2007

Making Connections: Career Waitresses of San Francisco,
Candacy Taylor, slingingpower@yahoo.com, 510/748.0322. 1360 Park St., Alameda, CA 94501.

Collection: Oral histories and photographs of career waitresses aged 50 and older who work in coffee shops in the Bay Area. There are currently 5 interviews, there will be more interviews for the upcoming photo exhibition at the Jewett Gallery in the San Francisco Public Library (main branch). The interviews range from 1-3 hours each. There are some short interviews from the regular customers as well.
Interviewing started in 2004. I was awarded a California Stories grant from the California Council for the Humanities. Topics include: labor, customers, aging, money, retirement, social stigma of waitressing, etc. Interviewing is ongoing. I've traveled about 10,000 miles and interviewed 45 waitresses from all over the US.

Access: Transcript, audio,other at institution and  at the San Francisco State University Labor Archives.

Responded 3/18/2007 

Marin Agricultural Land Trust.
Elizabeth Ptak, 415-663-1158, ext. 302, eptak@malt.org

Collection: Interviews with West Marin ranchers. About 40 interviews, 1 hour each. Interviews began in 1990s and are ongoing.

Access: Audio interviews available, but with restrictions. Marin Agricultural Land Trust Post Office Box 809 Point Reyes Station, CA 94956 (415) 663-1158, farmland@malt.org

Responded 9/16/07

Marin History Museum.
Jocelyn Moss, (415) 454-8538.

Collection: Marin County history, newspaper publishing, recycling, politics, land use. Approximately 15 interviews of 3 hours each. Interviews conducted in 2000 to present. Timeframe back to 1920s.

Access: Video interviews available, but with some restrictions at Marin History Museum 1125 B Street San Rafael, CA 94901 (415) 454-8538. info@marinhistory.org.

Responded 9/16/07

Mill Valley Historical Society
Alison Owings, ajowings@sbcglobal.net

Collection: Reminiscences of Mill Valley residents. Over 100 interviews of about 2-3 hours each. Program started in the 1970s. Interviews are ongoing.

Access: Yes, at Mill Valley Historical Society History Room of the Mill Valley Public Library 375 Throckmorton Ave Mill Valley, CA 94941 (415) 389-4292 http://www.millvalleyhistoricalsociety.org

Responded 9/16/07

Oakland Chinatown, California
William Wong, wongink@earthlink.net, 510-547-5137,

Collection: Oakland Chinese Americans born in the 1910s to mid-1920s. Interviews conducted 2004-2005.  Interviews are life histories covering span of Oakland Chinatown history. Six interviews ranging from 90 minutes to 5 hours.

Access: See William Wong at the contact info above. http://www.yellowjournalist.com/about_author.html

Responded: 8/6/2007

Oakland Chinatown Oral History Project, Oakland Asian Cultural Center
Anne Huang, annehuangtaiwan@gmail.com, 510-520-3348,

Collection: Oakland Chinatown elders. Topics discussed - growing up in Chinatown, changes in Chinatown between childhood and today, significance of Chinatown in Oakland, intergenerational lessons. Ten interviews summer and fall 2007. Each interview 90-120 minutes.

Access: Online and in selected archived, but not yet. http://www.oacc.cc/calendar/ocohp.html

Responded: 8/9/2007

Oakland History Room, Oakland Public Library
Steven Lavoie, ohr@oaklandlibrary.org, 510-238-3222

Collection: History of Oakland and the metropolitan East Bay region.,
Approximately 80. Interviews conducted 1980-1981, 1995, and 1965- (from the Regional Oral History Office at UC). The timeframes of the topics discussed vary, but largely focus on the post-World War II period. The interviews in this collection were not conducted by the Oakland Public Library.

Access:  Transcript, audio, video at institution: Oakland History Room, Oakland Public Library, 125 14th Street, Oakland, CA 94612  http://www.oaklandlibrary.org/Seasonal/Sections/oakhr.html
The oral histories are copies made of the original tapes, transcripts from the responsible agencies and institutions, including the Regional Oral History Office, the Oakland Museum of California and District 4 of the California Dept. of Transportation. The Oakland History Room is not currently engaged in conducting oral histories.

Responded 3/20/2007 

Oakland Living History Program, Mills College
Nancy MacKay, Program Coordinator, mackay@mills.edu, 510/430-2028

Collection: Mills College history (Mills alums and faculty), Oakland history (special projects on MacArthur Corridor and Lake Merritt) We also have a series on Japanese American interviews. Collection consists of 45 interviews of 90 minutes each. Each oral history consists of 1-3 interviews,
Interviews conducted 2001-present. Interviewing is ongoing, subject to funding. 

Access: Transcript and audio excerpts available online through Mills College library catalog. Go to http://library.mills.edu/ and type 'OLHP' into the search box.) Complete transcript and audio are available at the Mills College library; Oakland related oral histories are also available at the Oakland Public Library, Oakland History Room.

Responded 3/7/2007

Regional History Project, University Library, UC Santa Cruz.
Irene Reti, Director,ihreti@ucsc.edu 831-459-2847.

Collection: Institutional history of UC Santa Cruz, Central Coastal agricultural history, literary small presses, GLBT history, feminist history, environmental history, cultural history.
Approximately 75 published oral histories, but even more are contained in multivolume oral history publications such as Out in the Redwoods. Most interviews are 2 hours in length.
The Regional History Project was started in July of 1963 at a time when the Santa Cruz campus of the University of California was still in the planning stages. Its major purpose was to interview longtime residents of the Central California Coast area whose comments would add significantly to the sketchy and inadequate written history of the region. In 1967 the Project expanded its scope to include a series of interviews on University history and the Lick Observatory. This office now works closely with both students and faculty, as well as with community historical organizations, in introducing oral history methodology and in encouraging the use of interviewing as a method for supplementing our local and regional archives

Access: Manuscripts are available in Special Collections at McHenry Library, UC Santa Cruz, and in the Bancroft Library at the University of California, Berkeley. Many of the volumes are also available in the circulating collection of the. Many volumes are also available in full text (pdf format) through our website, http://library.ucsc.edu/reg-hist/index.html.
Regional History Project, McHenry Library  1156 High St.  UC Santa Cruz  Santa Cruz, CA..

Responded: 3/20/2007

Regional Oral History Office - Bancroft Library UC Berkeley,
Victor W. Geraci, vgeraci@library.berkeley.edu
http://bancroft.berkeley.edu/ROHO/collections/subjectarea/index.html     

Collection: Approximately 2000 interviews with 1200 on line at this time. Interviews can be from one hour to twenty-plus hours. Overall collection dates back to 1954.
Subject areas: Arts and Literature; Architecture and Landscape Architects; Art, Sculpture, and Photography; Books and Fine Printing; California Afghan Artists;   Fiber Arts;  Music and Dance Production and Presentation; Poetry and Literature  Business; Business History; Western Mining in the Twentieth Century; Community History; Girls' Club, San Francisco; Italian-Americans From Northern California;   Jewish Community Leaders of the San Francisco Bay Area; Philanthropy;   Portuguese in California; Richmond Community History Project; Rosie the Riveter World War II American Homefront Project; Food and Wine; California Wine Industry;  Food and Food Ways; Law and Jurisprudence; California Supreme Court;   Individual Memoirs; Law Firms; Legal Education;  U.S. District Court for Northern California;  U.S. Supreme Court;  Natural Resources, Land Use, and The Environment; Agriculture; Forestry and Soil Science; Horticulture, Botany, and Landscape Design; Land Use Planning; Parks and the Environment; Sanitary Engineering History; Seismic Safety; Sierra Club History; Water Resources in California; Politics and Government; California State Archives Oral History Program; California Women Political Leaders, 1920-1970; Earl Warren Era in California, 1925-1953; Goodwin Knight and Edmund G. Brown Eras in California, 1953-1966; Ronald Reagan Era in California, 1966-1974; Suffragists; Science, Medicine, and Technology; AIDS Epidemic in San Francisco; Bioscience and Biotechnology; Chemistry and Physics; Kaiser Permanente; Medical Physics and Biophysics; Medicine and Public Health; Ophthalmology; Stem Cell Research;     Social Movements; Disability Rights and Independent Living Movement; Labor Movement; Social Welfare History; Volunteer Leadership; University of California History; Anthropology; China Scholars; Exploring Diversity and Access at the University of California; Faculty, Administrators, and Regents;  Library School;   Office of the President;  University of California Alumni

Access: Transcript, audio, video available online and at institution. See
http://bancroft.berkeley.edu/ROHO/index.html
  Over 900 interviews also available at: http://www.archive.org/details/texts,

Responded 3/19/2007 

Rosie the Riveter, National Park Service
Cultural Resource Manager, 510-232-5050

Collection: World War II civilian Stories. We have contracted with ROHO at UC Berkeley and they have collected 75 oral history interviews several hours in length. Project is ongoing.

Access: Transcripts available, but with restrictions at http://bancroft.berkeley.edu/ROHO/ 

Responded 5/9/2007

San Francisco Women's Building.
 Susan Ford, suford@earthlink.net, 415.474.5580

Collection: The founding of the women's building working, volunteering at the building relationship to building relationship to the women's movement. Approximately 50 interviews, one tape to four tapes each. Interviews conducted 1993-present for history of the Women’s Building, from 1977.

Access: Transcript, audio and video available online and at Gay & Lesbian Bisexual Transgender Historical Society of Northern California 657 Mission Street, San Francisco, CA 415.777.5455.

Responded: 9/20/2007

Telegraph Hill Dwellers/San Francisco
Audrey Tomaselli, tmsli@sonic.net,  415/391 1792

Collection: Oral histories of San Francisco's Telegraph Hill and North Beach. 16 interviews to date. 17 narrators. Interviews vary from 1 hour to 8 hours. Interviewing is ongoing from 1999.

Access: Transcripts available at Bancroft Library and San Francisco Public Library (SF History Room)

Responded: 9/26/2007

Telling Their Stories: Oral History Archives Project, The Urban School of San Francisco. Howard Levin, hlevin@urbanschool.org, 415-593-9525,

Collection: All interviews conducted by high school students. 20 oral histories, most narrators interviewed twice = approx 40 interviews total.  Each oral history approximately four hours. 2002 to current and ongoing with approx. 8 interviews each spring.
Subject areas include Holocaust survivors and refugees, concentration camp liberators and witnesses, Japanese American internment camp residents.

Access: ALL interviews are full-text, full-video - all available online at:  http://www.tellingstories.org.

Responded 3/18/2007 

Western Jewish History Center of the Judas Magnes Museum, Berkeley
Francesco Spagnolo, Head of Research
fspagnolo@magnes.org,  510-549-6950 x339

Collection: Jewish experience (individuals, families, organizations) in Northern California, including recollections about their lands of origin. Includes California Jewish Community Collection, Jewish Lives in Perspective, Northern California Jews from Harbin, Manchuria, the Petaluma Jewish Community Oral History Project, San Francisco Jews of Eastern European Origin, 1880-1940, Western Portraits.
92 interviews, mostly one narrator each. Length varies from 3 to ca. 700 pages.
Interviews conducted between 1966 and 1987. Timeframe ranges from recollection of 19th Jewish life in the Bay Area to the end fo the 20th century.

Access: Audio and transcript are available at the Western Jewish History Center Judah L. Magnes Museum 2911 Russell Street Berkeley, CA 94705, www.magnes.org. PDF files of transcripts of ROHO collaborations are available through ROHO website or www.archive.org

Responded: 6/20/2007