Listen: Oral History Archive
The Public Archive aims to share and activate stories from the people who call public housing home, becoming a source of power, knowledge, and strength in the struggles for housing justice.
Arundhati Roy, 2004There’s really no such thing as the ‘voiceless’. There are only the deliberately silenced, or the preferably unheard.
Listen to Our Stories
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Interview E. Dantés Hamilton
Listen to Mr. Danté, a member of NPHM’s E-Hub, reflect on his time at Garden Valley Estates Public Housing in Cleveland, OH.
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Interview Janetta Pegues
Listen to Janetta reflect on her time in “The Village,” aka ABLA Homes.
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Interview Dr. Timuel Black
Listen to Dr. Timuel Black reflect on his life, from his birth in Birmingham, AL, to growing up in Chicago and his career as an oral historian.
Activating the Archive
Policy x Culture with Roosevelt University
In 2020–2021, NPHM staff collaborated with faculty at Roosevelt University’s Policy Research Collaborative (PRC) to develop a class called “Creative Public Policy Interventions.”
In this class, undergraduate and graduate students learned about collaborative research and creative scholarship methodologies. Semester-long projects included collaborating with the Museum to develop zine resources that bridge arts, culture, and creative public policy-making.
Vol. IV: Public Housing Displacement
Vol. I: Land Sale Contracts
Vol. II: Public Housing Disinvestment
Vol. III: Public Housing Deterioration
Oral History Archive Resources
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Trauma Informed Resources & Aftercare
Oral histories can venture into painful areas of one’s life story—especially for narrators who hold marginalized identities. Check out these resources for conducting interviews from a trauma-informed lens, plus aftercare resources for narrators and oral historians.
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Beauty Turner Academy Workbook
Interested in learning oral history on your own? Check out our Beauty Turner Academy (BTA) Workbook, developed and printed after our first full cohort (2023).
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Policies, Best Practices, & Beyond
Learn about the Policies and Best Practices that govern our Oral History Archive. These continue to to be developed with the brilliant support of several archival advisors who specialize in decolonizing and liberation-centered archives.
Meet the Crew
The NPHM Oral History Collective is a dedicated group of community members who have been rigorously trained in the practices and philosophies of oral history.
In line with the disability justice tenet of “Nothing about us without us,” the Collective is primarily made up of people with lived experience in publicly-funded housing, or other meaningful connections to publicly-funded housing. Most become a part of the Collective through the Beauty Turner Academy of Oral History training series.
The Oral History Programs are generously supported by the Gaylord & Dorothy Donnelley Foundation and the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Contact Us
Please email NPHM Oral History Programs Manager, Liú Chen, with any questions, concerns, or if you’re interested in getting involved.
