The Civil Rights History Project: Survey of Collections and Repositories

University of Wisconsin--La Crosse. Murphy Library. Special Collections and Area Research Center

1631 Pine St.
La Crosse, Wisconsin 54601

Email: [email protected]

Fax: 608-785-8639

Phone: 608-785-8511

Repository URL: http://www.uwlax.edu/murphylibrary/departments/archome.html

Repository code: wlacu

Repository description (extant): Murphy Library-Special Collections, in cooperation with the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse History Department and the Oral History Program, stores and maintains over 3,000 hours of taped oral histories. This oral history collection originated in 1968 when Howard Fredricks of the UW-L History Department began a 13 year career as a oral historian. There is now an Oral History Program under the direction of an Oral History Board. Professor Chuck Lee, UW-L History, is the executive director.

The Oral History Program conducts oral history interviews and oversees projects that focus on the history of La Crosse and contiguous areas. It places special emphasis on the five counties served by the UW-La Crosse Area Research Center (Jackson, La Crosse, Monroe, Trempealeau, and Vernon counties). The current collection and interviewing program focuses on two major themes: community and the history of the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse. The collection is regionally and nationally significant in several areas including Hmong refugee experience; European ethnic groups; turn of the century small city manners and daily life; Midwestern rural life and culture; women's experience; and the UW-La Crosse.

The program's collection includes over 1,200 reels of taped interviews, many of them transcribed. The tapes and transcripts are housed in Special Collections in Murphy Library. Arrangement is alphabetical by name of interviewee.

Repository type: University Special Collection

Collections:

Oral history interview with Ernest McKinney
Oral history interview with Joseph Morse