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Oral History Program

About the program

The UW Archives Oral History Program collection currently encompasses nearly 2,500 interviews touching on all aspects of the University’s history. Almost 200 of these interviews were conducted as part of the LGBTQ+ Oral History Project or contain significant LGBTQ+ themes and discussions. This ongoing collection documents the stories and memories of politicians, professors, students, and activists. As a whole, these oral histories help tell part of the LGBTQ+ communities history in their own words. In 2007, the Oral History Program was taken over by Distinguished Oral Historian, Troy Reeves, and gathering oral histories for the Madison LGBTQ+ Archive began.

Interviews

The online inventory provides an up-to-date account of all the oral histories included in the Madison LGBTQ+ Archive. The “URL” column in the inventory provides the pathway for patrons to access specific interviews online. This inventory was initially compiled by Samantha Garlock and finalized by Sophia Halverson and Troy Reeves with 2023 updates entered by David Advent. Funded, in part, by the New Harvest Foundation, Inc., the Archives’ Women Inspire endowment, and the Richard R. Wagner LGBTQ+ Pride endowment.

More information about the Oral History Program’s collections at large and ways to browse can be found here.

If you are having trouble locating an oral history interview or require additional information, contact us. Information about using the collection and practicing oral history can be found on the Oral History Program page.

Featured oral history projects

David Carter collection

University Archives is currently working to process and make available oral histories included in the David Carter collection. This collection contains almost 50 oral history interviews related to Carter’s book, Stonewall: The Riots That Sparked the Gay Revolution, including first-hand accounts of people involved in the Stonewall LGBTQ+ movement. Also held within this collection are the 25+ interviews Carter conducted with LGBTQ+ civil rights pioneer, Frank Kameny, as part of his biographical research on the gay activist. Ultimately, all the digitized oral history interviews will be incorporated into the broader David Carter collection (includes papers, research notes, photographs, posters, etc.) and will be discoverable through an online finding aid, library catalog record, and oral history project page [all forthcoming]. This project was made possible, in part, by funding from the Friends of the UW-Madison Libraries FY2024 and FY2025 grants.

“In People’s Faces for Lesbian and Gay Rights”: Stories of Activism in Madison, Wisconsin, 1970 to 1990 

This article, published in The Oral History review’s LGBT special issue and traces the role of local Madison organizers in the wider struggle for equality. Using Oral History Program interviews from the local LGBTQ+ communities, the article chronicles activism and political organizing that led to the early election of out officials, the nation’s first statewide gay rights law, and campus protests over the ban on homosexuals serving in the military. 

UW-Madison’s Campus Voices podcast episode

Created through a collaboration with UW-Madison alumni Molly Khan and Kristen Schumacher, this podcast episode contains clips selected from over 25 interviews included in the UW Oral History Program’s series on the Madison LGBTQ+ communities. Alongside these clips, historical consultant, Scott Seyforth, provides narration. The transcript is available here. This project was funded in part by a grant from the New Harvest Foundation, Inc.