The Civil Rights History Project: Survey of Collections and Repositories

Wabash College oral history project

Repository: Indiana Historical Society. William H. Smith Memorial Library

Collection Description (CRHP): The collection includes two sets of interviews (with individuals associated with Wabash College and also with the broader Crawfordsville community). The college interviews discuss the campus visits of several individuals associated with Civil Rights struggles, including Imaru Baraka, Stokely Carmichael, Angela Davis, Richard Nixon, George Wallace, and Malcolm X.

Collection Description (Extant): The Wabash College Oral History Project grew out of the school's sesquicentennial celebration in the 1980s. Under the leadership of Eileen McGrath, the project focused on African American alumni, faculty, and staff at Wabash College and on African Americans living in Crawfordsville. The interviews took place from 1982-1986, and the project was completed in 1987.

The collection contains 50 interviews and 48 transcripts on the African American experience at Wabash College and in Crawfordsville, Ind. Also included is background information on the project, its editorial policy, and biographical summaries for each interviewee. Topics include segregation, race relations, community activism, and political change and transition in a predominantly white college and town. Interviewees include Robert Wedgeworth, Rose Olabegi Adesiyan, Finley Campbell, Rob Johnson, Horace Turner, and college dean Norman Moore.

Access Copy Note: The tapes and transcripts of interviews with Keith Nelson and Finley Campbell are to be restricted from public use for 50 years.

Date(s): 1982-1987

Digital Status: No

Existing IDs: M 0647; CT 0593–0701

Extent: 3 document cases and 108 cassette tapes

Finding Aid URL: http://www.indianahistory.org/our-collections/collection-guides/wabash-college-oral-history-project-1982-1987.pdf

Language: English

Interviewees: Edith Reed, Clarence Churchill, Jerry Eubank, Frances Wooden, Mrs. Sam Churchill, Leona Mitchell, Helen Eubank, Andrew Robinson, Jasmine Robinson, Peggy Wooden, Madonna Robinson, Maxine Burdett, Elsie Bard, Elsie Bard, Elizabeth Smith, Betty Lee, Brenda Barbee, Pat Johnson, Gwen Dudley, Briana Robinson, Clifford Wooden, Rebecca Powell, Tracy Smith, Pam Turner, Kevin Turner, Pat Turner, Katrynka Eubank, Shannon Barbee, Robert Wedgeworth, Norman C. Moore, John Davis, Richard Cauthen, David E. Kendall, Finley Campbell, W. Michael Bachner, Rob Johnson, Keith O. Nelson, Anthony R. Partee, Horace Turner, Horace Turner, Robert Jamieson, Gary Harris, Joseph Mims, Rose Olabegi Adesiyan, Larry Walker, John Armstead, Greg Pierce, Thomas Williams, C. Adell Hendon, Jr., Keith D. Lee, Mark Eric Young, Max Servies, Nancy Servies

Rights (Extant): Permission to reproduce or publish material in this collection must be obtained from the Indiana Historical Society.

Subjects:

African American college teachers
African Americans--Indiana
Civil rights movements--Indiana
Indiana--Race relations
Segregation--Indiana--Crawfordsville

Genres:

Interviews
Sound recordings
Transcripts