The interviews in this series document the ideological transformation of the Chicana and Chicano generation in Los Angeles. Dissatisfied with their position in U.S. society, Chicana and Chicano activists built a civil rights movement from the ground up. Interviewees were selected based on their e...
Biographical Note:
Mexican American activist and co-chair of the Chicano Moratorium against the Vietnam War.
This series of interviews documents the work of costumers in the film and television industries in Los Angeles. The interviews preserve a dimension of Hollywood history and Los Angeles history that has been under-documented to date.
Biographical Note:
Co-founder of Muto-Little custom-made costume shop. Career in costuming that has included work in film, television, opera, and popular music.
This series of interviews was undertaken in collaboration with the Art Directors Guild. Its aim is to document the lives and work of Guild members and staff who have made a significant contribution to film and television history. Interviews capture the work of title artists, set designers, art di...
Biographical Note:
Production designer with expertise in animation and visual effects who worked on River's Edge, Home Alone, and Species. Professor of production design at California State University, Long Beach.
Purpose Served: An Oral History of the Exemplary Life of Arthur Ashe, 1943-1993 is an initiative of the Arthur Ashe Legacy Fund (AALF) at UCLA and is funded by AALF and by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. By launching an oral history project to document and capture the firsthand recollections of ...
Biographical Note:
Interviewed because of connection to tennis player Arthur Ashe. Teammate of Ashe on the UCLA men’s tennis team. Served as Ashe’s attorney during the early years of Ashe's amateur career.
The Many Branches, One Root series traces the histories and practices of a range of Buddhist traditions and communities in the greater Los Angeles area. Beginning in the early twentieth century, a succession of Buddhist traditions have put down roots in Los Angeles, each one providing spiritual s...
Biographical Note:
President of Koyasan Betsuin Shingon Buddhist Temple in the Little Tokyo area of Los Angeles.
The Many Branches, One Root series traces the histories and practices of a range of Buddhist traditions and communities in the greater Los Angeles area. Beginning in the early twentieth century, a succession of Buddhist traditions have put down roots in Los Angeles, each one providing spiritual s...
Biographical Note:
Zen Buddhist priest. Abbot and head teacher at the Zen Center of Los Angeles.
The South Asian Women in Los Angeles series documents the lives of a number of women who are first generation South Asian immigrants and who lived or currently live in the greater Los Angeles area. This project was generously supported by Arcadia funds.
The purpose of this series is to document the social justice activism of the Mexican American generation and to explore family and community life in war-time Los Angeles. Individuals selected for this series resided in Los Angeles during the 1930s and 1940s and began their civic participation pri...
Biographical Note:
United States Ambassador to Mexico. First Mexican American member of the Los Angeles Unified School District Board of Education and California State University, Northridge professor of history.
The purpose of this oral history series is to document the context and early technological development of the ARPANET, the network that went online in 1969 and grew into the Internet. Interviewees include the Center’s Principal Investigator, three researchers, and the center administrator. The ...
Biographical Note:
Member of the research team at the Network Measurement Center for UCLA’s U.S. Defense Department sponsored ARPANET project which created a “wide-area packet-switched network.”
This series of interviews was undertaken in collaboration with the Art Directors Guild. Its aim is to document the lives and work of Guild members and staff who have made a significant contribution to film and television history. Interviews capture the work of title artists, set designers, art di...
Biographical Note:
Production designer, art director, set designer. Work on War of the Worlds, The Polar Express, Beowulf. Work in “motion capture” and in theme parks. Art Directors Guild Lifetime Achievement Award honoree.
The series documents environmental activism in the Los Angeles area from the 1970s through to the present day. The majority of interviews are with either founders or knowledgeable participants in major regional environmental organizations. Represented groups embody a wide range of issues, includi...
Biographical Note:
Executive director for the Center for Community Action and Environmental Justice. Plaintiff in Stringfellow v. Concerned Neighbors in Action, an environmental case related to the Stringfellow Acid Pits in Jurupa Valley, California.
The Traditional Asian Arts in Southern California series focuses on both immigrants and second- or third-generation Asian Americans who have continued East Asian or Southeast Asian musical, dance, and performance traditions in Southern California. Some preserved their art form by adhering to the...
Biographical Note:
Musician, teacher of Vietnamese music, and co-founder of the Lac Hong group, which is dedicated to supporting Vietnamese cultural heritage by providing instruction and performance opportunities for young and aspiring performers of traditional Vietnamese music.
The interviews in this series document the ideological transformation of the Chicana and Chicano generation in Los Angeles. Dissatisfied with their position in U.S. society, Chicana and Chicano activists built a civil rights movement from the ground up. Interviewees were selected based on their e...
Biographical Note:
Founder of Hijas de Cuauhtemoc, Encuentro Feminil, and La Feminista, publications focused on issues relating to feminism and the Chicana community. Created a Chicana studies curriculum at California State University, Northridge, served as assistant professor in their Chicano studies department.
Chemical Entanglements: Oral Histories of Environmental Illness is a collection of interviews with over seventy individuals living in the U.S. and Canada whose family history, occupation, art practice, or activism have brought them into direct contact with illness experience and disability relate...
Biographical Note:
Interviewed for the UCLA Center for the Study of Women’s Chemical Entanglements: Oral Histories of Environmental Illness series. Lives with Multiple Chemical Sensitivity (MCS). Activist blogger who writes about nickel allergy. Her blog, Nickely Challenged, features her writing on her journey of n...
Chemical Entanglements: Oral Histories of Environmental Illness is a collection of interviews with over seventy individuals living in the U.S. and Canada whose family history, occupation, art practice, or activism have brought them into direct contact with illness experience and disability relate...
Biographical Note:
Interviewed for the UCLA Center for the Study of Women’s Chemical Entanglements: Oral Histories of Environmental Illness series. Lives with Multiple Chemical Sensitivity (MCS). College-educated, Al-Anon peer counselor with an array of pink collar and blue collar work experience. Filed lawsuit con...
Immigrant from Belize. Activist, writer, and leader in the Garifuna community. Founding member of the Garifuna American Heritage Foundation, a cultural center that offers classes and public programs that help maintain the Garifuna culture in Los Angeles.
The interviews in the series American Indian Relocation Project document the experience of American Indians who came to Los Angeles as part of the Bureau of Indian Affairs' urban relocation program in the 1950s and 1960s. The initial interviews were conducted by students in Professor Peter Nabok...
Biographical Note:
Lakota. Came to Los Angeles as part of the American Indian Relocation.
This series of interviews was undertaken in collaboration with the Art Directors Guild. Its aim is to document the lives and work of Guild members and staff who have made a significant contribution to film and television history. Interviews capture the work of title artists, set designers, art di...
Biographical Note:
Scenic artist at NBC Studios from 1958 to 1987. Began work at ABC Studios after a time as head of own company, Premiere Scenery, which did work for the Golden Globes and other productions.
This series includes interviews with key individuals who served in Los Angeles city government during the administration of Mayor Tom Bradley. The interviews focus on each individual’s political development, activism, and role in the Bradley administration. Major urban policy issues addressed in ...
Biographical Note:
In 1974 Ochi began working for Mayor Bradley administration. Executive director of the City of Los Angeles Criminal Justice Planning Office. Instrumental figure in the Manzanar Committee’s work to designate Manzanar as a National Historic site. Director of the Community Relations Service of the D...
This series includes full-life histories of a number of prominent Korean Americans who represent their community’s tremendous expansion during the period after federal anti-Asian immigration laws were repealed in 1965. The series focuses on the remarkable growth of the Korean American community i...
Biographical Note:
Lawyer, teacher, and lecturer. Member of President William J. Clinton's President's Initiative on Race.
Chemical Entanglements: Oral Histories of Environmental Illness is a collection of interviews with over seventy individuals living in the U.S. and Canada whose family history, occupation, art practice, or activism have brought them into direct contact with illness experience and disability relate...
Biographical Note:
Interviewed for the UCLA Center for the Study of Women’s Chemical Entanglements: Oral Histories of Environmental Illness series. Dr. Oliver has an MD, MPH, and MS. President of Occupational Health Initiatives, Inc. Professor in the Occupational and Environmental Health Division of the Dalla Lana ...
Chemical Entanglements: Oral Histories of Environmental Illness is a collection of interviews with over seventy individuals living in the U.S. and Canada whose family history, occupation, art practice, or activism have brought them into direct contact with illness experience and disability relate...
Biographical Note:
Interviewed for the UCLA Center for the Study of Women’s Chemical Entanglements: Oral Histories of Environmental Illness series. From Mexico, Clara Olmedo is an activist and civil engineer living in Woodland, California. She is a member of the Woodland Coalition Group. Olmedo uses the term of che...
This series documents the Justice for Janitors movement in Los Angeles from the 1980s through the early 2000s. Justice for Janitors is a labor organization of the Service Employees International Union that has historically sought to improve the working conditions and bargaining power of workers ...
Biographical Note:
Director of organizing for the International Longshore and Warehouse Union and associate director of the University of California’s Institute for Labor and Employment. Involved in the Service Employees International Union’s Justice for Janitors campaign.
Chemical Entanglements: Oral Histories of Environmental Illness is a collection of interviews with over seventy individuals living in the U.S. and Canada whose family history, occupation, art practice, or activism have brought them into direct contact with illness experience and disability relate...
Biographical Note:
Interviewed for the UCLA Center for the Study of Women’s Chemical Entanglements: Oral Histories of Environmental Illness series. Experiences chemical sensitivity, but uses the term "fragrance disability" to describe their condition. Executive personal assistant and events coordinator. Describes h...
The interviews in the series the American Indian Presence in Southern California: Those Who Were Already Here survey the experiences of unrecognized tribes at one extreme and gaming tribes at the other. Southern California is the homeland of numerous tribal peoples indigenous to the region. Foll...
Biographical Note:
Member of the Tataviam tribe. Great-grandfather, Antonio Maria Ortega, was the last of the line to speak the Fernandeno dialect of the tribe.
The interviews in the series African American Artists of Los Angeles document significant African American Artists and others in the Los Angeles metropolitan area who have worked to expand exhibition opportunities and public support for African American visual culture. The series was made possibl...
Biographical Note:
African American artist and community-activist. First director of the Watts Towers Art Center in Los Angeles.
The Craft and Folk Art Museum (CAFAM), founded in Los Angeles by Edith and Frank Wyle, grew out of The Egg and The Eye, a commercial art gallery/restaurant devoted to international contemporary craft and folk art—and (in the restaurant) omelettes. The gallery opened November 1, 1965 at 5814 Wilsh...
In 1980, the late Eugene Fingerhut, a congregant at the Pasadena Jewish Temple and Center (PJTC) and a professor of American history at California State University, Los Angeles began interviewing elderly congregants with a focus on the history of the Pasadena Jewish community prior to World War I...
Biographical Note:
Congregant of the Pasadena Jewish Temple and Center.
The interviews in the series African American Artists of Los Angeles document significant African American Artists and others in the Los Angeles metropolitan area who have worked to expand exhibition opportunities and public support for African American visual culture. The series was made possibl...
This series includes full-life histories of a number of prominent Korean Americans who represent their community’s tremendous expansion during the period after federal anti-Asian immigration laws were repealed in 1965. The series focuses on the remarkable growth of the Korean American community i...
Biographical Note:
Architect. Founder and principal of Archeon Group, an architectural, planning, and interiors firm.
This series includes full-life histories of a number of prominent Korean Americans who represent their community’s tremendous expansion during the period after federal anti-Asian immigration laws were repealed in 1965. The series focuses on the remarkable growth of the Korean American community i...
Biographical Note:
Businessman and dharma teacher at the Dharma Zen Center.
The South Asian Women in Los Angeles series documents the lives of a number of women who are first generation South Asian immigrants and who lived or currently live in the greater Los Angeles area. This project was generously supported by Arcadia funds.
The interviews in the series American Indian Relocation Project document the experience of American Indians who came to Los Angeles as part of the Bureau of Indian Affairs' urban relocation program in the 1950s and 1960s. The initial interviews were conducted by students in Professor Peter Nabok...
Biographical Note:
Caddo and Potawatomi. Came to Los Angeles as part of the American Indian Relocation.
Chemical Entanglements: Oral Histories of Environmental Illness is a collection of interviews with over seventy individuals living in the U.S. and Canada whose family history, occupation, art practice, or activism have brought them into direct contact with illness experience and disability relate...
Biographical Note:
Interviewed for the UCLA Center for the Study of Women’s Chemical Entanglements: Oral Histories of Environmental Illness series. Before her Multiple Chemical Sensitivity (MCS) became debilitating, Petit was a multilingual school teacher and Girl Guides of Canada volunteer.
The past sixty years have been an important period in the development of Chinese studies in the U.S and Canada. Those years have seen increased funding from Title VI and other sources, the evolution of new fields and areas of specialization, and the systematization and professionalization of scho...
Biographical Note:
American historian of modern China and Distinguished Professor of History and Chinese Studies at University of California San Diego
Chemical Entanglements: Oral Histories of Environmental Illness is a collection of interviews with over seventy individuals living in the U.S. and Canada whose family history, occupation, art practice, or activism have brought them into direct contact with illness experience and disability relate...
Biographical Note:
Interviewed for the UCLA Center for the Study of Women’s Chemical Entanglements: Oral Histories of Environmental Illness series. Experiences Mast Cell Activation Syndrome (MCAS), Hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (hEDS), and Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS).
The Ralph Edwards Productions series seeks to document the history of the Ralph Edwards Productions company by interviewing persons who had worked closely with Ralph Edwards in the early years of the company. Ralph Edwards Productions produced This is Your Life, as well as Truth or Consequences, ...
Biographical Note:
Producer for Ralph Edwards Productions who was involved with the television series “This is Your Life.” Senior vice president of programming and development for KindWorld Productions.
The Many Branches, One Root series traces the histories and practices of a range of Buddhist traditions and communities in the greater Los Angeles area. Beginning in the early twentieth century, a succession of Buddhist traditions have put down roots in Los Angeles, each one providing spiritual s...
Biographical Note:
Immigrant from Sri Lanka. Buddhist monk in the Sri Lankan Theravada tradition, abbot of the Dharma Vijaya Buddhist Vihara, and author of a number of books on the experience of being a Buddhist monk living in the West.
Interviews in this series were undertaken by the UCLA Oral History Program in conjunction with similar efforts at the University of California, Berkeley, Regional Oral History Office; Claremont Graduate School Oral History Program; California State University, Fullerton, Oral History Program; and...
Biographical Note:
Co-founder of the Behavior Science Corporations (BASICO), which advised Ronald Reagan’s first gubernatorial campaign.
The interviews in the series American Indian Presence in Southern California: Those Who Came survey some of the diversity of tribes and experiences of American Indians who have immigrated to the urban area. Over 205,000 American Indians live in Southern California, almost 73,000 of them in Los An...
This series documents community organizations and institutions that arose in the aftermath of the Watts Rebellion to address issues such as education, employment, healthcare, housing, transportation, and police harassment. The first phase of the series involved interviews with key organizers of ...
Biographical Note:
Member of the Black Congress and the Long Beach Community Improvement League.
Chemical Entanglements: Oral Histories of Environmental Illness is a collection of interviews with over seventy individuals living in the U.S. and Canada whose family history, occupation, art practice, or activism have brought them into direct contact with illness experience and disability relate...
Biographical Note:
Interviewed for the UCLA Center for the Study of Women’s Chemical Entanglements: Oral Histories of Environmental Illness series. Experienced lead poisoning as the result of environmental racism. Environmental activist with East Yard Communities for Environmental Justice.
The interviews in the series African American Artists of Los Angeles document significant African American Artists and others in the Los Angeles metropolitan area who have worked to expand exhibition opportunities and public support for African American visual culture. The series was made possibl...
Biographical Note:
African American artist. Creator of ten acres of sculpture near Joshua Tree.
Chemical Entanglements: Oral Histories of Environmental Illness is a collection of interviews with over seventy individuals living in the U.S. and Canada whose family history, occupation, art practice, or activism have brought them into direct contact with illness experience and disability relate...
Biographical Note:
Interviewed for the UCLA Center for the Study of Women’s Chemical Entanglements: Oral Histories of Environmental Illness series. Chief Deputy of Administration at Asian Health Services and immigrant rights activist. Policy advocate for nail salon workforce.
Physician to Chilean president Salvador Allende. Volunteer at Venice Family Clinic in Los Angeles, treating torture victims. Faculty at UCLA Fielding School of Public Health.
The series documents environmental activism in the Los Angeles area from the 1970s through to the present day. The majority of interviews are with either founders or knowledgeable participants in major regional environmental organizations. Represented groups embody a wide range of issues, includi...
Biographical Note:
Community organizer for Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy. Organizer for the Long Beach Clean Trucks Program and member of the Coalition for Clean and Safe Ports.
The interviews in the series the American Indian Presence in Southern California: Those Who Were Already Here survey the experiences of unrecognized tribes at one extreme and gaming tribes at the other. Southern California is the homeland of numerous tribal peoples indigenous to the region. Foll...
Biographical Note:
Chair of the San Manuel tribe. Co-founder of the tribe's Cultural Awareness Program and chair of the California State Native American Heritage Commission. Member of San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors.