Oral Histories

Scope and Contents 1 interview with John Thayer Andrews, Middlebury College Professor of Philosophy, by Allison Kirk. Andrews discusses how Middlebury compares to other colleges; how he was hired directly by President Moody; Moody's temperament; Eleanor Ross; faculty life; faculty housing; Professor's salary in the 1930's; World War II; war on drugs; Middlebury during the war; GI benefits; President Stratton; secret faculty vote; political leanings of the faculty; politics; bad student teacher ratio; faculty...

Scope and Contents 1 interview with Donald Ballou, Middlebury College Professor of Mathematics. Ballou discussed why he chose to work at Middlebury; President Moody; how WWII affected the college; absence of men during and after the war; President Stratton; the administration change after Stratton; his experience as department chair; department expansion; unrest under Stratton; introducing a new computer course; National Science Foundation; balancing teaching and research; participating in faculty committees;...

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1 interview with Douglas Stowe Beers, Middlebury College Professor of English. Beers discussed his undergrad and graduate experience at Yale; salary; President Moody; Breadloaf; his experience as head of the acting department; President Stratton; his experience of chairman of the division; staff relations; student social activites; comprehensive exams; chaperoning frat parties; class stories; other job offers; female vs. male students; and Robert Frost.

Scope and Contents 1 interview with John G. Bowker, Professor of Mathematics, conducted by David Stameshkin at 14 Aidrondack View, Middlebury (Bowker's home). Bowker discusses President Thomas; Dwayne Robinson; President Stratton; fund raising; athletics; Hamlin Hall; Tea time tavern; President Hamlin; expanding the Fine Arts programs; mathematics courses; mathematics curriculum changes; Foreign Language Study; President Moody; Storrs Lee; Steve Freeman; Board of Trustees; military training on campus; draft...

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1 10-minute interview with Deborah Clifford conducted by David Stameshkin. In the interview, Clifford discusses interviews she has conducted that pertain to President Moody; railroading students; President Armstrong; segregating the college; "Nita" Cook; Adelma Hadley Lardner; and Marion Young.

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1 interview with Elbert Charles Cole (Class of 1915) by David Stameshkin. Cole discusses athletics; dances; sororities; social life; Pearsons Hall; McCullough gym; baseball field; new chapel; President Moody; old campus; student jobs; undergroud railroad at Brainerd's house; Redfield Proctor; trustees; Mrs. Moody; Alexander Twilight; World War II; alumni events; E. Pruda Wiley; commencement; and Dwanye Robinson.

Scope and Contents 1 interview with Natalie H. Dunsmoor, Middlebury College Class of 1935, by Joice Pangalila at Dunsmoor's 60th reunion. Dunsmoor discusses reunions; why she went to Middlebury; her academic challenges; Mountain club; Alumni college; the Moodys; winter carnival; scholarships; working as a waitress; what she did in her free time; sociology trips; being a teacher; Chateau; French; customs and traditions; tea dances; formals; sororities; sigma kappa; tennis; Dr. Reginald Cook; co-ed dorms;...

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1 interview with Ruth Mercer (Brown) Ells-Crane, Middlebury College Class of 1934. During the interview, Ells-Crane discusses the Mountain Club; why she came to Middlebury; President Moody; life at Middlebury for women; environmental issues; war; Depression; sororities and fraternities; academics; life after Middlebury; motion pictures in the 1930s; travel and Alaska; family; and the future of Middlebury College.

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1 interview with Peggy Eriksson, Middlebury College class of 1942. During the interview, Eriksson discusses married women at Middlebury; chapel and choir; being married by President Moody; why she chose Middlebury College; the French major; military service; turmoil under President Stratton; racial issues; petitions and protests; and committee reports.

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1 interview with Jane Howard Fiske (Class of 1939) by Deborah Clifford. Fiske discusses prohibition; having students living with her family; President Moody; coeducation; careers for women after graduation; town gown relations; V12; UVM; leaving college to get married; the Great Depression; student jobs; Professor Richard Brown; Eleanor Ross; restrictions on women; living off campus; and compulsory chapel.

Scope and Contents 1 interview with Stephen Freeman, Director of the Language Schools and Clara Yu, Vice President for Languages. Freeman discusses how he got a job in the French department; how language schools started; the language pledge; development of SLS; Italian School; Breadloaf; World War II; President Moody; President Stratton; the origin of study abroad; trying to start new programs abroad; Masters programs at Middlebury; Language lab; designing sunderland; women at Middlebury; Eleanor Ross; growth...

Scope and Contents 1 interview with Stephen A. Freeman, Middlebury College Professor of French, Vice President, Acting President, and Director of the Language Schools, by David Stameshkin. The interview was conducted in the basement of the library. Freeman discusses Harvard; the French department; President Moody; Chateau; Brown University; salary; his publications; being President of the American Association of Teachers of French; qualifications of the faculty; sabbatical; life in the Chateau; French parties;...

Scope and Contents 1 interview with Talbot F. Hamlin, Middlebury College Class of 1940, by Joice Pangalila at reunion. Hamlin discusses why he came to Middlebury; Hepburn; transporation by train; Middlebury accepted more men than women applicants; no cars allowed on campus; compulsory chapel; contemporary civilization; Charlotte Moody; glee club; choir; athletics; Music department; French department; Dr. Freeman; course requirements; geology; psychology; his work in publishing; his work with aptitude testing;...

Scope and Contents 1 interview with William Harris, Middlebury College Professor of Classics. Harris discusses how he came to Middlebury; how Stratton hired him; admissions; President Armstrong; President Robison; fraternities; tenure; hiring process; faculty administration relations; fund raising; salaries; tuition; how Middlebury was a "poor man's" college; Jewish faculty; why Jewish faculty left; discrimination for tenure; being department chair of the classics; social order; beng married to students; what...

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1 interview with Louise Gove Hawkins, Middlebury College Class of 1940, with Joice Pangalila at Hawkins' 55th reuintion. Hawkins discusses how she found out about Middlebury; what she liked about Middlebury; starting her family; Mountain club; compulsory chapel; biology department; President Moody; town-gown relations; Battell Cottage; student activities; and World War II.

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1 interview with Joseph Kasper. Kasper discusses faculty-student relations; Storrs Lee; student council; Mr. Hepburn; how he wanted to leave college to work; how he came back to Middlebury; Professor Stevens; Jewish discrimination; religious diversity; socio-economic breakdown; President Moody; Elbert Cole; Trustees; growth of the student body; town gown relations; World War I; hazing; pranking; his college roommate; Harvard; and President Stratton.

Scope and Contents 1 interview with Adelma Hadley Lardner, Class of 1928. Lardner discusses President Moody; Eleanor Ross; Women's College; Middlebury rules and restrictions; student government; why she chose Middlebury College; Fraternity houses; competition for colleges; working as head of Forest Hall; social activities; tea dances; McCullough gym; female male interactions; professions for women after graduation; Margret Peck; the liberalization of Middlebury rules; Middlebury traditions; intramural sports;...

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1 interview with Howard Munford, Class of 1934, conducted by David Stameshkin. Munford discusses President Stratton; tenure; serving as assistant professor; expansion of the college; student faculty ratio; trustees; Armstrong; Storrs Lee; President Moody; Eleanor Ross; faculty council; quality of students; gender balance; English department; his retirement; Armstrong's resignation; and being department chair.

Scope and Contents 1 interview with Howard McCoy Munford, Class of 1934. Munford discusses Reginald Cook; department of American literature; resigning in protest; President Armstrong; studying as an undergraduate; Harvard; President Moody; Middlebury's reputation; restrictions on women; fraternities; social life; fraternities exclusion; gender segregation; women's separate college; qualitifications of the women; number of student applicants; comparing grades of men and women; women professors; Eleanor Ross;...

Scope and Contents 1 interview with Howard Munford, Class of 1934, and his wife, Marion Munford, Class of 1932, conducted by David Stameshkin at the Munfords' home. The Munfords discuss when they started working at Middlebury; why they chose to attend Middlebury; Eleanor Ross Dean of women; strictness on campus; gender segregation; President Moody; Cornwall's dismissal; Redfield Proctor; fraternities; social events; social groups; rushing; sororities; kappa kappa gamma; discriminatory fraternities; black...

Scope and Contents 1 interview with Walter "Duke" Nelson, retired Middlebury College Football Coach. Nelson discusses what he studied at Middlebury; athletics; field house; athletic facilities; coaching football, hockey and golf; teaching PE; intermurals; lacrosse; comparing Middlebury to other colleges; student activities; changes in Middlebury; teaching sports at a young age; World War II; what makes Middlebury unique; the rural setting; the growth of Middlebury; scholarships; financial aid; President Moody;...

Scope and Contents 1 oral history interview with David Kingsbury Smith (Class of 1942) conducted by David Stameshkin on March 10, 1975. Arrives at Middlebury on scholarship in 1938 (00:35); Secondary education in 1930s (01:30); President Moody (02:36): Dean Ross in 1943 gives permission for David's wife to marry him (04:30); Dean Elizabeth Kelly (07:00); 1938 class size, Influence of President Moody and Dean Ross (09:00); Harry Fife (10:40); Waldo Hendrich (11:18); Moody during World War II...

Scope and Contents 1 audio cassette tape containing interview with Erie Volkert, Middlebury College Professor of Drama, conducted by Alison Kirk. First 12 years at college, spent off campus on Weybridge Street (04:06); studied writing as English Literature/Theater major, '35 Lawrence College-assisted for two years -masters degree from Northwestern University, Huron College, South Dakota (04:25); took job at Randolph Macon (04:46); took VT camp job (05:37); assistant professor, 1941, Middlebury...

Scope and Contents 1 audio cassette tape containing interview with Barbara Wells, Class of 1941.1941 graduate, 1943 MA. Sciences, Biology major; fewer faculty members in 1940s, community relations were stronger (02:25); dating patterns between high school students and college students (03:10); teacher certification began for students in practice teaching (14:30); rebuilding image of females on campus-same tests given to males and females in 1955 (18:08); President Stratton-good...