Regional Oral History Office
Encyclopedia
The Regional Oral History Office (ROHO) is part of The Bancroft Library at the University of California, Berkeley. The office was founded in 1954. ROHO conducts, analyzes, teaches about, and preserves oral history
interviews on a wide range of topics related to the history of California and the United States. ROHO staff also conduct research on a wide range of historical topics, utilizing oral history as a central primary source to their scholarship.
ROHO's original name was the Regional Cultural History Office. It was the second oral history office founded in the country, following only Columbia University. The first interview conducted at the office, before it was officially recognized as a unit on campus, was with Alice B. Toklas
the long-time partner of Gertrude Stein
.
Since its founding in 1954, ROHO has conducted thousands of interviews in a wide variety of subject areas ranging from law and jurisprudence to food and wine. ROHO features especially strong collections on the development of the arts and letters, science and technology, and labor, social, political, and community history in California. ROHO has also conducted numerous interviews on the history of the University of California. ROHO's interviews with scientists include Nobel Prize
winners such as Arthur Kornberg
, Paul Berg
, Donald A. Glaser
, and Charles Townes. Other notable interviews with scientists include Herbert Boyer
and Stanley N. Cohen. ROHO has also conducted significant oral histories with well known artists and authors, such as Dorothea Lange
, Ansel Adams
, and Carl Rakosi
.
ROHO houses valuable collections of oral histories related to women's suffrage
and the home front
during World War II.
The interviews conducted by ROHO are deposited in over 700 manuscript libraries worldwide. Many of the interviews are accessible online. The Bancroft Library
also houses the original tapes for all of the interviews conducted by ROHO. Once completed, the oral histories are referenced by both scholars and students around the world.
ROHO's first director was Corinne Gilb, who led the program from 1954 to 1958. Between 1958 and 2000, Willa Baum
directed ROHO. Under her tenure as director, ROHO amassed over 1,600 oral histories on a wide variety of subjects. The current director of ROHO is Richard Cándida Smith, who is also a professor in the Department of History at the University of California, Berkeley.
Oral history
Oral history is the collection and study of historical information about individuals, families, important events, or everyday life using audiotapes, videotapes, or transcriptions of planned interviews...
interviews on a wide range of topics related to the history of California and the United States. ROHO staff also conduct research on a wide range of historical topics, utilizing oral history as a central primary source to their scholarship.
ROHO's original name was the Regional Cultural History Office. It was the second oral history office founded in the country, following only Columbia University. The first interview conducted at the office, before it was officially recognized as a unit on campus, was with Alice B. Toklas
Alice B. Toklas
Alice B. Toklas was an American-born member of the Parisian avant-garde of the early 20th century.-Early life, relationship with Gertrude Stein:...
the long-time partner of Gertrude Stein
Gertrude Stein
Gertrude Stein was an American writer, poet and art collector who spent most of her life in France.-Early life:...
.
Since its founding in 1954, ROHO has conducted thousands of interviews in a wide variety of subject areas ranging from law and jurisprudence to food and wine. ROHO features especially strong collections on the development of the arts and letters, science and technology, and labor, social, political, and community history in California. ROHO has also conducted numerous interviews on the history of the University of California. ROHO's interviews with scientists include Nobel Prize
Nobel Prize
The Nobel Prizes are annual international awards bestowed by Scandinavian committees in recognition of cultural and scientific advances. The will of the Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, established the prizes in 1895...
winners such as Arthur Kornberg
Arthur Kornberg
Arthur Kornberg was an American biochemist who won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1959 for his discovery of "the mechanisms in the biological synthesis of deoxyribonucleic acid " together with Dr. Severo Ochoa of New York University...
, Paul Berg
Paul Berg
Paul Berg is an American biochemist and professor emeritus at Stanford University. He was the recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1980, along with Walter Gilbert and Frederick Sanger. The award recognized their contributions to basic research involving nucleic acids...
, Donald A. Glaser
Donald A. Glaser
Donald Arthur Glaser , is an American physicist, neurobiologist, and Nobel Prize in Physics laureate for his invention of the Bubble chamber used in subatomic particle physics....
, and Charles Townes. Other notable interviews with scientists include Herbert Boyer
Herbert Boyer
Herbert W. Boyer is a recipient of the 1990 National Medal of Science, co-recipient of the 1996 Lemelson-MIT Prize, and a co-founder of Genentech. He served as Vice President of Genentech from 1976 through his retirement in 1991....
and Stanley N. Cohen. ROHO has also conducted significant oral histories with well known artists and authors, such as Dorothea Lange
Dorothea Lange
Dorothea Lange was an influential American documentary photographer and photojournalist, best known for her Depression-era work for the Farm Security Administration...
, Ansel Adams
Ansel Adams
Ansel Easton Adams was an American photographer and environmentalist, best known for his black-and-white photographs of the American West, especially in Yosemite National Park....
, and Carl Rakosi
Carl Rakosi
Carl Rakosi was the last surviving member of the original group of poets who were given the rubric Objectivist. He was still publishing and performing his poetry well into his 90s.-Early life:...
.
ROHO houses valuable collections of oral histories related to women's suffrage
Women's suffrage
Women's suffrage or woman suffrage is the right of women to vote and to run for office. The expression is also used for the economic and political reform movement aimed at extending these rights to women and without any restrictions or qualifications such as property ownership, payment of tax, or...
and the home front
Home front
Home front is the informal term commonly used to describe the civilian populace of the nation at war as an active support system of their military....
during World War II.
The interviews conducted by ROHO are deposited in over 700 manuscript libraries worldwide. Many of the interviews are accessible online. The Bancroft Library
Bancroft Library
The Bancroft Library is the primary special collections library of the University of California, Berkeley. It was acquired as a gift/purchase from its founder, Hubert Howe Bancroft, with the proviso that it retain the name Bancroft Library in perpetuity...
also houses the original tapes for all of the interviews conducted by ROHO. Once completed, the oral histories are referenced by both scholars and students around the world.
ROHO's first director was Corinne Gilb, who led the program from 1954 to 1958. Between 1958 and 2000, Willa Baum
Willa Baum
Willa Klug Baum was an oral historian whose pioneering work in oral history methodology and interview techniques served as the foundation for the establishment of oral history as a discipline....
directed ROHO. Under her tenure as director, ROHO amassed over 1,600 oral histories on a wide variety of subjects. The current director of ROHO is Richard Cándida Smith, who is also a professor in the Department of History at the University of California, Berkeley.