Center for Oral & Public History, CSUF

It's here! Episode Eighteen of Outspoken: A COPH Podcast! In this episode, COPH director, Dr. Natalie Fousekis sits down with Dr. Benjamin Cawthra to discuss the challenges and new opportunities presented by COVID-19 in 2020. Dr. Fousekis talks about the necessity of putting certain projects on hold; developing new oral history projects focused on those affected by the pandemic, as well as those involved in activism surrounding the Blacks Live Matter protests; and finally, adapting to the process of remote interviewing. https://soundcloud.com//episode-18-doing-oral-history-in-2

The shelves have arrived! Soon COPH will be able to move into its new location on the 6th floor of Pollak Library at CSUF. We are looking forward to having more space to house our materials and to better serve our patrons!

On this day in 2017 Maria Sipin was interviewed by CSU Fullerton Department of History student, Patrick Guarte for our Women, Politics, and Activism oral history project. Sipin shared her involvement with grassroots activism, specifically with Multicultural Communities for Mobility (MCM), an organization dedicated to advocacy and education for safer bikeways, walkable communities and access to mass transit.

Discover more interviews and hear about personal experiences in the finding aid for our Gay Asian Pacific Community oral history collection. #lgbthistory http://coph.fullerton.edu/collections/OHP_84_FindingAid.pdf

Ending the work week with some more great presentations at the Oral History Association conference, and learning how the National Park Services utilizes oral histories to help tell more diverse and inclusive stories!

Another great session this afternoon at the Oral History Association conference "Rhetoric and Reality in Museums Today: Oral History as Source, Subject, and Strategy", including Elisabeth Rios-Brooks' presentation on the use of oral history to decolonize museums. https://issuu.com//using_oral_history_to_decolonize_museum

Great session on "Oral History for an Audience: Podcasts, Performance, and Documentaries" happening now at the Oral History Association annual conference, including Amy Jensen's beautiful use of shadow puppetry to accompany oral history audio interviews.

Happening now at the Oral History Association annual conference, COPH director Dr. Natalie Fousekis introduces clips from our Women, Politics, and Activism ora...l history project in the listening session "Do you hear sexism? Interrogating gender in politics." Listen to the full interviews online: http://fullerton.edu/wpaarchives/

Thanks to the Oral History Association for a great day of panels and presentations at this year's virtual OHA 2020! If you're attending the conference, be sure to tune in tomorrow morning at 8:30am (PST) to hear Dr. Natalie Fousekis' panel, "Do you hear sexism? Interrogating gender in politics." And check out our storefront in Second Life on your coffee break!

On this day in 2010, activist Kathy Masaoka was interviewed for our Grassroots Politics oral history project. She shared her family’s experiences during WWIIspecifically the attack on Pearl Harbor and Executive Order 9066and talked about her involvement in Nikkei for Civil Rights and Redress (NCRR) and how this organization built community awareness to fight for redress. Photo by Gann Matsuda, 2018

Even though today is the last day of #HispanicHeritageMonth our Latino History Collections are available year-round! These collections include oral histories of immigration, activism, and individual experience. View the finding aids on our website: http://coph.fullerton.edu/collections/latinohistory.php

In 1969 Carlos Ramos was interviewed for our Mexican American oral history project. Born in California but raised in Mexico, Ramos shared incidents of discrimination; talked about enlisting in the US Air Force after moving back to California and his service in the Korean and Vietnam Wars; and lastly, discussed the need for recognition of Mexican culture in American society. #HispanicHeritageMonth

Happy #IndigenousPeoplesDay! Today we celebrate the histories and culture of Native Americans, such as Navajo bead artisan, Shirley Kills-In-Sight. During her 1997 oral history interview, she talked about her beadwork and discussed the importance of passing traditions on to her children. Photo: Utah Division of Arts & Museums

folk dance is a dance which is part of the living culture of a people. Al Pill, in his 1974 interview talks about bringing Mexican culture into secondary ed classes; and discusses different types of dance forms within Mexico (like the Feather Dance, shown here) and costume development. #HispanicHeritageMonth