Locating ROHO Oral History DVDs
Nearly all the Rosie the Riveter and Oakland Army Base Collection interviews are available on DVD. These DVDs are recordings of original, unedited interviews, and include all of the pauses, "umms," and "errs" of normal conversation. However, the videos can be important primary sources, since they reveal the speaker's mood and tone of voice better than a transcript can.
These DVDs are available to be viewed in the Bancroft Library, but they cannot be checked out. The Bancroft Library's DVD viewing facilites are very limited (they have one viewing machine); you may want to bring your own laptop and headphones so you don't have to wait. Before you go to the Bancroft, please read the "Bancroft Library - Overview" section of this guide, and make sure you know the specific interview you want to view, and its call number.
You can find the call number for the video you want to view by using OskiCat. First, choose the particular interview you want to view by finding a transcript you're interested in, using the links in "Locating ROHO Oral History Transcripts." Then, search OskiCat by the title of the transcript or the interviewee's name, limiting your search to "Bancroft Library." The DVD will have a number starting with "Motion Picture," like this:
Motion Picture 1130E no. 105
Give this number to the circulation desk staff, who will retrieve the video for you.
Locating ROHO Oral History Transcripts
The oral history collections that you will need to use in History 7B are the Rosie the Riveter/WWII American Home Front Project (focusing on experiences of men and women working in wartime industries in the Bay Area durin
g World War II) and the Oakland Army Base Project (focusing on the experiences of people who worked for or were affected by the Oakland Army Base during its entire period of operation, 1941-1998). The interview transcripts are available online as PDFs through the ROHO website, and as Kindle and other e-reader files through the Internet Archive.
Rosie the Riveter transcripts from the ROHO website
This is the easiest place to start; you can see a photograph and a short biography of each interviewee, then click to download a PDF of their interview.
Oakland Army Base transcripts from the ROHO website
Click on "Interview Transcripts" on the left side of the page.
Rosie the Riveter and Oakland Army Base transcripts from the Internet Archive
This site is not as easy to browse or search, but the advantage of this site is that you can download Kindle or other e-reader versions of the transcripts, not just PDFs.
Historical Newspapers (ProQuest)
Want to find articles from major newspapers from the World War II time period? You can do this through an easy-to-use online database: ProQuest Historical Newspapers. Search for keywords (like Richmond or women war workers) and limit your search by time period.
Trying to use Historical Newspapers from off-campus? Be sure to set up off-campus access. Use of this resource is restricted to UC Berkeley students, faculty, and staff.