A Documentary History of Hampshire College

Susan Dayall, the Hampshire College archivist, has assembled an impressive Documentary History of Hampshire College. The archives have been used variously throughout Hampedia in order to improve the content and accuracy of its articles. It can be found in its entirety here: http://www.hampshire.edu/archives/1511.htm

The Documentary Histories contain excerpts, or in some cases whole documents, from important sources of Hampshire College history. They are organized by decade, and then by subject or theme within that decade.

Volume 1 covers 1965-1975, and includes excerpts from founding documents of the college. Check out the Motto Memo, which details the thinking behind the college's motto, "Non satis scire." Read an interview conducted by Chuck Longsworth, the second president of Hampshire, with original landowners Howard Atkins, Bob and Cornelia Stiles, and Andy Weneczek. Find out why Harold F. Johnson decided to give $6 million of his own money to found the college. See the April Fool's Day 1973 modification of the college sign on the main driveway. The origins of the Schools are described, and the first Dean of Humanities and Arts casts the I Ching on the subject of appropriate governance for the college.

Volume 2 includes material from 1975-1985. See the original proposal for the New England Farm Center, and a report on the Hampshire forest. Read excerpts from the Holmquist Report of 1978, which looked at problems of racism confronting the college, and the Holmquist Report Review from five years later. See the news reports on the student who received a degree in frisbee. Read a parody of the course guide from 1981. Reports from the Ten Year Review of the college are excerpted as well as a student project called "Meltdown at Montague", which details the consequences of an accident at a proposed nuclear power plant in Franklin County, Mass.

Volume 3 covers the time period 1985-1995. In this volume you'll find the original Third World Expectation of 1984-85, as well as the statement on Workplace Democracy from 1990. One report describes the origin of the Day in the Lab, and another section covers the occupation of the Dakin Master's House by SOURCe in 1988. See the Community Work Program Proposal from 1991 and the origin of the Yurt. Read about the beginning of the Lemelson Program and the founding of the Yiddish Book Center. And there's an Admissions application from Miss Piggy.

Volume 4 includes documents from 1995-2005. Here is the New First Year Plan, and the beginning of the Re-Radicalization movement. Examine the college response to September 11 and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. The staff union drive and the faculty reorganization are included, as well as faculty and staff reminiscences from the early years of the college. See the opening of the Eric Carle Museum. Read some of the Hampshire Survival Tips, collected by students for students, and an essay on the windmill that stood for years on the hill by Enfield.