Help Preserve Historical Legacies
Do you often wish you had the story or memory of elders or community friends/leaders? Are there moments in time that seem to be lost, but when you hear these same memories it all comes to life? At the Center for Oral History, we honor the memories of those who lived through moments that shape Hawaiʻi and Oceanic spaces and places.
Join us to preserve these historical legacies through video recorded interviews.
The Center for Oral History (COH), in the Department of Ethnic Studies at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa (UH), collects, documents, preserves and highlights the recollections of Native Hawaiians and the multi-ethnic people of Hawaiʻi. It produces oral histories and interpretive historical materials about lifeways, key historic events, social movements and Hawaiʻi’s role in the globalizing world, for the widest possible use. COH was first established in 1976 by the Hawaiʻi State Legislature as a part of the Social Science Research Institute in the College of Social Sciences at UH Mānoa. COH also develops books, articles, podcasts, and videos based on oral histories, serves as a resource center for oral history materials, and trains groups and individuals in oral history research. For the past 48 years, COH has collected close to 900 oral histories of human experience that would otherwise go undocumented. Collecting, preserving and sharing oral histories not only transmits knowledge from one generation to the next, but contribute to public humanities.
