Oral History Collection

Welcome to Portsmouth Museums and Records Service oral history archive. We have been recording people’s memories since the mid-1980s and now hold over 1000 recordings on many aspects of life in and the history of Portsmouth, and about D-Day and the Battle for Normandy.

We are the main repository for oral history for the City of Portsmouth; not only do we record our own interviews, we also store recordings created by others in the city and make them all accessible to the public. The archive is available through a computerised database in the public searchroom at City Museum and Records Office.

Through this page you can find out what is in the archive, what oral history is about and see some of the results of our work including sound clips, photographs, exhibitions and publications. Use the buttons to explore the archive and projects.

What is oral history?

How can oral history be used?

What does the archive contain?

Current work -‘Oral History in Portsmouth’ project

Completed Work