ORAL HISTORY PROGRAM MISSION STATEMENT

Quick Links

• The War Years at Dartmouth
• Dartmouth College Presidents
• Faculty, Trustees, & Administrators
• Dartmouth Medical Community

Emphasizing the voices least represented in the archival record, the College’s oral history program documents events and issues that have shaped Dartmouth College and altered or challenged the direction and identity of the institution.

Oral History Collections:

Dartmouth Community and Dartmouth’s World

Dartmouth Community and Dartmouth’s World is a new oral history project that launched  early in 2012. The goal of the project is to document the changing nature of the Dartmouth community in the second half of the twentieth century with an emphasis on the concept of the insider and outsider and how those roles and perceptions change for various constituencies over time. Narrators will include members of the Dartmouth community from 1945 to the present, representing a broad spectrum of voices and perspectives.

The War Years at Dartmouth

Oral histories collected from members of the classes of the 1940s documenting their undergraduate experiences at Dartmouth before, during and after World War Two. Interviewed by Mary Donin 2007-2011.  Sound recordings available in Rauner Library and online. Transcripts will be available soon in Rauner Library and online. 

Dartmouth College Presidents

Dickey, John Sloan (1907-1991)
Oral history of the twelfth president of Dartmouth College (1945-1970), Dartmouth College Oral History Project, interviewed by Jere Daniell periodically during 1975-1978. Transcript with index and original sound recording available in Rauner Library; transcript with index and sound clips available online.

Freedman, James Oliver (1935-2006)
Oral history about the fifteenth president of Dartmouth College (1987-1998), Dartmouth College Oral History Project. Interviews conducted by Mary Donin, 2007-2009. Closed until June 2023.

Hopkins, Ernest Martin (1877-1964)
Oral history of the eleventh president of Dartmouth College (1916-1945), Dartmouth College Oral History Project, interviewed by Edward Connery Lathem over a period of years from 1958 to 1964. Original sound recordings available in Rauner Library; transcript, unedited and unindexed, and sound clips available online.  

In addition, a student interview conducted by Laurence I. Schwartz, class of '64, in November 1963.  Original sound recording available in Rauner Library; transcript, unedited and unindexed, available online.  

Kemeny, John George (1926-1992)
Oral history of the thirteenth president of Dartmouth College (1970-1981), Dartmouth College Oral History Project, interviewed by A. Alexander Fanelli, 1984. Transcript with index and original sound recording available in Rauner Library; transcript with index and sound clips available online.

McLaughlin, David Thomas (1932-2004)
Oral history of the fourteenth president of Dartmouth College (1981-1987), Dartmouth College Oral History Project, interviewed by Jane Carroll, 1996-1997. Closed until June 2012.

Wright, James Edward (1938-    )
Oral history of the sixteenth president of Dartmouth College (1998-2009), Dartmouth College Oral History Program.  Interviews will begin in 2012.  Closed until 2034.

Faculty, trustees and administrators of Dartmouth College

Oral history interviews with faculty, trustees and administrators of Dartmouth College, collected periodically since the 1970s to the present time, Dartmouth College Oral History Project.

Dartmouth Medical Community

History of Dartmouth Medicine
Oral history interviews with members of the Dartmouth medical community, interviewed by Dr. Louis B. Matthews, Jr., 1987-1989.

Department of Pediatrics
Oral histories of members of the Department of Pediatrics of Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, formerly Mary Hitchcock Memorial Hospital, interviewed by Jean Hamlin (Class of 2007), 2005-2006.