Oral History

D.H. Ramsey Library Special Collections oral histories contain a wealth of local history and cultural information about Asheville and the western North Carolina region. The Southern Highlands Research Center Oral History Collection and the Voices of Asheville Project, created by Dorothy Joynes, are the two largest bodies of work are represented here. The selected oral histories contain rich information on Asheville's Built Environment (ABE) and detail through personal accounts, many city and county development issues including, segregation and integration of Asheville schools, private education in the region, the diversity of religions throughout the area, changes in farming and subsistence strategies, and the histories of various families and organizations that impacted western North Carolina. Special Collections is now the repository of over 500+ individual oral histories, most derived from at least ten different projects, each ranging from four or five interviews to over two hundred interviews per project, as is the case with the Voices of Asheville Oral History Project.