Oral History - guide to resources: London

Between 2004 and 2006, the Refugee Communities History Project conducted 160 in-depth life story interviews with individuals who came to London as refugees. The complete project archive is accessible to readers by appointment at the Museum of London. Extracts from the interviews have been arranged by theme and are available online.

Topics: People

Keywords: migration; refugees

This research project was established by the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies in 2000 to record the experience of Hindus who migrated to Britain. The oral history interviews focussed on both the interviewee’s personal history and on his or her religious practices and beliefs. Interviews were conducted with members of Hindu communities from across Britain. The recordings and transcripts of 46 interviews are available online. The complete archive of over 300 interviews is accessible at the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies, Oxford.

Topics: People

Keywords: community; migration; race; religion

Epping Forest District Museum conducted a series of oral history interviews about everyday life and work in the district. The collection also includes memories of historic events, such as the Second World War. Four audio clips on the themes of farming, housing, industry and transport are available online. The entire collection is accessible by appointment at the Museum.

Topics: People; Work

Keywords: agriculture; childhood; housing; industry; WWII

This project set out to consider the differences between Chinese and British festivals. Three different groups of people were interviewed, including those who moved to the UK a long time ago, mixed marriage Chinese who share and celebrate both East and West festivals, and finally Chinese or half-Chinese individuals born or brought up in the UK. 11 audio recordings are available online, in both a short and full version, along with complete interview transcripts.

Topics: Arts & Culture; People

Keywords: community; festivals; migration

TUC History Online has provided online access to four audio clips from an interview with an East End striker during the 1926 General Strike. More audio clips are due to be added to the website over the coming year.

Topics: Politics & Government; Work

Keywords: union

This website provides links to a number of community oral history projects recording life in the East End of London. Several of these have online access to audio files or transcripts of interviews conducted in the course of the projects.

Topics: People; Politics & Government; War & Conflict; Work

Keywords: community

The History of Parliament's Oral History project aims to create a record of people involved in post-Second World War British politics at both the national and constituency level. The project began in November 2011 and is ongoing. The recordings are currently only available to listen to onsite at the British Library, St Pancras. Detailed summary descriptions of deposited interviews are accessible online from the British Library Sound & Moving Image Catalogue. To access the relevant records enter the search term 'The History of Parliament Oral History Project’.

Topics: Politics & Government

Keywords: government; politics

This project sought to produce a lasting record of the historic jobbing system, which first developed during the nineteenth-century and came to an end with the ‘Big Bang’ of October 1986. Firms of jobbers left few, if any, records of their affairs. The Centre for Metropolitan History has thus compiled an archive of 32 interviews with former jobbers, and a smaller number with brokers and financial journalists so as to provide a different perspective on the jobbing system. Summaries of all 42 interviews, and full transcripts and audio recordings for 32 interviews are available online. The ten interviews not available online may be consulted, by arrangement, at the Centre for Metropolitan History.

Topics: Work

Keywords: business history; finance

Between 2004 and 2008, King’s Cross Voices captured the memories and experiences of a large variety of men and women who lived, worked and studied in King’s Cross before its physical landscape and communities became transformed by the redevelopment of the area. Oral history interviews were collected with those who worked in the railway industry, as well as with students, teachers, shopkeepers, market traders, police officers, artists, office workers, campaigners, squatters, politicians, prostitutes, factory workers, builders and many more. Written extracts from nine of the interviews are available to read online, as is an audio sound trail of Argyle Square in the King’s Cross area, which includes audio extracts from the original interviews. The recordings and transcripts are archived at Camden Local Studies and Archives Centre and are available to access in full on public computers in all Camden Libraries.

Topics: People; Work

Keywords: community

In 2012 a series of oral history interviews were conducted with staff members who worked for the Science Museum Group during the period 1973-2000. This was a period of important institutional change for the Museum, encompassing the tenures of two very different Directors: Dame Margaret Weston (1973-1986) and Sir Neil Cossons (1986-2000). Video extracts of these interviews are available online.

Topics: Arts & Culture; Science & Medicine

Keywords: museum

This project, produced by Rowan Arts and funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund and Islington Council, used oral history to explore the social and cultural importance of Ironmonger Row Baths and its surrounding area in south Islington. The project website, produced in 2012, provides online access to 65 short audio and transcribed extracts from the interviews.

Topics: Arts & Culture; People

Keywords: community; leisure; sport

This was part of a broader project to create a digital archive of experiences, memories and reflections about one of London’s most famous streets, the Strand. For the oral history strand of this project students and staff in the English Department at King’s College London conducted interviews with Strand workers and residents. They then turned these interviews into life writing. Some examples of their efforts, which include audio recordings from the interviews, are available on the Strandlines digital community website.

Topics: Education; People; Work

Keywords: community

This one-year project conducted in 2012 worked closely with the Tamil Community Centre in Hounslow to record the memories of Sri Lankan Tamils living in London, particularly those with links to West London and the Hounslow area. 15 life story interviews, along with 30 shorter interviews were collected as part of the project. Edited videos of 13 of the interviews are available to view online and transcribed extracts from all the interviews can be read online or in a downloadable book created as part of the project. The interview extracts are arranged under seven key themes: Early Life in Sri Lanka, Layers of Belonging, Politics & the Nation-State, Troubles, Leaving & Arrival, Transitions, and Home.

Topics: People

Keywords: community; migration