(17 Feb 2026) Today, just 10 years after President Barack Obama left office, Columbia University’s Incite Institute opens the full Obama Presidency Oral History archive to the public. This groundbreaking digital archive offers everyone—students, researchers, journalists, and simply the curious—a trove of material for revisiting and understanding the historical significance of Obama’s presidency, an essential period for American democracy and international politics.
Produced by Columbia’s Incite Institute and designed by the digital agency Huncwot, the archive contains the official oral histories of the Obama presidency. The project was funded by Columbia University after Incite was selected by the Obama Foundation. Between 2019 and 2023, Incite conducted more than 450 interviews with officials, activists, artists, organizers, and everyday people from all walks of life. These interviews, often conducted over multiple sessions, contain 1,100 hours of audio and video that provide an exhaustive record of the Obama years. The archive also includes interviews by scholars from the University of Hawai‘i on Obama’s early life in Hawai‘i and from the University of Chicago on his and First Lady Michelle Obama’s years in Chicago.
Find out more here.
