diff --git a/app/components/work_show_info_component.rb b/app/components/work_show_info_component.rb
index 84ec0e7d0..badd7af0d 100644
--- a/app/components/work_show_info_component.rb
+++ b/app/components/work_show_info_component.rb
@@ -172,7 +172,7 @@ def oral_history_interviewer_profiles
   end
 
   def oral_history_number
-    @oral_history_number ||= work.external_id.find { |id| id.category == "interview"}&.value
+    @oral_history_number ||= work.oral_history_number
   end
 
   private
diff --git a/app/controllers/admin/works_controller.rb b/app/controllers/admin/works_controller.rb
index 2326172e9..7fd62bd27 100644
--- a/app/controllers/admin/works_controller.rb
+++ b/app/controllers/admin/works_controller.rb
@@ -273,7 +273,7 @@ def remove_searchable_transcript_source
   # GET /admin/works/ab2323ac/download_searchable_transcript_source
   def download_searchable_transcript_source
     authorize! :read, @work
-    id = @work.external_id.find { |id| id.category == "interview" }&.value
+    id = @work.oral_history_number
     id ||= @work.friendlier_id
     filename =  "#{id}_transcript.txt"
     send_data @work.oral_history_content!.searchable_transcript_source,
diff --git a/app/models/oral_history_request.rb b/app/models/oral_history_request.rb
index 1e59eaddb..451afc173 100644
--- a/app/models/oral_history_request.rb
+++ b/app/models/oral_history_request.rb
@@ -25,18 +25,12 @@ class OralHistoryRequest < ApplicationRecord
   end
 
   def oral_history_number
-    return nil if self.work.external_id.nil?
-    oh_id =  self.work.external_id.find {|id| id.attributes["category"] == "interview"}
-    return nil if oh_id.nil?
-    oh_id.attributes['value']
+    self.work.oral_history_number
   end
 
-
   # delegate to oral_history_requester, or while we're migrating default to
   # local attributes
   def requester_email
     oral_history_requester&.email
   end
-
-
 end
diff --git a/app/models/work.rb b/app/models/work.rb
index ead4f8921..3ee74a2fa 100644
--- a/app/models/work.rb
+++ b/app/models/work.rb
@@ -132,6 +132,11 @@ def has_text_extraction?
     ocr_requested? || pdf_text_extraction?
   end
 
+  # Does not cache, looks up everytime, first external_id with category "interview", if present
+  def oral_history_number
+    self.external_id&.find { |id| id.category == "interview" }&.value
+  end
+
   # With one pg recursive CTE find _all_ descendent members, through
   # multiple levels.
   #
diff --git a/app/presenters/citable_attributes.rb b/app/presenters/citable_attributes.rb
index 1f964f592..7460986b2 100644
--- a/app/presenters/citable_attributes.rb
+++ b/app/presenters/citable_attributes.rb
@@ -581,9 +581,7 @@ def archive_location
     end
 
     def interview_id
-      interview_ids = CitableAttributes::work_lookup(work, "external_id", "interview")
-      return nil if interview_ids.blank?
-      interview_ids.first
+      work.oral_history_number
     end
 
   end
diff --git a/lib/tasks/data_fixes/add_transcripts_to_oral_histories.rake b/lib/tasks/data_fixes/add_transcripts_to_oral_histories.rake
index 4d74d726c..0ed37f412 100644
--- a/lib/tasks/data_fixes/add_transcripts_to_oral_histories.rake
+++ b/lib/tasks/data_fixes/add_transcripts_to_oral_histories.rake
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@ namespace :scihist do
           end
         end
 
-        accession_num =  w.external_id.find { |id| id.category == "interview" }&.value
+        accession_num =  w.oral_history_number
         unless accession_num
           progress_bar.log("ERROR: #{w.title}: no accession number.")
           progress_bar.increment