From 1 April 2025 to 1 January 2026 staff at the Oral History Centre will be directing their time and energy toward two important strategic goals: making oral history collections in the OHC Archives discoverable and accessible, and building capacity to support oral history work with new technologies and more public resources.  

By developing the OHC Archives many valuable oral history collections that include recordings, transcripts, and otherassociated materials will be made available to researchers for the first time. These records can be used to support research in a number of subject areas including food history, disability studies, German-Canadian studies, labour history, immigration history, and more.

In taking the time to develop skills in new technological areas—including video production—the OHC will be able to provide a new level of support to OHC Members in our studio and lab spaces, and in the field. 

To achieve these goals with our staff complement of two, and to continue to provide our community with the best support possible going forward, we have made the difficult decision to temporarily defer future programming until January 1, 2026. The OHC will not offer workshops in the autumn and staff are unable to oblige requests for workshops and guest lectures. OHC staff will continue to support existing partnerships and projects but will not be accepting invitations to collaborate and consult on any new oral history projects for the rest of 2025. 

 OHC Members will still be able to make use of their OHC Membership benefits including OHC equipment loans and facility bookings without interruption, and staff will be available for technical support when needed. 

 The OHC’s regular programming schedule will resume in 2026 with the Introduction to Oral History workshop series in January.

Thank you for your patience and understanding as we work toward improving our capacity to support oral history research into the future.