Collections : [Oral History Archives at Columbia]

Oral History Archives at Columbia

Oral History Archives at Columbia

6th Floor East Butler Library
535 West 114th Street
New York, NY 10027, USA
oralhist@library.columbia.edu
Established in 1948, the OHAC collections specialize in oral histories covering the arts, philanthropy, business, radio, publishing, filmmaking, medicine, science, public health, law, military, and architecture. We have interviews with individuals, as well as large-scale organizational interviews.
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Oral History Archives at Columbia

Phoenix House Foundation oral history collection, 2014-2015

183 Gigabytes
Phoenix House was founded in 1967 as a therapeutic community to treat addiction in an 85th Street apartment in New York City. In the following decades, Phoenix House expanded to locations throughout New York City and ten states. At the time of the interviews, Phoenix House was serving over 5,000 individuals and remained committed to supporting individuals and families by providing a wide range of services including prevention, early intervention, treatment, continuing care, and recovery support. The Phoenix House Oral History Collection documents three periods of Phoenix House's work: origins, growth, and established leadership. In the first period, spanning from 1967 to the 1970s, narrators detail the founding of a therapeutic community, the dynamics of this community, and the influences of other self-help drug treatment organizations such as Synanon on the program. In the growth period, narrators speak of opening up new facilities, and designing and launching new programs. Topics covered include the political and funding challenges of expanding Phoenix House's reach, increases in medical and mental health staff, and partnering with state departments of corrections to provide the Phoenix House program as an alternative to incarceration. In the final period, narrators describe changes in the therapeutic community model, further expansion of programs across the United States, acquisitions of competitors, new funding challenges, and transitions in leadership.
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Peter G. Peterson and Joan Ganz Cooney, 2014 November 19 Box 3

1968 and has created children's programming, including Sesame Street , The Electric Company , 3-2-1

Peterson and Ganz Cooney discuss their philanthropic life histories, which include fiscal policy reform, and youth education and digital learning, respectively. They then discuss their friendship with Mitchell Rosenthal. They speak to their role in supporting Phoenix House through fundraising efforts via their own donations, connecting the organization to a number of influential donors, and encouraging innovative fundraising strategies that catapulted Phoenix House into the world of the New York elite.

  1. Interviews
Oral History Archives at Columbia

Cuban Voices oral history collection, 2004-2010

6740 pages

The Cuban Voices oral history collection is comprised of interviews conducted for the project of the same name. The project resulted in the publication of Elizabeth Dore's book How Things Fall Apart. The interviews are intended to engage in conversations with Cubans who lived through the transition to communist rule after the Cuban Revolution and experienced events of the following decades. The goal of the project, led by Dore, was not to interview people who have established themselves as public or political figures after the Revolution, but rather to generate a dialogue with ordinary citizens whose narratives do not appear in conventional narratives. Most of the interviewees, then, are not prominent personalities. They are professionals, campesinxs, teachers, sex workers, state employees, cooks, messengers, and people working illegally, among others.

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Oral history interview with Ofelia, 2008 Box 6

also recalls the Mariel Exodus, the rafters, and the electricity problems during the Special Period

Ofelia begins the first session by recounting the moment when she was abandoned by her mother with her sister. She then recalls the violence that her father exercised over her. Ofelia discusses her first jobs. Ofelia discusses her relationship with her daughter's father, who was imprisoned for selling drugs and then exiled to the United States. Ofelia discusses her work as a jinetera (sex worker). She also recalls the Mariel Exodus, the rafters, and the electricity problems during the Special Period. Ofelia reflects on the repression of social protest and the persecution of prostitutes. She discusses Santeria. Ofelia discusses insecurity, the lack of economic stability, the Battle of Ideas, and the alliance Cuba established with Venezuela. Ofelia links racism to classism. She also reflects on the sale of clandestine products, the lack of food, and censorship. Ofelia expresses her desire to go into exile. Throughout the interview, Ofelia expresses her criticism of Fidel Castro's government. Finally, she discusses the lack of teachers.

  1. Cuban Voices oral history collection

Oral history interview with María, 2005 Box 6

health on the island, the blackouts of the electrical system, the use of drinking water, and the role of

María begins the first session by remembering her work in the fields when she was little and her beginnings as a seamstress. Later, she discusses her ex-husband and children leaving for Miami. She comments on the ways they found to stay in touch with her. María remembers her visits to Miami. She recalls the arrival of the Cuban Revolution and the changes it brought to her life. María discusses religion and racism in Campo Florido. Maria comments on her joining the Odd Fellows Lodge. Later, she discusses the relationship between transportation deficiency and tourism. She also discusses the unionization process that took place in Campo Florido after the Revolution.

  1. Cuban Voices oral history collection

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