The Archives has conducted and acquired a variety of oral history collections with a local genesis and focus. These stories of immigrants, labor leaders, and community leaders lend a first-hand account of the lives of some of Pittsburgh’s most important residents.  The collections provide access to Pittsburghers in their own words.  Archives & Special Collections feature over 1,400 interviews. Transcripts exist in some collections for most interviews.

• African American Jazz Preservation Society of Pittsburgh Oral History Project Records and Recordings, 1995-1999 AIS.1998.04 contains 63 interviews of 54 individuals conducted between 1995 and 1999. This oral history collection consists of transcripts, cassette tapes, project working files and background organizational records of the interviews conducted during the African American Jazz Preservation Society of Pittsburgh (AAJPSP) Oral History Project (1995-1999). The project documents individual African American Jazz Musicians in Pittsburgh as well as their efforts to organize. 
• Beaver Valley Labor History Society Collection, 1909-1981, AIS.1981.08 Series II contains 23 oral history interviews of steelworkers involved in the Steel Workers Organizing Committee union recognition drive in Aliquippa during the 1930s.
• Black Sport in Pittsburgh Records of the Oral History Collection, ca.1980, AIS.1987.01  Contains 54 Interviews conducted in the 1980s with individuals involved in black baseball clubs in and around Pittsburgh. Noted interviews include Jimmy Joe Robinson, Art Rooney, Ted Page, and photographer Charles "Teenie" Harris.
• Electrical Workers of Western Pennsylvania Oral History Project, 1976-1977, AIS.1991.15 Interviews with retired electrical workers containing information about working conditions, discrimination, company resistance to unionization, and the red-baiting of union organizers at the General Electric plant in Erie, Pennsylvania, and the Westinghouse plant in East Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
• Ethnic Fraternal Organizations Oral History Project Collection, 1975-1976, AIS.1976.25  Contains 235 interviews exploring the roles and influences of ethnic fraternal organizations in the Jewish, Black, Croatian, Italian, Polish and other ethnic communities in the Pittsburgh area.
• John P. Hoerr Oral History Collection, 1914-2004, AIS.2007.04 Oral histories conducted by John Hoerr as he worked on his book, Harry, Tom and Father Rice, which was published in 2005 and documents the Red Scare and House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) investigations.  Notable people interviewed include Monsignor Charles Owen Rice , Tom Quinn, and Hyman Richman, among others.
• National Council of Jewish Women, Pittsburgh Section Papers, 1894-2011, AIS.1964.40  Organizational records, including correspondence, memorabilia, reports, minutes, photographs, and oral histories for the period 1894 to 1997. The bulk of the records are from the NCJW Pittsburgh Section, however, there are some materials in the collection regarding NCJW state and national activities. 516 oral history interviews and two motion pictures from the project are available online.

• Steve Nelson Oral History Project Records, 1977-1978, AIS.1978.24 64 audiotapes of interviews with Steve Nelson, a one time Communist Party member, radical political activist and industrial organizer. These interviews were used as the basis of the University Press book Steve Nelson: American Radical by Steve Nelson, James R. Barrett and Robert Ruck.
• Pittsburgh Renaissance Project: The Stanton Belfour Oral History Collection, AIS.1973.24  The Pittsburgh Renaissance Project (The Stanton Belfour Oral History Collection) was initiated and carried out by the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public and International Affairs in 1971-1973 with funds from the Buhl Foundation. It documents the history of  Pittsburgh Renaissance between the 1940s and 1950s.
• Recordings of the Southern Blacks' Migration to Pittsburgh Oral History Project, 1916-1930, AIS.1977.46  Contains 23 interviews conducted by Peter Gotltieb in 1976 documenting the life histories of the individuals and address the topics of community and family life from the turn of the century to 1976.
• Southwest Pennsylvania NASW Pioneers Oral History Project, 1998-2006, AIS.2004.10 Contains 38 oral history interviews revealing the interesting variety of work performed by social workers over a 20 year period, including their involvement in providing direct services to people, community organizing, and influencing social policy development. 
• State and Local Government Archives Oral History Collection, 1996-2002, AIS.1997.02  Contains 229 oral history interviews conducted with state and local government leaders. The collection also contains transcripts, interview notes, and other related ephemera.