Use & Permissions

The Southern Oral History Program's collection is archived at the Southern Historical Collection at the Wilson Special Collections Library at UNC. The SOHP grants permission for the exhibition, broadcast, or publication of unrestricted collection materials in accordance with the following conditions:

  • Any permission granted by the Southern Oral History Program will fully comply with the limitations and strictures imposed by copyright and the donor of the materials.
  • This permission is valid only insofar as the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, as owner or custodian of the material, has any rights in the matter. This permission does not remove the responsibility of the author, editor, publisher, or broadcaster to guard against infringement of any rights, including copyright that may be held by others.
  • For most unrestricted interviews, copyright has been assigned to the University of North Carolina. When the copyright has not been assigned to the University of North Carolina, copyright is retained by the interviewers/interviewees, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.
  • We will not grant an exclusive right to use a particular item. In every instance, the University fully retains its own right to publish material and reserves its right to authorize others to do so.
  • Permission for public use is contingent on materials being properly cited and identified. See the “Citation” section below for more details.
  • Your request will be reviewed and answered in the order that it was received. Requests normally take four to six weeks to be processed.
  • We will not sign outside contracts or publisher-generated permission forms. Permission to publish will be granted and recorded only in a letter composed and signed by us.
  • We reserve the right to refuse to grant permission to use the collection.

Researchers may be required to obtain written permission from the interviewee or interviewer to quote from the interview. Contact the SOHP with any questions about restrictions here.

Citation (preferred)

  • Interview with [interviewee name] by [interviewer name], [interview date], in the Southern Oral History Program Collection, Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
    • Example: Interview with Katharine DuPre Lumpkin by Jacquelyn Hall, August 4, 1975 in the Southern Oral History Program Collection, Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

For preservation purposes, use of audiotapes or videotapes may require production of listening or viewing copies. If a researcher requires the creation of a listening or viewing copy, the researcher will be responsible for the cost.

Oral history materials may contain sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations, the North Carolina Public Records Act (N.C.G.S. Section 132 1 et seq.), and Article 7 of the North Carolina State Personnel Act (Privacy of State Employee Personnel Records, N.C.G.S. Section 126-22 et seq.). Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable living individuals without the consent of those individuals may have legal ramifications (e.g., a cause of action under common law for invasion of privacy may arise if facts concerning an individual’s private life are published that would be deemed highly offensive to a reasonable person) for which the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill assumes no responsibility.