ListenOK: Oral History Collections in Oklahoma

ListenOK

In order to build collaborative and deliberate oral history based documentation work in Oklahoma, it is critical to understand the work that has taken place in the past. The OOHRP has worked over our departmental lifespan to not only research what oral history recordings are in Oklahoma repositories (libraries, archives, and cultural heritage institutions), but assist public discoverability as well. The latest effort to make searching thousands of past Oklahoma-focused oral history recordings more simplified in a centralized searching point is ListenOK at listenok.library.okstate.edu.

ListenOK is built from the foundation of a 2008 Oral History Survey of Oklahoma Repositories (see more below) and offers researchers and the general public information about Oklahoma’s rich culture and history through the voices of those who lived it. The ListenOK guide is searchable by keyword/subject, description, interviewee, collection holder, and collection title.

Don’t see your organization’s oral history collections here? We want to add it to the guide! Contact us: liboh@okstate.edu

2008 Oral History Survey of Oklahoma Repositories:

In August 2008, the Oklahoma Oral History Research Program at the OSU Library launched a statewide survey to identify oral history collections held throughout Oklahoma.

From the survey results, a directory of Oral History Collections in Oklahoma was compiled. The directory is an alphabetical listing of institutions providing information regarding their oral history collections. Each entry may, based on data provided from the survey, include the type of media used in oral history holdings (cassette tapes, reel to reel, compact disc, minidisc, video, etc.), an approximate number of usable items in collections, accessibility information, interview topics/subjects, and whether transcripts exist as well as contact information for the institution.

The survey was made possible by an Amigos Library Services Fellowship and the Oklahoma State University Library. The Oklahoma Historical Records Advisory Board assisted in our efforts in terms of providing additional cultural institution contacts through their e-mail/mail database.

Material developed as a result of the 2008 survey can be accessed below:

• Oral History Collections in Oklahoma Directory
• Oral History Collections in Oklahoma Directory Update Form
• Oral History Collections in Oklahoma Survey Results
• Surveying Your State: A Model for Uncovering and Discovering Oral Histories

For more information, call (405) 744-2376 or e-mail liboh@okstate.edu.