Stored on shelves in small offices are the voices of history-voices of Mexican-Americans who describe what it was like to be illegally deported in the 1930s. Stories from those who spent time in Japanese internment camps. Tales of what it was like living in Orange County decades ago. There are even tapes focusing on a former president-Richard Nixon-and his life before he entered politics. Here also are numerous family stories, the histories of many Orange County cities and the chronicles of industries, such as the once booming orange packing industry.
Cal State Fullerton's Center for Oral and Public History has recorded more than 3,000 interviews, with the famous and the ordinary, since its founding in 1968 by Gary Shumway, professor of history emeritus. In fact, the Fullerton's program is California's fourth university-based oral history program. Today, the center is in the process of converting audiotapes to CDs while still maintaining an active oral history program.
"We started with our history students," said Lawrence de Graaf, professor of history emeritus. "We had them interview people and share their stories. We wanted the students to conduct primary research and better understand how historians conduct primary research. Dr. Shumway was the first one to organize a whole class to do interviews."
De Graaf used many of the techniques employed by oral historians when he was researching his Ph.D. thesis at UCLA.
"My dissertation was on why African-Americans were migrating to Los Angeles. In the late '50s, there wasn't much research on the topic," he said. "So I took to visiting different sections of Los Angeles and interviewing members of the community. In fact, I was conducting oral histories at that time, but there wasn't a name for it."
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