Tag: OHC Articles

Applications now open for OHC 2016 Summer Institute

The Oral History Center is offering a one-week advanced institute on the methodology, theory, and practice of oral history. This will take place on the UC Berkeley campus in the newly-opened MLK Jr Student Center from August 14-19, 2016.

The institute is designed for graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, university faculty, independent scholars, and museum and community-based historians who are engaged in oral history work. The goal of the institute is to strengthen the ability of its participants to conduct research-focused interviews and to consider special characteristics of interviews as historical evidence in a rigorous academic environment.

We will devote particular attention to how oral history interviews can broaden and deepen historical interpretation situated within contemporary discussions of history, subjectivity, memory, and memoir.

Registration is open now here!

When Shelley Stokes, a recently retired librarian at Howard University in Washington, DC., decided to write about the life of her father, Maurice Stokes, Cleveland’s first African-American mayor, she knew she need to develop her interviewing skills. Several years ago she discovered on the Web a summer workshop held annually at UC Berkeley’s Oral History Center geared to educate participants in just that.

So when Stokes retired last spring, she decided to sign up for the workshop in Berkeley — and is she glad she did.

“I wanted to learn how to do a better job of conducting interviews, how to convert tapes to CDs, and preserve oral histories,” she wrote to me recently. “I enjoyed connecting with other people, and I received meaningful solutions and was encouraged to purse my projects and dreams.”

Stokes was one of about 40 people from across the country and overseas who attended the August institute, which featured lectures and hands-on guidance to participants about their oral history projects. It was just one highlight of a year at the Oral History Center that saw the office undertake exciting new projects ranging from the history of the freedom to marry movement and economists at the University of Chicago, to the West Coast cocktail project and many individual histories in our University and Community history series.

The chief reason the office continues to attract interest from people like Stokes and benefactors behind the new projects is the sterling reputation for professional excellence OHC has burnished and proven time and again. This work is done by one of the most accomplished staffs in the world. Linda Norton, an award-winning writer, is an outstanding editor with OHC, who tirelessly puts the polishing touches on innumerable oral histories for the Library’s archives each year. David Dunham is a technical marvel who helped spearhead the design and production of OHC’s new website (See http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/libraries/bancroft-library/oral-history-center). Julie Allen is a topnotch editor and administrator who keeps the office humming, while in Paul Burnett, Shanna Farrell, and Martin Meeker the office has the most skilled and intellectually gifted professional interviewers the nation has to offer.

At this time of year, we take a moment to appreciate the road we have traveled, while looking ahead with joy to the challenges ahead. Since we receive very little state funding, and must rely almost exclusively on private donations and grants to do our work, It would be great if you could take a moment at year’s end to remember us in your gift giving thoughts.

Neil Henry
Charles Faulhaber Director of the Oral History Center
The Bancroft Library

We are pleased to announce the launch of a new project, one that is long overdue. Elaine Tennant, Director of The Bancroft Library (TBL), has created a fund for oral history interviews with women who helped to build and bolster UC Berkeley. While we have a long tradition of interviewing male leaders from around campus, women leaders have been underrepresented. It is now time to conduct more interviews that reflect the invaluable contributions of such women.

Tennant gathered a multitude of women who are tied to campus: professors, philanthropists, advisors, friends, researchers, and staffers for a lunch on December 1, 2015 to begin a conversation about the strength of the women builders of Berkeley. These women, of whom included several of our staff, both current and retired, as well as with women whom we’ve interviewed, convened at The Bancroft Hotel. Kathryn Neal and Theresa Salazar, TBL archivist and curators respectively, pulled several treasures from the library; these items were on display and drew a large crowd at the start of the afternoon, indicating the reverence for TBL’s collection.

Dr. Sandra Epstein gave a lecture entitled “Neglected Women: Philanthropy and the Growth of the Berkeley Campus.” Dr. Epstein, who used TBL’s collections in the research of her books, Law at Berkeley: The History of Boalt Hall and Business at Berkeley: The History of the Haas School of Business, spoke about several acclaimed women who helped to make Berkeley what it is today, through both their intellectual and philanthropic contributions. One thing was abundantly clear at the conclusion of this presentation: the history of women at Berkeley runs deep.

After the presentation, Tennant took the stage to discuss the importance of documenting the history of women on campus. Oral histories, she posited, are a very dynamic way to illustrate their significance and preserve their legacy. She announced the creation of the Women Leaders of Berkeley Fund, which will help jumpstart this process and served as a call to action for many of the incredibly talented women in that very room.

If you, like us, believe in the value of this project, please consider giving here, or contact us for more information.

Shanna Farrell
Historian/Interviewer
Oral History Center
The Bancroft Library

William J. Rutter: Co-Founder and Chairman, Chiron Corporation

This series of interviews documents William J. Rutter’s view of his years, 1981-1999, as cofounder and chairman of Chiron Corporation, a San Francisco Bay Area biotechnology company specializing in vaccines and blood-screening technologies. These interviews explore the theme of commercializing basic science, introduced by the earlier oral history with Dr. Rutter on his career at the University of California, San Francisco. We also have a short oral history with Dr. Rutter on the social, political, and ethical dimensions of stem cell research.

Read related bioscience and biotechnology oral histories here.

Randy Wayne Schekman: Cell Biologist and UC Berkeley Nobel Laureate Oral History Transcript

This oral history with Randy Schekman is one in a series documenting bioscience and biotechnology in Northern California. Schekman’s research investigates fundamental cellular processes at the molecular, biochemical, and genetic levels. In the interviews, he describes the work which illuminates the mechanism and control of the complex intracellular pathways by which proteins are transported within the living cell. It was this body of research which led to the highest honors in biology, the Lasker Award in Basic Medical Research in 2002 and the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2013. Interviews conducted by Sally Smith Hughes in 2014.

The Oral History Center / Regional Oral History Office of The Bancroft Library is accepting applications to be the next Charles B. Faulhaber Director of our office.

Apply now!

Fifty years ago Art Gensler founded in San Francisco what is now the largest architecture and design firm in the U.S. — and one of the largest in the world. Today we help Gensler celebrate that milestone by releasing our new life history interview with its founder. This wide-ranging interview covers Gensler’s family background, upbringing, and education; his early jobs as an architect; and the founding and subsequent expansion of his own firm.

The interview delves into topics such as the transformation of architectural practice and technologies, the development of green building standards, and the globalization of professional services firms, among dozens of other topics.

Conducted by Paul Burnett in 2014, Regional Oral History Office, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley, 2015.

Dr. Leslie Benet is Professor and former Chair of the Department of Bioengineering and Therapeutic Sciences, in the Schools of Pharmacy and Medicine, University of California San Francisco. Over his 50-year career, he has published over five hundred articles and six books, has written eleven patents, and founded four companies.  He has served as a board member, adviser and consultant for numerous government agencies, corporations, professional associations, and scientific societies, and has received dozens of honors and awards from many universities and professional associations.

See related oral histories in Medicine and Public Health and University of California History.

We are pleased to launch a new 2-day oral history workshop that is designed for the person who is interested in learning the practice from ground-up. This workshop is conceived of as a companion initiative to the more in-depth Advanced Oral History Summer Institute, which typically attracts scholars and professionals with specific research projects in mind.

The new Spring Workshop will focus on the “nuts-and-bolts” of oral history interviewing, including project planning, interviewing techniques, transcription, recording equipment, and preservation. The workshop will include instruction from our seasoned oral historians but also plenty of hands-on practice exercises.

Although space is strictly limited, everyone is welcome to attend the workshop, including community-based historians, teachers, genealogists, public historians, and students in college or grad school.

The two-day workshop will be held on Friday March 13th and Saturday March 14th, 2015 on the UC Berkeley campus. The cost is $225, which includes a take-home oral history manual. Apply now!

Check out three new oral histories by Don Warrin in our Portuguese in California Oral History Project.

Sharon Mendoza Doughty
Sharon Mendoza Doughty is owner and proprietor, along with her husband Steve, of Pt. Reyes Vineyard Inn and Winery. In her oral history she discusses her family?s Portuguese roots, the history of Portuguese dairies in Marin, and in particular the history of women running dairies. Sharon and Don Warrin begin their conversation discussing the current activities of her and her husband, operating both a winery and a B&B. She then reminisces about her family?s long history in West Marin, beginning with her grandfather who arrived at the end of the 19th century and was soon involved in the dairy industry. We learn of his early interest in education and the establishment of an elementary school on his dairy. We learn details of the local dairy industry and the significant Portuguese involvement. She talks about the Bivalve dairy, now being operated by her daughter, as well as the Federal takeover of ranch land for the Point Reyes National Seashore, including her mother?s testimony in front of a Senate committee in Washington, DC. Finally, we learn something of her family?s involvement in local Portuguese social activities, as well as some of her other ethnic heritage.

Albert S. Dutra, Jr.
This interview with Al Dutra was conducted in two sessions in January, 2014. He begins by discussing his Azorean roots and the family?s later settlement in New Bedford, Massachusetts. We learn of his childhood spent there and then the move to the Bay Area. Al discusses his education through college, his service in the Air Force and his career at IBM. Soon after retiring he became increasingly engaged in the local Portuguese community, leading tours with his wife Ginny to the Azores, and taking an active role in several local Portuguese organizations. Particular detail is given to the many books published by Portuguese Heritage Publications of San Jose.

Marilia Coquim Wiget
Marilia Coquim Wiget is very active in Portuguese community and was president of the the Sacramento-based Portuguese Historical and Cultural Society for many years. She lives in Sacramento. Don Warring interviewed Marilia in her Sacramento home in November of 2013. She discussed at length her maternal grandfather?s background in northern Portugal and his moves to Lisbon, Hawaii and Sacramento. She talked as well of her father?s origins and the occupations of family members in the Sacramento area. Although she spoke the language as a youngster and was raised with a sense of the significance of the history of Portugal, her family did not generally participate in Portuguese community activities. It was only as an adult that she became committed to this, especially after starting work at the California Department of Education, under the education consultant Julia Gonsalves. Much of the interview deals with her adult activities with the Portuguese community, especially the Sacramento-based Portuguese Historical and Cultural Society, of which she was president for several years, and her work as editor of the society?s periodical, O Progresso.