Oral history students, practitioners, and interested parties often get in touch with the Oral History Archives at Columbia to ask, “Does Columbia fund oral history projects?”

The short answer is that no, we no longer fund oral history projects designed and executed by parties external to Columbia University Libraries.

In fact, after several large-scale digitization grants and time during the pandemic-lockdown to focus on making newly reformatted materials available and reducing a decades-long backlog, OHAC’s focus is on reference work, continuing to surface legacy acquisitions and exploring opportunities for showcasing our collections, rather than creating or producing new materials.

So, how does my project get funding?

The Oral History Association offers helpful advice and resources, such as this week’s panel, “Who Funds Oral History?” The program will feature program officers from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Mellon Foundation, and the Institute for Museum and Library Services with advice on grant opportunities and application advice.

Update: here’s the session recording with lots of solid, detailed information about types of grants, making sure your project fits the program, getting advice, and notes for those working independently of institutions.