The Samuel Proctor Oral History Program (SPOHP)

Join the Samuel Proctor Oral History Program for an afternoon celebrating student-led oral histories with the powerful voices of Alachua County’s healing community!

This event will take place on Wednesday, April 22, 2026, from 2pm - 3pm in the Pugh Hall Ocora. Refreshments will be provided.

Archives in Action! The Captiva Island Historical Society and the Sanibel Historical Museum & Village Inc have recently released a new documentary about Southwest Florida legend Esperanza Woodring. The film includes newly digitized SPOHP interviews with Mrs. Woodring, thanks to the generous support of Ralph and Jean Woodring.

Passion & Courage: The Esperanza Woodring Story In the third collaborative production between the Captiva Island Historical Society and the Sanibel Historical Museum & Village, "Passion and Courage: The Es...

Join the Samuel Proctor Oral History Program for an introductory workshop on the practice of oral history!

Open to the UF community, this workshop will cover the fundamentals of planning and conducting interviews, ethical considerations, and best practices for preserving and sharing first-person narratives.

Participants will gain practical tools for recording, interpreting, and archiving lived experience.

Be sure to RSVP to reserve your spot: https://go.ufl.edu/zc4cn9t

Thank you to the generous donors who supported our Collection Support Fund on !

Your support directly advances our mission to preserve, share, and amplify the voices entrusted to our archive. With your help, we are able to digitize and safeguard fragile recordings, expand public access to interviews, and ensure that community histories remain available to students, scholars, and the broader public for generations to come.

We are deeply grateful for your commitment to this work and for your partnership in preserving these invaluable stories.

Happy Gator Nation Giving Day! Today, Gators across the globe are coming together to celebrate what makes us one of a kind: our people, our passion and our purpose.

This year, we’re shining a spotlight on the Samuel Proctor Oral History Program’s Collection Support Fund, which directly supports safeguarding our irreplaceable interviews conducted by generations of UF students and faculty.

When you give, you’re ensuring that thousands of interviews, recordings, and stories are preserved, digitized, and available for future generations! Your support helps us expand access to our archives, train students, and protect the voices of people whose stories define Florida’s past and shape its future.

Consider contributing to our fund on Giving Day, and thank you for always showing up and making a difference. We couldn’t do our work without you! https://go.ufl.edu/8lexub8

We’re proud to introduce the 2026 Alvarez Family Scholars—an impressive group of undergraduate student scholars whose work carries forward the Alvarez Family’s legacy of curiosity, care, and commitment to preserving lived experience. We’re honored to support their journeys and look forward to the stories they will help bring into the archive and the world!

The SPOHP family is celebrating the life and legacy of former SPOHPer Henry Alvarez. Today is his birthday.

Henry flourished personally and intellectually during his time with the oral history program. Many of his experiences here helped form his view on society in a curious, kind, and caring manner. He learned to engage others, ask the difficult questions, and handle the difficult answers in search of preserving the personal history of those he encountered. Henry always enjoyed the experience of a journey, from his travel to Peru as a teen, family trips visiting historical cities on the east coast, his solo trip to the Pacific NW for his 18th birthday and the Mississippi Delta excursion with SPOHP.

The Alvarez family supports SPOHP through the Henry J. Alvarez Memorial Fund.

The Henry J. Alvarez Memorial Fund The Henry J. Alvarez Memorial Fund celebrates the passion and enthusiasm Henry had around his experiences with the Samuel Proctor Oral History Program.Henry ...

A huge thank you to everyone who took the time to complete our program partner survey! Your insights help SPOHP grow, improve, and better serve our community. We’re grateful for your partnership and your voice in shaping what comes next. We look forward to sharing more about the results in the coming months!

Attention UF Federal Work Study (FWS) students!

SPOHP is hiring a FWS transcription assistant position. This position is responsible for transcription and interview maintenance duties that support the SPOHP collection, including—

🧑‍💻 Assisting with creating archive inventory
💻 Assisting with digitization workflow processes, including transcription, audit-editing, and metadata creation
✨ Other duties and projects as assigned

Learn more and apply here by February 5th: GO.UFL.EDU/SPOHPJOB

Thanks to UF College of Liberal Arts and Sciences for spotlighting SPOHP and the vision of our new director, Dr. Jamin Wells, in the newest issue of Ytori!

“This program has transformed lives and launched careers,” Wells said. “Watching our students engage with oral history — listening deeply, asking hard questions and honoring community voices — with such passion is infectious.”

Read the full story here!

Fresh currents - News This fall, Wells succeeded longtime leader Paul Ortiz as director of SPOHP, bringing in fresh energy and a process-oriented approach.

SPOHP is embarking on an exciting new chapter with the appointment of a new director and our upcoming 60th anniversary in 2027. As one of the nation’s leading oral history programs, SPOHP has been documenting and preserving the voices of people from all walks of life for nearly six decades.

Your feedback will inform strategic decisions about the program’s future direction, resource allocation, and priorities. We value your perspective and want to learn from your experiences with the program.

This survey should take approximately 15 minutes to complete: https://go.ufl.edu/q6xtf09

Thanks for your support of the program!