The scholarly significance of oral history is in documenting people's memories and life experiences, which otherwise might never have been recorded as written documents. From an educational perspective, oral histories add richness and personal perspective to the historical record and can engage students and scholars in a lively study of history. The voices and reflections of some of the founders of George Mason University, the student and his future wife who built Mason's first campus telescope, the life history of Stalin's long-time physician, the reflections of the man whose vision created Reston, Virginia - all of them are to be found in SC&A's oral history collections.

The George Mason University Oral History Program records and preserves oral histories of members of the GMU community. We interview long-time faculty, staff, alumni and friends of Mason. The interviews capture unique personal perspectives on Mason's creation, development and growth.

The Oral History Program formally began in the fall of 1999 and is an ongoing endeavor. The program has gathered information on the growth and changes of the student body, the development of academic departments, Mason's separation from the University of Virginia, the extraordinary growth of the GMU campus, among other topics. The oral history program has interviewed faculty and staff from the departments of History, Philosophy, English, Psychology, Music, Theater, Physics, Computational Sciences, Biology and Mathematics, as well as staff from Fenwick Library. Most recently, the Oral History Program has collected interviews documenting the phenomenal year of the men's basketball team, including interviews with Jim Larranaga, Liz Larranaga, Alan Merten, Sally Merten, Tony Skinn, Lamar Butler, Will Thomas, Folarin Campbell, and others.

The Oral History program serves as an umbrella for the George Mason University Oral History Program, an active oral history program that conducts interviews with faculty, staff, alumni and friends of George Mason University. The Oral History Program also conducts interviews that are related to other SC&A collections, such as the Planned Community Archives. In addition, the Oral History Program is overseeing the preservation and documentation of SC&A's existing oral history collections

Among other highlights in our collection are interviews with: A. Linwood Holton, Governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia (1970-1974) George Johnson, President of GMU 1978-1996; Joanne Johnson, Patron for the Arts; Robert Krug, George Mason University President, 1977-1978, Dean of George Mason College, Dean of the faculty and graduate school at GMC/GMU; Joseph Mathy, Mason supporter and long-time Fairfax resident; Edwin Meese III, former rector (1998-2004) and member of the Board of Visitors (1996-2004); Richard Sparks and Ann Walker Sparks, Mason College alumni and photographer; Lev Vekker, Psychology Professor of the Krasnow Institute for Advanced Study; and John Whalan and Chipper Whalan, Mason alumni and constructors of the first telescope on campus.

SC&A Oral History Collections

In addition to the George Mason University Oral History Program, SC&A has several collections of oral histories available for research. These collections include:

Theatre of the Thirties Oral History Collection

This collection contains interviews of various individuals involved in productions with the Federal Theatre Project (FTP) during the 1930s. There are 393 cassette tapes and 39 reel-to-reel oral histories in this collection. The interviews were conducted during the 1970s by the Institute on the Federal Theatre Project and New Deal Culture, supervised by professor Lorraine Brown of Mason's English Department.

The Northern Virginia Oral History Project

The Northern Virginia Oral History Project (NVOHP) contains interviews of individuals from the Northern Virginia community, highlighting the area and the dramatic development that has occurred in Northern Virginia since World War II. There are 145 cassette tapes and 64 reel-to-reel oral histories in the collection. The oral histories were conducted between the years 1962 and 1983 by a variety of groups and individuals. Most of the interviews are abstracted or transcribed. The interviews cover topics such as agriculture,development, health, education, politics, transportation and religion. Roy Rosenzweig, a professor in GMU's history department, supervised the final phase of the project. Northern Virginia Leadership Project Oral Histories. The Northern Virginia Leadership Project is a collection of interviews with prominent figures from the Northern Virginia area. The collection includes 9 interviews conducted between the years 1990 and 1996. All of the interviews are transcribed.

Planned Community Archives Oral Histories

The Planned Community Archives Oral History Project records the recollections of individuals connected with the development of the Metro Washington D.C. area. Featured are interviews of major figures involved in developing the planned community of Reston in Northern Virginia. Included in the collection are 264 oral history recordings. The PCA Oral History Project began in 1980 and continues through the present time.