History of the project
The Williams College Oral History Project was established with funds received from Anne Sawyer, wife of Williams President John Sawyer, “to record the College’s history through interviews and reminiscences” in order to document “the interesting and distinctive past of the College itself and of its place in the evolution of American higher educational institutions.”
The Project has had two primary interviewers since its inception: John Walsh (Class of 1954), who conducted nearly 25 interviews from 1991 to 1995, and Charles R. Alberti (Class of 1950), who succeeded him in 1996, and conducted more than 400 interviews before his death in 2012. Charles served as Project Director, working in concert with Bob Stegeman (Class of 1960), interviewing alumni, faculty, staff, and townspeople to record their memories of people and events in the College’s history.
If you would like to be part of the Williams College Oral History Project, or have suggestions for individuals to be interviewed, please contact the College Archives [email protected].
Using oral histories
Please use our oral histories wisely. Although the interviews are a valuable resource for understanding the College’s past, keep in mind that no person’s memory is wholly reliable and that any given narrative of events is limited by the interviewee’s role and perspective. Statements should be considered in the context of other interviewees’ memories and of other published and unpublished historical sources. Please work with the archivists to locate relevant additional resources.
About the transcripts
There are some instances in which transcripts intentionally vary from the original audio interview. In keeping with standard oral history practice, interviewees are provided with drafts of the transcripts so that they may make factual corrections and other emendations. In the early years of the project, some interviewees edited heavily; in addition, transcriptionists had some freedom to repair sentence construction and grammar. In recent years, substantive additions, deletions, or revisions, in particular any correction of fact, has been indicated in the transcript within square brackets. Brackets are also used to mark simple editorial expansions and clarifications.
Copyright
The Williams College Oral History Project interviews are governed by copyright regardless of the format in which they are stored or accessed. They may not be downloaded, reproduced, quoted from extensively, published, transferred, or distributed in any form or by any means without written permission of the Williams College Archivist. If you have questions regarding copyright, do not hesitate to contact the Archives.
