OHC is a storytelling program of the Los Angeles Contemporary Archive (LACA), a public archive and library dedicated to contemporary artmaking.

This program emerged from a recognized need at LACA for the oral stories of donating artists, which can illuminate the context of some otherwise ambiguous collections. The Oral History Center’s focus is created to complement LACA’s material focus. These materials encompass explanations of an artist’s teaching philosophy, descriptions of studio fires, loss of artwork, museum labor, negotiating with curators, financial struggles, and furthers conversations we are having around authenticity and the inauthentic. OHC is a platform that strengthens and adds further complexity to conversations already happening at LACA.

OHC is an expansion of the Autonomous Oral History Group, initiated in 2019.