Oral Histories Have a New Look...Check Them Out!

Oral history interviews are most important in understanding a person or event. They're vital records, an insight into people and events.

Shortly after the Harry S. Truman Presidential Library opened, historians and staff there began a series of oral history interviews with people associated with President Truman, his family, his administration, and more. We are grateful that the Truman Library did this when they did, and captured those stories while those interview subjects were alive.

Shortly after Harry S Truman National Historic Site was created by Congress, the park, too, began conducting oral history interviews with members of the Truman family, friends and neighbors, visitors to the Truman Home, notable visitors, contractors who did work at the home, and more. 

These interviews were conducted by park and other NPS staff, and were typically recorded and eventually transcribed and condensed into a .pdf document on the website. Well, we now know that while valuable, .pdf files are difficult for individuals with visual impairments and others who use accessibility tools. And they're not easily translated for those who are not users of the English language.

So what we did this year was convert all of our existing oral history files on the website to live web content. It makes the interviews easier to read, especially on tablets and smartphones. And eventually we plan on adding audio files so that you can hear the individial too...their voices add so much!

So please take a look! And you can even play with your browser, and see that they can be translated pretty easily, allowing these to be used by visitors around the world! And as we transcribe more oral histories, we'll add them to the website. You can read them in alphabetical order, or you can read them by their association to the Trumans.

We hope you enjoy reading them as much as we enjoyed making them available!

Oral History Project - Harry S Truman National Historic Site (U.S. National Park Service) (nps.gov)