In 1978, an anonymous grant was received for the creation of Preston oral histories. Forty-seven Preston individuals or groups were interviewed and recorded on cassette tapes by Sandra Wheeler or Jeff Karlson, individuals not connected to Preston. The Preston Historical Society obtained a grant from the Minnesota Historical Society to have the cassettes transcribed. They were stored until 2022 when the PHS Collections Committee was able to make them available to the public.
Using funds from the Preston Area Community Foundation, the tapes were converted to a digital format. The original tapes are now available on a thumb drive and in printed volumes available for loan from the Preston Public Library. In 2023, new oral histories from Preston residents were recorded.
