Tacoma Community History Project

The Tacoma Community History Project gathers oral histories created by University of Washington Tacoma students enrolled in courses taught by Professor Michael Honey.

Since 1990, the Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences Program has offered courses in oral history at both the undergraduate and the graduate levels. In these classes, students learn the methodology of conducting oral history, interview community members, and compile projects that document the history of local individuals, organizations, and communities. The collection includes over sixty projects on churches, labor unions, military institutions, ethnic communities, neighborhoods, businesses, civic leaders, and prominent citizens in Tacoma and the South Puget Sound. Over fifty are now available digitally through the UW Libraries Digital Collections.

Original hard copies of the projects, including projects that cannot be digitized, can be found in our catalog.

Featured Projects

Tacomas Nihon Go Gakko: Japanese Language School

Winning the Hearts and Minds of Fort Lewis and McChord GIs During the Vietnam Era

Read Related Project Information

Guide to Tacoma Community History Project

Class Guide for Contributing Project to TCHP

Michael Honey’s webpage