Repositories with Indigenous Oral History Collections
This section is dedicated to a number of repositories, museums, and libraries in the United States that house Indigenous oral history interviews. Most repositories listed have provided online access to their interviews, while some only offer in-person access to their materials. Some repositories have both transcriptions and video interviews available, while others only have transcriptions or the interviews available to researchers.
Each listing has a description of the repository and a description of their Indigenous oral history collections and projects. Direct links to the repositories are also provided for further research.
Archive of Native American Oral History
From 1966-1975, philanthropist Doris Duke funded seven universities to record first-person narratives from Native people across the United States. The project resulted in more than 6,000 oral histories and hundreds of supporting documents. In 2020, the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation sought to revitalize the collections by supporting the work of the seven university repositories to digitize the collections, return copies of the recordings to the originating communities, and work with the represented communities to determine culturally appropriate access.
Arizona State Museum American Indian Oral History Collection
This oral history project was created to provide a record of oral traditions by and for the Native American people. The collection contains 615 sound cassettes and 219 typed transcripts. The bulk of the collection is from Apache, Navajo, Pima, Tohono O'Odham, and Yaqui informants. Other tribes from Arizona and Mexico are also represented: including the Mohave, Hopi, Seri, Tarahumara, and Yavapai. The interviews discuss personal and family histories, along with topics such as social culture, education, folklore, health and health care, history, language, and religion.
Berkeley Library Native American Collections at The Bancroft Library
Oral history at The Bancroft Library had its beginnings in the work of its founder, Hubert Howe Bancroft. Bancroft recognized that missing from his vast collection of books and manuscripts were the living memories of many of the participants in the development of California and the West. In the 1860s he launched an ambitious project to interview and create biographies of a diverse group of Californians, resulting in hundreds of oral histories, termed dictations.
C-Span - Oral History Interviews: WWII Navajo Code Talkers
For six consecutive Saturdays, American History TV airs interviews with former World War II Navajo Code Talkers who used their native language to secretly communicate operational plans.
Minnesota Historical Society Library - Ojibwe Family History Research: Oral Histories
This libguide from Minnesota Historical Society's Gale Family Library has 3 oral history projects conducted with Native Americans in Minnesota. The collections include interviews of Minnesota's Greatest Generation (2006), interviews of Native Americans from the Millie Lacs Indian Reservation (1992), and interviews with the Vermillion Lake People (1996-97).
Native Voices
The Native Voices exhibition explores the many ideas that contribute to wellness among native peoples. Honoring the native tradition of oral history, the National Library of Medicine has gathered a multitude of healing voices from across the country so that you may hear their stories in their own words. Short excerpts from the interviews can be viewed in this portion of the exhibition website.
New Mexico Archives Online - American Indian Oral History Collection
The collection documents oral traditions and recollections of Native Americans, 1967-1972. It contains 904 recordings, 970 typed transcripts and 5 linear feet of contemporary newspaper clippings on Indian affairs. Organized into four series: I. Pueblo Interviews; II. Navajo Interviews; III. Miscellaneous Interviews; IV. Newspaper Clippings. The bulk of the material is from Navajo and Pueblo informants. Other tribes represented are from Southern California, Washington, Montana and Alaska.
Oklahoma State University Digital Collections - Oklahoma Native Artists
The Oklahoma Native Artists Project is a series of oral history interviews with Native artists, collectors, and gallery owners.
The Cultural Conservancy - Oral Histories of Native Food Revitalization
Based on extensive oral history interviews with indigenous food practitioners, this project highlights the critically important work being done by Native leaders today.
University of Florida Samuel Proctor Oral History Program: Native Peoples of the Americas
Grouped among the Native Peoples of the Americas Oral History Collections are interviews representing the lives and history of native Americans.
University of Illinois Archives - Doris Duke Indian Oral History Program Archives
Doris Duke Indian Oral History Program Archives (1908-95) directed by Edward M. Bruner (1924- ), professor of anthropology (1961- ), including correspondence, microfilmed and photocopied documents, news clippings, publications, field notes and diaries, photographs, maps, oral history and interview tapes, and transcriptions, relating to Native American customs, history, music, politics, and religion. The archives also contain an extensive collection of Native American music.
University of Minnesota Duluth Kathryn A. Martin Library's Archival Resources on Anishinaabe, Ojibwe, and Other Indigenous People at the UMD Archives
A guide to materials created by or about Anishinaabe, Ojibwe and other Indigenous people in the University of Minnesota Duluth Archives.
University of Nebraska - American Indian Oral History and Omaha Folklore Project Oral History Collection
The American Indian Oral History and Omaha Folklore Project Oral History Collection contains oral history interviews of Native Americans in Omaha, Nebraska as well as interviews collected as part of a program called the Oral History Collection of the Omaha Folklore Project. The interviews cover the cultures and personal histories of interviewees in the U.S. as well as leaving Europe in the first half of the 20th Century. Topics of discussion include life in Omaha, World War I, the Great Depression, World War II, and day-to-day life. Those interviewed were of Native American, Polish, German, Swedish, and other ethnic or national descents.
University of New Mexico - UNM CWSR American Indian Oral History Recordings
These interviews document oral traditions and recollections of Native Americans mostly in New Mexico and Arizona. Commonly called the Doris Duke Project, they were recorded, 1967-1972, by graduate students from the University of New Mexico. The bulk of the collection consists of interviews with Navajos and New Mexico Pueblo Indians talking about personal and family histories. It includes information on social culture, education, ceremonies, legends, language, government and history. Historical subjects reported from a Native American perspective include the Pueblo Revolt, brief tribal histories, traditional hunting practices and public works programs. Some interviews also contain commentaries on the 1968 Indian Civil Rights Act, the Red Power movement and the occupation of Alcatraz.
University of New Mexico Digital Collections - American Indian Oral History Navajo Transcripts
Transcripts of recordings made with Navajo interviewees as part of the American Indian Oral History Collection. They are mainly interviews with individuals living on the Navajo reservation, but also include recordings of community meetings and some interviews with non-Navajos who lived on or near the reservation. Many of the transcripts document personal and family histories with information on social culture, education, ceremonies, legends, language, religion, economy, government and history. The recordings were made by University of New Mexico graduate students, 1967-1972.
University of Utah, Special Collections, J. Willard Marriott Library - Code Talkers Oral Histories, 1971
This collection (1971) consists of eight oral histories of the Marine Corps Navajo Code Talkers of World War II. The histories are bound in a volume, and include eighteen photographs of code talkers working during the war.
Winona State University - Navajo Oral History Project
The Navajo Oral History Project documents the lives of Navajo Elders. Students from both Winona State University and Diné College, the tribal college of the Navajo Nation, participated in the creation of these videos. The documentaries were part of a ten year collaborative project led by Dr. Tom Grier and Robbie Christiano of Winona State and Dr. Miranda Haskie of Diné College.