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The Regents of the University of California
 

15 SECONDS

Photo by Reed Hutchinson UCLA Photographic Services

TERESA BARNETT

Head, UCLA Oral History Program

Born and raised in Provo, Utah, Barnett received B.A. and M.A. degrees in comparative literature from Brigham Young University and an M.A. in history from UCLA. She has been with the Oral History Program for 18 years.

What is your biggest extravagance?
Books, theater, chocolate, books, books, books.

What do you consider your greatest achievement?
Getting out of Utah.

Whose oral history stands out most in your mind?
A 90-year-old German émigré woman who was confined to her apartment because of failing eyesight and the dangerous neighborhood she lived in. She never expressed a hint of bitterness and regaled me for hours with stories of life in Weimar Germany, the Nazis’ rise to power, the London Blitz and the numerous famous intellectuals and cultural figures she had known.