This collection contains interviews detailing student and faculty life at the University of Montana from the 1930s to the 1980s. The interviews were conducted in 1991 by Annie Pontrelli in preparation for the University of Montana’s centennial in 1993. The interviewees discuss attending the University, the student organizations and activities in which they participated, their faculty colleagues, and former and current University presidents. The interviewees also provide advice to current students about how to make the most of their time at UM. The original interviews are held as Oral History collection OH 270 at Archives and Special Collections, Mansfield Library, University of Montana-Missoula.
This collection includes 42 interviews.
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Adelaine Midgett Interview, September 19, 1991
Adelaine Midgett
Adelaine Stillings Midgett describes attending the University of Montana (UM) during the early 1930s and graduating with a degree in library economy. She talks about her career as librarian and some of the changes in library science education and practice that occurred between the 1930s ... Read More
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Arnold Bolle Interview, August 6, 1991
Arnold Bolle
Arnold Bolle describes his time as a student at the University of Montana (UM). He lists student rules, traditions, and events of the 1930s. Bolle recalls his past former career with the U.S. Forest Service and the Soil Conservation Service which took him to all ... Read More
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Arthur Deschamps Interview, August 5, 1991
Arthur Deschamps
Arthur Deschamps discusses attending the University of Montana (UM) during the 1930s and mentions professors such as H. G. Merriam, Paul Phillips and Rufus Coleman, for whom he had a great deal of respect including. He describes campus activities, campus buildings, and the role of ... Read More
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Barney Rudolph "Rudy" Autio Interview, July 9, 1991
Barney Rudolph Autio
Barney “Rudy” Autio describes coming to the University of Montana (UM) in 1957 after serving as the director of the Archie Bray Foundation in Helena, Montana. He talks about starting the UM ceramics program where he taught until 1984. Autio mentions some of the colleagues ... Read More
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Calvin "Cal" Murphy Interview, September 4, 1991
Calvin Murphy
Calvin "Cal" Murphy describes his time at the University of Montana (UM) starting as a student in 1942, then as an employee in 1949 until his retirement in 1981. He talks about the various positions he held including fee clerk, business manager, and business manager ... Read More
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Charles E. "Mike" Hardy Interview, July 31, 1991
Charles E. Hardy
Charles “Mike” Hardy recalls student life at the University of Montana (UM) in the 1930s. He talks about his favorite classes and teachers in the School of Forestry as well as the organizations and events that took place on campus including Aber Day, the Forester’s ... Read More
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Donald Emblen Interview, July 18, 1991
Donald Emblen
Donald Emblen describes coming the University of Montana (UM) in 1945, where he taught until retiring in the 1970s. He talks about working to develop the Department of Accounting after World War Two, and he reminisces about his colleagues including Fred Henningsen and Jack Kempner. ... Read More
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Earle Thompson Interview, July 10, 1991
Earle Thompson
Earle Thompson describes his tenure as dean of the Mansfield Library at the University of Montana (UM) from 1964 to 1982. He offers his opinions on the four university presidents under which he served, and he discusses the liberal culture on campus during the 1960s ... Read More
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Elizabeth Hershey Fry Interview, November 5, 1991
Elizabeth Fry
Missoula native Elizabeth Hershey Fry describes attending the University of Montana (UM) from 1913 to 1917, where she majored in English and mathematics. She reminisces about joining the Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority and Glee Club. Fry recalls student activities such as attending parties and dances ... Read More
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Emma Lommasson Interview, July 17, 1991
Emma Lommasson
Emma Lommasson describes attending the University of Montana (UM) from 1929 to 1933 and graduating with a degree in mathematics. She talks about working at UM as a math instructor and teaching classes in aerial navigation during World War Two. Lommasson recalls advising the Angel ... Read More
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Esther "Es" Cunniff Wilson and Vince Wilson Interview, August 26, 1991
Esther Wilson and Vince Wilson
Esther Wilson and Vince Wilson, longtime residents of Missoula, Montana, discuss attending the University of Montana (UM) in the 1940s. They describe the changes that have occurred on campus and within Missoula since that time. Vince Wilson provides a short, prepared overview of the Physical ... Read More
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Frederick A. "Fred" Henningsen Interview, July 17, 1991
Frederick A. Henningsen
Frederick "Fred" Henningsen describes attending the University of Montana (UM) during the 1930s. He talks about the required courses, the campus grounds, and the rules for female students. Henningsen also lists the ten presidents and the various deans of the School of Business who served ... Read More
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George F. Weisel, Jr. Interview, August 8, 1991
George F. Weisel Jr.
George F. Weisel, Jr. describes his 38-year tenure teaching zoology at the University of Montana (UM), which began in the late 1940s. He recalls the small size of the faculty and student body when he arrived and how everyone knew one another. He also notes ... Read More
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George Lewis Interview, August 7, 1991
George Lewis
George Lewis describes attending the University of Montana (UM) and teaching as a faculty member in the School of Music during the 1960s and 1970s. He talks about his love for teaching and his teaching philosophy, which included expecting his students to respect rather than ... Read More
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Gordon Browder Interview, July 23, 1991
Gordon Browder
Gordon Browder describes moving to Missoula, Montana, in 1948 to chair the University of Montana’s (UM) Department of Sociology. He talks about the constant changes in UM administration during the 1940s and 1950s as well as the reorganization of Faculty Senate and the founding of ... Read More
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Grace Streit Interview, November 6, 1991
Grace Streit
Grace Streit talks about attending the University of Montana (UM) in 1912 when she was 16 and graduating in 1916. She tells how President Edwin Craighead was fired for trying to consolidate all of Montana’s colleges in Missoula. Streit recalls living in Craig Hall, joining ... Read More
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Harvey Baty and Emmalou Baty Interview, July 1991
Emmalou Baty and Harvey Baty
Harvey Baty and Emmalou Baty describe attending the University of Montana (UM) during the late 1920s and early 1930s. Harvey Baty discusses becoming the Director of the School of Religion in 1938 and how he worked to establish innovative courses on world religions. The Batys ... Read More
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Herbert Lee "Herb" Torgrimson Interview, July 25, 1991
Herbert Lee Torgrimson
Herbert Lee "Herb" Torgrimson discusses his career as a maintenance supervisor at the University of Montana (UM). He describes the job and his duties, including maintaining the operations of the heating plant and overseeing new construction and renovations of all buildings. Torgrimson provides a unique ... Read More
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Jack J. Kempner Interview, July 24, 1991
Jack J. Kempner
Jack Kempner talks about coming to the University of Montana (UM) in 1956 as an assistant professor in the Accounting Department, and he describes the politics of being a faculty member. He recalls the animosity that existed between President Carl McFarland and Dean Ted Smith. ... Read More
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James E. Dew Interview, July 11, 1991
James E. Dew
James Dew, who came to the University of Montana (UM) in 1947 until his retirement in 1988, discusses UM presidents from James McCain to Neil Bucklew. Dew also recalls working with a limited budget and poor facilities. He describes the objectives and organization of the ... Read More
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John Campbell and Louise Campbell Interview, September 4, 1991
John Campbell and Louise Campbell
John Campbell and Louise Campbell describe attending the University of Montana (UM) in the 1930s. They note the small size of the student body and discuss how fraternities and sororities played an active role in administration and campus activities. Louise Campbell recalls living in a ... Read More
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John Stewart Interview, July 19, 1991
John Stewart
John Stewart describes his career at the University of Montana (UM), which spanned from 1946 to 1978, as both a chemistry professor and Dean of the Graduate School. Stewart discusses some of his accomplishments, such as expanding graduate studies and establishing Ph.D. programs in the ... Read More
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LeRoy W. Hinze Interview, June 23, 1992
LeRoy W. Hinze
LeRoy Hinze discusses working as a professor in the Drama Department at the University of Montana (UM). He describes developing and overseeing the theater program and his involvement in establishing faculty housing at Fort Missoula. Hinze recalls the general excitement and atmosphere on campus as ... Read More
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Mabelle Hardy Interview, August 1, 1991
Mabelle Hardy
Mabelle Hardy reminisces about attending the University of Montana (UM) during the 1930s. Hardy recalls working in the Registrar’s Office which created and maintained all student records by hand. She discusses the shift in student demographics during the 1930s (mostly young, single students) to those ... Read More
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Mary Craig Wilcox Interview, March 3, 1992
Mary Wilcox
Mary Wilcox describes her connection to the University of Montana (UM) as the great-granddaughter of UM’s first president, Oscar Craig. She talks about attending UM from 1962 to 1964 and, later, working in the Center for Continuing Education from 1971 to her retirement in 1991. ... Read More