Historian Jane Carroll will begin conducting an oral history project this month, which will examine the changes on Dartmouth's campus during the 1970s and 1980s.
Dean of Faculty James Wright provided the impetus for the project, and began organizing it last year while he served as acting president during President James Freedman's six-month sabbatical.
"As a historian, I know that an institutional record is important, and a part of that record is oral history," Wright said. "It' s time for us to move ahead in documenting that history."
Carroll is particularly interested in finding out about the coeducation of the College, the decision to encourage minority applicants, the increasing qualifications of the faculty, and the decision to keep Dartmouth Medical School.
"There are so many exciting and fascinating topics that we hope to cover in this oral history," Carroll said. "It's a pretty hot topic period, and that richness should be fascinating."
The project will concentrate on the terms of President John Kemeny, from 1970 to 1981, and of President David McLaughlin from 1981 to 1987.
The oral history will build on the more than 300 hours of tape, which history professor Jere Daniell recorded in the 1970's.
"The paper trail keeps getting bigger and bigger," Daniell said. "Someone is going to want to come along and write about the College in the future, and the more information we can gather about that period, the better that history will be."
"We were a failing institution, and had tremendous financial troubles a century ago," Daniell said. "The history of Dartmouth College in the 20th century is a fantastic success story, and it's important that we record that success."
Oral history, Carroll explained, provides a more complete narrative.
"Oral history allows individuals a more informal setting in which to discuss their memories," Carroll said. "They're not afraid of the task of putting it on paper, and that allows for a richer and more detailed history."
An eight-member advisory committee, which includes Wright and Daniell, has helped Carroll narrow the field of people she will interview for the project to about 70.
"Each member of the committee submitted a list of names whom they thought would be good sources for the project. The first thing I did was collate the lists, and immediately I had over 80 names," Carroll said.
Carroll then fine-tuned the list, including more alumni among those to be interviewed. "While the record of the administration is most important, we must also understand how the decisions of the administration affected the students at the time," Carroll said.
"The alumni will provide the texture underneath the basic administrative record," she said.
Carroll has prepared for the project by cataloging and going through Daniell's tapes with the hope that in doing so, there will be a blending of the two projects.
"When we began, there was no on-line record of what the tapes were or where they were located," Carroll said. "That's going to change with this project."
"The tapes and transcripts will be indexed and a guide prepared," said College Archivist Anne Ostendarp, who also serves as the project's director. "These will be available in the College Archives, a part of Special Collections."
Carroll is now ready to begin the actual interviewing process, and hopes to complete two interviews per month.
"We expect it to take about 40 hours per interview, when one considers preparation time, conducting the actual interview, and the follow-up," she said.
Funding for the project, from two anonymous donors, provides enough money for up to four years of work on the project, Wright said.
For the most part, interviews will be conducted here on campus. "The best place for the interviews is probably here, because just seeing the campus will heighten memories and make the history richer," Carroll said.
