Oral History allows us to learn accounts of past events from the perspectives of individuals who lived through them.

The UCRDC Oral History collection preserves and makes available to scholars and researchers testimonies of those who survived the Holodomor of 1932/33, events of WWII or participated in Ukrainian Canadian life.

Presently the Oral History collection includes over 2,200 hours of interviews recorded over a period of 30 years in Ukrainian and English languages, in audio and video format. This is one of the largest North American Ukrainian oral history collections and constitutes a major treasure of the UCRDC archival resource.

We have developed a digital preservation system to preserve testimonies in perpetuaity for the benefit of future generations. Currently, our Oral History collection is 80% digitized and is described in two catalogues: the audio and the video catalogue. Excerpts from some of the testimonies can be viewed online, but complete interviews are available only inhouse.

A complete searchable electronic catalogue and a printed paper catalogue of all audio and video oral history interviews are available at UCRDC.