We hold a large number of oral history and sound recordings in our heritage and regional research collections.
The subject and life history interviews draw on people's lived experiences and memories and are often rich in personal and social history.
There is a wide range of life history interviews with individuals who have contributed to creating the story that is
Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland. Interviews are at times multilingual and include everything from descriptions of
wāhi and landscapes, culture, sports and games, to private and domestic life, migration experiences,
ahumahi and much more.
Our collection houses people's recollections dating back to the turn of the 20th century and cover every decade through to the present day.
Recordings have been donated in different formats and include reel to reel, analogue tapes, VHS, compact discs, microcassettes and born digital files.
We are currently undertaking a programme of work to shift analogue collections to digital, and to bring all collections together onto a single online searchable platform.
Oral history holdings can be discovered through Local History. Some of these records are now in the
Oral History collection in Kura Heritage Collections Online.
Other oral history records are Community Archives or available to access with a specialist librarian at the
Heritage Collections Reading Room at Central City Library. You can request research assistance from the Curator Oral History and Sound by filling out the
Research enquiry form.
Want to make a donation?
Do you have existing recordings of family, events or interviews that might be of value to our collection? We are happy to assess and discuss the possible donation of material into our Auckland Council Libraries heritage and research collections or advise on an appropriate archive for your collection.
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