Oral History Interviews

Description

In the 1980s, Professor of History Clarke Chambers and University President Nils Hasselmo discussed the need for a history of the university that would cover the latter half of the 20th century, picking up where James Gray's centennial history, "The University of Minnesota, 1851-1951" (University of Minnesota Press, 1951) left off. In support of this effort, Chambers embarked on an oral history project to capture perspectives of leading faculty members, administrators, and others who had played key roles in the University's recent history. By 1998 Chambers had conducted over 125 oral history interviews. In 1998 and 1999, Ann Pflaum, then Associate Dean of the University College, conducted additional interviews. Pflaum and Chambers arranged to deposit edited interview transcripts in the University Archives where they could be publicly accessible. The interviews served as core source materials for "The University of Minnesota, 1945-2000",(University of Minnesota Press, 2001), co-authored by Pflaum and historian Stanford Lehmberg. Source: introduction, The University of Minnesota 1945-2000.