Project Background

A desire to record the local history of Horry County brought about the Horry County Oral History Project. While some interviews were conducted in the 1970s, the project gained momentum in 1989 with the vision of Randall Wells, director of the project. Broad spectrums of the community were interviewed, ranging from small farmers to community leaders. The project team sought individuals who shaped and witnessed the transitions of Horry County. The Waccamaw Center for Cultural and Historical Studies of Coastal Carolina University underwrote part of the project.

More than 100 interviews have been recorded, transcribed, indexed, digitized, and placed online. The original recordings and transcripts are located in the Waccamaw Center for Cultural and Historical Studies with additional copies available in the University Archives and Special Collections department of Kimbel Library. In order to provide access to the collection of interviews, descriptive bibliographic records for the interviews were entered into Kimbel Library's catalog and a printed index to the collection was created. In 2010, the collection was digitized and is now available online through the Horry County Oral History and Language Project website.

Researchers may browse and search the catalog records of the oral histories in the box at the top of the page. Materials listed in the catalog are available in the University Archives and Special Collections department.