Start small is the advice we often give commissioners when they are thinking of an oral history project. Small is not a necessary prescription for the projects that have documented each Presidency since the Hoover White House. For over fifty years oral history has been used to create records that will help understand presidents and their time in office. But the Obama Presidency oral history, produced by the Incite Institute at Columbia University and now available online, breaks new ground in several ways. The 450 plus interviews were recorded between 2019 and 2023, while experiences were fresh in interviewees’ minds. And the project looked beyond the administration to civil society with interviews about the First Lady and her policy agenda, and the President’s early life. 

I was curious to see how Oceania and the Pacific are represented and found myself listening to an interview with Bronwen Solyom who was born in Tasmania and with her husband Garrett Solyom has had a lifelong interest in the art of Indonesia since their first visit in 1967, returning over the years to conduct fieldwork in southern Sumatra, Java and Bali. They came to know the President’s mother, Anne Dunham, and Bronwen paints a vivid picture of Anne Dunham and her life and anthropological research. It’s engrossing listening and beautifully produced online. 

Looking at the ‘About’ section I see there is a New Zealand connection. Wellingtonian Tess A. McClure was an editorial and  research associate on the project.