Bates College Oral History Collection

The Bates College Oral History Project seeks to document and celebrate the rich and varied history of Bates College by compiling a collection of recorded spoken memories from a variety of individuals closely connected to Bates College, including alumni/alumnae, faculty, staff, presidents, and students.

The personal stories and insights of interviewees of the Bates College Oral History Project offer a rich fabric of firsthand history spanning nine decades and provide a sense of the time and of the interactions between people who helped to shape the social, economic, educational and administrative history of the College. In addition, they augment and complement the extensive documentary material in the Muskie Archives and Special Collections Library.

The project includes interviews conducted by students and some staff and faculty members between 1977 and 1999, and interviews conducted by Oral Historian Andrea L'Hommedieu from 2005 through 2006, which coincided with the College's Sesquicentennial. Several other interviews were conducted by her in 2011.

Full transcripts of and select audio clips for some of the interviews can be viewed in alphabetical, chronological, or association (faculty, staff, etc.) order on the website at http://archives.bates.edu/oralhistory/. The interviews found at that link comprise most of the ones dated 2005 or 2006 only.