Currently at the Memorial & Museum

Oral Histories Provide an Intimate Perspective

June 07, 2011

One of the most important collections in the Memorial Archives is its oral history collection. Memorial staff work to actively acquire interviews of victims' family members, survivors, first responders and individuals affected by or involved in the April 19, 1995, bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building. The Memorial Museum shows these personal experiences and how the bombing impacted their lives. Currently, staff is concentrating their efforts in interviewing judges, lawyers and legal aides that worked the McVeigh and Nichols federal trials in Denver and Nichols’ state trial in McAlester.

In the last week, we have captured the oral histories of Retired Archbishop Eusebius Beltran, John Bozalis, M.D., who was the chair of the Oklahoma County Medical Association when it was recognized with the American Medical Association’s highest honor and Dr. Bob Long, Senior Pastor, St. Luke’s Methodist Church. These stories help give us a perspective from the community and show the response that has been a model over the past 16 years for other communities to follow.

« Back to Currently at the Memorial & Museum | Archived Currently at the Memorial & Museum »