Robin Brabham, rare books librarian, archivist, and founding head of Special Collections and University Archives at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, discusses the development of the archive's oral history collections. [All times are approximate]. [00:00 -10:00] Mr. Brabham attributes the initial interest in collecting oral histories at the J. Murrey Atkins Library to the library director, Joe Boykin and history professor Dr. Ed Perzel in the early 1970s. He relates how the earliest interviews he recalls were focused around a refusal by faculty to agree to award North Carolina Governor Dan K. Moore an honorary degree. He also speculates that Jim Ramer, who was Atkins library director from about 1964, and who left the library to pursue a PhD at Columbia University, may also have had an interest in oral histories, and certainly in collecting manuscripts. Lack of funding, however, meant that no serious oral history program got underway until later in the library's history. [10:00-14:50] He talks about the involvement of local journalist and author, Legette Blythe, who had been conducting oral histories and donating them with his papers to UNC Chapel Hill. Mr. Blythe donated copies of some of these interviews to Special Collections in addition to conducting interviews for the archive as a consultant in the early 1970s. [14:50-17:18] Mr. Brabham describes how Dr. Ed Perzel got involved with oral histories as a social historian and was awarded a grant by local media company WSOC to conduct interviews with elderly Charlotteans. [17:18-24:48] He briefly talks about the involvement of English professor Dr. Boyd Davis who launched a large linguistics project using oral history as a platform for recording language. He notes his regrets that oral histories were not routinely recorded in conjunction with the acquisition of manuscript collections in the initial history of the department due to a lack of resources. [24:48-29:10] He describes how Special Collections compared with other similar departments in universities across the state in the early years. [29:10-40:30] He discusses the influence of librarian Pat Ryckman, who joined Special Collections in the late 1990s as a reference librarian after working in various library positions in the region. Ms. Ryckman's technical background enabled her to make significant progress with the oral history holdings in Special Collections. Mr. Brabham describes the collaboration between Ms. Ryckman and Dr. Boyd Davis, whose linguistics project was a catalyst for utilizing the relatively new Internet to publish oral histories for access purposes. Discusses how Ms. Ryckman developed the structure for the oral history program and how she worked with students to accomplish much of the processing work and attended oral history conferences.[40:30-46:30] Discusses connections with the community in regard to oral history including the Levine Museum of the New South, faculty members, and the Jewish Community Center among others. [46:30-58:32] Discussion of interviews conducted in-house. Reflections about the differences between collecting manuscript collections and oral history collections and opportunities to have oral history supporting manuscript collections. Discussion of the complexity of changing technology to preserve and document oral history [58:32-1:01:30] Discussion of Katie McCormick who took over responsibility for oral history and eventually became the head of Special Collections. [1:01:30-1:07:00] Discussion of a collaboration with UNC Charlotte Development to create a project honoring UNC Charlotte founder Bonnie Cone. Reflection on the significance of Bonnie Cone as a leader in education, and the lack of published literature documenting her life. [1:07:00-1:11:46] Discussion about Harry Golden and the documentation of his life.