When the first interviews were being conducted in 2016, the collection was originally entitled the Chinese American Oral History Project. In 2023, the collection changed to its’ current title, Asian American Pacific Islander Oral History Project to be more inclusive towards interviewers who are not Chinese. In 2018, the project was sponsored by the Chinese American Engineers and Scientists Association of Southern California Scholarship Foundation, and interviewed members of the organization, as well as some of their spouses. In 2019, the interviews returned to focusing on community members who identify as AAPI.