Oral Histories and Glaciers

Oral histories provide important, detailed information about the history of glaciers and glaciological knowledge. Compiling the fascinating interviews is time consuming and difficult. Fortunately, several sites and archives are now providing excellent access to oral histories about glaciology and glaciological knowledge.

The following list provides links to many oral histories. The sites also open up access to other information about the history of glaciology, glacier sciences, mountain histories, and polar histories.

Polar Regions

• Polar Oral Histories, Byrd Polar and Climate Research Center Archival Program
• British Antarctic Oral History Project
• The Meaning of Ice: People and Sea Ice in Three Arctic Communities, book with people’s own words explaining their relations with ice
• Women in Polar Research: A Brief History, The Arctic Institute
• Oral History Programme, Scott Polar Research Institute, University of Cambridge
• Submarine Arctic Science Program, Oral History by George Newton, National Snow and Ice Data Center

Alaska

• Northern Alaska Sea Ice Project Jukebox, Digital Branch of the University of Alaska Fairbanks Oral History Program
• Exit Glacier Project Jukebox—Kenai Fjords National Park, Digital Branch of the University of Alaska Fairbanks Oral History Program
• Dangerous Ice Project Jukebox, Digital Branch of the University of Alaska Fairbanks Oral History Program
• Alaska and Polar Regions Collections and Archives, Elmer E. Rasmuson Library at the University of Alaska Fairbanks

Broader Climate and Glacier Sciences

• Oral History of British Science, British Library
• UCAR/NCAR Oral History Collection, University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR)/National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR)
• American Meteorological Society Oral History Project, National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR)
• American Institute of Physics, Oral Histories