The Route 66 Oral History Office promotes public access to oral histories collected along and about Route 66. Through cataloguing, cross-referencing, and collecting Route 66 histories, our goal is to support those interested in Route 66 research and study: collectors, citizen-historians, scholars, teachers, archivists, and others.

We’re a resource of technical assistance and support for Route 66 research. We hope to preserve and make accessible the non-physical heritage of Route 66, America’s Mother Road.

The hundreds of interviews in this Route 66 Oral History Archive includes fascinating insights and fun, as you cruise Route 66’s Memory Lane. We encourage recognition of all the groups on Route 66, an inclusive and critical perspective. “The journey has not always been a pleasant one,” as Michael Wallis says in an interview, “particularly for people of color who sometimes had to go to the back door for service.”

If you have a question about Route 66’s oral history and oral culture, please write us at wrtqsw@unm.edu, attention Steve Mandrgoc. We are not reference librarians, but on our links page, and by email, we might be able to direct you to such resources as the Research Route 66 page and the NPS page.