Welcome to the new transitional site for the Virtual Oral/Aural History Archive. After ten years, the hardware and software with which VOAHA was built were no longer viable and VOAHA is migrating to a new architecture. The site looks different and will function differently than VOAHA I and II, but even during this transition period, all materials are available. If you do not see the interview you are looking for, please email Chloe.Pascual@csulb.edu
VOAHA enables you to access the full audio recordings of oral histories that have been deposited in Special Collections of the University Library. You can hear the voice, pitch, and rhythm of the narrations as well as the emotions these convey. You will hear the actual spoken words of oral history narrators, rather than seeing a written version of them in the form of a transcript. The CSULB oral history collections have been assembled from a number of sources and cover topics ranging from women's social history, labor and ethnic studies to Long Beach Area history and the musical developments in Southern California. Some of the interviews in the Asian American, Mexican American and women's history collections were recorded as early as 1972 and include interviews with narrators who were born in the mid to late 19th century. Presently, more than 1000 hours with 350 very diverse narrators are available online.
For permissions, please fill out this form: https://www.csulb.edu/university-library/form/voaha-use-permissions-request