The Center for Oral History (COH) in the Department of Ethnic Studies was first established in 1976 by the Hawaiʻi State Legislature as the Ethnic Studies Oral History Project, before it was renamed the Center for Oral History and moved to the Social Science Research Institute in the College of Social Sciences at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. In 2018, the Center relaunched in its home department of Ethnic Studies.
We collect, document, preserve, and highlight the recollections of Native Hawaiians and the multi-ethnic people of Hawaiʻi. We produce oral histories and interpretive historical materials about lifeways, key historic events, social movements, and Hawaiʻi’s role in the globalizing world, for the widest possible use. We develop books, articles, podcasts, and videos based on oral histories, serve as a resource center for oral history materials, and train groups and individuals in oral history research.