LibGuides: English: Oral Histories, Letters, and Diaries

Oral Histories

For resources and information about oral history projects, see the Public Humanities Libguide.

Letters, Diaries, and Other Narratives

American Slavery: A Composite Autobiography This link opens in a new window
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Provides access to slave narratives collected by the Works Projects Administration between 1936 and 1938, 2000 edition
2000 edition; a study of the WPA slave narratives. A massive historical collection, it includes complete records for each narrative identifying the narrator, his or her year of birth, and the county and state where the narrator was in bondage.
North American Women's Letters and Diaries This link opens in a new window
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A primary source collection that includes the diaries and letters of 1,325 women, colonial era
Colonial-1950; ongoing. When complete, the collection will include approximately 150,000 pages of published letters and diaries from individuals writing from Colonial times to 1950, plus 7,000 pages of previously unpublished materials. Includes materials from more than 1,000 sources, including journal articles, pamphlets, newsletters, monographs, and conference proceedings.
American Civil War: Letters and Diaries This link opens in a new window
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Provides access to 100,000 pages of diaries, letters, and memoirs from more than 2,000 authors
Ongoing; this database knits together more than 1,000 sources of diaries, letters, and memoirs to provide fast access to thousands of views on almost every aspect of the war, including what was happening at home. The writings of politicians, generals, slaves, landowners, farmers, seaman, wives, and even spies are included. The letters and diaries are by the famous and the unknown, giving not only both the Northern and Southern perspectives, but those of foreign observers also.
Shoah Foundation Institute Visual History Archive This link opens in a new window
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A collection of audiovisual interviews with witnesses and survivors of the Holocaust and other genocides
Between 1994 and 1999, the Survivors of the Shoah Visual History Foundation -- now the USC Shoah Foundation Institute -- interviewed nearly 52,000 survivors and other witnesses of the Holocaust. The Institute interviewed Jewish survivors, homosexual survivors, Jehovah's Witness survivors, liberators and liberation witnesses, political prisoners, rescuers and aid providers, Roma and Sinti (Gypsy) survivors, survivors of Eugenics policies, and war crimes trials participants. The complete archive of these testimonies, which were videotaped in 56 countries and in 32 languages, is now available to Brown students, faculty, and staff.