The Maria Rogers Oral History Program (MROHP) is housed in the Carnegie Branch Library for Local Histoy, Boulder, Colorado. MROHP curates interviews that build an understanding of life in the city and county of Boulder. Narrators may be chosen for their accomplishments or their participation in the community, along with the ability to lend detail to a historic picture. MROHP also encourages special collections, where multiple narrators with different perspectives help flesh out a topic of historic significance.
Our program is named for a former manager, Maria Rogers, who started collecting interviews in 1976. To date we have more than 2,000 oral histories, most of which are available through the program’s online archive, Oralhistory.boulderlibrary.org. We have interviews about: pioneers and recent immigrants; mining and agriculture; mountain towns; open space and city planning; Rocky Flats nuclear weapons plant; business; science; arts and education; and major events, such as the Fourmile Canyon fire and the Flood of 2013. A cohort of volunteers (30+) help with all aspects of the oral history process (interviewing, transcribing, archiving, etc.). Citizen volunteers keep the program humming!
Cyns Nelson, Program Manager
