The Oral History Archive at Columbia announces the Barack Obama Presidency oral history collection, 2020-2023 archive is officially open to the public in the Rare Book & Manuscript Library reading rooms and online.
Produced by Columbia University’s Incite Institute in collaboration with the Obama Foundation, this groundbreaking digital collection offers an unprecedented look at a transformative period in American history.
A Multi-Dimensional View of History
Unlike traditional presidential oral histories that focus almost exclusively on top-level administration officials, this project intentionally centers a diverse array of voices. Between 2019 and 2023, the Incite Institute conducted over 450 interviews, totaling more than 1,100 hours of audio and video.
The archive features more than 10,000 individual stories from a wide spectrum of perspectives, including:
Administration Insiders: Senior advisors like David Axelrod and Valerie Jarrett, and cabinet members like Hillary Clinton and Timothy Geithner.
Everyday Americans: Approximately 100 individuals whose lives were directly touched by administration policies, such as refugees, student exchange participants, and letter-writers.
Activists and Cultural Icons: Figures ranging from Black Lives Matter co-founder Alicia Garza and whistleblower Chelsea Manning to culture producer Oprah Winfrey and painter Amy Sherald.
Political Leaders: Perspectives from mainstream, dominant political parties, such as Republican Speaker Paul Ryan and Democratic Senate Leader Harry Reid.
Exploring the Collection
The archive provides a unique “real-time” reflection on major events, as many interviews were recorded during the global COVID-19 pandemic and the social unrest following the murder of George Floyd. This allowed participants to draw direct parallels between the Obama years and the turbulent present, offering retrospective insights into policy decisions like the Affordable Care Act and international relations.
For researchers, students, and the general public, the collection is now accessible through several key entry points:
Columbia’s online catalog CLIO: Search the collection via Columbia University’s library catalog for both oral history records and specific format-filtered results.
The Collection’s finding aid: A detailed guide to the collection’s structure, providing a comprehensive overview for scholarly research and archival navigation.
Columbia’s Digital Library Collection: The Libraries’ digital home for the archive, featuring a rich, searchable interface designed to make these 10,000+ stories accessible to all. The Libraries’ portal includes interview video, audio, and downloadable transcripts.
Incite Institute’s Obama Presidency Project website: Incite’s full-featured site includes full interview videos, indexing, and transcripts that are fully, publicly accessible online.
This archive serves as a permanent record of the “Obama Moment,” making available to researchers the hopes, challenges, and lived experiences that shaped American public life. We invite you to dive in and discover the many voices that defined the era.