UK Oral History

Aberdeen:

The Aberdeen and Region Oral History Association.

Antrim:

The Glens of Antrim Historical Society's Oral History Project

Bedford:

The Forest of Marston Vale oral history project is creating a picture of life in Marston Vale since the beginning of the brickmaking industry.

Bedfordshire:

The Bedfordshire Women's Land Army Internet Archive is hosted by Bedfordshire Libraries.

Birmingham:

First Bosnians - based in Birmingham but interviewing early Bosnian settlers from across the UK.

Birmingham:

Birmingham Black Oral History Project

Birmingham:

Gay Birmingham Remembered records the development and history of the vibrant lesbian, gay and bisexual community in and around Birmingham.

Bracknell:

The Bracknell Forest Heritage Website enables people to share memories and history.

Bradford:

Bradford Memory Bank

Brighton:

Brighton Ourstory Project - Brighton Ourstory Project was set up in 1989 by a group of local lesbians and gay men to collect material about lesbian and gay past and present.

Cambridge:

Recollection - Kettle's Yard. A cross-generational project about how people think and feel about Kettle's Yard

Cornwall:

The Cornish Audio Visual Archive

Clitheroe:

The North West Sound Archive

Coventry:

Coming to Coventry - stories from the South Asian Pioneers.

Cumbria:

Cumbria County Council’s Archive Service and local studies library in Whitehaven have been awarded £261,000 by British Nuclear Fuels Ltd (BNFL) to compile an oral history of Sellafield. Once completed, Sellafield Stories will be one of the biggest pieces of work ever carried out by Cumbria Archive Service. As well as an oral archive to be housed at the Whitehaven Record Office in Scotch Street, the 18-month project will see a travelling exhibition, a website with audio clips, a book and DVD or CD. In October 2011 the website is under construction - http://www.sellafieldstories.org.uk/

Dartmoor:

Virtually Dartmoor enables you to look in and around buildings and places in Dartmoor with numerous commentaries.

Dartmoor:

Moor Memories, the story of the everyday life of people on Dartmoor during the 20th century.

Durham:

Durham in Time - links to many projects and groups in the Durham area.

Edinburgh:

[murmur] is a documentary oral history project that records stories and memories told about specific geographic locations.

Edinburgh:

The Living Memory Association, an Edinburgh based group that aims to bring people together through reminiscence and oral history work.

Edinburgh:

Remember When was an oral and community history project which documented the lives and achievements of Edinburgh's LGBT people, past and present.

Essex:

Epping Forest District Council's Oral History Online

Essex:

The Essex Sound and Video Archive

Exmoor:

The Exmoor Oral History Archive

Glasgow:

Museum of Transport Oral History Project.

Gloucestershire:

Tredworth Black History Map Project

Hereford:

The Cider Museum's oral history recordings cover all things related to cider.

Herefordshire:

The 'Eardisland and Its History' website has details of the work of the Eardisland Oral History Group.

Huddersfield:

Asian Voices is a two year project aimed at collecting the memories of the first immigrant communities in Huddersfield.

Hull:

Hull Fair. Involving residents of Hull and the community of travelling showmen in building a community history web site which explores the recent history of Hull Fair from a personal perspective.

Ipswich:

Ipswich Caribbean Experience (ICE) Project. The ICE Project was created in order to provide Ipswich and the local area with a greater understanding of its own multicultural aspects.

Kent:

Coalfields Heritage Initiative Kent. Commemorating the coalfield communities of Kent though the collection of photographs and oral reminiscences.

Lake District:

Ambleside Oral History Group. Active for over twenty years, gathering verbal accounts of Lake District history.

Lake District:

From Auschwitz to Ambleside. Interviews with some of the three hundred Jewish children, survivors of the Holocaust, who came to Britain in August 1945 and stayed at the 'lost' wartime village of Calgarth Estate which stood near Windermere.

Lancaster:

Welcome Stories records stories from local people about their experiences of 'welcome and belonging' in the Lancaster and Morecambe District.

Lancashire:

The Lancashire Textile Project has transcriptions of interviews and photos about the steam driven Weaving Industry in East Lancashire.

Leeds:

The Oral History Company is a Community Interest Company (CIC) devoted to the initiation, co-ordination, and development of oral history. Currently in Leeds, but planning to expand to cover Yorkshire and the UK.

London:

Age Exchange. Experts in reminiscence work.

London:

Barking and Dagenham Heritage and History - memories of Barking Park

London:

Bexleyheath. Minding Histories is an oral history project that explores the relationship between migration, mental health and wellbeing, in the London Borough of Bexley, from the 1950’s to the present day. This project was initiated in 2008 at the mental health charity, Mind in Bexley.

London:

The British Entertainment History Project. Since 1997, this volunteer-run project has been documenting the oral histories of professionals from across Britain's world-renowned film, television, radio and theatre industries, and has now become the UK's largest archive of such interviews.

London:

Eastside Community Heritage. The Hidden Histories website presents many stories, views and opinions from a wealth of different backgrounds and lifestyles and can proudly claim to have uncovered many 'hidden histories'.

London:

Finchley Lives has produced an illustrated booklet, Listening to Finchley: Eyewitness accounts of 90 years of change in church and people, containing oral history reminiscences.

London:

Foundling Voices. Memories of separation, schooling, love, loss and rediscovery from people who grew up in the care of the Foundling Hospital between 1912 and 1954.

London:

The History of Parliament project has a strong oral history element.

London:

The Kings Cross Oral History Project. Working with community members and local partners, this project seeks to record people's memories and unique life experiences of the King's Cross area.

London:

Linked is a series of transmitters delivering memories of those who lived where the M11 link road (Hackney Marshes to Redbridge) now is.

London:

Making Inroads: A Story of Putting Down Roots. A story of putting down roots on and around the Holloway Road.

London:

Memoryscape sound walks take place at some of the most fascinating stretches of the river Thames.

London:

Minding Histories will work with individuals and communities to record the testimonies of up to 60 individuals from BME groups including the Vietnamese, Chinese, Bangladesh, Indian, Russian, Polish and Irish communities who reside in the London Borough of Bexley in order to explore the resettlement heritage of these communities.

London:

The Museum of London, for London Voices, memories of the blitz in London and other online exhibitions.

London:

On the Record, a small, not for profit cooperative who work 'to uncover untold stories'.

London:

Waltham Forest Oral History Workshop.

London:

The University of Westminster Archive has been running an Oral History Project since 2010 recording memories of the Regent Street Polytechnic and Polytechnic of Central London. We now have a collection of 50 interviews, which can be listened to by appointment in our reading room. 70 excerpts from these interviews are now available online, bringing to life the University’s past through the memories of alumni and staff members.

Milton Keynes:

The Living Archive. A creative cultural and community development agency.

Milton Keynes:

Days of Pride - Wolverton and New Bradwell in the First World War.

North East:

Living History North East is a regionally based oral history resource established since 1995. Living History North East is dedicated to recording Living Memories from across the northeast.

Norwich:

Norwich Living History Group. A group with interests in oral history, Norwich, and reminiscence work.

Reading:

The Immigrants Project. Stories of people from all over the world who came to settle in Reading.

Rotherham:

The Songs of Steel project's aim was to collect the memories and stories of people in Rotherham who worked within the steel industry and to celebrate Rotherham’s industrial heritage and create a legacy for future generations.

Salford:

LifeTimes - Salford's Story. Telling the story of Salford over the last 200 years and focussing on 'real people and real events'.

Scotland:

Rainbow Lives is based in Fife and is an exciting new approach to involving communities in recording and archiving their stories for future generations.

Scotland:

School of Scottish Studies Sound Archive

Scotland:

Scottish Oral History Centre. Contains several collections.

Scotland:

Our Story Scotland. Exhibition of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender history in Scotland.

Scotland:

Salt of the Earth, A WEA Scotland project.

Scotland:

The Sikhs in Scotland Oral History was dedicated to record 100 pioneers who came to Scotland.

Scotland:

Speaking for a Change: An oral history of general practice in Paisley, c. 1950-2000.

Scotland:

Tobar an Dualchais/Kist o Riches is a collaborative project which has been set up to preserve, digitise, catalogue and make available online several thousand hours of Gaelic and Scots recordings. This website contains a wealth of material such as folklore, songs, music, history, poetry, traditions, stories and other information. The material has been collected from all over Scotland and beyond from the 1930s onwards.

Sheffield:

The Burton Street Community History project in the Hillsborough area.

Sheffield:

Our Beighton. A website all about the village of Beighton in Sheffield.

Southampton:

Oral History, community culture supported by Southampton City Council.

Southwold:

Southwold Museum's website features audio clips from their oral history collection.

Suffolk:

Bawdsey Radar Website - researching and developing an oral history about the life and times of Bawdsey Radar Station and those involved in and around the establishment.

Suffolk:

Ebb and Flow - Journey along Suffolk's rivers Alde and Ore, exploring landscapes past and present.

Sussex:

Heritage Plus is a project run in East Sussex by WRVS, to celebrate and record people's individual and community histories. It is for people of all ages, cultures and backgrounds. Project partnerships include the University of Sussex and East Sussex County Council.

Wales:

Audio trails in the Brecon Beacons National Park.

Wales:

The Museum of Welsh Life Sound Archive

Warwickshire:

My Farming Life is an HLF-funded oral history collection undertaken by Warwickshire Rural Community Council which presents the memories of North Warwickshire farming families, recording their daily life and the changes that have taken place during the 20th century.

Warwickshire:

'Voices of the University: Memories of Warwick, 1965-2015' is an oral history of the University of Warwick.

Warwickshire:

Working Lives. Memories of work & industry in Nuneaton and Bedworth.

West Midlands:

Memories of the former Harris and Pearson office building in Brettell Lane, Brierley Hill, West Midlands, which was built in 1888 as the offices to the surrounding firebrick works.

Wolverhampton:

Black and Ethnic Minority Experience. Over 400 audio/video interviews, some available over the internet.

York:

Cocoa Reworks - a website dedicated to the experiences of women workers at the Rowntree Macintosh factory in York.

Yorkshire:

The Fitzwilliam Archive Group. This site has been developed to provide an extensive oral history and pictorial record of the village of Fitzwilliam.

Yorkshire:

My Yorkshire is a website which helps communities to become digital storytellers in partnership with museums, libraries and archives - combining the age-old art of storytelling with multimedia.

Yorkshire:

Now Then is a community website linked to the West Yorkshire Archive Service. The website will host any community collection for free and you can explore the history of West Yorkshire through peoples' memories, stories, photographs and images.

Yorkshire:

Wild Rose Arts collects oral histories in the Hebden Bridge area.

Other links

Oral History Resources

Leicestershire's history on-line

East Midlands Links

Oral History Projects in the East Midlands

Oral History Projects Around the World

Schools links

Last updated: 16/02/2015
East Midland Oral History Archive Web maintainer
This document has been approved by the head of department or section.