Columbia University’s Incite Institute recently publicized the full Obama Presidency Oral History archive, a digital collection allowing students, researchers, journalists, and others to revisit and understand the historical significance of the country’s first Black president and his time in office.
“This archive,” said Peter Bearman, principal investigator for the project and director of Incite, “reminds us how the government can work to enrich the varied communities that make up our enormously complex world.”
Produced by the Incite Institute and designed by the digital agency Huncwot, the archive contains the official oral histories of the Obama Presidency. Between 2019 and 2023, Incite conducted more than 450 interviews with officials, activists, artists, organizers, and everyday people from all walks of life, culminating in 1,100 hours of audio and video that provide insights into the Obama years. While other presidential oral histories usually only record memories from top administration officials, the new archive at Columbia also includes the experiences of Americans and non-Americans, as well as Obama’s supporters and opponents. Additionally, the archive features interviews with scholars at the University of Hawai’i on Obama’s early life in Hawaii, as well as scholars at the University of Chicago regarding his and First Lady Michelle Obama’s years in Chicago.
“Even in the realm of foreign policy, a domain typically considered to be the purview of elites, our oral history interviews show the dynamic, often unexpected connections between Obama administration initiatives and the experiences of more ordinary people across the world,” said Evan McCormick, Incite’s research director. “It points to a way for historians and the public to more fully understand the hopes, expectations, and realities that accompanied Obama’s presidency, not just in the United States but globally.”
