R-MC 025

Guide to the Rutgers Oral History Archives of World War II, 1994 - [ongoing]

By Thomas J. Frusciano

April, 2001

Special Collections and University Archives, Rutgers University Libraries

Encoded in EAD, version 1.0 by Terry Catapano, March 10, 1999.

Administrative History of the Rutgers Oral History Archives of World War II

The fiftieth anniversary of the end of the Second World War has sparked a growing realization among both scholars and the public alike that a generation is in danger of disappearing from historical memory. Americans who came of age during the Great Depression and then went on to confront the twin threats of German fascism and Japanese militarism are now in their seventies and eighties. If we do not act immediately and record their oral memoirs and stories, we will forever prevent their experiences from becoming part of the historical record of this vital era.

On July 1, 1994, the Department of History at Rutgers-The State University of New Jersey established the Rutgers Oral History Archives of World War II with an initial gift of $100,000 from the Rutgers College Class of 1942. Under the direction of Professor G. Kurt Piehler, this archive records the personal experiences of the men and women who served on the homefront and overseas. The goals of the project are multifaceted and include:

There are a number of general oral histories of World War II, but our project has focused initially on a target group of college educated men who attended Rutgers College and women who attended the New Jersey College for Women. We are focusing on this group in order to gain a better understanding of the impact of World War II on American higher education. In 1941, recent college graduates made up the bulk of the junior officer corps, and they played a crucial role in the postwar economic boom. In unprecedented numbers, female graduates entered a range of traditionally "male" occupations during the labor shortage. By interviewing individuals from the G.I. Bill classes, we seek to examine the reintegration of veterans in American society and whether this program opened educational opportunities.

The alumni/alumnae of Rutgers and the New Jersey College for Women have played a crucial role in the history of New Jersey. Our archives will offer incomparable resources for scholars and the public seeking to understand the history of the state, especially in the 1930s and 1940s. We will provide a base for historians seeking to compare other states and regions to New Jersey.

Initial interviews were conducted with members of the Class of 1942. Then, in the Summer and Fall of 1994, the project staff conducted a mass mailing to members of another prewar (1943) and a postwar (1949) class from Rutgers College. These two classes were selected in order to offer a comparative perspective on how the war impacted the group with college degrees going into the Second World War and those without a baccalaureate. The project is especially interested in documenting how the G.I. Bill transformed American higher education and society in general.

Through press announcements and other means, the staff has encouraged other Rutgers College alumni and New Jersey College for Women alumnae to participate in the project. Individuals willing to participate in the project are asked to complete a detailed survey that offers the project director and other interviewers a detailed biographical sketch of an individual's life, especially his or her war-time experiences. In the first year of the project's existence, it accumulated more than three-hundred completed surveys and more than 110 interviews.

The laborious process of transcription is the Achilles heel of any oral history project. Students and project interns transcribe interviews and Sandra Stewart Holyoak, the project director, reviews word for word resulting transcripts. After reviewing transcripts completed by students enrolled in this seminar, Mrs. Holyoak returns them to the interviewees for their comments and corrections. Project personnel encourage individuals to correct only minor errors of fact or grammar, and we seek to assure participants that they have ultimate ownership of their life story. After review and final editing, all transcripts and tapes are placed in the Rutgers Special Collections and University Archives.

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Project Staff

Dr. G. Kurt Piehler, former director of the Oral History Archives, teaches in the history department at the University Tennessee in Knoxville, Tennessee. Professor Piehler's early scholarship has centered on questions of identity, memory, and the politics of commemoration. He is the author of several recently published articles and a book, Remembering War the American Way (Smithsonian Institution Press, 1995).

Sandra Stewart Holyoak currently serves as the director of the Rutgers Oral History Archives of World War II. A recent graduate of Rutgers, Ms. Holyoak supervises all interns and project staff, coordinates and conducts interviews, and provides editorial supervision and assistance to the preparation of all transcripts. Project research assistants supervise the preparation of transcripts and maintain the project correspondence. Their duties also include directing the work of the student interns, coordinating the interviewing schedule, and conducting preliminary pre-interview research.

Thomas J. Frusciano, the University Archivist of Rutgers University, is responsible for processing and making available project interviews and other materials.

Professor John W. Chambers, professor of history at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey, serves as the chair of the project's advisory committee. He is the author of the book, To Raise an Army: The Draft Comes to Modern American (Free Press/Macmillan, 1987), and the editor-in-chief of The Oxford Companion to War, Peace, and Society.

The advisory board consists of distinguished scholars from both within Rutgers and across the nation, and it advises the Oral History Archives regarding methodology. Members include David Levering Lewis, the Pulitzer Prize winning historian, Alice Kessler-Harris, an internationally recognized scholar of women's history, and Richard Kohn, the former Chief Historian of the United States Air Force. Stephen E. Ambrose, the author of the best-selling D-Day also served on the advisory board before his death in 2002. The Rutgers Living History Society annually bestows the Stephen E. Ambrose Oral History Award in his honor.

All transcribed interviews are also available on the Rutgers Oral History Archives Website.

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Name and Subject Tracings

Corporate Names

Subjects

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Detailed Description of the Collection/Container List