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PROGRAM ACCOMPLISHMENTSInterviews During its twelve years of existence, the Rutgers Oral History Archives (ROHA) program has achieved an impressive record of success with more than 580 individuals interviewed to date (February 2006). Every year, the staff conducts oral histories with fifty to sixty-five additional individuals. The ROHA program features a robust undergraduate education component. Each semester, Professor John W. Chambers of the Rutgers History Department and Chair of the Academic Advisory Board, in conjunction with the program staff, offers an advanced oral history seminar entitled "Oral History of the American Experience in World War II." Over thirty undergraduates aid in conducting oral histories and processing the interview transcripts every year. The Public History Internship Program allows two to three History majors the opportunity to participate in the administration of the program as staff members for a semester. These undergraduates delve into the broader aspects of the program, including oral history techniques, archival management and event planning. The Rutgers Oral History Archives, one of the first oral history programs on the World Wide Web, has offered its digital holdings to patrons around the globe since 1996. The site (http://oralhistory.rutgers.edu) currently features 400 oral history transcripts and a collection of digitized and/or transcribed diaries, letters, memoirs and photographs. In their 2003 book, World War II on the Web: A Guide to the Very Best Sites, historians J. Douglas Smith and Richard Jensen gave the website five out of five stars for content. They remarked that, "The interviews are superb, by far the best available on the web, and contain a wealth of information that places the war within its broader historical context." Works Featuring the ROHA Program Atkinson, Rick. An Army at Dawn: The War in North Africa, 1942-1943 . Little, Brown, 2003.
Major Problems in American Military History, ed. by John Whiteclay Chambers, II, & G. Kurt Piehler. Houghton-Mifflin, Co., 1999.
Parker, Matthew. Monte Cassino: The Hardest-Fought Battle of World War II. Doubleday, 2004.
Spector, Ronald H. At War, At Sea: Sailors and Naval Combat in the Twentieth Century. Viking, 2001.
The Boys From New Jersey, ed. by Tom Kindre. Trafford Publishing, Co., 2004.
Turner, Barry. Countdown to Victory: The Final European Campaigns of World War II . W. Morrow, 2004.
In 2005, "Witnesses to War: Voices From the Rutgers Oral History Archives," opened in Alexander Library's Gallery '50, part of the Rutgers University Libraries, to commemorate the sixtieth anniversary of the end of World War II. Each display case highlighted the wartime experiences of an individual or family through the documents (diaries, letters, photographs, other memorabilia) that they created or utilized during the conflict. The exhibition's curators were Shaun Illingworth, assistant director, Sandra Stewart Holyoak, director, and their undergraduate assistants: Peter Asch, Stephanie Darrell, Nicholas Molnar and Susan Yousif. In the Summer/Fall of 2002, the Morris Museum featured thirteen hours of audio clips from the ROHA's oral histories in its "Share Your Story: Reminiscences from New Jersey World War II Veterans" exhibition. The audio component, produced by Shaun Illingworth, assistant director, featured recollections of war workers, home front participants and veterans of every theater of war. In 1995, in conjunction with the New Jersey Studies Academic Alliance and through a grant from the New Jersey Council for the Humanities, the Oral History Archives sponsored a series of conferences and an exhibit. The conferences included such topics as: The Morality and Ethnicity of Total War, The Legacy of the Holocaust for New Jersey and American Society, and The Impact of the Second World War on New Jersey. Alexander Library housed the five-month exhibit "Battlefields and Homefront: The Rutgers and New Jersey Experience During World War II." On Veteran's Day 2005, "War, Image and Memory," a three-panel
symposium organized by Dr. Fernanda
Perrone, Archivist & Head, Exhibitions
Program at SC/UA,and Shaun Illingworth, was held in the
Pane Room at Alexander Library. The first panel, "The End of
the War," examined veterans' experiences
leading up to V-E & V-J Day. Moderated
by Shaun Illingworth, the panel
included Lewis Bloom, RC '42, Calvin
Moon, RC '48, and Peter Sarraiocco,
RC '49.
The second panel, "Veteran Authors," discussed the process of writing and researching
one's own history. Moderated by
University Archivist Tom J. Frusciano, the
authors were Tom Kindre, RC '42, author of
The Boys from New Jersey, and Stephen M. Perrone, author of World War II B-24 "Snoopers": Low Level Anti-Shipping Radar On December 7, 2001, a memorial service was held in Kirkpatrick Chapel to mark the sixtieth anniversary of the Pearl Harbor attack on Pearl Harbor. Professor Emeritus Thomas Hartmann, a WWII US Marine Corps pilot, was the keynote speaker. Professor John W. Chambers, II, served as master of ceremonies. Other presenters included: Rutgers University President Francis L. Lawrence; Robert McCloughan, RC '42, and the Rutgers Alumni Glee Club; Bart Klion, RC '48, and Bert Manhoff, RC '48, co-chairs of the Alumni Coordinating Committee; Rev. John W. Berglund, RC '42; Rev. Wilbur Washington, RC '49; Sandra Stewart Holyoak, director; Thomas J. Frusciano, University Archivist. The following books and periodical articles have reviewed or discussed the Rutgers Oral History Archives and/or its website: Coffman, Edward M. "Talking about War: Reflections on Doing Oral History and Military History." The Journal of American History 87.2 (2000): 582-593. Floyd, Bianca P. "Bookmark: Rutgers Creates On-Line Archive of Oral Histories of World War II." Chronicle of Higher Education 46.11 (1999): A54. "Sites to See." American Heritage 51.8 (2000): 20. Smith, J. Douglas, and Richard Jensen. World War II on the Web: A Guide to the Very Best Sites. Scholarly Resources, 2003. [Review] Sparrow, James T. "The Rutgers Oral History Archives of World War II." The Journal of American History 89.4 (2003): 1631. [Review] In May 2004, the ROHA staff and several dedicated alumni traveled to Washington, DC, to observe the dedication of the National World War II Memorial and assist the Library of Congress' Veteran's History Project in interviewing as many veterans and war workers in attendance as possible. The undergraduate staff members roamed the National Mall armed with tape recorders to perform man-on-the street interviews while the alumni, who had already told their stories to the ROHA Program, encouraged others to participate in the VHP. The project staff has also lectured to high school and grammar school classes throughout the East Coast using audio recordings, interview transcripts, and the project's website as interactive tools to teach the nation's youth about the generation that endured both the Great Depression and the Second World War to forge the world they were born into. |