Multicultural Voices of Oregon

Within the "Multicultural Voices of Oregon" website, the following collections are represented: the general OMA oral history collection (OH 18) interviews include, but are not limited to: an interview with a family who lived at Colegio César Chávez during the late 1970s/early 1980s; individual interviews with Rev. Alcena Boozer and Carl Deiz, two long time African American Portland residents; a three-part interview with Dr. Jean Moule, OSU College of Education Emeritus Professor; a student panel featuring the stories of first generation college students; and interviews with some of OSU’s first black men’s basketball and football team players. The Oregon State University Cultural Centers Oral History Collection (OH 21) documents the work-related as well as personal experience of staff members from various cultural centers. The Asian Family Center Oral History Collection (OH 30) includes the professional as well as personal stories of staff members of the Immigrant & Refugee Community Organization Asian Family Center in Portland, Oregon. And lastly, the OSQA oral history collection (OH 34), created in 2015, includes the voices of staff of OSU’s Pride Center and the organization SOL, as well as interviews featuring LGBTQ+ 1990s and 2000s Benton County area activists and community members.

Asian Family Center

The Asian Family Center Oral History Collection consists of interviews conducted with board and staff members of the Asian Family Center (AFC), one of the Immigrant and Refugee Community Organization's five primary locations in Portland, Oregon. The Asian Family Center exists to serve the needs of the Portland area's growing Asian and Pacific Islander communities. Documented within the collection are descriptions of the interviewees' job duties and responsibilities; their thoughts on the value and future of the center; AFC history, programs, and services; and the interviewees' personal stories regarding their immigration to the United States.

Asian Family Center
IRCO Asian Family Center Records

Oregon State University Cultural Centers

The Oregon State University Cultural Centers Oral History Collection consists of interviews conducted with undergraduate and graduate student staff members of three OSU cultural centers - the Native American Longhouse, the Asian & Pacific Cultural Center and the Women's Center - as well as an administrator who oversees all of the university's cultural centers. Documented within the collection are interviewees' thoughts on working in the centers, the purpose and future direction of the organizations, and negotiating life as a student of color at OSU.

• Access the collection finding aid here.
• Access the Cultural Centers website here.

Milagro (Miracle Theatre Group)

The Milagro (Miracle Theatre Group) Oral History Collection consists of interviews conducted with theatre members past and present who have worked with Milagro in different capacities. Milagro provides a theater experience which emphasizes Latino theatre, culture, and arts education. Documented within the collection are interviews from members of Milagro, their experiences, how the company has changed them, and what they feel is the "miracle" of Milagro.

Set decorations from a Miracle Theatre Group production.
Milagro Theatre

Indian-Americans in Corvallis, Oregon Oral History Collection, 2016: The Indian-Americans in Corvallis, Oregon Oral History Collection is a set of six interviews featuring ten members of the Indian-American community in Corvallis.

The audio visual files of the Erlinda Gonzales-Berry Papers consist primarily of oral histories conducted for Gonzales-Berry's book Mexicanos in Oregon: Their Stories, Their Lives, published in 2010.

The set of interviews features over two dozen interviewees – bios and summaries are included in the finding aid.

Latinos en Oregón Oral History Collection, 2015-2016

The Latino communities across Oregon have a rich and diverse history and have contributed greatly to the state's identity. The Latinos en Oregón project is dedicated to collecting and preserving the life stories of different Latino communities throughout Oregon.

The Latinos en Oregón Oral History Collection contains interviews with Latinx community members from Jefferson, Hood River, Clackamas, and Yamhill Counties.

Members of Yamhill County's Latinx community:

Oregon African American Railroad Porters

This collection is made up of twenty-nine reel-to-reel sound recordings containing interviews between film maker Michael Grice and African-American railroad porters employed in the Portland area. These recordings form much of the background research used for Grice's 1985 film, "Black Families and the Railroad in Oregon and the Northwest." A VHS copy of the film is included in the collection. The collection's website includes digital versions of the interviews along with interview transcriptions. Access the collection finding aid here.

Undated image of railroad porters in Portland, Oregon.
Oregon Historical Society/Oregon Black Pioneers

Japanese-American Association of Lane County, Oregon

The Japanese-American Association of Lane County, Oregon, Oral History Collection consists of digital recordings of oral history interviews of Japanese Americans living in Eugene, Lane County, Oregon, and the vicinity. These oral histories document the immigrant experiences of the interviewees' parents and grandparents; the World War II experiences of the interviewees in internment camps; and their lives in Eugene and neighboring communities in the years following the war.

A Japanese family with their luggage, preparing to board an evacuation train. Hood River, Oregon, 1942.
Extension Bulletin Illustrations Photograph Collection

Oregon Native American Language Sound Recordings

The Oregon Native American Language Sound Recordings were made by Joe E. Pierce during his study of Native American languages in Oregon and include interviews with members of the Coquille and Siletz tribes.

Young Native American woman sitting on a fence rail, Pendleton, Oregon. Undated.
Ralph I. Gifford Photograph Collection