Southern Oral History Program

Name

Southern Oral History Program

Legal name

Southern Oral History Program

Website

https://sohp.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

1973

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Oral History Research and Archival Services

NAICS

Libraries and Archives (519210), Research and Development in the Social Sciences and Humanities (54172), Web Search Portals, Libraries, Archives, and Other Information Services (5192)

SIC

Miscellaneous Publishing (2741)

akta.pro industry

PRIMARYEDAEAGAJ

Archives, Special Collections & Preservation Operations (Rare Materials, Conservation)

Education/Education Facilities & Support Services/Library, Media Center & Learning Space Operations

SECONDARYBPAGAHAF

Libraries, Archives & Special Collections

Business & Public Services/Nonprofit, NGO & Social Services/Arts, Culture & Heritage Nonprofits

SECONDARYEDAGALAM

Audio Learning Content (Podcasts, Audiobooks, Listening Programs)

Education/Educational Publishing & Learning Content/Educational Media & Multimedia (Video, Audio, Interactive)

Keywords

• Oral history archives
• Historical research collections
• Digital historical exhibits
• Oral history education
• Community storytelling projects

Headquarters

HQ city

Chapel Hill

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Institutional Funding: As a program of UNC Chapel Hill's Center for the Study of the American South, SOHP receives institutional support from the university. Major project funding has included a $25,000 grant from the William R. Kenan Charitable Trust for the William C. Friday Legacy project.
2. Grants and Foundation Funding: External funding from federal agencies and foundations. The Media and the Movement project received $130,000 from the National Endowment for the Humanities. The Art and Oral History Incubator represents a new funding initiative.
3. Donations: Public donations accepted through UNC's giving portal. The organization maintains a donation option on its website.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels8 records

Core offering

The Southern Oral History Program collects, preserves, and provides free public access to a digital archive of more than 6,000 oral history interviews documenting the American South, featuring activists, educators, artists, millworkers, community leaders, and everyday people. It supplements the archive with digital exhibits, original research projects, K-12 curriculum, oral history workshops, and academic training programs (graduate field scholars, undergraduate internships).

Product overview

The Southern Oral History Program (SOHP) operates as a comprehensive oral history archive and educational institution at UNC Chapel Hill. The core product is the Oral History Collection containing over 6,000 interviews documenting the American South, available freely through the Southern Historical Collection at Wilson Library. SOHP offers a portfolio of interconnected products and services: the Digital Exhibits platform showcasing themed collections (Veterans' Voices, Masters of Our Own Domain, Crest Street, etc.); Research Projects including Back Ways, Southern Mix, The Story of Us, and the LDF Oral History Project; and the Oral History Services suite comprising Workshops, the Graduate Field Scholars Program, Undergraduate Internship Program (HIST593), Summer Funding Awards, K-12 Education Resources, and Oral History Resources guides. The 2026 Art & Oral History Incubator represents a new initiative combining creative practice with archival engagement. The organization functions as both an archive (collecting and preserving interviews) and an educational program (teaching oral history methods through experiential learning).

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Oral History Collection and Archive Primary digital archive containing more than 6,000 oral history interviews with activists, educators, artists, millworkers, community leaders, and everyday people documenting the American South. Freely available to the public via sohp.org and the Southern Historical Collection at Wilson Library.
• Digital Exhibits Online exhibits combining oral history audio, text, images, and interactive elements. Themes include Veterans' Voices, African American Credit Unions, Rural Electrification, Southern Surfing, George Stoney: Carolina Roots, Crest Street Community History, and Masters of Our Own Domain.
• Research Projects Original research initiatives including Back Ways (rural South segregation), Southern Mix (Asian/Asian American stories), The Story of Us (LGBTQIA history), Stories to Save Lives (health in the South), Media and the Movement, New Roots/Nuevas Raíces (Latinx migration), and the Long Civil Rights Movement.
• Oral History Workshops Educational workshops on oral history practice, project planning, interviewing techniques, and public storytelling (exhibitions, podcasts, walking tours). Available in-person in the North Carolina Triangle region or via Zoom for out-of-state groups; typically 1-2 hours.
• Graduate Field Scholars Program Selective program accepting UNC graduate students to work 15 hours per week conducting new research and contributing oral histories. Provides an $11K stipend per semester. Field Scholars support archival processing, community partnerships, mentorship, grant research, teaching, and publication.
• Undergraduate Internship Program (HIST593) Experiential education program providing training in oral history as both method and tradition. Students learn interviewing techniques, fieldwork ethics, and interpretive frameworks, including conducting background research, developing interview guides, conducting oral histories, and public history/digital storytelling. Enrolled as 3 credit hours.
• Summer Funding Awards Competitive awards for UNC students pursuing oral history research: the Jacquelyn Dowd Hall Graduate Summer Research Fellowship ($4,000) and SOHP Undergraduate Research Planning Grants ($2,500 each). Supports preliminary oral history planning and fieldwork.
• K-12 Education Resources Curriculum materials integrating oral histories into K-12 classrooms. Includes civil rights lesson plans, African Americans in Appalachia, Pauli Murray educational resources, voting rights curriculum, HBCU lessons, and the Mapping Voices of North Carolina's Past interactive map with discussion guides.
• Oral History Resources Practical guides and resources for designing and conducting oral history projects including SOHP's Practical Guide to Oral History, Life History Question Sample Guide, links to Oral History Association best practices, and guidance on oral history and the law.
• Art & Oral History Incubator Year-long initiative bringing artists, archivists, scholars, and community collaborators into creative conversation with the SOHP archive. Includes a five-day intensive with six artists engaging with the collections at Wilson Library.

Quantifiable outcome

• Over 6,000 oral history interviews freely accessible to the public
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers5 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration9 records

AI capability2 records

Feature1 record

Partnerships

14 partnerships are on record, tiered minor and core.

• Orange County GovernmentminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2025Howard Craft's Razor Sharp & Carolina Fresh project will partner with barbershops in Durham and Orange County to conduct oral histories and create original monologues and poems.
• National Humanities CenterminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2025Cara Smelter's southern grief exhibition will be displayed at National Humanities Center in addition to UNC and NC State campuses.
• Project ThreadwayscoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2024SOHP collaboration with Project Threadways (founded by Natalie Chanin of Alabama Chanin) focusing on preserving and expanding oral history collection on textile labor, craft, community life, and creative practice across the South. Students conducted ten new interviews in the North Carolina Piedmont.
• NAACP Legal Defense FundcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2023Multi-year partnership for the LDF Oral History Project documenting the behind-the-scenes strategies, lived experiences, and human stories that shaped some of the most consequential civil rights cases of the last century. Phase One completed with support from SOHP Field Scholars Susie Penman, Irene Newman, and Melody Hunter-Pillion.
• Union of Southern Service WorkerscoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2022Collaboration documenting voices of worker-organizers across the South. The USSW is a growing, cross-industry movement of low-wage workers organizing for dignity, fair pay, and safe working conditions. SOHP students conduct oral histories with union members and leaders.
• Carolina Pride Alum Network (CPAN)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2020Partner in The Story of Us project documenting LGBTQIA Carolina history. CPAN envisioned and funded the project to collect oral histories of LGBTQIA Carolina students, alumni, faculty, and staff.
• Carolina K-12coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2018Collaboration to create lesson plans on teaching about the American Civil Rights Movement through oral history clips for middle and high school students. Jointly created resources including Pauli Murray lessons, voting rights curriculum, and HBCU teaching materials.
• Carolina Asia CentercoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2017Collaboration with Southern Mix project dedicated to collecting and preserving Asian and Asian American oral histories in the US South.
• Wilson Special Collections LibrarycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe Southern Oral History Program interview archive is archived at the Southern Historical Collection in the Louis Round Wilson Special Collections Library at UNC Chapel Hill.
• Belk Center for Community College Leadership and Research at NC State UniversitycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaboration on the North Carolina Community College Presidents of Color project (Trailblazer Profiles) aimed at elevating and centering the work of community college leaders of color.
• Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and CulturecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartner in the Civil Rights History Project, a joint undertaking mandated by Congress in 2009, exploring the civil rights movement through oral histories.
• Duke University Bass Connections ProgramminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership for collecting oral histories of environmental racism and injustice as part of Duke's Bass Connections initiative.
• Center for the Study of the American SouthcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerSOHP is housed within the Center for the Study of the American South at UNC Chapel Hill, sharing physical space and collaborating on programs and symposia.
• North Carolina Central UniversityminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartner institution for Cara Smelter's southern grief exhibition exploring grief and Southern identity.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Columbia University Center for Oral History Research: University-based oral history center at Columbia University with a comparable archive, research methodology, and graduate training program; directly analogous as a peer university-based oral history research center.
• StoryCorps: National nonprofit dedicated to recording, preserving, and sharing oral histories of Americans; directly comparable in mission, free public archive access, and educational outreach.
• Oral History Center at UC Berkeley: University-based oral history program within UC Berkeley's Bancroft Library conducting interviews and making them accessible to researchers; closely comparable as a peer academic oral history archive.
• Densho: Nonprofit organization preserving oral histories and digital archives of Japanese Americans incarcerated during WWII; comparable as a mission-driven oral history nonprofit with an emphasis on community-centered collection and free public access.
• Duke University Center for Documentary Studies: Adjacent university-based documentary and oral history program at Duke with overlapping Southern U.S. focus and educational mission; comparable peer institution with which SOHP already partners through Bass Connections.
• Voices of Civil Rights: Project and collection documenting the civil rights movement through oral histories; directly comparable as a peer oral history initiative with overlapping Southern U.S. and civil rights focus.

Broad incumbents

• Veterans History Project (Library of Congress): Federal initiative that collects, preserves, and makes accessible oral histories from U.S. war veterans; comparable as a large-scale oral history archive with national scope, though federally operated and topic-specific.
• Library of Congress American Folklife Center: Federal center within the Library of Congress that preserves and documents folklife traditions including oral histories; comparable as a large, well-funded oral and cultural heritage archive at national scale.
• Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture: National museum that collects oral histories related to African American experience; comparable on archive mission and a current SOHP partner in the Civil Rights History Project mandated by Congress.

Emerging players

• The National WWII Museum: Museum with an extensive oral history program capturing firsthand accounts of WWII-era experiences; comparable in oral history collection and educational programming, though with a narrower historical focus.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xtwitter.com/SOHPoralhistory
• Instagraminstagram.com/SOHPoralhistory

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about Southern Oral History Program