In order to preserve the rich heritage of the Mother Lode, Professor Dick Dyer organized the College's Oral History program, one of the first among state junior colleges, in 1971. The Oral History Center was organized in the early 1970s. It included interviews by Dick and his students and copies of interviews from the Tuolumne County Historical Society, Yosemite National Park, community historians and later, volunteers from KAAD community radio. The library collection, now numbers almost 200 interviews, recorded between 1949-2017.

Through the generous support of the Wise Family Charitable Trust and the Columbia College Foundation a digitization and transcription effort began in 2007 to preserve the collection and make it available to a wider audience on the library’s website. Since 2017, there have been no additions to the series. This 2023 project aims to resurrect the series, recruiting and training volunteers to identify subjects and conduct interviews.