Reel to reel tape player required for access.
In May of 1958 Dean John C. Weldin, who served as Registrar of the University of Rhode Island from 1946 until his retirement in 1957, conducted a series of interviews to record the history of Rhode Island State College, now the University of Rhode Island.
The interviewees were either long-time faculty members of the Rhode Island State College or had been students during the early years of College’s existence.
Three additional interviews conducted by Donald B. Webster in 1960 were subsequently added to the collection. Mr. Webster conducted these interviews in preparation of submitting his thesis in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts in History. His thesis,
Open for research.
Terms governing use and reproduction: Photocopying and scanning of materials is a fee based service available in the repository and is allowed at the discretion of the Archivist when in compliance to the Unit's policy on copyright and publication.
The John C. Weldin and Donald B. Webster Oral Histories of Rhode Island State College, Mss. Gr. 202, University of Rhode Island Special Collections.
Among the interviewees John Weldin spoke with was Dean Emeritus George E. Adams, who has the unique distinction of being in the first graduating class of Rhode Island State College in June of 1894. Other faculty members Weldin interviewed included Paul S. Burgess, the Dean of Agriculture and Home Economics; Frank Keaney, the Director of Athletics from 1920 to 1948, and Royal Wales of the Mechanical Engineering College. Former students include Henry Congdon and William Clarke, both members of the Class of 1898.
The transcript of Jack Stanton is noted as being incomplete and files of Henry Congdon and Herbert Rawdon contain transcripts only. The information contained in the transcript of the interview of Mrs. Marshall Taylor, whose husband was appointed as a faculty advisor in 1905, is noted that it should be used with caution, preferably for anecdotes only.
The file of William Clarke lacks the tape recording; however the file does contain a separate transcript of an “Off Record” conversation with Mr. Clarke. The file of Joseph Ince contains a Providence Sunday Journal article from 1950 reporting on Professor Ince’s testimonial dinner held in Kingston in which he was granted the title of Professor Emeritus.
After processing, the collection was arranged in a single series as follows:
Open for research.
The acquisition information is unknown.
The custodial history is unknown.
The collection was processed by Russell Franks in 2007.
Terms governing use and reproduction: Photocopying and scanning of materials is a fee based service available in the repository and is allowed at the discretion of the Archivist when in compliance to the Unit's policy on copyright and publication.
Donald B. Webster's thesis,
No materials were separated during processing.
The series contains reel to reel tapes and transcripts, except where noted, for eleven interviews of former faculty and students who came to the Rhode Island State College within the first twenty-five years of the College's existence.
The transcript of Jack Stanton is noted as being incomplete and files of Henry Congdon and Herbert Rawdon contain transcripts only. The information contained in the transcript of the interview of Mrs. Marshall Taylor, whose husband was appointed as a faculty advisor in 1905, is noted that it should be used with caution, preferably for anecdotes only.
The file of William Clarke lacks the tape recording; however the file does contain a separate transcript of an “Off Record” conversation with Mr. Clarke. The file of Joseph Ince contains a Providence Sunday Journal article from 1950 reporting on Professor Ince’s testimonial dinner held in Kingston in which he was granted the title of Professor Emeritus.
The collection is arranged in no discernilble order.
Reel-to-Reel tape and transcript
Transcript only