The Library of Congress is making available more than seven hours of transcribed interviews with former slaves recorded in between 1932 and 1975.  Some of the interviews have never been heard publicly before.

For anyone doing historical research about American slavery or the experience of African Americans in the century after the Civil War, these recorded narratives are invaluable national treasures.

The recordings come from several collections held in the American Folklife Center’s Archive of Folk Culture.

Most interviews were made using direct-to-disc recorders. Powered by batteries, they engraved tracks into the coating of the discs with a stylus and provided playback capability immediately after recording. Their size and weight made them cumbersome in the field and difficult to transport to interview locations. Efforts were made to collect biographical information about the interviewees and interviewers. Unfortunately, with few exceptions, only a small amount of information was found about the former slaves.