LOHA

Number of items in the collection: 1000 items
Venues where material can be listened to: Record Office
Media available on: Cassette and CD.

The Leicester Oral History Collection is an extensive collection comprising 505 interviews with people from all areas of Leicester City and the county of Leicestershire. The interviews were recorded for the Leicester Oral History Archive between 1983 and 1989 as a project for the Manpower Services Commission. The original collection was deposited with the Leicester Records Office for safekeeping, in 1990, and has been catalogued into the EMOHA. The Leicester Oral History Archive is the largest single collection in the EMOHA.

Interview extracts from parts of the collection were compiled into themed recordings on cassette. These cover a wide range of subjects and were available on sale to the general public. They form a sub-collection under the title Leicester Oral History Archive Compilation Collection. Copies are held in the EMOHA and are available for listening.

The collection covers memories of Leicester and Leicestershire from the 1890s to the 1990s in both urban and rural settings, and from a variety of social, ethnic & religious backgrounds. Interviews cover subjects such as childhood, health, transport, local studies, housing, politics, World Wars I & II, women’s lives, shopping, events, entertainment, migration and work. For an overview of some of the collection have a look at the list of edited cassettes created from the interviews - LOHA cassettes.