1
40
60
-
https://www.ssmp.mdocs.skidmore.edu/files/original/1e03d17a3d411608461e960120b47c22.jpg
4a2d67e662611a0ff5bdfc1db752fcb7
https://www.ssmp.mdocs.skidmore.edu/files/original/88a137a534591b2015e726f027e56e66.mp3
00ba2c6004cb218f70b37a40d39bb7ef
https://www.ssmp.mdocs.skidmore.edu/files/original/635494370061e61f23bb5b61718bc7fb.pdf
6530dd4fd74e4e2a0884173733318118
PDF Text
Text
Ari
Bogom-‐Shanon:
Ok,
if
you
wouldn't
mind
just
stating
your
name?
Parker
Diggory:
My
name
is
Parker
Diggory.
ABS:
And
your
title.
PD:
I'm
the
director
of
Religious
and
Spiritual
Life
at
Skidmore
College.
ABS:
Great,
thank
you.
So
we're
here
on
February
16th
in
Parker's
office
at
Skidmore.
So
I'd
like
to
just
start
off
by
asking
about
your
connection
to
Skidmore
College
and
where
that
started
and
what
you
do
here
now.
PD:
Sure,
so
my
connection
to
Skidmore
college
is
really
life
long,
both
of
my
parents
taught
here,
my
father
taught
here
for
I
don't
know,
three
decades
or
more,
and
so
I
knew
the
campus
from
my
earliest
memories.
I
went
to
summer
camp
here
one
summer,
I
had
one
of
my
first
jobs
here
when
the
Tang
opened,
working
there.
Yeah
so
I've
been
connected
to
the
community
in
a
number
of
ways,
coming
to
performances,
things
like
that.
I
took
classes
here
while
I
was
in
high
school
as
a
special
student,
and
then
when
I
left
for
college
and
grad
school
and
all
of
that
I
didn't
have
much
of
a
connection
to
the
campus
for
about
fifteen
years
I
would
say.
And
then,
just
three
years
ago
I
came
back
to
take
on
this
position,
at
first
part
time
and
then
full
time,
and
now
like
I
said
I'm
the
director
of
Religious
and
Spiritual
Life
and
that
means
that
I
work
with
other
offices
in
Campus
Life
and
Engagement
and
in
Student
Affairs
to
support
the
students
primarily
but
really
the
whole
campus
in
their
religious
life,
in
their
search
for
spiritual
connection,
in
their
growing
awareness
of
religion
in
general
in
the
world.
ABS:
Great,
thank
you.
That's
a
bit
about
your
connection
to
Skidmore,
now
I'm
wondering
if
you
can
talk
a
bit
about
your
connection
to
Saratoga,
focusing
on
faith-‐
based
communities
or
if
there's
like
a
faith-‐based
journey
that
brought
you
to
this
particular
position
here.
PD:
Sure,
so,
again
born
and
raised
in
Saratoga
Springs.
Um,
went
to
public
schools
here
and
grew
up
in
the
same
church
that
I'm
actually
attending
now,
which
is
the
Presbyterian
New
England
Congregational
Church
on
Circular
Street
in
Saratoga.
And,
it
wasn't
a
very,
hm,
all-‐encompassing
kind
of
church
life,
where
everything
you
do
and
everything
your
family
does
is
sort
of,
is
connected
to
that
community,
but
it
was
certainly
very
big
in
my
life.
We
went
to
church
a
lot
of
Sundays,
at
least
during
the
school
year.
We
did
volunteer
work
with
them.
That's
where
I
went
to
youth
group
and
went
on
trips
and
so
that
really
was
my
forming—my
formational
community
in
a
lot
of
ways.
It's
where
a
lot
of
my
strongest
friendships
developed,
in
terms
of
you
know
when
I
was
a
teenager,
the
people
who
I
still
speak
to
now
as
an
adult
from
my
childhood
a
lot
of
them
are
people
I
knew
through
church.
And
then
also
that
meant
that
other-‐-‐that's
how
I
got
to
know
some
other
religious
�communities.
There
were
some
interfaith
things
that
happen
or
ecumenical
things.
That's
how
I
got
to
know
the
rabbis
at
Temple
Sinai,
because
our
congregation
would
do
things
together,
or,
you
know
there
was
usually
a
Thanksgiving
kind
of
multi-‐faith
prayer
and
just
event,
community
event,
that
would
happen
and
there
would
be
different
religious
communities
represented
there.
Yeah
so
that,
and
they,
the
church
that
I
was
raised
in,
like
I
said
it's
Presbyterian
and
Congregational
which
are
two
denominations
and
I
personally
am
part
of
the
Presbyterian
denomination
and
that
eventually
became
a
path
for
me
in
terms
of
my
professional
development
in
that
I
went
to
seminary
and
I
am
in
a
sort
of
long,
scenic
route
towards
ordination
in
that
church.
ABS:
You
talked
a
little
about
coming
back
to
the
same
church
community
when
you
came
back
I
was
wondering
if
you
could
expand
on
what
it
was
like
to
come
back
to
this
community
fifteen
years
later.
PD:
Wow,
yeah,
in
many
ways
it
was
just
wonderful
to
be
able
to
come
back
to
my
home
church
community
that
it's,
even
while
I
was
gone
I
would
come
back
for
holidays,
or
if
I
just
happened
to
be
in
town
over
a
weekend
I
would
go
to
church.
The
congregation
helped
support
part
of
my
education,
you
know,
this
was
who
I
kept
in
touch
with
so,
in
some
ways
I
had
never
completely
left.
But,
I
would
say,
I
guess
if
there
was
anything
challenging
about
it,
it
was
that
I
had
grown
in
my
faith
journey
in
ways
that
I
was
a
little
worried
wouldn't
fit
in
to
my
home
church.
That,
our
church
is
known
for
a
really
broad
diversity
of
theological
beliefs
and,
I
just,
I
didn't
have
the
beliefs
as
I
when
I
was
younger
which
it
to
be
expected
but
I
just
wanted
to
make
sure
that
I
was
still
gonna
fit
in
and
they,
they're
so
accepting
of
so
many
beliefs
that
I
knew
intellectually
that
that
would
be
fine,
but
there's
still
that
nervousness
of,
if
I
don't
feel
like
this
is
my
home
church
now,
like
what
would
I
even
do,
because
it's
where
my
parents
go.
I'm
connected
to
so
many
families
there,
if
I
all
of
a
sudden
started
going
to
say
the
Methodist
Church
or
the
Episcopalian
Church
like
people
would
have
questions.
And,
I
never
seriously
considered
not
going,
but
there
were
times
where
I
thought,
if
I
had
moved
to
this
town
as
an
adult
and
had
never
gone
to
any
of
the
churches
in
town,
is
this
the
congregation
I
would
end
up.
And
I
honestly
don't
know.
I
think
it
would
be,
just
because
it's
unique
in
a
lot
of
ways
in
this
town
and
has
a
lot
things
I
look
for,
but
it
was
an
interesting
question
to
think
about.
And
in
other
ways
it's
just
been
good
to
get
back
and
to
church
life
and,
you
know,
I
ended
up
being
nominated
for
the
board
of
the
church
and
church
leadership
so
it's
a
very
different
role
than
I
had
before,
where
I'd
still
get
treated
a
little
bit
as
one
of
the
kids
of
the
church
but
I'm,
I'm
treated
as
an
adult
and
as
a
leader
and
with
expectations
and
responsibilities
which
are
different,
which
I
value.
�ABS:
Thanks
for
sharing.
So
I
think
this
is
maybe
a
little
of
a
transition
into
Skidmore
and
what
that
role
is
like
but
I'm
wondering,
for
you
coming
to
Saratoga
was
really
coming
home
to
you
community
and
you
talked
about
how
we
practice
[sic]
is
so
much
bound
up
with
how
we
grew
up
and
what
communities
we
grew
up
in,
and
for
a
lot
of
people
coming
to
Skidmore
they're
leaving
their
home
communities.
So
I'm
wondering
if
you
thought
at
all
about
that
kind
of
relationship
of
working
with
a
bunch
of
students
here
who
are
leaving
their
home
communities
and
for
you
it's
coming
back
to
your
community
and
if
that
influences
your
role
here.
PD:
Mhm.
Sure,
I
think
it
does.
I
think
one
would
be
I
try
and
use
the
fact
that
I
do
know
this
community
really
well,
this
Saratoga
community
as
a
way
to
connect
students
not
just
by
which
denomination
they're
looking
for
or
you
know,
the
name
of
the
tradition
they're
looking
for,
but
sort
of
getting
to
know
the
personality
of
the
student
and
the
personality
of
the
congregation,
and
being
able
to
say,
you
know,
I
think
you're
really
gonna
like
this
leader,
or,
you
know,
there
are
some
folks
who
go
to
this
particular
service
that
are
looking
at
the
same
questions
that
you're
asking.
And
so,
part
of
it
is
that,
and
I
don't
think
it's
necessary
to
do
my
role
to
have
that
sort
of
historical
knowledge,
but
I've
certainly
tried
to
use
it
that
way.
And
then
the
other
bit
is
that
I
have
to
rely
on
my
own
college
experience
where
I
wasn't
in
Saratoga
Springs,
to
relate
a
little
bit
more
to
what
the
students
are
coming
in
with.
So,
I
went
to
college
in
Middlebury,
Vermont,
and,
you
know,
they
don't
have
a
Presbyterian
church
there
and
so
I
found
the
next
best
thing
for
me
which
was
actually
a
Congregational
Church,
and
I
looked
up
the
worship
times
and
I
went.
I
was
one
of
the
only
students
who
did,
sometimes
my
sister
came,
she
was
at
the
same
school,
and
that
was
it.
And
I
realized
only,
you
know,
months
later
who
else
at
the
school
might
have
some
of
my
similar
religious
beliefs.
That
I
didn't,
I
didn't
find
my
kind
of
on
campus
religious
community
in
some
ways
ever,
but
even
a
small
part
of
it
I
didn't
find
for
a
while.
And
so
I
try
and
hold
on
to
that
experience
and
fill
in
some
of
the
blanks
I
wish
had
been
filled
in
for
me,
as
somebody
who
didn't
really
know
the
landscape.
What
are
some
other
ways
that
influences
things
[pause].
I
think
part
of
it
is
trying
to
ease
the
transition
for
students
not
just
in
the
immediate
religious
sense.
Right,
I
can
reserve
prayer
rooms,
I
can
hold
services,
I
can
bring
in
leaders
and
what-‐not,
but
there
are
home-‐y
trappings
of
a
lot
of
people's
religious
lives
that
I'm
not
gonna
be
able
to
completely
replicate
but
I
can
try
and
offer
or
connect
to
or
get
a
taxi
to
or
something.
So
that's
part
of
it
to
is
just
thinking
about
what-‐-‐and
asking
the
students-‐-‐what
feels
like
home
to
you.
Because
sometimes
when
they're
asking
me
for
support
or
for
access
to
a
community,
you
know
they're
using
category
names
and
they're
using
tradition
names.
But
I
remember,
I
was
studying
abroad,
I
did
a
gap
semester
after
high
school
and
I
was
in
Jamaica,
and
I
went
church
with
my
host
family,
but
sometimes
I
would
go
to
a
church
that
was
a
little
more
like
the
one
I
grew
up
in.
And
I
walked
in
and
they
had
the
same
exact
brass
cross
on
the
altar,
and
I
almost
cried.
And,
it's
that
kind
of
thing
that
I
know
that
will
help
students,
and
it
might
just
take
a
while
to
figure
out
what
that
is.
To
find
that
familiarity.
So
I'm
not
sure
if
that
answers
the-‐-‐your
questions.
�
[00:11:25.000]
ABS:
Yeah,
definitely,
wow.
Yeah
it
is
almost
that
search
for
home
that
students
come
in
looking
for.
PD:
Mhm.
ABS:
Ok,
so
you've
been
here
three
years?
PD:
Something
like
that.
ABS:
Something
like
that?
Which
is
pretty
recent.
Can
you
talk
a
little
bit
about
your
first
impressions
of
the
religious
community
at
Skidmore?
PD:
Hm.
Well
I
admit
that
I
had
sort
of
made
some
assumptions
based
on
my
experience
at
a
somewhat
similar
college
and
my
knowledge
of
Skidmore.
So,
I
probably
didn't
come
in
with
a
completely
open
mind
in
terms
of,
just,
what's
my
first
impression,
you
know
completely
blank
slate
kind
of
thing.
It
was
more
that
I
kind
of
assumed
that
it
would
be,
not
the
most
overtly
religious
campus,
that
it
would
be,
um,
you
know
that
religions
that
are
generally
minorities
in
society
would
probably
be
a
little
more
organized
just
by
necessity,
that
we
would
have
a
lot
of
students
who
were
maybe
interested
when
they
went
home
in
still
attending
a
service
or
connecting
with
a
tradition.
But
at
least
while
they
were
at
college
it
didn't
seem
like
a
priority.
And
so
that
was
true,
those
assumptions
were
proved
pretty
true.
I
think
my
impression
was
that
it
was
very
much,
[pause],
first
word
that
comes
to
mind
is
underground,
but
that
has
some
sort
of
like
purposeful
hiding
that
is
only
occasionally
true.
But
that
it
was
below
the
surface,
how
'bout
that,
that
the
religious
life
at
Skidmore
was
and
still
is
to
a
great
extent
something
that
happens
in
a
person
to
person
sort
of
way,
in
a
word
of
mouth
sort
of
way.
It's
not
the
first
thing
you
find
out
about
somebody,
it's
not
the
majority
of
the
events
that
are
advertised.
But
when
you
scratch
the
surface
it's
there.
And
so
part
of
my
job
is
figuring
out
how
much
of
that
under-‐the-‐surface-‐ness
is
actually
fine
and
desirable
and
what
students
and
others
kind
of
want
and
it's
working
really
well
and
how
much
of
it
is
happening
simply
because
there
isn't
another
way.
Um,
what
else
was
I
struck
by.
That's
the
first
thing
that
comes
to
mind.
[00:14:13.783]
ABS:
This
is
a
bit
more
of
just
a
practical
question,
but
could
you
just
talk
a
little
bit
about
the
different
communities
that
are
here,
whether
it's
the
more
above-‐the-‐
surface
communities
or
any
below-‐surface
communities
also?
�PD:
Sure,
so
in
terms
of
named
groups
we
have:
Hillel,
which
is
a
Jewish
student
organization,
broad
spectrum
in
terms
of
tradition.
Because
we
don't
have,
not
just
because,
but
we
don't
have
kosher
offerings
at
Skidmore
and
that
and
other
reasons
mean
that
we
don't
have
a
full
range
of
Jewish
traditions
represented
but
what
does
exist,
the
only
organized
group
at
the
moment
is
Hillel
for
them.
There's
Christian
Fellowship,
Skidmore
Christian
Fellowship,
which
is
a
chapter
of
InterVarsity
Christian
Fellowship,
which
is
a
national
and
sometimes
international
thing,
so
is
Hillel.
And
then
we
have
a
Newman
club,
which
is
for
Catholic
students.
That
has
been
from
semester
to
semester
more
and
less
active.
It's
quite
small,
one
of
the
primary
functions
is
finding
carpools
to
local
Masses,
so
it's
not
one
of
the
more
active
in
terms
of
programming
at
the
moment.
Then
when
I
first
arrived,
and
still,
we
have
Hayat,
which
is
a
cultural
affinity
group,
not
a
religious
affinity
group.
But
it
covers
the
Middle
East
and
South
East
Asia
and
so
they
will
do
cultural
events
that
are
also
religiously
connected
and
things
like
Holi
or
a
Lunar
New
Year's
celebration
sometimes,
although
there
are
also
other
groups
who
do
those.
Eid
dinners
for
the
Muslim
community.
So
that
also
depends
on
who's
in
charge
and
who's
interested
in
supporting
an
event,
but
they
function
in
a
lot
of
ways
independently
from
my
office
and
from
the
Office
of
Student
Diversity
Programming,
but
both
of
our
offices
do
work
with
them.
There's
a
Quaker
group
that
is
not
an
official
club
but
they
get
together
and
through
my
office
they
advertise,
they
meet
every
other
week
and
they
advertise
that
through
my
office
and
I
help
make
them
connections
with
members
of
the
local
Quaker
community.
There
are
bible
studies
that
are
connected
with
Christian
Fellowship
but
I
think
some
of
them
are
attended
by
folks
who
maybe
aren't
involved
in
the
club
more
broadly
but
are
interested
in
going
to
a
bible
study
that
maybe
their
friend
is
leading.
There
is
a
practicing
Zen
gathering
that
doesn't
necessarily
require
you
to
be
a
Zen
practitioner
and
to
identify
as
a
Zen
Buddhist
to
attend,
but
there
are
certainly
folks
who
attend
who
have
been,
who
do
identify
that
way,
both
from
the
community
and
the
faculty
and
every
once
in
a
while
some
of
our
students
as
well.
And
then
there
are
some
students
who
will
get
together
around
a
certain
holiday
or
something
like
that.
There
were
some
Hindu
students
last
semester
who
got
together
to
go
to
a
Temple
for
a
particular
holiday.
And
it
was
sort
of
under
the
auspices
of
my
office,
sort
of
under
the
auspices
of
Hayat.
It
will
sort
of
be
an
ad
hoc
group
for
a
specific
purpose
and
then
they
sort
of
will
dissolve
again.
I
feel
like
I'm
probably
forgetting
something
huge
right
now.
There
are
some
other
groups
that
include
spirituality
and
spiritual
connection
as
part
of
what
they
do
and
who
they
are,
but
they're
less,
I
wouldn't
call
them
affinity
groups
as
much
because
they're
going
to
have
a
much
broader
spectrum
of
beliefs
within
them
and
so,
there's
an
inspirational
choir
called
Rejoice,
and
for
many
of
the
folks
there
there's
a
spiritual
component
to
what
they're
doing
and
what
they're
singing
but
they
sing
songs
from
many
different
traditions.
There's
a
mindful
movement
club
of
students
that
do
everything
from
learning
modern
dance
movement
techniques
to
yoga
to,
um,
I
think
the
circus
club
has
done
some
things
with
them.
So,
again
some
of
the
folks
there
are
regular
yoga
practitioners
and
for
them
that
is
part
of
a
religious
and
or
spiritual
practice
but
it's
not
necessarily.
And
then
there
are
the
folks
who
come
to
the
Skidmore
mindfulness.
So
we
have
weekly
meditations
and
yoga
practices
and
reiki
and
things
like
that
that
students
aren't
required
to
or
the
rest
of
the
�community
is
not
required
to
claim
any
particular
tradition
for
nor
are
they
likely
to
but
they
can,
and
many
of
them
do
express
that
this
is
a
spiritual
thing
for
them.
[00:19:22.000]
ABS:
It's
a
pretty
full
list.
PD:
Yeah
[laughs].
Oh!
I
knew
I
was
gonna
forget
somebody.
When
I
started
talking
about
Hayat
I
said,
you
know
when
I
got
here
Hayat
was
doing
all
of
this
and
they
still
are,
but
in
the
past
year
there's
also
been
a
bigger
push
from
some
of
the
Muslim
students
to
actually
have
a
club
that
is
expressly
for
Muslim
students.
And
there's
been
interest
in
that
since
before
I
got
here,
but
our
students
are
so
involved
in
so
much
that
it
takes
students
who
aren't
just
interested
in
it
but
are
interested
in
taking
leadership
in
it.
And
so
there
are
some
students
who
have
started
the
process
of
making
an
official
club,
which
is
fantastic.
But
if
that
doesn't
happen
or
until
that
happens,
our
office
just
continues
to
work
with
some
of
the
Muslim
staff
and
faculty
to
support
the
Muslim
students
on
campus.
[00:20:12.000]
ABS:
Can
you
also
just
talk
a
little
bit
about
how
staff
and
faculty
are
present
in
your
office,
if
they
are,
if
they
have
a
relationship
to
these
student
groups?
PD:
Sure,
well
I
should
mention
my
staff
as
well
so,
there
are
three
professional
staff
and
then
a
kind
of
rotating
number
of
student
staff.
And
that
includes
a
coordinator
for
Jewish
Student
Life,
Martina
Zobel,
and
a
coordinator
for
the
Skidmore
Mindfulness
program
Jennifer
Schmid-‐Fareed.
And
the
two
of
them
work
both
with
clubs
and
with
students
who's
needs
aren't
being
met
by
the
clubs,
or
who
just
want
to
do
things
that
expand
the
presence
of
religion
or
spirituality
or
interfaith
on
campus.
And
so,
the
three
of
us
are
the
staff
and
we
collaborate
with
a
lot
of
other
staff
in
terms
of
events.
I
mentioned
the
Office
of
Student
Diversity
Programming.
The
director
of
that
office
and
myself
we
oversee
the
Intercultural
Center
together.
So
we
try
and
make
sure
that
whenever
there
are
programs
that
are
more
automatically
assigned
to
one
of
our
offices
that
we're
thinking
more
broadly
about
how
the
work
of
our
offices
might
overlap
for
those
programs.
We
work
with
the
student
leadership
offices
and
their
staff
because
they
support
the
clubs
and
events
on
campus
and
that's
an
obvious
connection.
So
there
are
some
that
are
quite
obvious.
The
counseling
center
does
stuff
with
the
Mindfulness
program,
the
religious
studies
department
will
have
[sic]
us
promote
some
of
our
events
and
vice
versa,
so
there
are
some
obvious
ones.
And
then
beyond
that,
there
are
stu—er,
sorry,
there
are
staff
and
faculty
that
will
attend
some
of
our
offerings.
Most
of
the
events
that
we
do
are
open
to
staff
and
faculty,
so
they'll
come
to
Shabbat
dinner
or
�they'll
come
to
one
of
the
meditations.
This
week
we
did
an
Ash
Wednesday
service
and
I'd
say
there
were
maybe
thirty-‐six
people
there
and
two-‐thirds
of
them
were
students
and
the
other
third
was
probably
staff
and
faculty.
So
they,
there's
a
few.
It's
not
a
majority
by
any
sense,
it's
not
a
large
group,
but
there's
a
handful
that
do
get
involved
that
way
just
by
attending
and
participating.
And
then
there
are
some
who
get
involved
in
really
supporting
the
work
of
the
communities
and
so,
there
are
staff
and
faculty
who
don't
just
come
to
the
events
but
will
help
with
hiring
new
staff,
finding
new
advisors,
being
advisors
themselves.
And
sometimes
I
know
about
that
and
sometimes
I
learn
about
it
later.
You
know,
sometimes
there
are
staff
or
faculty
who
have
been
helping
students
get
to
church
for
years
and
I
don't
find
out
about
it
until
a
casual
conversation.
So,
yeah
some
of
it's
formalized
and
some
of
it's
very
much
about
some
of
our
staff
and
faculty
just
making
connections
and
finding
out
a
way
that
they
can
help
students
get
connected.
And
every
once
in
a
while
there's
a
collaboration
that's
a
little
less
expected
so,
I'm
trying
to
think
of
one
but,
you
know
there
have
been
partnerships
with
the
Tang
Teaching
Museum,
and
there
have
been
partnerships
with
different
academic
departments,
we've
worked
with
somebody,
actually
from
Documentary
Studies
Adam
Tinkle,
and
he
does
work
with
sound
and
we
do
work
with
sound
healing
and
things
and
so
there
are
some
neat
overlaps
of
some
of
that
work.
And
I
like
to
keep
a
sort
of
somewhat
secret
entirely
unofficial
list
of
staff
and
faculty
who
have
expressed
to
me
that
they're
willing
to
be
called
upon
for
certain
things.
So
if
there's
a
student
who's
coming
to
me
with
concerns,
especially
if
they're
from
a
tradition
that's
not
well
represented
in
the
Saratoga
area,
which
is
a
lot
of
them,
I
try
and
keep
a
list
of
which
staff
and
faculty
I
might
be
able
to
point
them
towards.
[00:24:27.000]
ABS:
Very
cool.
So,
you
just
said
that
there
are
a
lot
of
students
whose
faiths
might
not
be
represented
in
this
area,
but
I'm
wondering
if
you
can
talk
a
little
bit
about
what
connections
have
been
made
to
groups
in
this
area
and
Skidmore,
and
if
you've
seen
a
change
in
that?
Either
from
when
you
were
here
growing
up
or
from
being
here
for
three
years
and
working
in
this
position,
and
or
if
you
have
a
vision
for
that
going
forward,
in
terms
of
where
you
want
those
relationships
to
be
or
go.
PD:
Sure,
um,
hm.
How
to
start.
There
are
some
formal
connections,
so
the
local
reform
synagogue
Temple
Sinai,
their,
one
of
their
co-‐rabbi's
Linda
Motzkin
does
have
an
official
role
with
us
as
a
High
Holy
Days
chaplain.
Before
that
she
worked
even
more
frequently,
or
as
a
more
permanent,
not
that's
not
right,
a
more-‐-‐she
had
a
larger
role
at
Skidmore
previously,
in
terms
of
Jewish
student
life.
And
stepped
back
a
little
from
that
but
we're
very
thankful
she
stayed
on
to
work
with
us
during
high
holy
days.
And
part
of
that
is
that
that
congregation
is
able
to
use
Skidmore
Campus
spaces
for
High
Holy
Day
services
where
the
numbers
would
be
too
much
for
their
space.
And
it
gives
our
students
the
gift
of
being
able
to
attend
services
both
on
their
campus
and
with
a
multi-‐generational
faith
community.
Which
I
think
�is
really
wonderful.
So
that's
been
going
on
for
years
and
years
and
years.
The
other
connections
are
primarily
unofficial.
Although,
also
within
the
Jewish
community
the
Saratoga
Chabad
works
with
my
office
to
come
onto
campus
and
do
table
outreach
basically,
and
also
working
with
the
Jewish
student
community
a
little
bit.
And
then
there
are
churches
that
are
more
likely
to
attract
some
of
our
students.
So
for
instance
a
lot
of
the
students
involved
in
Christian
Fellowship,
or
at
least
a
decent
sized
group
of
them
will
carpool
all
to
the
same
church
on
Sunday
mornings.
And
that's
not
an
official
partnership
in
any
way
it's
just
a
little
bit
of
word
of
mouth
and
a
little
bit
of
common
traditions
and
so
that
happens.
With
the
Catholic
churches
there
are
two
parishes
in
town
and
I've
invited
priests
and
deacons
from
both
of
them
to
come
and
do
services
on
campus
and
so
that'll
be
a
wonderful
way
of
making
that
connection
happen.
But,
students
can
also
just
go
wherever
they'd
like.
And
so,
similarly
to
some
of
the
staff
connections
I
don't
know
sometimes
when
students
are
attending
services
in
town.
I
like
to
try
and
find
out
so
that
if
other
students
are
looking
for
someone
to
go
with
I
can
make
some
introductions.
And
I
think
that's
generally
the
same
as
when
I
was
growing
up,
though
I
certainly
wasn't
aware
of
religious
life
at
colleges.
It
wasn't
something
that
I
was
thinking
of
much
except
that
I
knew
the
chaplain
here
when
I
was
younger.
And
in
terms
of
what
I
want
to
see,
hyper-‐locally
like
right
in
Saratoga
Springs,
I
do
want
to
get
to
know
more
and
more
of
the
communities
and
the
leaders.
A
lot
of
them
will
contact
me
about
events
and
I'll
try
and
promote
those,
but
there's
also
a,
I
have
the
sense
of,
I'm
also
feeling
a
protection
of
the
campus?
That
there
are,
unfortunately,
always
going
to
be
religious
groups
that
aren't-‐-‐that
don't
necessarily
have
our
students
best
interest
in
mind
or
that
bring
a
style
of
communication
that
is
aggressive
in
a
way
that
I
don't
think
a
majority
of
our
students
would
like.
And
so
because
of
that,
I've
been
hesitant
to
just
put
out
a
blanket
invitation
to
religious
groups
to
come
to
campus.
I
usually
wait
for
students
to
express
an
interest
in
a
particular
community
and
then
I
will
reach
out.
So
for
instance
with
the
local
Quaker
community.
You
know
they
come
onto
campus
but
because
there's
a
student
interest.
So
I
would
like
there
to
be
connections.
I
think
especially
there's
a
lot
of
potential
within
the
volunteer
work
and
social
justice
side
of
things.
A
lot
of
our
local
religious
communities
are
on
the
front
lines
of
working
with
immigrants
and
refugees
in
the
area.
They're
the
ones
that
make
sure
that
the
soup
kitchen
is
staffed
and
that
there
are,
a
lot
of
them
are
volunteers
at
the
homeless
shelters
and
so
I
think
there
are
ways
there
to
strengthen
already
existing
partnerships.
We
do
have
students
already
who
volunteer
with
all
of
those
programs.
I
think
we
could
do
it
more
and
we
could
do
it
more
specifically
with
our
religious
students.
And
then
beyond
that,
beyond
Saratoga
Springs
we've
had
a
good
experience
getting
students
to
one
of
the
mosques
for
some
of
the
Eids.
Or,
we
partnered
with
one
of
the
mosques
on
a
service
project.
And
that's
been
wonderful
because
there
are
plenty
of
colleges
and
universities
in
the
capital
district.
And
Skidmore's
small
little
group
of
students
is
not
going
to
be
their
biggest
population
of
young
adult
outreach,
but
it's
been
nice
to
still
make
those
connections
and
I
want
to
strengthen
that
as
well.
Yeah
it's
interesting
because
a
lot
of
religious
communities,
and
I'm
speaking
primarily
out
of
the
Christian
context
but
I
know
that
it's
not
that
different
in
other
contexts.
A
lot
of
religious
communities
are
feeling
a
need
to
hold
onto
young
adults
with
all
of
their
�might,
and
I've
been
on
the
leadership
of
communities
that
do
this
where
we,
we
see
young
adults
and
we
see
numbers.
We
see
people
to
keep
our
traditions
going.
And
it's
very
self-‐-‐it's
very
much
about
us
as
a
religious
community
wanting
to
not
die
out,
and
I
want
to
help
my
own
church
but
also
all
of
the
religious
communities
in
town
approach
Skidmore
students
with
a
much
more
giving,
a
much
more
outward
looking
purpose.
That
this
is
not
about
whether
or
not
we
get
to
say,
"hey
we've
got
seven
college
students
on
our
lists,
we're
not
gonna
die
out,"
or
"we're
really
cool
with
the
young
people,"
but
more
that
isn't
it
great
that
these
one
student
or
these
two
students
are
being
fed
by
this
ministry.
So
that's
something
I'd
like
to
see
happen.
[00:31:33.793]
ABS:
Thank
you
for
sharing.
That's
all
the
questions
I
have
but
if
there's
anything
you
want
to
add
that
you
felt
like
didn't
get
in
there?
PD:
I
think
one
of
the
things
I'd
like
to
see
both
on
campus
and
in
Saratoga,
and
I
think
there
are
ways
to
maybe
make
it
happen
as
a
campus
community
partnership,
is
more
engagement
across
ideological
lines
of
religious
communities.
For
example
you
show
up
to
certain
meetings
in
town
of
religious
leaders
working
on
a
particular
issue
and
you
can
sort
of
predict
who's
going
to
be
there.
And
it's
not
that
they're
all
the
same
religion
it's
that
you're
pretty
sure
they're
all
the
same
politics,
or
they're
all
the
same,
you
know
social
views
on
different
issues.
And
so
one
of
the
things
that's
great
right
now
that's
happening
is
two
of
the
churches-‐-‐so
the
church
where
the
freeze
shelter
is
hosted
where
Code
Blue
is
hosted,
Soul
Saving
Station,
is
very
different
from
the
church
that
I
attend,
but
the
church
that
I
attend
is
also
helping
out
Code
Blue
with
some
office
space
and
some
overflow
space
and
housing
people
when
Soul
Saving
Station
doesn't
have
enough
room.
And
those
two
churches
could
not
be
more
different
ideologically
or
theologically
and
still
both
be
called
Christian.
But
they
are
[laughs],
and
they're
both
doing
this.
And
I
think
that
kind
of
partnership,
and
that
kind
of
getting
to
know
each
other
could
be
happening
more
at
Skidmore
as
well
and
in
the
town
as
well,
so
that
we're
expanding
what
it
means
to
be
religious
for
people
who
have
doubts
about
their
opinions
on
what
it
is
to
be
religious.
Maybe
not
doubts
about
their
opinions,
doubts
about
people
who
are
religious,
or
doubts
about
people
who
are
religious
in
a
way
that
is
different
from
them.
So
not
necessarily
interfaith
cooperation
but
even
within
a
tradition
across
ideological
bounds.
[00:33:45.570]
ABS:
Well,
I
wish
you
luck
in
this
office
�PD:
Thank
you
ABS:
And
all
of
your
goals
PD:
Thank
you
ABS:
Thank
you
so
much
for
being
part
of
this
interview,
and
I'm
not
sure
when
it
will
go
up
but
I
will
email
you
the
link
when
it
does.
�
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Oral History
Description
An account of the resource
Many people who have worked or studied at Skidmore College or lived in Saratoga Springs or the surrounding area carry the memories that help us tell the stories of our communities.
This collection offers a glimpse into our past in the voices of those who have shared their stories.
Oral History
A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge.
Interviewer
The person(s) performing the interview
Ari Bogom-Shanon
Interviewee
The person(s) being interviewed
Parker Diggory
Location
The location of the interview
Parker's office in Case Center.
Original Format
The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data
Audio
Record Contributor
Individual who prepared the item and/or edited it.
Ari Bogom-Shanon
Record Creation Date
Day/Month/Year of record creation/edit
06/03/2018
Transcription
Any written text transcribed from a sound
Ari Bogom-Shanon: Ok, if you wouldn't mind just stating your name?
Parker Diggory: My name is Parker Diggory.
ABS: And your title.
PD: I'm the director of Religious and Spiritual Life at Skidmore College.
ABS: Great, thank you. So we're here on February 16th in Parker's office at Skidmore. So I'd like to just start off by asking about your connection to Skidmore College and where that started and what you do here now.
PD: Sure, so my connection to Skidmore college is really life long, both of my parents taught here, my father taught here for I don't know, three decades or more, and so I knew the campus from my earliest memories. I went to summer camp here one summer, I had one of my first jobs here when the Tang opened, working there. Yeah so I've been connected to the community in a number of ways, coming to performances, things like that. I took classes here while I was in high school as a special student, and then when I left for college and grad school and all of that I didn't have much of a connection to the campus for about fifteen years I would say. And then, just three years ago I came back to take on this position, at first part time and then full time, and now like I said I'm the director of Religious and Spiritual Life and that means that I work with other offices in Campus Life and Engagement and in Student Affairs to support the students primarily but really the whole campus in their religious life, in their search for spiritual connection, in their growing awareness of religion in general in the world.
ABS: Great, thank you. That's a bit about your connection to Skidmore, now I'm wondering if you can talk a bit about your connection to Saratoga, focusing on faith-based communities or if there's like a faith-based journey that brought you to this particular position here.
PD: Sure, so, again born and raised in Saratoga Springs. Um, went to public schools here and grew up in the same church that I'm actually attending now, which is the Presbyterian New England Congregational Church on Circular Street in Saratoga. And, it wasn't a very, hm, all-encompassing kind of church life, where everything you do and everything your family does is sort of, is connected to that community, but it was certainly very big in my life. We went to church a lot of Sundays, at least during the school year. We did volunteer work with them. That's where I went to youth group and went on trips and so that really was my forming—my formational community in a lot of ways. It's where a lot of my strongest friendships developed, in terms of you know when I was a teenager, the people who I still speak to now as an adult from my childhood a lot of them are people I knew through church. And then also that meant that other--that's how I got to know some other religious communities. There were some interfaith things that happen or ecumenical things. That's how I got to know the rabbis at Temple Sinai, because our congregation would do things together, or, you know there was usually a Thanksgiving kind of multi-faith prayer and just event, community event, that would happen and there would be different religious communities represented there. Yeah so that, and they, the church that I was raised in, like I said it's Presbyterian and Congregational which are two denominations and I personally am part of the Presbyterian denomination and that eventually became a path for me in terms of my professional development in that I went to seminary and I am in a sort of long, scenic route towards ordination in that church.
ABS: You talked a little about coming back to the same church community when you came back I was wondering if you could expand on what it was like to come back to this community fifteen years later.
PD: Wow, yeah, in many ways it was just wonderful to be able to come back to my home church community that it's, even while I was gone I would come back for holidays, or if I just happened to be in town over a weekend I would go to church. The congregation helped support part of my education, you know, this was who I kept in touch with so, in some ways I had never completely left. But, I would say, I guess if there was anything challenging about it, it was that I had grown in my faith journey in ways that I was a little worried wouldn't fit in to my home church. That, our church is known for a really broad diversity of theological beliefs and, I just, I didn't have the beliefs as I when I was younger which it to be expected but I just wanted to make sure that I was still gonna fit in and they, they're so accepting of so many beliefs that I knew intellectually that that would be fine, but there's still that nervousness of, if I don't feel like this is my home church now, like what would I even do, because it's where my parents go. I'm connected to so many families there, if I all of a sudden started going to say the Methodist Church or the Episcopalian Church like people would have questions. And, I never seriously considered not going, but there were times where I thought, if I had moved to this town as an adult and had never gone to any of the churches in town, is this the congregation I would end up. And I honestly don't know. I think it would be, just because it's unique in a lot of ways in this town and has a lot things I look for, but it was an interesting question to think about. And in other ways it's just been good to get back and to church life and, you know, I ended up being nominated for the board of the church and church leadership so it's a very different role than I had before, where I'd still get treated a little bit as one of the kids of the church but I'm, I'm treated as an adult and as a leader and with expectations and responsibilities which are different, which I value.
ABS: Thanks for sharing. So I think this is maybe a little of a transition into Skidmore and what that role is like but I'm wondering, for you coming to Saratoga was really coming home to you community and you talked about how we practice [sic] is so much bound up with how we grew up and what communities we grew up in, and for a lot of people coming to Skidmore they're leaving their home communities. So I'm wondering if you thought at all about that kind of relationship of working with a bunch of students here who are leaving their home communities and for you it's coming back to your community and if that influences your role here.
PD: Mhm. Sure, I think it does. I think one would be I try and use the fact that I do know this community really well, this Saratoga community as a way to connect students not just by which denomination they're looking for or you know, the name of the tradition they're looking for, but sort of getting to know the personality of the student and the personality of the congregation, and being able to say, you know, I think you're really gonna like this leader, or, you know, there are some folks who go to this particular service that are looking at the same questions that you're asking. And so, part of it is that, and I don't think it's necessary to do my role to have that sort of historical knowledge, but I've certainly tried to use it that way. And then the other bit is that I have to rely on my own college experience where I wasn't in Saratoga Springs, to relate a little bit more to what the students are coming in with. So, I went to college in Middlebury, Vermont, and, you know, they don't have a Presbyterian church there and so I found the next best thing for me which was actually a Congregational Church, and I looked up the worship times and I went. I was one of the only students who did, sometimes my sister came, she was at the same school, and that was it. And I realized only, you know, months later who else at the school might have some of my similar religious beliefs. That I didn't, I didn't find my kind of on campus religious community in some ways ever, but even a small part of it I didn't find for a while. And so I try and hold on to that experience and fill in some of the blanks I wish had been filled in for me, as somebody who didn't really know the landscape. What are some other ways that influences things [pause]. I think part of it is trying to ease the transition for students not just in the immediate religious sense. Right, I can reserve prayer rooms, I can hold services, I can bring in leaders and what-not, but there are home-y trappings of a lot of people's religious lives that I'm not gonna be able to completely replicate but I can try and offer or connect to or get a taxi to or something. So that's part of it to is just thinking about what--and asking the students--what feels like home to you. Because sometimes when they're asking me for support or for access to a community, you know they're using category names and they're using tradition names. But I remember, I was studying abroad, I did a gap semester after high school and I was in Jamaica, and I went church with my host family, but sometimes I would go to a church that was a little more like the one I grew up in. And I walked in and they had the same exact brass cross on the altar, and I almost cried. And, it's that kind of thing that I know that will help students, and it might just take a while to figure out what that is. To find that familiarity. So I'm not sure if that answers the--your questions.
[00:11:25.000]
ABS: Yeah, definitely, wow. Yeah it is almost that search for home that students come in looking for.
PD: Mhm.
ABS: Ok, so you've been here three years?
PD: Something like that.
ABS: Something like that? Which is pretty recent. Can you talk a little bit about your first impressions of the religious community at Skidmore?
PD: Hm. Well I admit that I had sort of made some assumptions based on my experience at a somewhat similar college and my knowledge of Skidmore. So, I probably didn't come in with a completely open mind in terms of, just, what's my first impression, you know completely blank slate kind of thing. It was more that I kind of assumed that it would be, not the most overtly religious campus, that it would be, um, you know that religions that are generally minorities in society would probably be a little more organized just by necessity, that we would have a lot of students who were maybe interested when they went home in still attending a service or connecting with a tradition. But at least while they were at college it didn't seem like a priority. And so that was true, those assumptions were proved pretty true. I think my impression was that it was very much, [pause], first word that comes to mind is underground, but that has some sort of like purposeful hiding that is only occasionally true. But that it was below the surface, how 'bout that, that the religious life at Skidmore was and still is to a great extent something that happens in a person to person sort of way, in a word of mouth sort of way. It's not the first thing you find out about somebody, it's not the majority of the events that are advertised. But when you scratch the surface it's there. And so part of my job is figuring out how much of that under-the-surface-ness is actually fine and desirable and what students and others kind of want and it's working really well and how much of it is happening simply because there isn't another way. Um, what else was I struck by. That's the first thing that comes to mind.
[00:14:13.783]
ABS: This is a bit more of just a practical question, but could you just talk a little bit about the different communities that are here, whether it's the more above-the-surface communities or any below-surface communities also?
PD: Sure, so in terms of named groups we have: Hillel, which is a Jewish student organization, broad spectrum in terms of tradition. Because we don't have, not just because, but we don't have kosher offerings at Skidmore and that and other reasons mean that we don't have a full range of Jewish traditions represented but what does exist, the only organized group at the moment is Hillel for them. There's Christian Fellowship, Skidmore Christian Fellowship, which is a chapter of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, which is a national and sometimes international thing, so is Hillel. And then we have a Newman club, which is for Catholic students. That has been from semester to semester more and less active. It's quite small, one of the primary functions is finding carpools to local Masses, so it's not one of the more active in terms of programming at the moment. Then when I first arrived, and still, we have Hayat, which is a cultural affinity group, not a religious affinity group. But it covers the Middle East and South East Asia and so they will do cultural events that are also religiously connected and things like Holi or a Lunar New Year's celebration sometimes, although there are also other groups who do those. Eid dinners for the Muslim community. So that also depends on who's in charge and who's interested in supporting an event, but they function in a lot of ways independently from my office and from the Office of Student Diversity Programming, but both of our offices do work with them. There's a Quaker group that is not an official club but they get together and through my office they advertise, they meet every other week and they advertise that through my office and I help make them connections with members of the local Quaker community. There are bible studies that are connected with Christian Fellowship but I think some of them are attended by folks who maybe aren't involved in the club more broadly but are interested in going to a bible study that maybe their friend is leading. There is a practicing Zen gathering that doesn't necessarily require you to be a Zen practitioner and to identify as a Zen Buddhist to attend, but there are certainly folks who attend who have been, who do identify that way, both from the community and the faculty and every once in a while some of our students as well. And then there are some students who will get together around a certain holiday or something like that. There were some Hindu students last semester who got together to go to a Temple for a particular holiday. And it was sort of under the auspices of my office, sort of under the auspices of Hayat. It will sort of be an ad hoc group for a specific purpose and then they sort of will dissolve again. I feel like I'm probably forgetting something huge right now. There are some other groups that include spirituality and spiritual connection as part of what they do and who they are, but they're less, I wouldn't call them affinity groups as much because they're going to have a much broader spectrum of beliefs within them and so, there's an inspirational choir called Rejoice, and for many of the folks there there's a spiritual component to what they're doing and what they're singing but they sing songs from many different traditions. There's a mindful movement club of students that do everything from learning modern dance movement techniques to yoga to, um, I think the circus club has done some things with them. So, again some of the folks there are regular yoga practitioners and for them that is part of a religious and or spiritual practice but it's not necessarily. And then there are the folks who come to the Skidmore mindfulness. So we have weekly meditations and yoga practices and reiki and things like that that students aren't required to or the rest of the community is not required to claim any particular tradition for nor are they likely to but they can, and many of them do express that this is a spiritual thing for them.
[00:19:22.000]
ABS: It's a pretty full list.
PD: Yeah [laughs]. Oh! I knew I was gonna forget somebody. When I started talking about Hayat I said, you know when I got here Hayat was doing all of this and they still are, but in the past year there's also been a bigger push from some of the Muslim students to actually have a club that is expressly for Muslim students. And there's been interest in that since before I got here, but our students are so involved in so much that it takes students who aren't just interested in it but are interested in taking leadership in it. And so there are some students who have started the process of making an official club, which is fantastic. But if that doesn't happen or until that happens, our office just continues to work with some of the Muslim staff and faculty to support the Muslim students on campus.
[00:20:12.000]
ABS: Can you also just talk a little bit about how staff and faculty are present in your office, if they are, if they have a relationship to these student groups?
PD: Sure, well I should mention my staff as well so, there are three professional staff and then a kind of rotating number of student staff. And that includes a coordinator for Jewish Student Life, Martina Zobel, and a coordinator for the Skidmore Mindfulness program Jennifer Schmid-Fareed. And the two of them work both with clubs and with students who's needs aren't being met by the clubs, or who just want to do things that expand the presence of religion or spirituality or interfaith on campus. And so, the three of us are the staff and we collaborate with a lot of other staff in terms of events. I mentioned the Office of Student Diversity Programming. The director of that office and myself we oversee the Intercultural Center together. So we try and make sure that whenever there are programs that are more automatically assigned to one of our offices that we're thinking more broadly about how the work of our offices might overlap for those programs. We work with the student leadership offices and their staff because they support the clubs and events on campus and that's an obvious connection. So there are some that are quite obvious. The counseling center does stuff with the Mindfulness program, the religious studies department will have [sic] us promote some of our events and vice versa, so there are some obvious ones. And then beyond that, there are stu—er, sorry, there are staff and faculty that will attend some of our offerings. Most of the events that we do are open to staff and faculty, so they'll come to Shabbat dinner or they'll come to one of the meditations. This week we did an Ash Wednesday service and I'd say there were maybe thirty-six people there and two-thirds of them were students and the other third was probably staff and faculty. So they, there's a few. It's not a majority by any sense, it's not a large group, but there's a handful that do get involved that way just by attending and participating. And then there are some who get involved in really supporting the work of the communities and so, there are staff and faculty who don't just come to the events but will help with hiring new staff, finding new advisors, being advisors themselves. And sometimes I know about that and sometimes I learn about it later. You know, sometimes there are staff or faculty who have been helping students get to church for years and I don't find out about it until a casual conversation. So, yeah some of it's formalized and some of it's very much about some of our staff and faculty just making connections and finding out a way that they can help students get connected. And every once in a while there's a collaboration that's a little less expected so, I'm trying to think of one but, you know there have been partnerships with the Tang Teaching Museum, and there have been partnerships with different academic departments, we've worked with somebody, actually from Documentary Studies Adam Tinkle, and he does work with sound and we do work with sound healing and things and so there are some neat overlaps of some of that work. And I like to keep a sort of somewhat secret entirely unofficial list of staff and faculty who have expressed to me that they're willing to be called upon for certain things. So if there's a student who's coming to me with concerns, especially if they're from a tradition that's not well represented in the Saratoga area, which is a lot of them, I try and keep a list of which staff and faculty I might be able to point them towards.
[00:24:27.000]
ABS: Very cool. So, you just said that there are a lot of students whose faiths might not be represented in this area, but I'm wondering if you can talk a little bit about what connections have been made to groups in this area and Skidmore, and if you've seen a change in that? Either from when you were here growing up or from being here for three years and working in this position, and or if you have a vision for that going forward, in terms of where you want those relationships to be or go.
PD: Sure, um, hm. How to start. There are some formal connections, so the local reform synagogue Temple Sinai, their, one of their co-rabbi's Linda Motzkin does have an official role with us as a High Holy Days chaplain. Before that she worked even more frequently, or as a more permanent, not that's not right, a more--she had a larger role at Skidmore previously, in terms of Jewish student life. And stepped back a little from that but we're very thankful she stayed on to work with us during high holy days. And part of that is that that congregation is able to use Skidmore Campus spaces for High Holy Day services where the numbers would be too much for their space. And it gives our students the gift of being able to attend services both on their campus and with a multi-generational faith community. Which I think is really wonderful. So that's been going on for years and years and years. The other connections are primarily unofficial. Although, also within the Jewish community the Saratoga Chabad works with my office to come onto campus and do table outreach basically, and also working with the Jewish student community a little bit. And then there are churches that are more likely to attract some of our students. So for instance a lot of the students involved in Christian Fellowship, or at least a decent sized group of them will carpool all to the same church on Sunday mornings. And that's not an official partnership in any way it's just a little bit of word of mouth and a little bit of common traditions and so that happens. With the Catholic churches there are two parishes in town and I've invited priests and deacons from both of them to come and do services on campus and so that'll be a wonderful way of making that connection happen. But, students can also just go wherever they'd like. And so, similarly to some of the staff connections I don't know sometimes when students are attending services in town. I like to try and find out so that if other students are looking for someone to go with I can make some introductions. And I think that's generally the same as when I was growing up, though I certainly wasn't aware of religious life at colleges. It wasn't something that I was thinking of much except that I knew the chaplain here when I was younger. And in terms of what I want to see, hyper-locally like right in Saratoga Springs, I do want to get to know more and more of the communities and the leaders. A lot of them will contact me about events and I'll try and promote those, but there's also a, I have the sense of, I'm also feeling a protection of the campus? That there are, unfortunately, always going to be religious groups that aren't--that don't necessarily have our students best interest in mind or that bring a style of communication that is aggressive in a way that I don't think a majority of our students would like. And so because of that, I've been hesitant to just put out a blanket invitation to religious groups to come to campus. I usually wait for students to express an interest in a particular community and then I will reach out. So for instance with the local Quaker community. You know they come onto campus but because there's a student interest. So I would like there to be connections. I think especially there's a lot of potential within the volunteer work and social justice side of things. A lot of our local religious communities are on the front lines of working with immigrants and refugees in the area. They're the ones that make sure that the soup kitchen is staffed and that there are, a lot of them are volunteers at the homeless shelters and so I think there are ways there to strengthen already existing partnerships. We do have students already who volunteer with all of those programs. I think we could do it more and we could do it more specifically with our religious students. And then beyond that, beyond Saratoga Springs we've had a good experience getting students to one of the mosques for some of the Eids. Or, we partnered with one of the mosques on a service project. And that's been wonderful because there are plenty of colleges and universities in the capital district. And Skidmore's small little group of students is not going to be their biggest population of young adult outreach, but it's been nice to still make those connections and I want to strengthen that as well. Yeah it's interesting because a lot of religious communities, and I'm speaking primarily out of the Christian context but I know that it's not that different in other contexts. A lot of religious communities are feeling a need to hold onto young adults with all of their might, and I've been on the leadership of communities that do this where we, we see young adults and we see numbers. We see people to keep our traditions going. And it's very self--it's very much about us as a religious community wanting to not die out, and I want to help my own church but also all of the religious communities in town approach Skidmore students with a much more giving, a much more outward looking purpose. That this is not about whether or not we get to say, "hey we've got seven college students on our lists, we're not gonna die out," or "we're really cool with the young people," but more that isn't it great that these one student or these two students are being fed by this ministry. So that's something I'd like to see happen.
[00:31:33.793]
ABS: Thank you for sharing. That's all the questions I have but if there's anything you want to add that you felt like didn't get in there?
PD: I think one of the things I'd like to see both on campus and in Saratoga, and I think there are ways to maybe make it happen as a campus community partnership, is more engagement across ideological lines of religious communities. For example you show up to certain meetings in town of religious leaders working on a particular issue and you can sort of predict who's going to be there. And it's not that they're all the same religion it's that you're pretty sure they're all the same politics, or they're all the same, you know social views on different issues. And so one of the things that's great right now that's happening is two of the churches--so the church where the freeze shelter is hosted where Code Blue is hosted, Soul Saving Station, is very different from the church that I attend, but the church that I attend is also helping out Code Blue with some office space and some overflow space and housing people when Soul Saving Station doesn't have enough room. And those two churches could not be more different ideologically or theologically and still both be called Christian. But they are [laughs], and they're both doing this. And I think that kind of partnership, and that kind of getting to know each other could be happening more at Skidmore as well and in the town as well, so that we're expanding what it means to be religious for people who have doubts about their opinions on what it is to be religious. Maybe not doubts about their opinions, doubts about people who are religious, or doubts about people who are religious in a way that is different from them. So not necessarily interfaith cooperation but even within a tradition across ideological bounds.
[00:33:45.570]
ABS: Well, I wish you luck in this office
PD: Thank you
ABS: And all of your goals
PD: Thank you
ABS: Thank you so much for being part of this interview, and I'm not sure when it will go up but I will email you the link when it does.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Interview with Parker Diggory
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
February 16, 2018
Description
An account of the resource
Parker Diggory joined Skidmore as the Directory of Religious and Spiritual Life in 2016. She talks about her relationship to Saratoga Springs, religious life on campus, and religious life in town.
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Bogom-Shanon, Ari '18
clubs
Parker Diggory
religious life
-
https://www.ssmp.mdocs.skidmore.edu/files/original/958441f436c8d73d779bd6a60997213a.jpg
143c139f1e48aa7185ae2dc4a739a6ca
https://www.ssmp.mdocs.skidmore.edu/files/original/516730e0f7f77e0b09b15ee024d501c4.m4a
503aedc03c87c750272724526b7bdb4a
https://www.ssmp.mdocs.skidmore.edu/files/original/410dc76737a349cc3b55d44b0fc7f6c6.m4a
69cb76297528d5b00b219bf1c00280ff
https://www.ssmp.mdocs.skidmore.edu/files/original/8205096cf774cf5ba82bb170968ceb6c.m4a
962843fc1926ebfecb00979311834fb3
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Oral History
Description
An account of the resource
Many people who have worked or studied at Skidmore College or lived in Saratoga Springs or the surrounding area carry the memories that help us tell the stories of our communities.
This collection offers a glimpse into our past in the voices of those who have shared their stories.
Oral History
A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge.
Interviewer
The person(s) performing the interview
Claire Fink
Interviewee
The person(s) being interviewed
Odette Ireland
Location
The location of the interview
Skidmore College and Saratoga Senior Center [Zoom]
Duration
Length of time involved (seconds, minutes, hours, days, class periods, etc.)
2 Hours
Record Contributor
Individual who prepared the item and/or edited it.
Claire Fink
Record Creation Date
Day/Month/Year of record creation/edit
06/11/2020
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Interview with Odette Ireland
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
November 6, 2020
Description
An account of the resource
In this oral history , Ms. Odette Ireland recalls memories including the time during World War II her home was occupied by French soldiers, when she first met her husband, and raising a family.
Language
A language of the resource
English (EN)
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Claire Fink
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Claire Fink, Odette Ireland and Elayne Ireland
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Skidmore. College
family
France
oral history fall 2020
preserving our past
saratoga senior center
World War II
-
https://www.ssmp.mdocs.skidmore.edu/files/original/2725b6a59d80f0e3e7afd07e0be898a5.m4a
b620e55b68d82edacc500ad540ec10ae
https://www.ssmp.mdocs.skidmore.edu/files/original/7eb6d06fdef2e97afa4d8420d6210a60.pdf
b7e39ef16a649ef49a88990981dd41c1
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Oral History
Description
An account of the resource
Many people who have worked or studied at Skidmore College or lived in Saratoga Springs or the surrounding area carry the memories that help us tell the stories of our communities.
This collection offers a glimpse into our past in the voices of those who have shared their stories.
Oral History
A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge.
Interviewer
The person(s) performing the interview
Rimmele Wood, '24
Interviewee
The person(s) being interviewed
Rachel Clothier
Location
The location of the interview
Zoom (Virtual Interview)
Original Format
The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data
Audio recording (MP4)
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Interview with Rachel Clothier
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
November 2020
Description
An account of the resource
Rachel Clothier, Corinth Town Historian, talks about general stores in Saratoga County
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Clothier, Rachel
Wood, Rimmele
Subject
The topic of the resource
Saratoga County (N.Y.) -- History
Saratoga County (N.Y.) -- General Stores
-
https://www.ssmp.mdocs.skidmore.edu/files/original/a90cdf911c898a807f1fd7dc1ecb4796.jpeg
9b4c193c5896a1cdb32a209aa363254b
https://www.ssmp.mdocs.skidmore.edu/files/original/b0d43b5b6363539c537325330ebc6dce.jpeg
69fc13aae0e5fc82e33c1204c1c7765c
https://www.ssmp.mdocs.skidmore.edu/files/original/ca5b381108ea9b28101cb89d8d3160ff.m4a
ba88612f8fd8d0bf1cca1bdf0cbdb0e1
https://www.ssmp.mdocs.skidmore.edu/files/original/6f662762fd131eea6fd87629d833d9e5.pdf
d01ba86005b38220c567eb49f1acbb85
PDF Text
Text
February
11th,
2018
Chris
Cocchi
(interviewer)
Dave
Paterson
(interviewee)
Skidmore
College,
Scribner
Library
Christopher
Cocchi:
Ok,
testing
1,2,3.
I
think
its
working.
Ok!
So
uh,
first
thing
is
that,
uh
do
you,
just
to
go
over
uh,
verbal
consent,
uh
do
you
agree
to
what
you
signed
before
about,
you
know,
hav-‐
lending
your
voice
to
the
uh,
Saratoga
or
Skidmore
Memory
Project
[Skidmore
Saratoga
Memory
Project
(SSMP)]
and
uh,
you
know,
letting
it
be
used
online
and
whatnot?
Dave
Paterson:
I
do.
CC:
Cool,
thank
you.
Anyway,
first
things
first
I
just
have
to
record
just
the
empty
the
noise
here
so
that
they
can
edit
it
out
so
I'm
just
gonna
be
silent
for
about
a
few
seconds
here
[Pause]
CC:
Ok,
so
for
the
record,
my
name
is
Christopher
Cocchi,
I'm
here
with
Dave
Paterson,
in
the
Skidmore
Library
in
the
Media
Viewing
room,
and
I'm
interviewing
him
for
the
Public
History
in
Skidmore
with
Professor
[Jordana]
Dym.
So
uh,
I
guess,
to
begin,
uh,
what's
uh,
just
tell
me
about
yourself,
like
uh,
when
were
you
born
or
like
where
did
you
live
growing
up?
DP:
Ok,
I
was
born
in
south
Boston-‐
CC:
Um
hm.
DP:-‐in
1954.
CC:
Um
hm.
DP
:
And,
uh,
I've
been
in
Saratoga
[Springs]
for
the
last
47
years.
I've
taught
for
over
30
years
at
the
[Saratoga
Springs]
high
school
here,
[as
the]
Social
Studies
department
head,
and
overlapping
15
years
at
The
University
at
Albany.
Uh,
in
the
midst
of
all
that
teaching
of
I
was
also
President
of
the
Saratoga
Springs
History
Museum,
and
for
19
years
a
friend
of
mine
and
I
have
run
a
company
called
Saratoga
Tours,
where
we
give
historic
tours
of
Saratoga
Springs.
CC:
Ok
cool.
So
uh,
what
got
you
interested
in
history
in
the
first
place?
DP:
Probably
my
8th
grade
history
teacher,
uh,
Mr.Curren
[SP?],
and
uh,
he's
the
first
one
who
made
who
made
it
more
about
how
and
why
instead
of,
memorizing
who,
what,
when,
and
where
and
dates
and
all
those,
and
uh,
I
always
liked
to
read.
And
once
I
started
reading
history,
then
I
wanted
to
read
more,
it's
like,
now
I'm
writing
for
Saratoga
Living
Magazine,
I
think
the
new,
the
new
relaunch
of
the
magazine
just
came
out
a
couple
days
ago,
and
I
have
an
article
in
there
that
I
wrote
for
them
about
the
blizzard
of
1888
when
we
got
57
inches
of
snow.
But
while
I
was
researching
that,
and
reading
up
on
that,
then
I
found
a
bunch
more
questions
I
wanted
answers
to
so
then
I
go
off
on-‐
and
that's
the
great
thing
about
history,
you're
never
done.
�CC:
Um
hm.
That's
very
cool.
Now
uh,
where
did
you
go
after
your,
uh,
experience
in
public
school,
like
which
university
did
you
[DP
starts
speaking]
go
to
from
there?
DP:
Oh,
uh
college-‐wise
I
was
at
the,
first
was
at
the
University
of
Miami.
CC:
Um
hm.
DP:
Uh,
I
was
playing
Baseball
also
at
the
time
so
I
left
Miami,
um
I
ended
up
getting
degrees
from
Boston
College,
uh,
University
at
Albany,
and
[
The
College
of]
Saint
Rose.
CC:
Ok
cool.
And
what
was
your
first
experience
out
of
college?
DP:
[Deep
breath]
[You]
mean
work
wise?
CC:
Yeah.
DP:
I
taught
for
half
a
year
in
Rutland,
Vermont.
I
was
the
fourth
teacher
they
had
hired,
because
the
7th
and
8th
graders
were
driving
all
the
substitute
people
crazy,
and
I
remember
I
started
in
February,
oh
I
think
1980,
and
I
get
through
the
rest
of
the
school
year
with
them,
and
a
matter
of
fact,
on
like
the
second
the
second
to
last
week
of
school,
the
assistant
superintendent
asked
me
if
I
was
available
to
come
back
an-‐
oh-‐
then
next
year
and
I
said
I
was.
And
he
said
they
were
going
to
give
me
like
a
"The
8th
grade
teacher
of
the
year
award"
and
I
said
oh
this
is
great,
and
then
the
next
week
I
got
laid
off!
CC:
Oh!
DP:
[Laughs]
So
I
was
going
to
go
back
to
Boston
and
open
up
a
sporting
goods
store,
and
uh,
on
my
way
down
through,
I
had
interviewed
at
Saratoga
High
School
before,
but
they
already
had
a
position
filled,
on
my
way
down-‐
I
was
packing
up
my
car
literally,
on
the
day
I
was
going
to
go
to
Boston,
when
Saratoga
called
and
said
"we
have
an
opening,
do
you
want
to
come
up
and
interview?"
[Unsure
mumble]
I
said
ok,
I
will.
So
I
went
up,
they
hired
me,
and
I've
been
there
for
the
last
40
years.
CC:
Uh,
so,
what
was
your-‐
what
was-‐
wh-‐
what
was
your
teaching
at
Saratoga
High
[School]?
DP:
Uh,
really
good.
Uh,
Saratoga
[Springs]'s
a
really
good
school
district.
Uh,
I
taught
everything
you
can
teach
in
the
Social
Studies
from
grades
7
to
12.
Every
level
of
student,
from
the
weakest
kids
we
had,
a
lot
of
kids
with
special
needs,
up
to
the
Advanced
Placement
courses,
uh
I
think
I
was
only
the
2nd
Advance
Placement
U.S.
History
teacher
in
the
county
when
we
started
that
program.
Um,
I
also
taught
in
summer
school
I
taught
phys.
ed.
[Physical
Education],
I
taught
English,
Social
Studies,
so,
but,
you
know,
all
in
all
a
terrific
experience.
Great
kids.
CC:
So,
how-‐
did
anything
change
over
the
years
that
you
were
teaching
History
at
Saratoga
High
School?
DP:
[Deep
breath]
Well,
[pause]
that's
one
of
the
great
things
about
history,
things
do
change
as
time
goes
on,
um
the
first
kids
I
taught
in
the
1980's,
I
don't
know
if
you'll
remember
Chris
but
there
used
to
be
a
show
on
TV,
a
TV
show
in
the
80's
called
"Family
Ties".
CC:
Um
hmm.
�DP:
And
most
of
the
kids
in
the
80's
were
a
lot
like
that
Alex
P.
Keaton
character.
You
know,
they
were
the
Michael
Fox
character,
um,
very
preppy
kind
of
thing,
and
we
went
through
ph-‐
phase
for
a
while,
but
then
we
get
into
a
phase
where
uh,
everybody
was
getting
piercings
everywhere,
and
then
we
got
into
a
phase
where
the
clothes
got
kinda
wild,
and
then
it
went
back
to
more
conservative
dress.
So
it's
kinda
been
all
over
the
place,
and
uh,
its
interesting
because
towards
the
end
of
my
career
I
noticed
I
was
teaching
a
lot
of
the
sons
and
daughters
of
kids
I
taught
30
years
before.
CC:
Did
uh
the
material
you
taught
change
at
all
or
was
it
pretty
consistent?
DP:
Well
the
tough
thing
with
History
is-‐
and
Math
teachers
don't
understand
this-‐
um,
there's
a
finite
amount
of
information
to
teach
in
the
AP
[Advanced
Placement]
or
Regents
[Examinations]
Math
or
Science
courses,
so
they
can
usually
schedule
their
courses
to
end,
let's
say,
mid-‐May,
or
early
May,
which
will
give
them
to
review
for
either
the
AP
exam
or
the
Regents.
Well,
History
just
gets
added
onto
every
year.
So,
for
example
when
we
get
to
2001,
you
can't
leave
out
9/11,
that's
too
important
[of]
a
piece
of
history.
So
as
you
add
things
in,
you
have
to
edit
other
things
that
you've
been
teaching
over
time.
So,
you
figure,
when
I
started,
was
the
first
year
Reagan,
Ro-‐Ro
Ronald
Reagan
was
president,
um
when
I
ended
[Barack]
Obama
was
president.
Well,
a
lot
changed,
and
then
you
gotta
teach
all
that.
So,
the
amount
I
had
to
teach
changed,
and
I
think
my
methods
of
teaching
changed.
CC:
Could
you
go
into
that,
like
wh-‐wh-‐
how
did
your
methods
change?
DP:
Well,
[Cough]
education
isn't
a
once
size
fit
all,
I
don't
think,
although
I-‐it
does
make
me
laugh
because
[the]
New
York
Department
of
Education
continually
talks
about
differentiated
instruction,
which
is
the
idea
that
every
student
should
be
treated
differently
and
taught
according
to,
you
know,
what
they
can
do.
And
I
agree
with
that
philosophically,
[Cough]
yet
they
want
every
kid
to
sit
down
for
same
Regents
exam,
whether
you
live
in
Long
Island,
or
Brooklyn,
or
Saratoga
Springs.
And
to
me
that
is
a
little
ridiculous.
I
never
had
a
student
fail
a
state
test,
but
I
think
the
reason
for
that
is,
because
even
with
lowest
level
kids
I
taught,
I
always
treated
Social
Studies,
and
I
think
it's
true
of
any
subject
[test],
as
a
vocabulary
test.
As
long
the
kids
understand
what
the
questions
are
at
the
end
of
the
year,
they
can
answer
them.
What
happens
is
a
lot
of
teachers
think
they're
being
a
good
teacher,
what
they'll
do
something
like
this,
they'll
say,
I'll
be
teaching
a
class
and
I'll
say
"Ok,
so
were
when
the
immigrants
were
coming
into
New
York
City,
and
they
were
being
processed,
and
they
were
slowly
getting
accepted
and
they
got
jobs
in
factories,
and
they
started
to
learn
the
English
language,
and
customs
in
America,
that's
called
Assimilation."
Well
some
teachers,
thinking
they're
just
trying
to
help
the
kids,
will
just
refer
to
it
as
"fitting
in",
'cus
the
kids
will
understand
it
better.
The
problem
is
when
they
get
to
the
Regents
exam,
the
Regents
uses
the
word
"assimilation",
and
if
a
student
doesn't
associate
the
word
assimilation
with
the
immigrant
experience,
they're
not
going
to
get
the
question
right.
So
I
learned
early
on
that
vocabulary
was
an
important
part.
Also
early
on
when
I
was
teaching
it
was
a
lot
more
chalk
talk
lecturing,
as
then
as
time
when
the
technology
get
so
good
with
the
Smartboards
and
things,
I
could
work
in,
instead
of
telling
�kids
about
Martin
Luther
Kings'
[Jr.]
"I
Have
a
Dream"
speech,
I
can
play
them
a
quick
5
minute
excerpt,
I
can
show
them
an
inauguration,
um,
so
that
was
good.
CC:
Ok,
uh
do
you
have
any
like,
uh
stories
from
any
particular
incidences
[incidents]
from
your
time
in
the
[Saratoga]
high
school?
DP:
[Laughs]
Stories
relative
to
what?
CC:
I
guess
like
for
instance
like,
did
you
ever
have
like
a
student
that
like,
made
you
think
"Hey,
you
know,
this
might
be
an
interesting
way
to
teach
it
next
time."
Or
did
a
teacher
come
up
to
you
and
say
something
that
like,
made
think
of,
like...
DP:
Oh
several
times,
I
think
most
of
the
times
the
changes
I've
made
in
my
teaching
methods
over
the
years
came
from
a
feedback
I
got
from
students.
Um,
because
you
a
different
group
of
students
every
year,
and
they
come
at
things
from
a
different
perspective.
Uh,
one
of
my
favorite
students
ever
was
a
young
man
who
came
up
to
me
and
said,
he
was
very
nice,
he
was
thanking
me
for
the
course,
for
teaching
the
course,
for
teaching
the
course
and
everything,
and
then
he
said
"You
know
what
I
really
liked
a
lot
was
when
we
worked
in
groups."
And
I
hadn't
really
been
too
big
on
group
projects,
but
for
the
next
years
I
took
a
couple
of
the
units
and
I
made
them
group
projects
things,
and
all
of
them-‐
well
not
all
of
them-‐
most
of
the
kids
really
seem
to
like
it.
So
then
the
next
year
I
did
a
little
more
of
that,
and-‐and
that
happened
a
few
times
in
my
career,
he's
now
a
very
successful
doctor
at
a
Mass.
General
Boston
[Massachusetts
General
Hospital
at
Boston].
CC:
Cool.
Uh,
so
what
was
like-‐
wh-‐what
was
life
like
living
in
Saratoga
[Springs]
at
the
time,
'cus
you
were
new
to
the
area,
correct?
DP:
Yeah
Saratoga
[Springs]
is
uh
[small
pause]
it's
an
interesting
city.
Uh
when
I
first
moved
up
here,
there
seemed
to
me
there
was
a
strong
feeling
like
Broadway
was
the
dividing
line
in
the
city.
And,
briefly
when
I
first
moved
here
I
lived
in
an
apartment
on
the
east
side
of
Broadway.
And,
but
for
most
of
the
time
I've
been
here
I
lived
in
a
house
on
the
west
side.
And
it
seemed
to
me
in
maybe
the
first
10
years
I
lived
here,
there
was
a
dividing
line
between
the
people
of
west
Saratoga
[Springs],
west
of
Broadway
and
east
of
Broadway,
and
so,
of
course
I
got
curious
and
I
started
doing
research
and
talking
to
people,
and
uh
the
[Saratoga]
High
School
used
to
be,
way
back
when,
over
where
uh,
uh
Lake
Ave.
[Avenue]
Elementary
School
is.
So
the
kids
from
[the]
West
side
of
Saratoga
[Springs]
had
a
longer
walk
than
the
kids
from
the
east
side
of
Saratoga
[Springs],
and
there
was
a
train
that
cut
the
path,
they
went
by
where
the
Price
Chopper
is,
Railroad
Place
[Aparements].
So,
the
kids
from
the
West
side
had
to
time-‐
since
they
used
to
let
them
home
for
lunch-‐
but
you
had
to
time
it
right
so
the
train
wasn't
holding
you
up.
Um,
and
o-‐
and
then
the
trains
disappeared
and
all
that,
but
that
"feeling"
seemed
to
stay
with
a
lot
of
old-‐timers.
So
that
was
interesting
to
me.
That's
now
changed,
I
don't
feel
that
now.
Saratoga
[Springs]
is
uh,
I
think-‐
I
think
I
read
that
as
of
two
years
ago,
for
the
first
time,
there
are
now
more
people
living
in
Saratoga
[Springs]
who
weren't
born
here
than
were
born
here,
so
that's
a
big
change
in
that.
Um,
but
Saratoga
[Springs]
you
know,
you
look
at
its
over
�the
years,
it
reinvents
itself
all
the
time.
And
I
think
it's
done
that
when
the
[Saratoga]
City
Center
came
about
in
1984,
Saratoga
[Springs]
got
revitalized,
and
boy,
where
else
would
you
want
to
be
now?
CC:
Um
hm,
so,
how
do
you
think
the
people
of
Saratoga
[Springs]
changed
during
your
time
uh-‐
DP:
The
time
I've
been
here?
CC:
Um
hm.
DP:
[Deep
breath,
pause]
Well,
I-‐I
thought
it
was
noteworthy
that
a
couple
years
ago
Saratoga
[Springs]
get
[got]
named
the
"Friendliest
city
in
New
York",
'cus
I
think
the
people
are
very
friendly.
Um,
we're
also
very
also
very
much
Wonderbread,
in
the
sense
that
we're-‐
like,
I
don't
know
what
we
are,
90%
Caucasian
or
something,
so
its
been
nice
to
see
an
influx
of
minorities
into
the
city
of
Saratoga
Springs,
and
uh-‐
and
its
been
to
see
the
city
of
Saratoga
Springs
kind
of
incorporating
the
kids
or
the
students
from
Skidmore
more.
Uh,
there
was
a
time
there
were
the
community
town
and
gown
relationships
weren't
that
great.
But
I
think
the
college
has
made
an
effort
and
I
think
the
community
has
made
an
effort
to
try
and
get
closer,
and
I
think
that
helps
both
sides.
CC:
I
guess,
is
it
ok
if
you
give
an
example
of
when
times
weren't
good
between
the
community
and
the
college
and
maybe
a
more
recent
example
how
[DP
starts
speaking]
that
kinda
works
for
the
better?
DP:
Ok,
I
have
to
go
into
my
little
history
thing
here
for
you
to
do
that
Chris,
but
I
would
say
this,
there
was
a
time
not
too
long
ago,
I'm
going
to
say
the
1960s,
and
maybe
the
50s
and
maybe
even
the
70s-‐
but
I
wasn't
here
so
I'm
not
sure,
when
every
year-‐
'cus
in
those
days
Skidmore
was
uh-‐
until
the
late
60s-‐early
70s
Skidmore
was
downtown,
the
campus.
But
whenever
the
Skidmore
kids
came
to
start
a
new
school
year,
li-‐
businesses
would
have
signs
like
"Welcome
Skidmore
Students"
and
badubub,
you
know,
and
the
whole
community
was
like
"Oh,
we're
happy
to
have
the
Skidmore
kids
back."
Well
when
I
came
here
in
1981
there
was
none
of
that.
As
a
matter
of
fact
there
was
even
some
"We
don't
want
those
Skidmore
kids
down
here,
where
you
got
to
keep
an
eye
on
them,"
and
blahblahblah.
But
now
I've
noticed
in
the
last
few
years
they're
back
to
the
Chamber
of
Commerce
is
talking
again
"Why
don't
we
put
those
signs
up
again?"
Uh,
so
that's
a
good
thing.
CC:
Ok
cool.
So,
I
know
you
mentioned
that
during
this
time
you
became
involved
with
the
[Saratoga
Springs]
History
Museum.
DP:
Yup.
CC:
How
did
that
happen?
DP:
I
think
I
got
involved
with
like
six
or
eight
groups
in
Saratoga
Springs,
but
I
became
president
of
the
[Saratoga
Springs]
History
Museum.
The
reason
was
I
was
down
there
alot,
researching
things-‐
as
I
said
when
we
started,
as
I
get
questions
on
things
I
have
to
delve
more
into
them.
So
a
lot
of
questions
I
had,
I
always
think
the
best
way
to
teach
history
is-‐if
I
can
get
the
kids
to
relate
to
it
from
things
that
happened
in
their
community,
then
they
can
kinda
see
it
�with
the
United
States
and
maybe
globally.
So
I
was
in
the
[Saratoga
Springs]
History
Museum
alot
doing
research,
and
at
one
point,
um,
the
director
at
the
time,
asked
me
if
I
would
be
willing
to
join
the
board.
So,
I
did,
I
joined
the
board
at
the
[Saratoga
Springs]
History
Museum,
and
I
learned
alot
from
those
people.
Many
of
them
were
old-‐timers,
uh,
who
had
been
here
forever.
And
I
just
listened
to
them
tell
their
stories.
Fascinating.
So,
then
that
director
left,
and
I
was
one
of
the
people
in
charge
of
finding
the
new
director.
So
the
person
we
ended
up
hiring
was
Jamie
Parillo
[James
D.
Parillo],
he's
still
the
director
there
now,
young
guy,
he
had
worked
at
Saratoga
National
Battlefield
[Saratoga
Battlefield,
part
of
the
Saratoga
National
Historical
Park].
Um,
once
Jamie
came
on
board
he
brought
kind
of
a
youthful
exuberance
to
it.
As
a
matter
of
fact
we
started
a
program
where-‐
'cus
I
said,
"We
gotta
reach
out
kids
more."
So
we
started
something
that
hadn't
been
done
before,
it
was
a
Junior
Membership,
so
that
any
kid
who
wanted
to
be
a
member
of
the
[Saratoga
Springs]
History
Museum,
basically
got
a
free
membership.
So
they
got
a
membership
card,
and
any
time
they
wanted
to
go
to
the
museum
to
check
things
out
or
research,
they
could
go
down
there.
So
I
thought
that
was
good.
Uh,
when
I
first
became
president
of
the
museum,
we
were
suffering
a
little
bit
because
uh,
financially,
cus'
we're
dependent,
the
museum
is
dependent
of
grants
and
donations,
uh
and,
uh
an
antiques
show
they
had
once
a
year.
And
they
were
struggling,
and
we
were
in
the
red,
we
were
in
debt.
And
I'm
happy
to
say
that
by
the
time
I
left
as
president
we
were
in
the
black,
we
were
showing
a
profit.
And
I
think
they
are
doing
fine
now.
Um,
so
all-‐all
of
that
was
a
good
experience.
CC:
So
what
did
you
do
at
the
[Saratoga
Springs]
History
museum?
You
were
on
the
board-‐
DP:
Yup.
CC:
You
helped
with
the
director
[search],
so
what
else
did
you
do
there?
DP:
Well
when-‐
it's
easier
to
say
when
I
was
president
of
the
board,
because
when
I
was
on
the
board
I
was
doing
whatever
the
president
at
the
time
wanted
to
do
or
the
director,
and
it
wasn't
that
much.
When
I
became
president,
I
thought
to
myself,
"Saratoga
[Springs]
history
is
so
great,
there's
so
much
here."
Um,
"And
this
museum
is
so
great,
it's
the
oldest
museum
in
the
city."
So
I
had
every
member
of
the
board
pick
a
month
of
the
year,
and
whatever
month
they
picked
they
put
on
a
program
for
the
public
on
some
aspect
of
Saratoga
[Springs]
history.
And
we
had
everything
from
board
members
reenacting
plays,
to
doing
readings,
to
just
telling
the
history
of
the
potato
chip,
uh
all-‐
but
all
of
them
learned
more
about
the
museum
and
about
Saratoga's
[Springs']
history
by
doing
that.
So
when
their
time
came
up
to
leave
the
board,
a
lot
of
them
wanted
to
stay
on
because
now
they
felt
more
invested
in
it.
So
I
was
very
proud
of
that.
CC:
Ok,
so
who
do
you
think
the
community
interacts
with
the
museum,
maybe
first,
when
you
first
came
on,
and
maybe
today,
too
as
well?
DP:
When
I
first
came
on
I
had
the
feeling
that
the-‐
and
at
the
time
the
proper
name
of
it
was
the
"Saratoga
Springs
Historical
Society",
and
that
sounds
a
little
puffy,
a
little
high-‐brow,
and
that's
kinda
how
I
though
the
museum
was.
Um,
like
appealing
only
to
old
money,
and
not
a
place
that
would
be
welcoming
to
like
a
young
family
in
Geyser
Crest
[a
neighborhood
in
�Saratoga
Springs],
or
any
student
anywhere
in
the
city,
even
at
Skidmore.
Uh,
the
other
good
thing
we
did,
by
the
way,
over
time
was
that
we
started
bringing
in
Skidmore
interns,
which
were
great,
because
they
were
learning
history
but
they
also
gave
us
good,
young
ideas
and
they're
good
with
the
technology.
But
I
think
when
I
first
came
here,
all
the
museums
in
the
city
were
c
-‐were
like
uh,
only
for
you
know
that
little
percent
at
the
top,
at
least
that
was
the
perception.
And
I
think
now,
I
think
we
have
11
museums
in
the
city,
I
think
now
they're
a
little
more...
they're
perceived
to
be
more
accessible
by
more
people.
CC:
Ok.
I
guess
if
there
was
one
thing
that
you
really
liked
about
both
the
High
School
in
Saratoga
[Springs]
and
the
museums,
what
would
that
be?
DP:
The
people.
Um,
the
museum
and
the
community
has
wonderful
volunteers,
uh
anytime
something
comes
up
or
somebody
needs
something
or
group
needs
something,
I've
seen
the
people
of
Saratoga
Springs
step
right
up
and
get
into
it.
Um,
I
know
on
the
Skidmore
Campus
you
guys
have
a
program
called
"Skidmore
Cares"
where
I've
seen
you
out
raking
leaves
for
senior
citizens,
that's
great!
At
Saratoga
High
School
we
had
a
program
in
participation
in
government,
and
one
of
the
sections
of
it
that
I
taught,
that
class,
that
whole
class
for
[high
school]
seniors
was
to
go
out
and
to
contribute
to
the
community
somehow.
And
they
came
up
with
this
great
project,
and
a
matter
of
fact
we
planted
a
vegetable
garden
over
on
the
east
side
of
town,
oh
God
that
was
in
1997,
it's
still
there,
and
they're
still
using
it
for
the
soup
kitchen,
the
vegetables.
[Coughs]
So
I
think
the
people
have
been
really
rere-‐
same
at
SUNY
Albany
[Sate
University
of
New
York
at
Albany]
when
I
was
down
there,
I
think
the
uh...
and
whenever
people
go
all
pessimistic
about
the
future
or
current
times
and
things,
I
don't,
because
uh,
first
of
all
I
have
historic
perspective
so
I
know
how
history
has
ups
and
downs,
but
I
also
have
great
faith
in
people,
and
I
think
uh,
I
think
people
will
pull
us
through.
CC:
Ok,
I
guess
if
there's
one
thing
you
would
like
to
change
in
some
form
in
the
high
school
or
the
museum
system,
what
would-‐
what
would
you
like
to
do?
DP:
Change?
Hmm...
[pause]
DP:
Umm....
[long
pause]
DP:
I
have
to
think
about
that
for
a
second.
CC:
Take
your
time,
no
big
deal.
[long
pause]
DP:
Well
there
is
a
lot
of
changes
I
would
like
to
see
made
in
public
education.
I'll
just
give
you
a
couple
of
ideas.
I
would
like
to
see
every
student,
no
matter
what
their
academic
level
is,
take
a
semester
of
BOCES
[Boards
of
Cooperative
Educational
Services
of
New
York
state],
of
vocational
training,
and
learn
how
to
change
oil
in
a
car,
or
change
a
tire,
or...um...
you
know
there's
a
lot
of
options
at
the
vocational
training
school-‐
or
basic
plumbing
or
carpentry
or
something.
Uh,
I-‐I
think
we
went
for
a
long
time
in
this
country,
where
we
were
kinda
elitist,
and
we
just
said,
"the
only
people
really
who
are
successful
are
the
people
who
go
to
college,"
and
I
don't
think
that's
true.
We
will
always
needs
craftsmen,
plumbers,
electricians,
and
�actually
in
this
country
right
now
we
have
shortage
of
those.
We
have
a
storage
of
people
who
can
do
this-‐
I
mean
everyone
wants
to
be
the
next
great
Einstein,
well,
Einstein
still
needs
a
place
to
work
and
someone's
gotta
build
that.
And
um,
so
I
would
like
to
see
more,
a
little
more
emphasis,
an-‐an-‐and
not
so
much
snobbery
looking
down
the
nose
at
vocational
training.
So
I
guess
that's
one
thing.
The
second
thing
would
be
...
[clears
throat]
I'm
not
sure
how
you
do
this
so
Chris
I'll
leave
this
up
to
you,
I
hate
cliques,
it's
the
one
thing
I
hated
the
most
teaching
in
the
[Saratoga]
High
School
all
those
years.
So,
I
would
almost
like
to
see,
I
don't
know
you
would
do
it,
but
some
school
come
up
with
some
system
where
anyone
sits
anywhere,
at
the
cafeteria
table.
It's
not
cliques
all
sitting
together
or
ganging
up
on
somebody.
Because
the
bullying
that
goes
on
now
that's
made
headlines?
That's
gone
on
forever!
And
I
think
it
comes
from
cliques.
And
bullies,
basically,
are
insecure,
and
I
think,
in
a
way,
cliques-‐
they're
kinda
tribal
in
nature,
they
make
insecure
people
feel
better
if
they're
with
a
bunch
of
other
insecure
people.
So,
I've
always
hated
that.
Now,
we've
had
a
couple
of
classes
there,
class
of
'84,
the
class
of
'90,
the
class
of
'94,
uh
those
three
in
particular
stick
out
to
me
because
they
weren't
cliquey.
Everybody
in
that
class
seemed
to
get
along
with
everybody
else!
And
that
was
great.
CC:
Ok.
Anything
about
the
museums
you
would
like
to
change?
DP:
Uh,
not
I
just
wish
they
would
find
a
way,
or
somebody
would
come
up
with
a
way,
that
more
people
in
town
didn't
feel
intimidated
by
them,
and
would
ch-‐and
would...
maybe
what
you
do,
I
don't
know
how
you
would
do
this,
if
they
could
get,
uh
an
endowment
of
some
kind,
um,
and
everybody
in
the
city,
for
like,
one
year,
could
just
go
to
any
museum
they
wanted
whenever
they
wanted
for
free,
just
so
people
would
go
and
see
what
we
have
here.
We
have
this
treasury
here,
but
A.
People
don't
wanna-‐
or
can't
perhaps,
pay
the
money
to
join
the
museum,
or
B.
they
feel
intimidated
because
they
don't
feel
like
they're
welcome
in
the
museum,
and
I-‐
if
we
can
get
a
more
welcoming
feeling
somehow,
um,
after
we
started
the
program
were
we
get
the-‐
let
the
kids
be
free
members,
I-‐I
let
the
kids
put
on
a
program
one
night,
I
think
it
was
in
May
one
year,
on
the
history
of
immigration
into
Saratoga
[Springs],
and
they
did
like
five
different
groups
of
immigrants,
and
they
put
up
an
actual
display.
And
we
left
it
up
in
the
museum
for
the
whole
summer.
People
loved
it!
Uh
but
they-‐
all
the
words
were
from
the
kids,
the
pictures
were
all
chosen
by
the
kids,
they
put
it
up-‐
well
we
had
an
opening
night,
and
I
was
hoping
we
might
fifteen
to
twenty
of
the
parents
to
show
up,
this
was
a
class
of
uh,
trying
to
think,
maybe
35
kids
I
had
in
it.
We
had
three
hundred
people
show
up!
Uh
they
were
streaming
out
the
door
and
the
parents
and
the
grandparents
were
so
proud
of
their
kids,
but
the
other
thing
I
noticed
was
so
many
of
them
were
said
[saying]
to
me,
"Hi,
I've
never
been
in
here
before."
And
it
was
great
to
at
least
get
them
in
the
museum.
CC:
Hmm.
So
what
was
it
like
starting
the
tour
uh
company?
DP:
Oh
the
tour
company?
Well,
unbeknownst
to
the
two
of
us,
this
is
with
my
buddy
Charlie
Kuenzel,
Charlie
was
a
science
teacher,
I
had
taught
two
of
three
kids,
and
Charlie
was
doing
tours...
they
weren't
tours,
Charlie
would
take
his
science
classes
around
to
the
springs
to
test
the
mineral
waters,
went
to
rock
formations
in
the
city
like
down
in-‐
have
you
been,
I
know
you've
been
Chris,
you
know,
High
Rock
Spring?
Where
you
can
see
where
the
earthquake
�caused
the
springs
to
start.
So
he
would
take
his
kids
around
town
to
that.
Well
I
was
trying
to
start,
and
I
eventually
did
start,
a
Saratoga
[Springs]
history
class
for
[high
school]
seniors.
So
I
was
taking
of
groups
of
kids
mostly
down
to
the
casino,
to
the
museum
[the
History
Museum
is
in
the
old
building
of
the
Canfield
Casino],
into
Congress
park
and
tell
them
the
story
of
that.
So
one
day
and
I
thi-‐
I
wa-‐
oh,
what
we
did
was
we
each
started,
for
professional
development
for
teachers,
offering
a
two
hour
course
for
teachers
on
the
history
of
Saratoga
Springs.
He
was
doing
it
from
the
science
point
of
view
I
was
doing
it
from
history.
And
somebody
said,
"I
took
Charlie's
course,"
he
took
my
course,
and
somebody
said,
"Why
don't
you
guys
just
do
this
together?"
And
uh,
so
we
said
"Alright,
we'll
try
it."
So
we
started
teaching
that
to
teachers
a
couple
times
together.
We
became
great
friends,
we
hit
it
off
great.
The
science
and
social
studies
and
the
history
meshed,
and
uh,
that's
how
the
tour
business
started.
CC:
Cool,
so
when
did
you
start
that
independent
of
the
school?
DP:
1999,
I-‐I
think
it's
been
almost
twenty
years.
And
over
that
time
we've
tours
to
uh,
two
hundred
FBI
agents,
the
Second
Circuit
of
Appeals
[United
States
Court
of
Appeals
for
the
Second
Circuit]
including
jus-‐
including
Justice
[Ruth
Bader]
Ginsburg,
Demi
Lovato
and
her
band,
umm
[pause]
oh
I
mean
any
kind
of
group
you
can
imagine
uh
we've
given
tours
too.
CC:
And
have
you
changed
that
[DP
starts
speaking]
since
you
started?
DP:
Oh
of
course!
We've
worked
with
uh,
Professor
Dym's
classes
here
at
Skidmore,
and
at
Skidmore
orientation.
CC:
Anyway,
have
you
changed
the
tour
over
the
years
as
well?
Or
has
it
[DP
starts
speaking]
remained
pretty
consistent?
DP:
Well
the
nice
thing
is
with
history,
it
really
doesn't
change...
CC:
Um
hm.
DP:
...and
if
it
does
if
there's
something
wrong.
[laughs]
Um,
but
what
has
happened
over
time
is,
every
year
I've
learned
more
of
the
history
of
Saratoga
[Springs].
Like
I
don't
you're
learning
of
it
ever
stops.
And
so
that's
changed,
a
lot
of
things
have
been
added
to
it,
but
like
I
said
before
with
teaching
a
history
course,
if
you're
adding
more
things
to
it
you
gotta
look
for
things
to
take
out.
CC:
Mm
hm.
DP:
Um,
so
that's
happened.
But
mostly
it's
the
same
as
what
we
did
twenty
years
ago.
CC:
I
guess
has-‐
have
you
learned
anything
that
surprised
you
recently?
DP:
Oh
all
lot,
um
[pause]
Gideon
Putnam,
came
to
Saratoga
Springs
when
he
was
twenty
five
years
old,
and
his
wife
was
uh
Doanda,
I
think
was
twenty
two
or
twenty
three.
He
is
considered
the
founder
of
Saratoga
Springs,
now
there
were
people
here
before
him,
but
he
was
a
lumberman,
and
he
laid
out
the
village
of
Saratoga,
down-‐
what
is
now
downtown
Saratoga.
His
wife,
Doanda,
would
whitewash
trees,
put
whitewash
on
trees,
and
then
he,
the
lumberman,
�would
cut
the
trees
down,
and
that's
how
they
made
the
roads.
So,
two
things
having
to
do
him
I
learned
that
I
thought
were
interesting.
One
was,
we
always
thought,
"This
guy
is
a
genius
for
making
a
road
one
hundred
and
forty
seven
feet
wide
in
the
middle
of
the
woods,"
because
today,
I
mean,
it's
great
width,
you
know,
'cus
most
streets
aren't
like
that,
especially
not
in
1789.
Well
it
turns
out
we
found
writings
of
Gideon
Putnam
and
the
reason
the
street
was
that
wide
was
because
he
was
a
lumberman,
and
he
pulled
a
cart
behind
his
horses,
he
would
let
them
back
the
cart
up
without
having
to
make
all
these
fancy
maneuvers,
so
he
could
turn
the
cart
around,
at
one
hundred
and
forty
seven
feet,
and
that's
why
the
road
is
that
wide.
So
it
was
very
practical
but
that
was
interesting.
The
other
thing
about
him
I
thought
was
interesting,
well
two
things,
two
more
things.
One
was,
he
set
up
the
first
school
in
Saratoga,
first
public
school,
he
set
up
the
first
church
in
Saratoga,
both
over
on
Washington
street,
and
he
also
set
up
the
first
burial
ground,
and
unfortunately
he
was
the
first
one
buried
in
the
burial
ground.
And
the
last
thing
about
him
that
I
think
is
interesting
is
that
I
never
knew,
uh
was
that
his
uncle
was
the
founder
of
Marietta,
Ohio,
so
it
must
have
been
in
their
blood.
CC:
Anyway,
I
guess,
since
we're
starting
to
approach
thirty
minutes
here,
I
guess
I'll
leave
off
with
one
question
that,
in
class
we
discussed,
and
then
I
think
as
a
historian
you
might
find
interesting,
we
noticed
that
in
the
town
of
Saratoga
[Springs]
there's
a
lot
of
statues
of
horses,
and
uh
they
have
jockeys
and
there
is
a
Civil
War
solider,
but
there
isn't
really
as
many
statues
as
individuals.
Who
do
you
think
you
would
like
to
see
a
statue
of
in
town?
DP:
Oh!
What
a
good
question.
Professor
Dym.
Uh,
how
about
uh,
let's
see,
"Who
would
I
like
to
see
a
statue
of,"
-‐
well
interestingly,
of
all
the
people
in
Saratoga
history,
the
one
we
have
no
idea
what
he
looks
like
is
Gideon
Putnam.
Everyone
else
we
at
least
have
a
sketch
or
a
photograph
or
something,
we
have
no
idea
what
he
looks
like.
His
wife
we
have,
his
kids,
but
not
him,
so
I
don't
you
could
do
that
statue.
Uh,
who
would
you
do
a
sat-‐
want
to
hear
an
interesting
fun
fact
about
Saratoga
Springs?
CC:
Sure!
DP:
Almost
all
of
the
great
things
that
happened
in
the
city
since
1789,
since
Gideon
Putnam,
were
done
by
people
who
moved
here,
not
by
people
who
were
born
here.
That's
fascinating.
Um
alright
so
who
do
we
want
statue
to?
[Long
pause]
Mine
would
be
a
little
bit
controversial,
but
my
statute
would
be
to
John
Morrissey,
John
Morrissey
not
only
built
the
Canfield
Casino,
but
he
founded
the
racetrack
[Saratoga
Race
Course],
and
I
think
most
peop-‐
and
you
can
make
a
pretty
good
argument,
that
over
the
years,
those
two
things
were
the
two
biggest
attractions
in
Saratoga
Springs.
CC:
Ok
cool,
anyway,
thank
you
for
your
time
today!
DP:
Oh,
thank
you!
�
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Oral History
Description
An account of the resource
Many people who have worked or studied at Skidmore College or lived in Saratoga Springs or the surrounding area carry the memories that help us tell the stories of our communities.
This collection offers a glimpse into our past in the voices of those who have shared their stories.
Oral History
A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge.
Original Format
The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data
.wav
Record Creation Date
Day/Month/Year of record creation/edit
The date create the item in euro
8/03/18
Interviewer
The person(s) performing the interview
Cocchi, Christopher, 2019
Interviewee
The person(s) being interviewed
Paterson, Dave
Location
The location of the interview
Skidmore College, Lucy Scribner Library
Transcription
Any written text transcribed from a sound
Christopher Cocchi: Ok, testing 1,2,3. I think its working. Ok! So uh, first thing is that, uh do you, just to go over uh, verbal consent, uh do you agree to what you signed before about, you know, hav- lending your voice to the uh, Saratoga or Skidmore Memory Project [Skidmore Saratoga Memory Project (SSMP)] and uh, you know, letting it be used online and whatnot?
Dave Paterson: I do.
CC: Cool, thank you. Anyway, first things first I just have to record just the empty the noise here so that they can edit it out so I'm just gonna be silent for about a few seconds here
[Pause]
CC: Ok, so for the record, my name is Christopher Cocchi, I'm here with Dave Paterson, in the Skidmore Library in the Media Viewing room, and I'm interviewing him for the Public History in Skidmore with Professor [Jordana] Dym. So uh, I guess, to begin, uh, what's uh, just tell me about yourself, like uh, when were you born or like where did you live growing up?
DP: Ok, I was born in south Boston-
CC: Um hm.
DP:-in 1954.
CC: Um hm.
DP : And, uh, I've been in Saratoga [Springs] for the last 47 years. I've taught for over 30 years at the [Saratoga Springs] high school here, [as the] Social Studies department head, and overlapping 15 years at The University at Albany. Uh, in the midst of all that teaching of I was also President of the Saratoga Springs History Museum, and for 19 years a friend of mine and I have run a company called Saratoga Tours, where we give historic tours of Saratoga Springs.
CC: Ok cool. So uh, what got you interested in history in the first place?
DP: Probably my 8th grade history teacher, uh, Mr.Curren [SP?], and uh, he's the first one who made who made it more about how and why instead of, memorizing who, what, when, and where and dates and all those, and uh, I always liked to read. And once I started reading history, then I wanted to read more, it's like, now I'm writing for Saratoga Living Magazine, I think the new, the new relaunch of the magazine just came out a couple days ago, and I have an article in there that I wrote for them about the blizzard of 1888 when we got 57 inches of snow. But while I was researching that, and reading up on that, then I found a bunch more questions I wanted answers to so then I go off on- and that's the great thing about history, you're never done.
CC: Um hm. That's very cool. Now uh, where did you go after your, uh, experience in public school, like which university did you [DP starts speaking] go to from there?
DP: Oh, uh college-wise I was at the, first was at the University of Miami.
CC: Um hm.
DP: Uh, I was playing Baseball also at the time so I left Miami, um I ended up getting degrees from Boston College, uh, University at Albany, and [ The College of] Saint Rose.
CC: Ok cool. And what was your first experience out of college?
DP: [Deep breath] [You] mean work wise?
CC: Yeah.
DP: I taught for half a year in Rutland, Vermont. I was the fourth teacher they had hired, because the 7th and 8th graders were driving all the substitute people crazy, and I remember I started in February, oh I think 1980, and I get through the rest of the school year with them, and a matter of fact, on like the second the second to last week of school, the assistant superintendent asked me if I was available to come back an- oh- then next year and I said I was. And he said they were going to give me like a "The 8th grade teacher of the year award" and I said oh this is great, and then the next week I got laid off!
CC: Oh!
DP: [Laughs] So I was going to go back to Boston and open up a sporting goods store, and uh, on my way down through, I had interviewed at Saratoga High School before, but they already had a position filled, on my way down- I was packing up my car literally, on the day I was going to go to Boston, when Saratoga called and said "we have an opening, do you want to come up and interview?" [Unsure mumble] I said ok, I will. So I went up, they hired me, and I've been there for the last 40 years.
CC: Uh, so, what was your- what was- wh- what was your teaching at Saratoga High [School]?
DP: Uh, really good. Uh, Saratoga [Springs]'s a really good school district. Uh, I taught everything you can teach in the Social Studies from grades 7 to 12. Every level of student, from the weakest kids we had, a lot of kids with special needs, up to the Advanced Placement courses, uh I think I was only the 2nd Advance Placement U.S. History teacher in the county when we started that program. Um, I also taught in summer school I taught phys. ed. [Physical Education], I taught English, Social Studies, so, but, you know, all in all a terrific experience. Great kids.
CC: So, how- did anything change over the years that you were teaching History at Saratoga High School?
DP: [Deep breath] Well, [pause] that's one of the great things about history, things do change as time goes on, um the first kids I taught in the 1980's, I don't know if you'll remember Chris but there used to be a show on TV, a TV show in the 80's called "Family Ties".
CC: Um hmm.
DP: And most of the kids in the 80's were a lot like that Alex P. Keaton character. You know, they were the Michael Fox character, um, very preppy kind of thing, and we went through ph-phase for a while, but then we get into a phase where uh, everybody was getting piercings everywhere, and then we got into a phase where the clothes got kinda wild, and then it went back to more conservative dress. So it's kinda been all over the place, and uh, its interesting because towards the end of my career I noticed I was teaching a lot of the sons and daughters of kids I taught 30 years before.
CC: Did uh the material you taught change at all or was it pretty consistent?
DP: Well the tough thing with History is- and Math teachers don't understand this- um, there's a finite amount of information to teach in the AP [Advanced Placement] or Regents [Examinations] Math or Science courses, so they can usually schedule their courses to end, let's say, mid-May, or early May, which will give them to review for either the AP exam or the Regents. Well, History just gets added onto every year. So, for example when we get to 2001, you can't leave out 9/11, that's too important [of] a piece of history. So as you add things in, you have to edit other things that you've been teaching over time. So, you figure, when I started, was the first year Reagan, Ro-Ro Ronald Reagan was president, um when I ended [Barack] Obama was president. Well, a lot changed, and then you gotta teach all that. So, the amount I had to teach changed, and I think my methods of teaching changed.
CC: Could you go into that, like wh-wh- how did your methods change?
DP: Well, [Cough] education isn't a once size fit all, I don't think, although I-it does make me laugh because [the] New York Department of Education continually talks about differentiated instruction, which is the idea that every student should be treated differently and taught according to, you know, what they can do. And I agree with that philosophically, [Cough] yet they want every kid to sit down for same Regents exam, whether you live in Long Island, or Brooklyn, or Saratoga Springs. And to me that is a little ridiculous. I never had a student fail a state test, but I think the reason for that is, because even with lowest level kids I taught, I always treated Social Studies, and I think it's true of any subject [test], as a vocabulary test. As long the kids understand what the questions are at the end of the year, they can answer them. What happens is a lot of teachers think they're being a good teacher, what they'll do something like this, they'll say, I'll be teaching a class and I'll say "Ok, so were when the immigrants were coming into New York City, and they were being processed, and they were slowly getting accepted and they got jobs in factories, and they started to learn the English language, and customs in America, that's called Assimilation." Well some teachers, thinking they're just trying to help the kids, will just refer to it as "fitting in", 'cus the kids will understand it better. The problem is when they get to the Regents exam, the Regents uses the word "assimilation", and if a student doesn't associate the word assimilation with the immigrant experience, they're not going to get the question right. So I learned early on that vocabulary was an important part. Also early on when I was teaching it was a lot more chalk talk lecturing, as then as time when the technology get so good with the Smartboards and things, I could work in, instead of telling kids about Martin Luther Kings' [Jr.] "I Have a Dream" speech, I can play them a quick 5 minute excerpt, I can show them an inauguration, um, so that was good.
CC: Ok, uh do you have any like, uh stories from any particular incidences [incidents] from your time in the [Saratoga] high school?
DP: [Laughs] Stories relative to what?
CC: I guess like for instance like, did you ever have like a student that like, made you think "Hey, you know, this might be an interesting way to teach it next time." Or did a teacher come up to you and say something that like, made think of, like...
DP: Oh several times, I think most of the times the changes I've made in my teaching methods over the years came from a feedback I got from students. Um, because you a different group of students every year, and they come at things from a different perspective. Uh, one of my favorite students ever was a young man who came up to me and said, he was very nice, he was thanking me for the course, for teaching the course, for teaching the course and everything, and then he said "You know what I really liked a lot was when we worked in groups." And I hadn't really been too big on group projects, but for the next years I took a couple of the units and I made them group projects things, and all of them- well not all of them- most of the kids really seem to like it. So then the next year I did a little more of that, and-and that happened a few times in my career, he's now a very successful doctor at a Mass. General Boston [Massachusetts General Hospital at Boston].
CC: Cool. Uh, so what was like- wh-what was life like living in Saratoga [Springs] at the time, 'cus you were new to the area, correct?
DP: Yeah Saratoga [Springs] is uh [small pause] it's an interesting city. Uh when I first moved up here, there seemed to me there was a strong feeling like Broadway was the dividing line in the city. And, briefly when I first moved here I lived in an apartment on the east side of Broadway. And, but for most of the time I've been here I lived in a house on the west side. And it seemed to me in maybe the first 10 years I lived here, there was a dividing line between the people of west Saratoga [Springs], west of Broadway and east of Broadway, and so, of course I got curious and I started doing research and talking to people, and uh the [Saratoga] High School used to be, way back when, over where uh, uh Lake Ave. [Avenue] Elementary School is. So the kids from [the] West side of Saratoga [Springs] had a longer walk than the kids from the east side of Saratoga [Springs], and there was a train that cut the path, they went by where the Price Chopper is, Railroad Place [Aparements]. So, the kids from the West side had to time- since they used to let them home for lunch- but you had to time it right so the train wasn't holding you up. Um, and o- and then the trains disappeared and all that, but that "feeling" seemed to stay with a lot of old-timers. So that was interesting to me. That's now changed, I don't feel that now. Saratoga [Springs] is uh, I think- I think I read that as of two years ago, for the first time, there are now more people living in Saratoga [Springs] who weren't born here than were born here, so that's a big change in that. Um, but Saratoga [Springs] you know, you look at its over the years, it reinvents itself all the time. And I think it's done that when the [Saratoga] City Center came about in 1984, Saratoga [Springs] got revitalized, and boy, where else would you want to be now?
CC: Um hm, so, how do you think the people of Saratoga [Springs] changed during your time uh-
DP: The time I've been here?
CC: Um hm.
DP: [Deep breath, pause] Well, I-I thought it was noteworthy that a couple years ago Saratoga [Springs] get [got] named the "Friendliest city in New York", 'cus I think the people are very friendly. Um, we're also very also very much Wonderbread, in the sense that we're- like, I don't know what we are, 90% Caucasian or something, so its been nice to see an influx of minorities into the city of Saratoga Springs, and uh- and its been to see the city of Saratoga Springs kind of incorporating the kids or the students from Skidmore more. Uh, there was a time there were the community town and gown relationships weren't that great. But I think the college has made an effort and I think the community has made an effort to try and get closer, and I think that helps both sides.
CC: I guess, is it ok if you give an example of when times weren't good between the community and the college and maybe a more recent example how [DP starts speaking] that kinda works for the better?
DP: Ok, I have to go into my little history thing here for you to do that Chris, but I would say this, there was a time not too long ago, I'm going to say the 1960s, and maybe the 50s and maybe even the 70s- but I wasn't here so I'm not sure, when every year- 'cus in those days Skidmore was uh- until the late 60s-early 70s Skidmore was downtown, the campus. But whenever the Skidmore kids came to start a new school year, li- businesses would have signs like "Welcome Skidmore Students" and badubub, you know, and the whole community was like "Oh, we're happy to have the Skidmore kids back." Well when I came here in 1981 there was none of that. As a matter of fact there was even some "We don't want those Skidmore kids down here, where you got to keep an eye on them," and blahblahblah. But now I've noticed in the last few years they're back to the Chamber of Commerce is talking again "Why don't we put those signs up again?" Uh, so that's a good thing.
CC: Ok cool. So, I know you mentioned that during this time you became involved with the [Saratoga Springs] History Museum.
DP: Yup.
CC: How did that happen?
DP: I think I got involved with like six or eight groups in Saratoga Springs, but I became president of the [Saratoga Springs] History Museum. The reason was I was down there alot, researching things- as I said when we started, as I get questions on things I have to delve more into them. So a lot of questions I had, I always think the best way to teach history is-if I can get the kids to relate to it from things that happened in their community, then they can kinda see it with the United States and maybe globally. So I was in the [Saratoga Springs] History Museum alot doing research, and at one point, um, the director at the time, asked me if I would be willing to join the board. So, I did, I joined the board at the [Saratoga Springs] History Museum, and I learned alot from those people. Many of them were old-timers, uh, who had been here forever. And I just listened to them tell their stories. Fascinating. So, then that director left, and I was one of the people in charge of finding the new director. So the person we ended up hiring was Jamie Parillo [James D. Parillo], he's still the director there now, young guy, he had worked at Saratoga National Battlefield [Saratoga Battlefield, part of the Saratoga National Historical Park]. Um, once Jamie came on board he brought kind of a youthful exuberance to it. As a matter of fact we started a program where- 'cus I said, "We gotta reach out kids more." So we started something that hadn't been done before, it was a Junior Membership, so that any kid who wanted to be a member of the [Saratoga Springs] History Museum, basically got a free membership. So they got a membership card, and any time they wanted to go to the museum to check things out or research, they could go down there. So I thought that was good. Uh, when I first became president of the museum, we were suffering a little bit because uh, financially, cus' we're dependent, the museum is dependent of grants and donations, uh and, uh an antiques show they had once a year. And they were struggling, and we were in the red, we were in debt. And I'm happy to say that by the time I left as president we were in the black, we were showing a profit. And I think they are doing fine now. Um, so all-all of that was a good experience.
CC: So what did you do at the [Saratoga Springs] History museum? You were on the board-
DP: Yup.
CC: You helped with the director [search], so what else did you do there?
DP: Well when- it's easier to say when I was president of the board, because when I was on the board I was doing whatever the president at the time wanted to do or the director, and it wasn't that much. When I became president, I thought to myself, "Saratoga [Springs] history is so great, there's so much here." Um, "And this museum is so great, it's the oldest museum in the city." So I had every member of the board pick a month of the year, and whatever month they picked they put on a program for the public on some aspect of Saratoga [Springs] history. And we had everything from board members reenacting plays, to doing readings, to just telling the history of the potato chip, uh all- but all of them learned more about the museum and about Saratoga's [Springs'] history by doing that. So when their time came up to leave the board, a lot of them wanted to stay on because now they felt more invested in it. So I was very proud of that.
CC: Ok, so who do you think the community interacts with the museum, maybe first, when you first came on, and maybe today, too as well?
DP: When I first came on I had the feeling that the- and at the time the proper name of it was the "Saratoga Springs Historical Society", and that sounds a little puffy, a little high-brow, and that's kinda how I though the museum was. Um, like appealing only to old money, and not a place that would be welcoming to like a young family in Geyser Crest [a neighborhood in Saratoga Springs], or any student anywhere in the city, even at Skidmore. Uh, the other good thing we did, by the way, over time was that we started bringing in Skidmore interns, which were great, because they were learning history but they also gave us good, young ideas and they're good with the technology. But I think when I first came here, all the museums in the city were c -were like uh, only for you know that little percent at the top, at least that was the perception. And I think now, I think we have 11 museums in the city, I think now they're a little more... they're perceived to be more accessible by more people.
CC: Ok. I guess if there was one thing that you really liked about both the High School in Saratoga [Springs] and the museums, what would that be?
DP: The people. Um, the museum and the community has wonderful volunteers, uh anytime something comes up or somebody needs something or group needs something, I've seen the people of Saratoga Springs step right up and get into it. Um, I know on the Skidmore Campus you guys have a program called "Skidmore Cares" where I've seen you out raking leaves for senior citizens, that's great! At Saratoga High School we had a program in participation in government, and one of the sections of it that I taught, that class, that whole class for [high school] seniors was to go out and to contribute to the community somehow. And they came up with this great project, and a matter of fact we planted a vegetable garden over on the east side of town, oh God that was in 1997, it's still there, and they're still using it for the soup kitchen, the vegetables. [Coughs] So I think the people have been really rere- same at SUNY Albany [Sate University of New York at Albany] when I was down there, I think the uh... and whenever people go all pessimistic about the future or current times and things, I don't, because uh, first of all I have historic perspective so I know how history has ups and downs, but I also have great faith in people, and I think uh, I think people will pull us through.
CC: Ok, I guess if there's one thing you would like to change in some form in the high school or the museum system, what would- what would you like to do?
DP: Change? Hmm...
[pause]
DP: Umm....
[long pause]
DP: I have to think about that for a second.
CC: Take your time, no big deal.
[long pause]
DP: Well there is a lot of changes I would like to see made in public education. I'll just give you a couple of ideas. I would like to see every student, no matter what their academic level is, take a semester of BOCES [Boards of Cooperative Educational Services of New York state], of vocational training, and learn how to change oil in a car, or change a tire, or...um... you know there's a lot of options at the vocational training school- or basic plumbing or carpentry or something. Uh, I-I think we went for a long time in this country, where we were kinda elitist, and we just said, "the only people really who are successful are the people who go to college," and I don't think that's true. We will always needs craftsmen, plumbers, electricians, and actually in this country right now we have shortage of those. We have a storage of people who can do this- I mean everyone wants to be the next great Einstein, well, Einstein still needs a place to work and someone's gotta build that. And um, so I would like to see more, a little more emphasis, an-an-and not so much snobbery looking down the nose at vocational training. So I guess that's one thing. The second thing would be ... [clears throat] I'm not sure how you do this so Chris I'll leave this up to you, I hate cliques, it's the one thing I hated the most teaching in the [Saratoga] High School all those years. So, I would almost like to see, I don't know you would do it, but some school come up with some system where anyone sits anywhere, at the cafeteria table. It's not cliques all sitting together or ganging up on somebody. Because the bullying that goes on now that's made headlines? That's gone on forever! And I think it comes from cliques. And bullies, basically, are insecure, and I think, in a way, cliques- they're kinda tribal in nature, they make insecure people feel better if they're with a bunch of other insecure people. So, I've always hated that. Now, we've had a couple of classes there, class of '84, the class of '90, the class of '94, uh those three in particular stick out to me because they weren't cliquey. Everybody in that class seemed to get along with everybody else! And that was great.
CC: Ok. Anything about the museums you would like to change?
DP: Uh, not I just wish they would find a way, or somebody would come up with a way, that more people in town didn't feel intimidated by them, and would ch-and would... maybe what you do, I don't know how you would do this, if they could get, uh an endowment of some kind, um, and everybody in the city, for like, one year, could just go to any museum they wanted whenever they wanted for free, just so people would go and see what we have here. We have this treasury here, but A. People don't wanna- or can't perhaps, pay the money to join the museum, or B. they feel intimidated because they don't feel like they're welcome in the museum, and I- if we can get a more welcoming feeling somehow, um, after we started the program were we get the- let the kids be free members, I-I let the kids put on a program one night, I think it was in May one year, on the history of immigration into Saratoga [Springs], and they did like five different groups of immigrants, and they put up an actual display. And we left it up in the museum for the whole summer. People loved it! Uh but they- all the words were from the kids, the pictures were all chosen by the kids, they put it up- well we had an opening night, and I was hoping we might fifteen to twenty of the parents to show up, this was a class of uh, trying to think, maybe 35 kids I had in it. We had three hundred people show up! Uh they were streaming out the door and the parents and the grandparents were so proud of their kids, but the other thing I noticed was so many of them were said [saying] to me, "Hi, I've never been in here before." And it was great to at least get them in the museum.
CC: Hmm. So what was it like starting the tour uh company?
DP: Oh the tour company? Well, unbeknownst to the two of us, this is with my buddy Charlie Kuenzel, Charlie was a science teacher, I had taught two of three kids, and Charlie was doing tours... they weren't tours, Charlie would take his science classes around to the springs to test the mineral waters, went to rock formations in the city like down in- have you been, I know you've been Chris, you know, High Rock Spring? Where you can see where the earthquake caused the springs to start. So he would take his kids around town to that. Well I was trying to start, and I eventually did start, a Saratoga [Springs] history class for [high school] seniors. So I was taking of groups of kids mostly down to the casino, to the museum [the History Museum is in the old building of the Canfield Casino], into Congress park and tell them the story of that. So one day and I thi- I wa- oh, what we did was we each started, for professional development for teachers, offering a two hour course for teachers on the history of Saratoga Springs. He was doing it from the science point of view I was doing it from history. And somebody said, "I took Charlie's course," he took my course, and somebody said, "Why don't you guys just do this together?" And uh, so we said "Alright, we'll try it." So we started teaching that to teachers a couple times together. We became great friends, we hit it off great. The science and social studies and the history meshed, and uh, that's how the tour business started.
CC: Cool, so when did you start that independent of the school?
DP: 1999, I-I think it's been almost twenty years. And over that time we've tours to uh, two hundred FBI agents, the Second Circuit of Appeals [United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit] including jus- including Justice [Ruth Bader] Ginsburg, Demi Lovato and her band, umm [pause] oh I mean any kind of group you can imagine uh we've given tours too.
CC: And have you changed that [DP starts speaking] since you started?
DP: Oh of course! We've worked with uh, Professor Dym's classes here at Skidmore, and at Skidmore orientation.
CC: Anyway, have you changed the tour over the years as well? Or has it [DP starts speaking] remained pretty consistent?
DP: Well the nice thing is with history, it really doesn't change...
CC: Um hm.
DP: ...and if it does if there's something wrong. [laughs] Um, but what has happened over time is, every year I've learned more of the history of Saratoga [Springs]. Like I don't you're learning of it ever stops. And so that's changed, a lot of things have been added to it, but like I said before with teaching a history course, if you're adding more things to it you gotta look for things to take out.
CC: Mm hm.
DP: Um, so that's happened. But mostly it's the same as what we did twenty years ago.
CC: I guess has- have you learned anything that surprised you recently?
DP: Oh all lot, um [pause] Gideon Putnam, came to Saratoga Springs when he was twenty five years old, and his wife was uh Doanda, I think was twenty two or twenty three. He is considered the founder of Saratoga Springs, now there were people here before him, but he was a lumberman, and he laid out the village of Saratoga, down- what is now downtown Saratoga. His wife, Doanda, would whitewash trees, put whitewash on trees, and then he, the lumberman, would cut the trees down, and that's how they made the roads. So, two things having to do him I learned that I thought were interesting. One was, we always thought, "This guy is a genius for making a road one hundred and forty seven feet wide in the middle of the woods," because today, I mean, it's great width, you know, 'cus most streets aren't like that, especially not in 1789. Well it turns out we found writings of Gideon Putnam and the reason the street was that wide was because he was a lumberman, and he pulled a cart behind his horses, he would let them back the cart up without having to make all these fancy maneuvers, so he could turn the cart around, at one hundred and forty seven feet, and that's why the road is that wide. So it was very practical but that was interesting. The other thing about him I thought was interesting, well two things, two more things. One was, he set up the first school in Saratoga, first public school, he set up the first church in Saratoga, both over on Washington street, and he also set up the first burial ground, and unfortunately he was the first one buried in the burial ground. And the last thing about him that I think is interesting is that I never knew, uh was that his uncle was the founder of Marietta, Ohio, so it must have been in their blood.
CC: Anyway, I guess, since we're starting to approach thirty minutes here, I guess I'll leave off with one question that, in class we discussed, and then I think as a historian you might find interesting, we noticed that in the town of Saratoga [Springs] there's a lot of statues of horses, and uh they have jockeys and there is a Civil War solider, but there isn't really as many statues as individuals. Who do you think you would like to see a statue of in town?
DP: Oh! What a good question. Professor Dym. Uh, how about uh, let's see, "Who would I like to see a statue of," - well interestingly, of all the people in Saratoga history, the one we have no idea what he looks like is Gideon Putnam. Everyone else we at least have a sketch or a photograph or something, we have no idea what he looks like. His wife we have, his kids, but not him, so I don't you could do that statue. Uh, who would you do a sat- want to hear an interesting fun fact about Saratoga Springs?
CC: Sure!
DP: Almost all of the great things that happened in the city since 1789, since Gideon Putnam, were done by people who moved here, not by people who were born here. That's fascinating. Um alright so who do we want statue to?
[Long pause]
Mine would be a little bit controversial, but my statute would be to John Morrissey, John Morrissey not only built the Canfield Casino, but he founded the racetrack [Saratoga Race Course], and I think most peop- and you can make a pretty good argument, that over the years, those two things were the two biggest attractions in Saratoga Springs.
CC: Ok cool, anyway, thank you for your time today!
DP: Oh, thank you!
Duration
Length of time involved (seconds, minutes, hours, days, class periods, etc.)
33 Minutes
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Interview with Dave Paterson
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
February 11th, 2018
Is Part Of
A related resource in which the described resource is physically or logically included.
Skidmore Saratoga Memory Project
Description
An account of the resource
An oral history interview with Dave Paterson, formerly a History Teacher at Saratoga High School and president of the Saratoga Springs History Meusuem, currently a tour guide at Saratoga Tours. In this interview, he discusses his journey to Saratoga Springs, his views on how things have changed, his history of working for the High School and the Museum, as well as what he is still learning today.
Language
A language of the resource
ENG
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Cocchi, Christopher, 2019
History
Saratoga Springs
Saratoga Springs High School
Saratoga Springs History Museum
Saratoga Tours
teaching
-
https://www.ssmp.mdocs.skidmore.edu/files/original/e7ad604f0fc9e002b1faa0fb64f263ac.PNG
334ef39a8edd5185d9a119c963ffaa59
https://www.ssmp.mdocs.skidmore.edu/files/original/680ad92cfa87e616d488d64ea389bcf7.m4a
ecee0cda3372d05855e4a0c59faab43c
https://www.ssmp.mdocs.skidmore.edu/files/original/a4f16589f926600d058b57da8a98e300.m4a
d60872ccc9a9381adf6050f7577f8607
https://www.ssmp.mdocs.skidmore.edu/files/original/39183178a3c1f9a885a5ed8039ff953d.pdf
603231a0fae1559ae0790a6caaec5b67
https://www.ssmp.mdocs.skidmore.edu/files/original/54b4cc436010b61a9831032305cd47d0.pdf
5fc7a4ac249337de8b2743c393faffd9
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Oral History
Description
An account of the resource
Many people who have worked or studied at Skidmore College or lived in Saratoga Springs or the surrounding area carry the memories that help us tell the stories of our communities.
This collection offers a glimpse into our past in the voices of those who have shared their stories.
Oral History
A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge.
Interviewer
The person(s) performing the interview
Cooper Murphy, Skidmore Senior Memory Project
Interviewee
The person(s) being interviewed
Lou Schneider
Location
The location of the interview
Skidmore College Saratoga Springs, NY, 12866 and Saratoga Senior Center 5 Williams St, Saratoga Springs, NY 12866 (Zoom)
Record Contributor
Individual who prepared the item and/or edited it.
Cooper Murphy
Record Creation Date
Day/Month/Year of record creation/edit
18/11/2020
Original Format
The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data
Audio Recording
Duration
Length of time involved (seconds, minutes, hours, days, class periods, etc.)
00:55:17 and 00:23:48
Transcription
Any written text transcribed from a sound
First Transcription of Lou Schneider
CM: Today is 10/26/2020 time is 12:55 pm I am the interviewer CM would you like to introduce yourself.
Lou Schneider: My name is Lou Schneider, I am 89 born 4/17/1931. What else can I say?
CM: That’s about it. Okay so are you okay with this information being stored or shared through the public domain and in Skidmore Saratoga memorial project.
LS: No problem.
CM: Okay, and let's get started shall we. Okay, first question is, where did you live as a kid.
LS: Wander what I’m sorry louder.
CM: Where did you live as a kid.
LS: Brooklyn, New York. That's where I was born.
CM: And what was your family like
LS: Well family. I'm the first generation in the United States. My father came from Lithuania, my mother from Poland.
CM: Did you have any siblings.
LS: I have a younger sister three years younger than me.
CM: Did you guys go to the same school
LS: Yes, Lafayette high school in Brooklyn New York
CM: And how're classes for that.
LS: Alone one what. I'm sorry.
CM: Sorry, did you have of what we're teachers like back then.
LS: I still didn't catch the question, I'm sorry.
CM: It's perfectly fine. What were teachers like back at your middle school?
LS: What was it like
CM: Yeah.
LS: Well, I'm being born and raised in Brooklyn, New York. Is uh my stomping ground was Coney Island spent a lot of time, they're. Doing a lot of things. As I was growing up at the age of eight. We used to play had some friends. We used to play chess Pinochle and hearts.
CM: And did any of those become hobbies that you did in the future.
LS: Hobbies?
CM: Hobbies. Yeah. What were your hobbies?
LS: Yeah, the only the only hobby. I really had was reading. I enjoy, you know, books, a lot of reading. And just living the good life in Brooklyn, New York, and stomping ground in Coney Island.
CM: Sounds fun. Did you have a specific genre that you really liked…Or a topic?
LS: Or what?
CM: Book. Did you have a topic of a book that you really liked to read about
LS: No, I read on. Anything I can get my hands on. But I gravitated more towards mysteries than anything else.
CM: Cool. Did you have a favorite type of music as a kid?
LS: Did I have a what
CM: Did you have a favorite type of music like a type of band or
LS: Type of anything. No, really. Enjoyed own music. Yeah. Gravitated a little towards jazz, but that's about it.
CM: Did you have a favorite holiday?
LS: Favorite what
CM: Holiday
LS: Any day. I didn't have to go to school with was a holiday to me.
CM: That's fair enough.
LS: I was not. I was not one of the best students available at the time as growing up as I got older, I want. I want to see college. I got a degree in chemical engineering. So just settle down a bit.
CM: Uh, did you have any pets as a kid?
LS: Did you ask your question.
CM: Yeah, sorry, it looks like our connections, a bit iffy. But, um, Yes. I said, did you have any pets as a kid.
LS: No. No, I'll no pets went up by. Those in Brooklyn and a three bed in a three-bedroom apartment. She used to sleep in the bedroom with my folks. I used to sleep in a roll away cot in the living room. Which made it interesting.
CM: So you mentioned how you went to community college and we've talked about your. Elementary School. But do you know, do you remember where you went to high school.
LS: Yes, Lafayette High School in Brooklyn New York, and I admit though I really weren’t a good student never took any interest in it until I grew up.
CM: And I know that you're a veteran. Can you tell me which war he fought in if not wars?
LS: Korea I was very fortunate during the Korean War. I was stationed in Washington, DC. I work for the Army prosthetics research lab we did research on different types of materials artificial limbs. And it was interesting. So the work with amputees almost all my life at the time.
CM: Uh, did you ever see any combat. During your time there?
LS: None at all, no.
CM: So you have worked with amputees and just make sure I'm getting this right. And you developed different materials for prosthetics and stuff like this.
LS: Right.
CM: This might be a very specific question, but did you ever have a specific type of, I guess, limb that you were more of an expert about making a prosthetic about?
LS: No, not really.
CM: Just all over everywhere? Nice.
LS: Yeah.
CM: How long did you serve for
LS: Well, actually I was in for two years spent a year and a half and Walter Reed as I send a prosthetic sweet. I was…
CM: I'm sorry you cut out on my end. Could you say that again?
LS: I said, well, I lived off base with my wife. So, All I had to do is come in for inspections every Wednesday and that's about it. I did my work at the prosthetic research lab, you know, work on with different types of materials. Developing them for the prosthetic. Was I was in a medical or even though I was a chemical engineer that was what the army did.
CM: That's pretty interesting. And you mentioned that you were married. When did you get married?
LS: Married in 1953. We were married now 67 years.
CM: Congratulations.
LS: Thank you. Maybe you should congratulate her instead.
Both: (laugh)
CM: Um, so did you have any kids well during those two years. Or was after you. You uh left the war.
LS: Oh yeah I have three children. My daughter, the oldest was born in Walter Reed. In December, just before I got out of the army. I got out in February, and the other two my oldest son was born in Newton Massachusetts and the younger one was born in Nassau County, West Burry.
CM: Did you move around a lot while being in the army or after the army?
LS: No didn't move, but it's spent a year and a half at Walter Reed so. Which was to me. Very good. Good adventure. Really enjoyed that.
CM: Do you have any fond memories of the time one years in our watery?
LS: But that's, that's hard to say. I enjoy it almost every day live door post was married at the time. So it was interesting working at Walter Reed. The only thing that actually really bothered me. Was these burns. You know, little kids getting burned or something. And you had to treat them so. That that hurt more than anything else, amputees didn't bother me.
CM: So you worked with all ages?
LS: Pardon?
CM: You worked with all age groups. Not just like older people you worked with even children as well.
LS: Oh, no. We work with anyone that had a problem as an amputee. You know, we would then with the prosthesis. Get the right match. In fact, any of these soldiers that used to have a hook. We gave an actual. Hand and we had gloves that fit over it. That was just look like skin. And we would color it to the person's coloring, you know if you put one hand up and you have one hand down the one that's up is like a different color was the blood rushes down to the other one. Was interesting is interesting matching it up.
CM: Very, fascinating actually. So you said that after you left you still worked on prosthetics?
LS: What were you saying?
CM: I was saying that after you left the army, you still worked with prosthetics. Correct.
LS: No. When I left the army. As a chemical engineer worked in the chemical fields were mainly in plastic companies. My forte was plastics at the time.
CM: Uh. oh. Okay, so were. You said what you were born in 1989 was that?
LS: No born 1931
CM: Someone gave me the wrong information.
CM: You are alive during World War II? Correct?
LS: Was I what I'm sorry.
CM: You were alive during World War II? Correct?
LS: No. I was alive during the World War II, yes.
CM: But never fought?
LS: Well I was born in 1931. WWII was 41-42 era later. I never got involved with that. Just did the Korean situation.
CM: Got it. Uh, you were around when the TV became a thing in the microwave as well. Do you remember that at all impacting your life, those technological developments?
LS: Really No really, you know, I was too young. And I think at that time.
CM: Uh, did you ever have a favorite president?
LS: any have what?
CM: I'm sorry. I'll repeat that again. Did you ever have a favorite president when you're alive, like someone you really rooted for
LS: Well, when I was born, FDR was president and he's really only one that I grew up with. And of course, it was Truman and Eisenhower. They came later.
CM: Let's see. So did you ever go on any trips like family trips, when after, you know, Vietnam, or even? My bad after the Korean War? Or even with your family back when you were younger.
LS: Oh yeah, we used to go. Spent a lot of time in the Long Beach and Long Island. We used to rent a
little a house there that it was that was good memories at that time. Oh, you're on the beach. He. Well, Everybody takes care you and it was enjoyable.
CM: Sounds like a nice community.
LS: Yeah, yeah, we can. We try to do things as a family, my father. Is from Lithuania. So I'm first generation. My mother's from Poland. So in fact, at that time I used to speak a lot of Yiddish and some Hebrew, not much anymore. As I was growing up, they learned English with me. So we always spoke English so happy today they became fluent in that time. My father live to 97
CM: And you mentioned that you speak Hebrew? Can I ask what religion you believe in if any at all?
LS: Sorry, I didn't catch that.
CM: I was just asking what religion you would consider yourself.
LS: Oh. Jewish I’m Jewish.
CM: Cool.
LS: Yeah Hebrew would be the religion really
CM: Yeah……..So you got any grandkids now or still just your kids?
LS: Well, I got eight grandchildren and one great-grandson. Five girls and three boys the grandchildren and the great is a little boy. Who is now three
CM: Do you ever have. Like big family gatherings where everybody comes back together.
LS: Yeah, we used to lay back, but not anymore. It's…You know with scattered all over the United States. One sons in Massachusetts, one sons in New Hampshire in North Carolina my daughter is in Michigan so it gets a little difficult to have a family reunion. But thank God for the technology we can have it on their computer like zoom and everything.
CM: Did you ever have a favorite sports team or growing up.
LS: The what
CM: A favorite sports teams.
LS: Oh yeah, New York Mets. We were strong Mets fans. Living on Long Island. We used to go to as many games as we could. My wife and I, she's a strong Mets fan and even stronger than me.
CM: Do you feel like you've bonded even more because the Mets.
LS: Yeah
CM: Kid your kids also decide to follow the Mets, or do they have their own sports teams.
LS: No it’s a Mets. Always the Mets.
CM: Always the Mets.
LS: Otherwise, I came my wife, but I think she married me because I was a Mets fan.
CM: Uh, did your wife work for living as well or?
LS: Yeah, when we lived in Long Island. She used to be the airport manager with Bennington airport in Bennington, Vermont, and she enjoyed that. In fact, I have a private pilot's license and I used to have Brendan, I own the Cessna 150 so comes, you know, weekends I go flying and every once in a while. My wife being a weather person had to report the weather. She asked me to go up and see how high the clouds are so I take the plane and go 6000 feet. Oh it was interesting. Oh, I have a pilot's license. I did a lot of things. Growing up Just….
CM: Sorry, it looks like you froze there for the last second. You said you did a lot of things growing up to do stay anything after that.
LS: Well, it's, every day was really an adventure. Got a pilot's license. I'd love flying. You know, private pilots, but whatever I can do, I do. In my younger days.
CM: So, how did you meet your wife?
LS: I was at that time was going to City College of New York and she was the Brooklyn College and we had a party. So that's when we met but didn't really get together with her until she found out that I had a car she stuck around.
CM: Have you have any. What was that, sorry. You seem to freeze these
LS: I was gonna say she thought I was crazy. Once I used to tell her I had my socks painted on my feet because anytime I took a bath is something watch the socks at the same time. I thought that she would just leave but never happened.
CM: When did you get married, then?
LS: 53. Married 67 years. In fact, October 24 was the 67th year
CM: Nice.
LS: Yeah, it's been a long time I was 20 years old at the time.
CM: Let's see. Did you, uh. Did you ever take your grandchildren on a vacations as well or was that more just the occasional visit
LS: Yeah, we used to go a lot to Gilbert Lake State Park. That was a in Otsego County New York, we have family gatherings there we rented a couple of cabins. But then as the kids got older, you know, they went their way. We went our way. So this is what happens. I got eight grandchildren and one great.
CM: Hmm. So you worked at a plastic factory. You mentioned before, or at least some form of a plant, um, was there a specific product that you were making or just all variety of plastics.
LS: It was plastics. Lot of work In a chemical plant. We had vinyl chloride, we may polyvinyl chloride. Plasticizes. A long time ago.
CM: Is there a specific year at least that you can think of that stands out in your mind like. Whether that was a specific event. I'm not let's hold on let me rephrase that a bit better. Do you remember a global event that you can recall from whatever year you can, I guess? Think of like something that really impacted you?
LS: Well, the only thing I can remember is I got a chemical burn and I was six weeks in bandages. So I went up as I was a plant manager at the time in this place to come to me and we've had some problems with one of the filters and as I turned away the gasket blow when they hit me in the back. I ended up in bandages for six weeks. But there's no scarring or anything. Thank God for that.
CM: Thank goodness. Was that the worst injury that ever happened, or did you see worse at the plant.
LS: That's the what. I'm sorry.
CM: Was that the worst injury that happened at the plant. Or…
LS: No, it was a work injury.
CM: Yeah, I was there anything else. Did you see any other injuries at the plant that may have been just as bad or worse?
LS: No, that was, that was the worst one. I used to run the plastic plant also. So I did a lot of experimental work and PepsiCola and PepsiCala bottles and we'd make different type of plastics and every once in a while, a bottle would just rupture. I do remember one point that when I was in a pilot plant. A gasket on one of the reactor just blew and just drove me across the room didn't get hurt or anything was just wild thing like slow motion when you request the room, but unfortunately, I used to take a lot of chances.
CM: Uh, so going back to your college years. Do you remember a class that I guess inspired you to go into Chemical Engineering or was it just something that happened?
LS: What was interesting because when I signed up. I signed up to be an accountant and at the last minute. And I said, no, I'm going to go into chemical engineering. I like the instructor guy was a Dr. Newman, he dismantle the German planes set to the war, very interesting guy. Unfortunately, he stuttered. So he would look. Write on the blackboard what his right hand and have an eraser in his left hand and as he's writing. He's erasing oh yeah to be quick with him. But hey, he's my one of my outstanding. Versus the other one was a doctor Kalani which we just talked about different types of materials. You know, you, you're bringing up memories that I haven't thought of and years.
CM: Did you have a lot of friends in college, or was it more just going there for the work
LS: Well, I went to college after. When I was stationed Walter Reed and I got out of the Army and I went back to college on the GI Bill. So gave me up to refinish shopping and get my degree. Was I had interrupted getting the degree to go as I was drafted so. But then I finished up.
CM: Uh, What were your feelings. Once you find out you're being drafted?
LS: Always my feelings of being drafted? Wasn't too happy about it. I don't leave home. I had to go. Well, you know, that's life.
CM: Did you make any good friends while being in the army?
LS: Yeah, I had, I had a good friend. But you know when I got out. He didn't live in the same part of the country that I lived in, and we just, you know, we lost contact its unfortunate but… very unfortunate. Know also blame myself on that because I never took the time to reconnect with any of these people, you know, just busy at home and it's more…(Internet issues)
CM: So when you finally were able to be home. Did you do anything for, I guess? Did you continue your reading hobby or did you delve into other hobbies?
LS: Oh, The time when I got out of the Army. I had, I was married, and I had a daughter was born December 30 and uh Walter Reed. So there was really not too much time to do anything. Just trying to survive at that point. And though we moved back and we live in a small apartment that too far from the folks area. It was nice. Then went out on my own and Got a degree in started to work for our first company I worked for was Dewy and Allyn chemical company in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
CM: Did you just freeze or are you still there. Up. You're moving again. Sorry you froze for that you mentioned you worked at Cambridge and then I couldn't the picture. Stop moving and sound stop going through.
LS: Yeah Well, it worked for the company called Dewy and Allyn chemical company. And they plastics were really was my forte. I really enjoyed. You know, trying to develop them and whatever.
CM: So have the Mets brought you back for any. Baseball games or have you been kind of off the baseball trail for a while. Hold on a second, it appears that a connections a bit unsecure. So let's, I'm just gonna wait for that to settle down, be a bit before I ask any more questions.
LS: Okay. I’m at your beck and call.
CM: Thank you very much. Let's see, it looks like it's starting to settle down….. Okay. So going back to the Mets. Have you guys been to a recent game or I guess in recent years games? Or have you guys really just been able to watch from a distance at this point?
LS: I'm sorry I didn't catch that?
CM: Uh, have you been to have you been back to watch the Mets? Like, have you been there in person at all? In recent years, or have it has it had to be more at a TV viewpoint at a radio?
LS: Five years ago was. We used to live in Bennington, Vermont. Right now I live in Saratoga Springs live in a 55 and over community.
CM: And how'd you end up in Saratoga Springs from Bennington, Vermont.
LS: Well, lived in Bennington Vermont first. And we used to come over to Saratoga Springs all the time. So we decided when I had the opportunity
CM: To move here.
LS: Now, I like Saratoga Springs. Yeah.
CM: Did you guys come for the horse racing or just for everything.
LS: No. Just, just because we like Saratoga Springs much better than Bennington, Vermont, but more things going on here. And then, my wife never liked Bennington, Vermont
CM: Would you say Bennington, Vermont. Was your least favorite place to live.
LS: I like Bennington, Vermont, and in fact I've, you know, I've lived in a many places. It's like anything else. And you can live in a big city or a small town, you can vegetate or be active and I enjoyed being active. I enjoy politics so.
CM: What so you were a big follower politics throughout the years?
LS: My what?
CM: I was asking you said that you were very big follower of politics throughout the years? Yes?
LS: Yeah, well I enjoy politics enjoy getting involved with the in Bennington and when I was in Saratoga Springs. I got involved with the politics in Saratoga Springs.
LS: It just makes life interesting
CM: Did you run for anything or was it just more support?
LS: Than I will. I'm sorry?
CM: Did you run for anything in Saratoga? Was it just more for support?
LS: No, I Was a Housing, Commissioner, at one point. Well, five years. I didn't get that much involved. I say, mainly in the background. Now, it was a housing commissioner about 5 years.
CM: Did you get into politics anywhere else, or was it just more Saratoga that you really were more involved with?
LS: It really was just Saratoga. Somewhat involved in Burlington, Vermont, but It was just a different atmosphere.
CM: Where you work in Bennington, Vermont. (Computer issues)
LS: When?
CM: When I'm sorry continue what you were saying before, I didn't realize you were still going.
LS: I'm sorry I didn't catch that.
CM: I didn't mean to interrupt you. I thought you. The screen froze again there for a second. So I thought you finished but uh what I asked. Afterwards, was Where did you work. When you were in Burlington, Vermont, or were you retired then.
LS: Oh, I worked in a hooskicfalls. Short for company called oh Mitsui. Which made the different types of chemicals and plastics.
CM: Did you know what the plastics were used for? Was it just general purpose?
LS: General purpose.
CM: Did you have a favorite company you worked for or were they all kind of just the same?
LS: You know that's a very interesting question. I enjoyed working for a company called Dewy and Allyn chemical company in Cambridge, Massachusetts. In fact, that's one of the first companies. I really enjoyed working for me to companies, otherwise I would not have worked there.
CM: Did you ever travel throughout the country, or did you mainly stay on the east coast.
LS: Oh no I travel, I used to go to Japan once a year business movement. Mitsui when I worked for them. Of course we had a plant in Osaka. So once a year I used to go to Japan is to go to Tokyo, Yokohama, and Osaka. It was nice.
CM: Did you ever take your family with you, or was it just you that went
LS: Yeah, I always took my wife with me.
CM: Did you have a fun time in Tokyo. I was asking, did she have a fun time in Japan.
LS: Yeah, I had a great time in Japan. Yeah, I love the people there. I was very involved with them. When I worked for a company called Mitsui. Mitsui was in Japan was in Osaka. So I used to go there once a year.
CM: Did you travel anywhere else around the world.. Sorry.
LS: What do you say born?
CM: Sorry?
LS: And it was nice going. Yeah, I used to take the wife with me, so she traveled almost everywhere that I went, you know, any, any business trip I went I took her.
CM: Did you travel and… What was that
LS: That really kept me out of trouble taking the wife.
CM: A. Is there anywhere else around the world that you traveled
LS: Any what
CM: I was asking, Did you travel anywhere else around the world. You mentioned Japan did you like go to England?
LS: Japan. I had, I had a client in Sweden used to go to Sweden once a year. Was in Belgium. And my son. When he was working. He was working for… he lived in Germany. Frankfurt, Germany, so I used to go visit him. Oh, my wife and I used to visit him. That's when we were able to travel.
CM: Did any of your kids decide to follow in your footsteps and get a chemical engineering degree.
LS: Yeah, my youngest son is a chemical engineer my oldest son is a industrial engineer. So they both went into engineering, and my one of my grandson's an engineer also worked for Lockheed Martin. I told I wish one of them became a doctor or something so we can have in the family. And work they all became engineers.
CM: So you mentioned that your kids live all around the world. One lives in Germany, you've mentioned where the. Do you know where the rest of your kids are currently stationed?
LS: My kids are now?
CM: Yeah.
LS: Yeah, my daughter, which is the oldest is in Michigan. My oldest son is in Littleton Mass and my youngest son is in North Carolina Greensboro, North Carolina. So all scattered also and they all did much better than I had so very happy about that.
CM: Do you have a funny story from when you were having to I guess. Take care of your kids or an event that really sticks out in your mind. From the time when you saw them grow up.
LS: Well, the only thing that sticks in my mind now. Is one we were watching my grandson, and in our apartment, and my son and I was there and he had a dirty diaper. So we go over Bennington together. My wife back to haven't cleaned him up. As my son said we took crap from no one Let's see.
CM: Did you do any volunteer work throughout your life or was it mainly just working at the chemical plant.
LS: Mainly chemical engineering
CM: Uh, this might be one that I don't know if you have ever been here. Have you ever gone to Disney World, or have your kids ever dragged you to it to it.
LS: Sorry?
CM: Sorry you froze. Again, I didn't realize you were still talking. Um, I asked.
CM: Did you kids ever drag you to like Disney World.
LS: We went to Disney World only once. When I took all the kids that was way back Way back. We enjoyed it. We rented a house out there and spent about a week on Disney.
CM: Did you ever enjoy going to see movies and stuff Like that.
LS: Ever what I'm sorry.
CM: Did you ever go to see movies through your life or some point or even like Broadway. Shows or just shows in general.
LS: Yeah, we used to go to some we go, Broadway, show. Unfortunately, we can always afford the top tier in a balcony. Never New York I assure, but we took in as many shows as we could.LS: My wife was a folk singer. So she works. She's worked with some group in New York City.
CM: Did you get to meet any famous people doing that?
LS: Famous people? Yeah, the only people I met was my wife. Both (laugh). Yeah, we met… can't think of his name….Earl, Ray James. Met him on a plane. Can’t think of his name, unfortunately.
CM: It happens. Uh, so you used to live in Brooklyn? Then when you got older, you got drafted, then you went. Back to sorry I'm forgetting the name. It is.
LS: Whose name.
CM: Does you're trying to member my make sure I'm making sure I'm keeping track of the places. What was not Waltz, it's a. Walter reed that was it. You went used to live in Walter reed and then you went t Cambridge and then Bennington?
LS: Yes.
CM: Okay, just making sure I'm keeping track of everywhere. You've gone in that timeframe. Did you ever take any road trips anywhere?
LS: Any road trips
CM: Yeah, like a long times in the car. Going from place to place.
LS: No, never. Whenever we whenever we travel, we either went by plane or by Bus, but never car.
CM: Did you ever have to.
LS: No that’s not true. No because we got married. We took a trip down to Florida by car I drove down there.
CM: Did you enjoy your time in Florida when you went
LS: Pardon
CM: I asked, how was your time in Florida?
LS: How much time in Florida?
CM: How was the trip to Florida?
LS: It was good. Those were the days when I can you know drive a car those distances wife also drove. We also had a camping trailer that I used to lug behind my car. So we did a lot of camping used to camp up in Canada. That was nice.
CM: Was Canada your favorite place to camp.
LS: Montreal we camped up there.
CM: Did you ever take your kids camping.
LS: You look frozen.
CM: I think You're right, I think it looks like our screen, stop being frozen. Did you ever take your kids camping?
LS: Well, yeah, we always took the kids, my daughter never liked it. But she wasn't we're not going to leave home. It was not an outdoors person. Boys loved it, of course.
CM: Did you ever have a running with wild animals well camping?
LS: Never have a what? Sorry.
CM: Did you ever run into like wild animals? When camping like deer or moose?
LS: No, I never saw any of those things.
CM: You ever go fishing while Camping
LS: No. I don't, I don't really fish. I went once with my son and equal fish those sunfish wanted to take it home for show and tell. Wouldn’t last anyway.
CM: Did you kids ever try and…..Continue saying. No, no, no, it our connection keeps freezing up so I you freeze up and I think you're done. So I tried to ask another question but continue what you were saying.
LS: I didn't catch it. I'm sorry.
CM: I was just saying it seems that our screens. Keep freezing. So I assumed you finished what you were saying. But continue what you were just saying a second ago.
LS: I'm finished
CM: Okay. I was going to ask, have your kids ever tried sneaking like something bizarre into the show and tell classes?
LS: Not really. Not really nothing bizarre. Everything was nice and calm when we went
CM: Did all your kids go the same school or did you send them different places.
LS: Now what? I'm sorry.
CM: It's okay. Did you send your kids to different schools or did they all start in the same place?
LS: Actually they wanted different schools, my daughter went was in Brooklyn, New York, she went to
No, no, she was in Walter Reed. So they all wanted different schools. I know that. What schools. I don't remember.
CM: That's perfectly fine. Uh, did you back in your high school years, get into any high school quote on quote shenanigans.
LS: And I want. I'm sorry.
CM: Did you ever get into any mischief and high school
LS: No, no.
CM: Okay.
LS: Went to Lafayette high school, Brooklyn graduated from there and went to ccny
CM: Okay, that should be about wrapping up our interview time
LS: Pardon?
CM: I was saying that that should be wrapping up our interview time it is 150 we started at a 1250 so it's it's been an hour. Thank you for talking with me.
LS: Okay.
CM: Do you have any questions or anything.
LS: No, I want to thank you
CM: Thank you so much for spending your time.
LS: very interesting. Yeah.
CM: Now. Okay. Uh, I'll stop the recording now. Let's make sure I can do that these tech things don't always go well.
Second Transcription of Lou Schneider
CM: Today is 11/18/2020. I am the interviewer CM and to view it in Luke Snyder, would you like to introduce yourself?
Lou Schneider: Pardon?
Cooper Murphy: Would you like to introduce yourself?
LS: I’m Lou Schneider.
CM: So, Lou. Are you find with this recording being used in our project at Skidmore, and possibly be accessed by the public domain.
LS: Of course.
CM: Okay, so let's get started. So you talked about how a you're in the Korean War for two years. Correct?
LS: Well, I was actually during the Korean War situation. I was stationed in Washington, DC. I worked for the Army prosthetics research lab where we did research and development on different type of materials for prosthesis, which was a very interesting job.
CM: So what would you say would be the timeframe from. When you first joined to when it finally ended.
LS: Well, I wanted 53 to 5519
CM: Okay, so can you kind of walk me through the experience from day getting drafted to basically what happened next to when you were allowed to go home.
LS: (clears throat) Well, I was drafted, but I was also married at the time. And because I guess because I was married and being a chemical engineer they station me and Washington DC, Walter Reed Army Medical hospital which I worked for the prosthetics Research Lab, which was good duty.
CM: Okay, so you got drafted, you got brought to the prosthetics research lab. And were you given any training and then sent over as well, or did you ever actually go to Korea?
LS: No, I had no training at all. You know, was I have a degree in chemical engineering. So they figured smart enough anyway.
CM: Sorry, just writing down some stuff. Okay, so you got you had the medical not the medical the chemical engineering degree and you're just flown over. Did you have you ever saw in combat, as you told me before. They never made you do like a boot camp or anything like that. Correct.
LS: Oh yeah, oh yeah, we had a go eight weeks of infantry training and then eight weeks of medical training. Was I was assigned to the Medical Corps.
CM: Okay, so when would you say you actually got to go over to be stationed in Korea was that between 54-55
LS: Pardon again.
CM: Sorry, what was the actual part where you got to go over to Korea was that between like 54 and 55 or was you
LS: 53 and 55
CM: You fine. OK. Cool, cool. How many patients would you say you saw a day over at a in Korea?
LS: You mean and Walter Reed work they're willing to read amputees. And research and development on different type of materials and now we're actually our test students as I would call them. We work with about eight different amputees that lost limbs that we're not the same, you know, arms, two legs. It was interesting work.
CM: Okay. That's your wrap up that little segment. So, uh, what's the war ended did you, uh, did you remember the experience of finding out when people discovered the double helix? Just curious?
LS: Not really, no.
CM: Yeah, I figured. I just want to see that for myself. I'm a bio major. Okay. So, Uh, sent after the Korean War ended. You were alive during you know the whole space race. Correct.
LS: Well, when the Korean War ended, and I got discharged from the army. I actually went back to school. And went back for my masters, but I never completed it. Married at the time had a kid, you know, it's very, very difficult. So how to actually find a job, which I did. I worked for a company called doing Dewy and Allyn chemical company as an engineer, in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
CM: Uh, yeah, I remember that actually from last time. So going quickly back to the space race and everything. Do you remember like all those events like Sputnik and everything like that, and if so, how did that make you feel during that time period?
LS: Sputnik?
CM: Yeah, when the Satellite went up
LS: Russia put the spacecraft. I really didn't think much about it at the time. Yeah, I figured that you know I’ve government knew what they were doing it. We're going to put up something also and I was not involved with it so didn't really care too much.
CM: What about when you heard about someone was able to go on the moon?
LS: That was interesting. I mean, that was the first to me to first have space travel to go to various places the various planets. It was exciting space is very exciting the space station was also very exciting.
CM: I bet, especially since I was the first of any of its kind.
LS: Yeah.
So after the space race. Do you remember anything as well of like when the Cold War was starting to become more of a thing? Like for instance Cuban Missile Crisis. How did that affect you at all during one that was?
LS: Not really. Not at all.
CM: Just curious. OK, so moving on from that you mentioned that you got married a what time again did you actually get married at
LS: Like what I'm what
CM: What year did you get married again.
LS: 1954
CM: Okay, and where did you say the wedding was
LS: Wedding was in Brooklyn, New York.
CM: Do you remember where you went for your honeymoon.
LS: Well, I was in the army at the time and I had a week off so we stopped off in Rahway, New Jersey. The first night was it was raining and then we ended up in Atlantic City. And then, of course, I had a week before I was had to go back to Walter Reed. In fact, my daughter was born in Walter Reed in 1954. The fact, December 30 1954
CM: Okay. So you mentioned before and unfortunately wasn't able to get this down to my notes. You said that your favorite place was either New port, a Walter Reed?
LS: Was what?
CM: You mentioned that you moved around a lot in your life, last time when we talked, and you mentioned that either your favorite place was Walter Reed or Newport, do you remember which one was
LS: Walter Reed. Fact, though I was stationed there for a year and a half, and the prosthetics Research Lab, which was to me very interesting work, you know, working with these amputees. They were our test specimens on the materials that we developed and we work with about eight amputees. They were fun group.
CM: Do you remember any of the uh I guess. Patients you had like anything specific about them. Besides, you know, I'm being amputees’.
LS: Well, there's one thing that always sticks out on my mind. We had a nurse that lost part of her nose. And she came in to be fitted for plastic nose, but we come back every week because there was a stain on the on the nose. She smoked so what we did is we gave her a dozen noses and said, go home and do what want. In fact, we had one amputate that lost his left arm, and he built his friend that he can swim beat him in one lap and no water in the pool at Walter Reed and we fitted him with a fin. So yeah, I'll tell you, we had a lot of fun. They were a fun group they didn't feel sorry for themselves. I said, this is it. And we'll do the best we can.
CM: So, if you don't mind? Actually, could you give me like a walkthrough figure daily I guess life back when used to live and watery?
LS: Well, I was married at the time. So we live off post and of course, I had a car so how do. (cough) Excuse me, actually I was assigned to Walter Reed, but I worked in a place called Forest Glen. That's where the prosthesis was. Every day we had a call for an inspection. At seven o'clock in the morning. That was about it. Was just a routine. My daughter was born and Walter Reed 1954 December 30
CM: And when you got home here. What do you normally do when you got back to your house?
LS: In Washington, DC.
CM: Yes.
LS: Was it. No, just nothing just stayed with the wife, and we went to various places. I love this Smithsonian Institute. So we used to go there pretty often but till being in the army. I think we got a stipend of 250- $280 a month and we had to make that thing last I remember that she's we saved up so we could buy, one egg roll.
CM: A fan of egg rolls? Are you a fan of egg rolls?
LS: Oh yeah, I like, first of all, I like Asian food.
CM: Can you remember where you tasted the best Asian food?
LS: Where, what I'm sorry.
CM: Can you remember where you test my bad, tasted the best Asian food.
LS: Best Asian foods that actually were testing best for when I used to go to Japan. It's not the same. It's, it's, it's different.
CM: Okay, so after working with amputees’ and everything you said you worked at a chemical plants. Correct?
LS: Of work where
CM: I'm sorry had you worked at multiple different chemical plants.
LS: Work for a company first company was Dewy and Allyn Chemical Company, which was in Cambridge, Massachusetts. And then I took a job than on Long Island and I worked for a company called Rubber Corporation of America, mainly in plastics. Plastics was my forte. That's what I've always studied
CM: Yeah. You mentioned that that's a quite a bit. And it's very interesting, too. But I want to ask, did you ever remember having to witness the implement of the stationary computers. Business computers into the workplace, like those giant machines on the wall that you plug in numbers to.
LS: Oh, no. In fact, the first time I work with computers is when I left the army. When I went to work for Rubber Cooperation of America. They gave me a computer take home so
CM: Cool. Did you like using a computer.
LS: Yeah. Haven't been without one since.
CM: Especially in this time I'm betting?
LS: My wife has the laptop, of course, but I use the one stationary here in my office at home.
CM: Yeah, I have a stationary too
LS: I like it
CM: Oh, let's see. So you mentioned. Actually, speaking of your wife and family and everything. You mentioned that you like to go camping, in Montreal. Correct?
LS: Yeah, we had a camping trailer had a 16 foot. Uh what was it called I can't think of the name, but we used to do a lot of camping up and down the East Coast spent time of Florida Hollywood, Florida. I remember that, But I enjoy camping up in Canada. In those days you had no problems getting through into Canada. Long time ago.
CM: Yeah. I've been to Canada. A couple times real nice up there, but I was gonna ask. Did you just like start camping out of a whim, or did you use to go camping before he had you got with your family and everything.
LS: Oh yeah, when I was growing up in Brooklyn, New York, I belong to the Boy Scouts. So we always camp. And I just continue doing that. I enjoyed it. But my daughter never did.
CM: So you were a boy scout when you're younger?
LS: pardon
CM: You were a boy scout when you were younger?
LS: Oh, yeah.
LS: Did a lot of things when I was younger. Some foolish some not
CM: You got any stories from the Boy Scouts or was it just kind of a normal experience as you would say
LS: Normal experience. You know, you read about what they what was going on with the abuse. We never had that in Brooklyn, New York.
CM: Be my guess. I'll pause the recording. (Time passes for the phone call) Yeah, sorry about that. That's new. I'm definitely gonna have to talk to my phone provider about that one.
LS: Interesting, though.
CM: I know. so, uh, speaking of what is there anything about your life that you'd like to share discuss just anything that you thought you wanted to share from last time that you didn't get to?
LS: I don’t know, growing up in Brooklyn, New York was an adventure because Coney Island was my stomping ground used to go there pretty often. And uh but that's really, that's about it. I enjoyed living in Brooklyn. My wife still has family there. So we go back occasionally, spent a lot of time in Coney Island. In fact, and Coney Island we were up on the subway, which is the L and we watch Luna Park burn when that the big fire.
CM; Oh, yeah, yeah.
LS: Then I think Trump put up his building or whatever.
CM: So when I'm not actually I don't have to remember the date that have Luna Park apart burned do you?
LS: What date.
CM: The date when a Luna Park burn.
LS: Don't even know how had to be in be in the early 50sif I am not mistaken.
CM: I'll look it up later I was just curious if you knew off the top of your head.
LS: No, I don't.
CM: That’s probably fine. Well, I guess we've reached the last question, unless you have anything else you want to say before then?
LS: That everything that
CM: So if you had to give advice to, I guess, the current generation, what would it be if you don't have any that's fine. Just curious what you?
CM: Great advice.
LS: Have a sense of humor.
CM: That is a good one….What do you think it's important to have a sense of humor?
LS: What if you if you what?
CM: Sorry, I was asking, why do you think it is important to have a sense of humor?
LS: Oh, You can't be serious soul, your life and the lifetime. You got to find humor in everything. I think that levels you offer keeps you know basic. You know, if you don't have a sense of humor. I mean, like to be very boring.
CM: Indeed, Okay. Actually, I did have one question. Did you ever go camping with your parents.
LS: My friends?
CM: Your friends or your parents?
LS: No. First of all, my father came from Lithuania and my mother from Poland, so of course they do that, you know, they were of the older generation. No, we went most camping I did was with friends. When I was in a boy scouts or, when we got older and I had a family. We have a 16 foot trailer camper that we used to use. I Love that daughters and never did. But I did that the boys did of course. So we used to camp all the way up. Used to go to Hollywood, Florida. We camped up in, as I said in Canada. Those were the days when you get into Canada pretty easily, which you can't anymore.
CM: Okay, well that's all the questions I had so unless there's anything again, you can think of that you want to add that would basically wrap it up.
LS: I can't think of anything at this point. I think you did a good job.
CM: Thank you. I hope my teacher thinks that too.
LS: I hope so.
CM: Okay, I'm gonna stop the recording. Now then.
Okay.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Interview with Lou Schneider
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
October 26, 2020
November 18, 2020
Is Part Of
A related resource in which the described resource is physically or logically included.
Saratoga Senior Memory Project
Description
An account of the resource
An 89-year-old Koren war vet from Brooklyn describes his life history. From his time in Brooklyn as a kid. His experience as a medical core in Korea, and then finally his life after with his family as a chemical engineer. This interview was conducted as part of the Saratoga Springs Senior Center project “Preserving Our Past”.
Language
A language of the resource
English (en)
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Cooper Murphy
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Cooper Murphy
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
Skidmore College
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Audio recording
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Oral History
1950's
camping
Chemical engineer
Korean War
Medical Core
oral history fall 2020
saratoga senior center
-
https://www.ssmp.mdocs.skidmore.edu/files/original/daf751948e1d097767a5ec451ecc5953.jpg
043b9f62a8a4aad22bbb6ed73824c65a
https://www.ssmp.mdocs.skidmore.edu/files/original/05e4d29b23c0ba2dc6d9830aeea3570a.mp3
ff6259f1759f07125b156f82e3fb96ba
https://www.ssmp.mdocs.skidmore.edu/files/original/516384fac4f44cf011fcd7a2c54514c9.pdf
e3b75bf026f6bac65ff10bfd8ca91372
PDF Text
Text
00:00:00.000
Jd: Are we recording? Okay.
Kris: Ready? Okay.
00:00:04.322
Kris: Hi! My name is umm Kris Leggiero and I've been here, I am the SGA
accountant at Skidmore for 17 years.
Jd: Umm my question is, cause I know you are from long Island and then you
came here, but before we get into the transition, what was your favorite
childhood memory in long Island?
00:00:25.000
Kris: Okay. My favorite childhood memory on Long Island, uh does it have to be
in Long Island, or, cause I did, you know I did, umm , I grew up also, you know, I
lived in Brooklyn for a short period in time and for, I think more of my memories
come from Brooklyn actually, which is really interesting. I just remember cause
when we, when we lived in Brooklyn, It was, we lived in an apartment building. I
grew up with my four sisters in a one bedroom. So by the time we moved to long
island, it was a little bit different, and we had a house and you know everyone
had their own bedroom so It was a little bit different growing up, but being in a
room with my four sisters with these beds lined up one after the other, and, it,
those are the memories that really stick in my head, because we were so
bonded because we spent that much time, you know together in that room,
whether it was fighting or laughing, or whatever, being silly. Or jumping
from, this is a really good memory because I just remember it so vividly. We
would jump from bed to bed to bed and go back. And we all, we all waited for
my parents to come in and yell at us. [00:01:35.000] And they never did, I guess
they figured we were, you know having so much fun and we were staying out of
their hair. So, they, were like just let them do. It's funny because there are so
many memories, but those are the ones that stick in my mind. Just the four of us
in that room, late at night, probably staying up later than we should have been
and just laughing and bonding and til this day we are just so close. [00:02:00.368]
And I think it’s because of those moments of being so close back then.
Jd: It's so interesting that you say that because a lot of times when you speak
about your accent and you refer to it as your long island accent but then your
memories are just from Brooklyn.
Kris: Yes? Long Island I guess, you know, I moved to Long Island when I was in
fourth grade and umm, but I guess. we were kind of, well my sisters were older
and we just started going our own ways. And Long Island, I think my biggest
memories of Long Island which is you know, I don’t know, it was just more of like
when I was older and able to go out. And going to the different clubs and
having fun with friends, and that period of my time as opposed to, but the
�memories that I love the most are when I was younger and that's why I kind of
go back to Brooklyn. [00:02:57.752]
Jd: Those were the foundations. I wanted to know what influenced you to move
to Saratoga.
Kris: Oh! That's a good question. If you ever been to Long Island, there's a lot
that influenced me. (laughing). So actually, what really happen so my children
were not in school yet and a good friend of mine who I grew up with, I knew
since oh my gosh, we were probably nine or ten years old, knew her through
school and till this day we are best friends, [00:03:34.487], umm she went to
school up here. By the time, she was in grad school, I guess and moved up here.
I was already, I was married, I had kids, she was you know still in her path. I would
come and visit her. I always use to come up. The funny thing is about is, she lived
in Albany. The funny thing is, when they say you know you're from Long Island,
and you may appreciate it this, I am not really sure, but when they say you know
you are from Long Island when you think that Westchester is upstate, well that is
so true. [00:04:05.000] because I never realized there was something to up North.
I use to come visit her in Albany, and it was nice whatever. One weekend she
says, "Let's go to Saratoga" and I'm like, "What is Saratoga?" (Laughing) So we
came up actually for the big race, the Travers race, and we came up and I was
like oh my goodness why did you not bring me here. It was just a beautiful town,
everything I was looking for, and I love simple, I love being simple. At the time it
was just a very simple [00:04:50.000] quiet town, fell in love with it. Ended up
getting in touch with the builder, had a house built very quickly, before my kids
got into school, and just moved up. And love it. I feel like I am on vacation
every single day.
Jd: Till this day?
Kris: Till this day and I've been up here since '93. Over, way over 20 years, just
absolutely love it.
Jd: That leads me to my next question. What surprised you the most about
Saratoga, what made you love it so much? (Laughing)
Kris: So, what really surprised me about Saratoga, again that's a really good
question again because this is another vivid memory. I was, I was probably on
my first couple weeks here, and I am on Broadway, [00:05:32.608] and grab a
cup of coffee, just kind of getting use to the town and seeing what stores are
there. That was just about the time where bigger stores were popping up like
Eddy Bauerer, Anne Taylor and all that section was not even there, and those
hotels were not even here. And I grab my cup of coffee and I am walking
through town and you know, just kind of minding my own business, and every
�person, I am not joking, every person I pass was like "good morning, good
morning" and I am looking around, are they talking to me. I was just not use to
that. People are just umm, you know. people are just really friendly and they
stop to talk to you. That, and on Long Island everything is just rush, rush, rush,
people aggravated, traffic and then moving up here and just like living and it’s
a funny thing, I was talking to someone just yesterday and she was making fun
of my walk actually because I walk to slow, but that never was like that. As soon
as I moved up here, I'm like that’s it, I am not rushing around anymore. I am just
taking my time. That moment in town when people were saying hello to me,
and I figured someone was behind me (laughing) [00:06:55.870], that they were
talking to someone else. It's a great town, it’s an absolutely fabulous town.
Jd: That's why I came to Skidmore, and financial aid, but when I came to visit
everyone was so nice and saying hi all the time. It is so different in New York City.
You don't say hi to anyone, you barely make eye contact.
Kris: It is so different. It’s like this is the way I want to live. This is the way, you know,
I knew in my core, that’s who I was because I love talking to people and I love
being friendly, but down in Long Island. They will look at you with three heads,
they are not going, you know, there like, "What do you want?" [00:07:37.333]
Jd: It's almost suspicious when people are too nice in New York City.
Kris: Yes, exactly.
Jd: What was one thing that New York City had that Saratoga didn’t?
Kris: Long Island? Something that Long island had?
Jd: or Brooklyn
Kris: Well, I have to go back to Long Island, so the thing that Long Island had
that Saratoga does not have, and something that I wish it had, ugh the
beaches. Without a doubt, without a doubt. I grew up ten minutes from the
ocean. We use to ride our bikes down there and spend my whole summers
there. The lakes are lovely, I will not go in a lake. But they are lovely. But the
beach I so miss, but I do go back just for that.
Jd: Are there beaches by here?
Kris: You know, it will take me about three and a half hours to get to Jones
beach on Long Island, but I guess Massachusetts. Everything is still probably
around three hours away.
�Jd: Nothing around here
Kris: No lovely lakes, that’s about it, but it doesn’t compare. (laughing)You
can’t jump in the waves in a lake.[00:09:02.705]
Jd: You kind of just stay in the lake.
Kris: Its beautiful to look like at, its serene, but it’s not the same, not the same.
And bagels and pizza. Have to throw those in.
Jd: Pizza is a big one.
Kris: Yes, very big.
Jd: And I feel like even when I go back now, it’s hard to find a good New York
City Pizza because I don’t know where the good spots are anymore.
Kris: I know, yeah that’s true. Yeah that’s true.
Jd: So I wanted to transition into now your life at Saratoga and Skidmore, but
more towards club life and the transitions in the seventeen years you’ve been
here, Going towards your life, what’s your favorite part about it?[00:09:55.328]
Kris: Favorite part about my job. Well. so, there's two favorite parts if I may. I've
been doing bookkeeping, accounting, financial work since I've been 18 years
old, and I love it! I absolutely love it. Umm, but I did work for an accounting firm,
small accounting firm and I loved my work, but I am a people person, so it was
very difficult for me. So, when this job became available I interviewed for it, and
got the job. [00:10:40.870] I was able to do my love, the accounting that I love.
I'm a little bit of a nerd. But then to be with the students and I have to say,
working with students, and working with, you know, I consider you adults, but
you know what I am saying, when I say adult, right two different things. The
students here are amazing, they are motivating, they, and still seventeen years
later I am still in awe of the students here. And, but they give me that you know,
that motivation, seriously to do things in life. Like, everything that they can, like I
can’t and I say this to everybody because I amazed at everything that you guys
do. The clubs, and keeping up your grades, and working, and just like being
these beautiful people. I was walking across campus the other day, again here
we go again, the students, like three students, didn’t even know, it was early in
the morning, I was heading over to a meeting and their just like, "good morning,"
and I am like, "really." These students are so nice too, and I am sure there are a
few that are trouble makers, but for the most part the children are amazing.
[00:12:05.870] And I am very fortunate, and every day I come to work and say "I
�love what I do, I love my job." After 17 years, and it's because of you, it seriously
is.
Jd: It is so interesting, this conversation keeps coming up this week. I keep on
talking to people about how amazing the students at Skidmore are and of
course I am thinking about the pants that people wear because there are so
amazing. Just looking at people's pants, especially in the fall or in the spring, I’m
just like, because they are always so subtle, a lot of Skidmore students are
always subtle but always doing a lot with their work [00:12:46.710]. So many
interesting things too. It’s insane, like the art students, the students with computer
science, like animation, like I just realized this week that that’s a whole sector of
a course, that someone can specialize in animation. I’m just like, what, that’s
awesome, that people are gaining these skills here, like that’s such an
interdisciplinary space.
Kris: You do, the students do so much, and they do everything so well. Even the
fashion show, it’s like all the time you spend on that, that blows my mind
because I work and I go home and I am like on the coach. [00:13:32.312]
(Laughing) I'm done, but it’s so amazing. It keeps me young, it keeps me
motivated. Like constantly striving, I can’t imagine if I worked in the CPA office, I
couldn’t imagine where I'll be. I will probably be ten years older than I am. Just
being here and the energy from the students. I feel so grateful on that end that I
get to stay young and refreshed. I am very challenged in some areas like
technology, but the students help me so when I go out in the real world, my
world, I look pretty smart. (Laughing) Thanks you too.
Jd: So my next question is, no actually, I am going to transition to somewhere
else. What has been your favorite memory with a student at Skidmore?
Kris: A student? Oh wow. That is so hard because I’ve met so many incredible
students and bonded with so many incredible students. I think, I don’t know a
specific memory here, because there is so many. But I think my, I think, when
students graduate and we still have that connection, and I am still invited to
weddings, and baby showers, [00:15:19.648] a specific memory, I have a student
who calls me, I think almost every week and he graduated six years ago. And
it’s you know, those things, those are just, those to me, mean so much. It will be
very hard for to pick a specific memory for here.
Jd: I think that answered it perfectly. Shifting over to clubs, umm, how have the
clubs shifted over the years, if they have?
Kris: I don’t know if there's been a big shift, what I see, it’s very typical, very
consistent. The clubs that are really active, tend to remain active year after year
after year. There may be a few clubs that have been active, that all of a
�sudden, we have to have that conversation like "what’s going on," "how’s the
membership, how’s the eboard working" because we can tell. We can tell the
clubs that have been so active, and the ones that have been active all of a
sudden are kind of. I think it’s very consistent about the clubs that are created
each year or chartered each year and then the other clubs that have been
chartered and kind of the eboned flow. You have that interest for one year or
two years and then it declines and then the club gets sunsetted because there
is no interest. All of a sudden, two years later, "Hey, there is this kind of a club, I
am interested." [00:17:19.263] I think it is very consistent in that way. I know the
clubs that are active, consistently are active. The ones that we kind of know,
that have the eboned flow and we expect it. You know, we expect it. I
personally, on my end, what I do, I don’t see any major shifts in clubs. It is
interested to see the ideas on the clubs that are created and the interest, you
each year and some clubs where the interest it’s like, "Woah we can’t do that,"
so I think it’s all consistent how it ah plays out.
Jd: Do you have a favorite event you like to go to?
Kris: Well every year I try to go to an event I have never been before so I go to
the circus club or I go to an acapella event. One of my favorites, and not
because you are sitting in front of me, this happened a long time ago, it’s the
fashion show. I love, and maybe it's because I know all the work you put into it,
but then again, I love fashion. So it’s something that I am passionate about.
[00:19:06.847] But, the other events I love going to, I love going to the culture
dinners, love whether it be Hillel, Hayat, I love those dinners. I love the
performance, the food. It expands my world. I also love going to sporting, I love
watching the men’s hockey team. Love it. And I've been to the alpine ski races,
absolutely love that as well.
Jd: And those are a little bit further?
Kris: Yes, I'll go up to gore mountain which is about an hour away. I’ve been
there a couple of times, absolutely love those too, but I do try to go to, I've been
to Comfiest. And. I’ve been to the outing club, they have the film screening I've
done that. So, I try to spread it out, things I haven’t been to, Fun day? I'll show up
if I have to. [00:20:20.870] No, I love fun day but,
Jd: It can be a little hectic sometimes.
Kris: I pop in, I pop in, say hello early enough and then I am usually out of there.
Jd: A little bit pf a personal question, I really want to know the answer to. How
has student fashion shifted since you've been here?
�Kris: Oh! How has student fashion shifted? You know and this is amazing, and I
do, I watch student fashion. I love seeing what the students wear. [00:21:00.870] I
can’t mimic it, but I may throw in something a little age appropriate for myself
every now and then. What I see is like the different styles from when I
Jd: They are coming back.
Kris: They are coming back! and I love it. One year I saw leg warmers and I’m
like, "Wait that’s the 80's" Umm, I’ve seen the wide, the bell bottom pants. I love,
and I am like oh gosh, I should have saved all those clothes. [00:21:32.190]
Jd: There are a few pieces I took from my mom, she was going to throw them
out. I was like no these are going to come back. I am going to keep these.
Kris: As I go through my closet, I am like why did I give it up. But you know, but
here is something I am very impressed by. I have been on other college
campuses, most people in their Pajamas. Not at Skidmore. (Laughing) you know
and its, students just love to, whether they mean to or not, they look great, and
of course I miss my little hall way downstairs, like a little fashion, cause that’s you
know, I love to dress uniquely. i know quite a few students who do. As a matter
of fact, I ran into a student the other day and she was wearing these animal
print booties and I am like oh my god. I have those booties, I am so cool. I think
its Diane. I have the same booties as her, I wouldn’t wear them here, but that
was so cool to me.
Jd: Seeing the fashion here, is just, is incredible to see what people wear and
how they put it together. And everyone has such a different style.
Kris: Exactly, sometimes the same. There’s this joke, everyone at Skidmore
dresses the same which is so true because me and tory have come in with the
same outfit and we will take a picture. And it’s like, and again, and here is how
the students inspire me. Because I am like, I love your headband. I’m like, "That
might look good on me: so I go out and I’m like, let me try it. Here is my work, this
is what I do day in and day out. It is just so amazing that I can take so much
more away from this beautiful campus that we are on. And that’s why every
day I am so grateful for my job, for what I do here, cause I love what I do, I love
working with the students, I love bonding with the students, I love what I learn
from students. And it’s like, sometimes, alright I am too happy. [00:24:29.375]
Jd: I think that was a perfect ending to our interview. Usually for interviewing I
have to let you speak, and we are so interactive, I have to stop my thoughts all
the time and I want to say mmhmm. And I think I did a few in here.
�Kris: But that’s okay because when we are interacting that brings out different,
you know, thoughts in my head. I am like oh yeah, that’s what interviewing and
talking is about
Jd: Is there anything you like to mentioned that you feel like we haven’t covered
or any last final thoughts?
Kris: about what in particular?
Jd: About anything Skidmore/Saratoga Community
Kris: You know, again, I just feel very grateful. In my little world, I feel very
grateful. Obviously, we are not without struggles, but I also see those struggles
being addressed. And I am grateful for that as well because I’ve also seen in the
past where they weren’t. I am glad to see that we are getting to a place where
we are more conscious and moving ahead. That is great to see on this campus.
The college itself, the students remain to be amazing. The one thing I have
noticed about students though from when I first started there wasn’t a passion
for a stance and now I feel like students, all group of students when they have a
passion they are going for it. And that to me, and seriously, for years and years
and years, we've talked about. "Why isn’t there passion" on campus like why isn’t
everyone like, you know. Then all of sudden there, boom, and it’s become this
snowball effect and that’s great. That’s part of the college experience, tis not
only academic. Its finding your spirit, its finding your voice. [00:26:50.870] Its really
important as well and I am so glad that a lot of students have found their voice
and are pushing us forward.
Jd: I think a lot of that also has to do with the growth of social media, where we
are constantly connecting with people who might not have the same views as
us. Makes us even more passionate about what we believe in. "Wait, but I
believe this and I want to speak about this" and I think it triggers conversations in
ways where before may have been closed into a space that not everyone had
access to.
Kris: That is true. That is very true, and it’s also learning, I think it’s a hard thing to
do, but learning to appreciate someone else’s opinion and learning to respect
someone else's opinion and respecting their opinion. [00:27:40.870] I think that’s
such a hard thing, because you are like "No, you're wrong."
Jd: And as soon as you hear something that you don’t agree with you want to
respond, but the trick is to listen. I need to understand someone else’s point to
be able to articulate mine.
�Kris: And respect, that’s your perspective, that’s your view, that’s great, In my
mind your wrong (laughing) [00:27:59.925] But I am not going to say that. So
yeah, that’s the shift I see in students, just that compassion and passion and
speaking up and moving forward. It is great to see.
Jd: Thank you for allowing me to interview you and have this conversation. I
really enjoyed it.
Kris: Me too. Me too! That was great.
�
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Oral History
Description
An account of the resource
Many people who have worked or studied at Skidmore College or lived in Saratoga Springs or the surrounding area carry the memories that help us tell the stories of our communities.
This collection offers a glimpse into our past in the voices of those who have shared their stories.
Oral History
A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge.
Location
The location of the interview
3rd Floor of Case, Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, NY
Transcription
Any written text transcribed from a sound
Add in subscription here
Record Creation Date
Day/Month/Year of record creation/edit
08/03/2018
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Interview with Kris Leggiero
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
The date you did the interview.
Is Part Of
A related resource in which the described resource is physically or logically included.
Skidmore Saratoga Memory Project.
Description
An account of the resource
Two to three sentences about the interview.
Language
A language of the resource
Eng.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
De La Cruz, Jamerly, '18
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Audio
-
https://www.ssmp.mdocs.skidmore.edu/files/original/06132d52f1ef8948f343635358135e71.jpg
36c9d3ab01003ff6012b70309c498154
https://www.ssmp.mdocs.skidmore.edu/files/original/27655ae9ba2744505e7cebfc0dbef633.m4a
1ff80bafbf9bb7e23e2f2c298e81d8b5
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Oral History
Description
An account of the resource
Many people who have worked or studied at Skidmore College or lived in Saratoga Springs or the surrounding area carry the memories that help us tell the stories of our communities.
This collection offers a glimpse into our past in the voices of those who have shared their stories.
Oral History
A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge.
Interviewer
The person(s) performing the interview
Eberhardt, Sophia
Interviewee
The person(s) being interviewed
Woodworth, Marc
Location
The location of the interview
Saratoga Springs, New York
Skidmore College, Palamountain Hall
Original Format
The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data
mp3
Record Contributor
Individual who prepared the item and/or edited it.
Eberhardt, Sophia
Transcription
Any written text transcribed from a sound
[SE] What was an av-average week at Skidmore?
[00:00:06.418]
[MW] I don't know, I was thinking about being here in the very early 80s, oh, I arrived in fall of 1980, and, what I was thinking first about was how much Saratoga's different, which may not pertain exactly to your Skidmore question, but, um, I remember my freshman suitemates and I went downtown and found a really, kind of seedy, backroom pool hall, and we used to like to play pool there once a week and it seemed to me, that that represents the kind of Saratoga that's no longer here. You know, it wasn't entirely upscale bourgeois at that point, it was still a little bit seedy in some places there were a lot of buildings that were unoccupied, there were a lot of storefronts without stores in them, um, I think there were, maybe, more, maybe this is a fantasy, but more, artistic people who, you know, could afford to live in Saratoga, rather than wealthy people, as there are now who can afford to live in Saratoga, so it feels like the, the, the feel of the town is considerably different. [00:01:13.403]
Um, a normal week in town would also have meant, in those days, for me, taking the bus to Moore Hall, which was our dorm on Union Avenue, uh, [it] was the last dormitory that Skidmore kept from the old campus which was still in place, and was still, um, a place where sophomores, juniors, and seniors would live, so, I do remember the first year I lived there, taking the bus around twilight in the winter and feeling, you know I was kind of isolated and far away from campus, so it felt sometimes a little bit, uh, like you were out of the mix of your normal, collegiate life, which was both good and also a little strange, sometimes, [inaudible], um, so that was part of the week, definitely, going back and forth on the bus that I remember. [00:02:06.524]
It was also, I think, the dorm that I would say, [had] a more bohemian element, that the college lived in, so there were a lot of, uh, artist types there, and, uh, people who thought of it as a little bit of a different place to live, on, on campus, so there was quite a cast of characters there, and, it had its own dining hall, so, um, of course there was still a dining hall on campus here, but it had- it retained its old dining hall which was Skidmore's old dining hall, so, um, the denisons of that particular dormitory would, you know, gather in that dining hall, I remember an interesting cast of characters, a guy named Clark who would always take, uh, the effervescence, or the carbonation, out of his sodas, so he would spend a lot of time filling up soda, uh, filling up glasses of soda and then with his spoon, uh, clinking, the spoon, around through the ice and getting the effervescence to get away so he could drink it [00:03:07.929]
Um, there were quite a few people who were, you know, notably eccentric, and it was also, it must be said, at that time, um, quite a drug center I would think. You know, Skidmore didn't, I mean, Saratoga didn't necessarily have a lot of, uh, a lot of industry at that time, but I think there were a number of young people who were selling elicit drugs out of, out of Moore Hall in those days, um, there were some international students, I remember, who, you know, seemingly have a very lucrative full time job it seemed, outside of their studies, in those, in those days. And that seemed to be a little bit based in Moore Hall, so, uh, that was, you know that wasn't, that wasn't part of my week, because I was, I was on an abstinence plan, and I never took drugs of any kind, um, my mother, wisely, made me very [afraid?] of all that stuff, but there were others, probably, who did, so, [there would be?], there would be a little bit of, uh, that kind of element going on down there. But it was, you know, it was still almost the 70s, it was early 80s, and, I guess there was still some of that permissiveness, not that the college would've permitted it, I don't suppose, but it seemed, I think, a little looser now -- then -- than it does now, probably, in all manner of things, and maybe, maybe students weren't, weren't quite so, um, overseen, I guess, in a way. So that's not really much of a schedule of a week but a scan of reassociation. [00:04:37.098]
[SE] Do you feel like the students who were on Skidmore's campus then reflected the community in the -- like, in the Saratoga public more, um, and does that correlate to how Skidmore students are with correlation to the public now? [00:04:53.924]
[MW] Ya that's a good question, um, it's a little hard for me to remember. I don't feel, that at least, I and my group of friends had a lot to do with Saratoga, I mean, despite going to play pool in the pool hall or, uh, going downtown. When I arrived at Skidmore the drinking age was 18, so people did go to bars and certain ones were Skidmore identified, I would guess, so we, we -- uh, I guess we socialized downtown, maybe, you know, maybe earlier than some Skidmore students do now, but I don't remember having a lot of interactions with townspeople outside of, you know, people who worked at the bank, or bartended, or served food. So I don't know if that's different, I mean, you have a better sense of what it's like now, but it's not your interview, we don't have to talk about that [laugh]. Um, but it, it feels to me that the campus and the people on the campus are more intergrated and perhaps a little more welcome and also welcoming to the people of the town now than they were then, [it] seems still pretty separate, um, I think it was, it would have been, of course, quite a while since the school became co-ed, so it was, you know, no longer thought of as a women's college, but there were still many more women at the college than men, I think it was still 3 or 4 to one ratio, maybe, at that time. And, I think the town still, probably, certainley people who had been here for a while still thought of it as, as -- as a rather posh school for wealthy young women and maybe that made them feel that it was still a separate entity from them, um. And, certainly there were still, you know, kids of means who went to the college and kids who drove very fancy cars, the likes of which I certainley didn't have or wouldn't have seen, and, I think, you know, in this town that wasn't booming economically at that point there was still probably a perception that this was a place for the wealthy to go to school and that probably retained something of a divide in there, before. [00:07:01.722]
[SE] Um, so, since you weren't really involved with, like, the Saratoga public when you were here, what factors made you decide to come here and teach and live here?
[MW] Hm, well I suppose that had to do largely with wanting to come back and work with Robert and Peg Boyers on Salmagundi Magazine, so uh, that, that became, kinda, my family when I was here as an undergraduate and they became my family in a way, I was very close to them. As a student I worked on the magazine, um, and spent a lot of time in what I aspired to, which was kind of their adult world of being intellectuals and loving arts and writers, um, so for me, Skidmore represented, uh, that world very strongly, and it was something that I was powerfully drawn to because I was here. And when I came back I came back initially, in a way that maybe, wasn't necessarily, going to seem permanent, but, Bob and Peg were on sabatical. I had a reason to want to -- nothing criminal -- but I had a reason I wanted to leave where I was and do something else and, um, and there was this opportunity to come back and, and help on the magazine while they were gone, and teach a few courses, so I came back for those reasons, and it wasn't, I don't think, at all because I didn't enjoy Saratoga when I was here as an undergraduate, um, I did I loved the town and I loved walking in the town, I love the architecture, um, I loved, actually, some of the sense that the grandness of the town had become compromised, because people couldn't keep up the houses anymore and there were numbers of houses on North Broadway which seemed unoccupied, weren't used in the summer even, and weren't kept up, and that was true all over town. So it's still, it kind of had a, had a bit of, um, degenerated charm, in some way, which I liked in a, uh -- and the town had a lot of, uh, a lot of charm for me in that way so I, I always loved being here even if I didn't feel, you know, like I did all that much with people in town off campus. [00:09:22.806] Um, but, so coming back was not dictated by the fact that Saratoga is Saratoga but it certainly helped that it was an interesting town, um, and when I -- when I was here as an undergraduate I didn't have anything to do with Caffe Lena, but by the time I came back I was much more involved I guess with folk music and contemporary singer-songwriter music was something I cared a lot about in Boston and Cambridge when I was in grad school before I came back, and by, so by the time back, Caffe Lena was really on the map for me, almost immidiately when I got back here, and I spent a lot of time at Caffe Lena. One of my classmates at Skidmore was, at that point, running Caffe Lena, in the early 90s, and I, I came back in 1990, and I spent a lot of time at the Caffe, playing and hanging out, and sometimes helping and doing things there, um. I remember when Ani DiFranco, which may not be a musician you know or might be, was sending her first tapes around, and Barbara ?Harris?, who was the manager at the Caffe at that time, opened the tape and, I guess I came in later that day or that night and she said "Oh, I want you to listen to this, it's really different and I think it's something we should consider," and it seemed very out of the box for the Caffe, I mean, it was identifiably singer-songwriter, acoustic-based music, which was their bread and butter, but it was sharp and it was, you know, irreverent, and it was political and it was edgy, um, in terms of its sexual content, um, all things like that. [00:11:05.066] So it wasn't a given for Caffe Lena, which, you know, probably hadn't had that much edge in that way, and we listened to it together and thought "Wow this is great," so Barbara invited Ani to come and play, um, at the Caffe, and I got to open that show, which was terrifically fun, small crowd the first time, maybe 14 people, 20 people, I don't know, and she was just a knock out. So that's to say, um, there was a lot going on, still, artistically, in town, that I started to discover when I came back in the early 90s, and for me Caffe Lena was really central to that. And at that time, and I guess that's a good way to, sort of, answer, not so much how students interacted with town in my day, but how they did in the 90s at least, there were a number of students who were actively, um, involved in Caffe Lena either as volunteers or as musicians who played regularly or came to open mics, um, and so my students who became friends, uh, during that period would spend a lot of time at Caffe Lena too, so there was a real connection there, uh, for the students who liked that kind of music and wanted to involve themselves. So that was a really great bridge to town, I think, for a lot of people, and I believe, even though I didn't have that experience as an undergraduate, since the 60s that's been a really strong bridge between town and campus for people who like that world. [00:12:26.977]
[SE] Do you feel like that's something that, like, music especially, is something that Skidmore values, and maybe how -- it's more of like how, what are some of the values of Skidmore that you have seen change, and that you hope to not change, and maybe some things that you hope to change, but, I know that music here is such, is such a scene and obviously that is reflected in the town as well and at SPAC and... [00:12:56.207]
[MW] No, that's a, that's a good point, um, I'm trying to think back to undergraduate days in the music scene and, I think it was strong, I definitely knew a number of musicians and [had] a couple of bands of certain kinds that weren't particularly formal, I guess, but we did play, played out a little bit and there were certainly students who had musical inclinations and the culture was strong and certainly classical music culture at the college was strong then as well. There were, I think, already, no -- yea, maybe Filene, there were Filene scholars already, at that point, so some friends were gifted classical pianists, what have you. Um, and then certainly when I came back in the 90s there seemed to be, maybe, more musicians somehow, I don't know if that's true or quantifiable, and ever since there's been a great string of musicians, bands, individuals, singers, who have found that really important, so yea, I think the college has a definite, um, element that, that's highly musical, and not everyone, I suppose, finds their way to Caffe Lena, but, uh, those who do find that connection pretty strong, and -- I'm trying to think of some more stories of those early days, well, and um, Garrett ?Duten? who now is, I think his last name is Duten, who is the person behind G-Love and Special Sauce, went to Skidmore, which, uh, many people know, but uh I remember when he was in my class, probably in the earlier mid-90s, can't quite remember, um, he's played a lot at Caffe Lena, so he would go down there and, and do open mics, and maybe even had a show or two, I'm not sure, as a student I'm not positive about that, [00:14:47.061] and the [?apocrable?], maybe it's true, [mumble] but maybe [?a powerful?] story was that he told his parents that he really wanted to make a go at being a musician and they supported it with the provisal that if he didn't, within a year, sort of establish himself as a musician, um, he could go back to college and they would support his education, but if he took more than a year and then wanted to go back later, um, maybe they wouldn't, so, within a year, sounds too neat chronologically, but maybe it's true, he had a Columbia Records contract, and that was that [laugh], so there were some, certainly some gifted musicians who played there and, and people whos names you don't know, um, haven't had careers in music or were really talented, it was, it was a good scene, and uh, there was a lot of cross-over between how Lively Lucys on campus in those days and the people who were involved with Caffe Lena, um, Barbara Harris, the manager of the Caffe, whom I spoke of earlier, and I did some cross-over productions, so we'd bring shows to campus. I think when Ani got too big for the Caffe we had some Skidmore shows with her. We brought, uh, a singer-songwriter named Shawn Colvin, who was, um, just on the heels of winning her first grammy when she came to Skidmore for a performance that we, we had here, and those were, kind of, cross, um, promoted, as it were setup by the Caffe and the college and Lively Lucy's, so there was a lot of, uh, a lot of musical culture that was going back and forth at that time, in that way too. [00:16:23.973]
[SE] Do you remember any notable performances either than Ani DiFranco? [00:16:29.566]
[MW] Um, at the college, um, well I loved the Shawn Colvin show, that was terrific, and, um, and the thing I loved most about that night, perhaps, was that, um, I invited a young woman named Mary Lou Lord to open the show for her, and she was somebody I knew from Cambridge, Mass, and she was a street singer, she played in the subways and in Harvard Square and she was a terrific [00:16:54.073] um, singer-songwriter, and, at a time when the consolation of music meant a lot to me is to go listen to her play in Harvard Square in the subways, just sit there for a couple of hours and she introduced me to a lot of musicians and thier songs, she's a real advocate of great songs, and a great chooser of songs to cover, um, and I just loved her and her work and she was, uh, a close friend of Shawn Colvin, as it turned out and they became friendly, I don't know how Shawn and she found one another. Anyways, so that was a great thing because she got to open the show for Shawn, it was a big sold out house at, um, at u, JKB, and she just won the Grammy, Shawn had, so there was a lot of buzz about the show and it was really packed and exciting, it was a really great show. That was a wonderful show. And then, there's a, there's a New Hampshire singer-songwriter, um, who died a couple of years ago, sadly and prematurely named Bill Morrissey, and he had a show at the dance theater that Lena and Lively Lucy's put on together and I remember that he had a great Irish fiddler named Johny Cunningham who's played with a lot of Celtic bands and it just a terrific musician and Bill himself is a very gifted, kind of literary singer-songwriter, um, who actually had a novel published by Knopf, or [?book of great editors?] who's very literate, interesting singer-songwriter, and I, I love that show, he was very, he was very wry, very great on stage, and that was the show that, that I met my wife at actually, so she came to that show and we met there, and that was the first time we had met one another, which was exciting, of course, so that was a memorable show, and I got to introduce Bill that night and, I don't know, I said something modestly funny, and for some reason Billboard Magazine was convering that show and so they ended up writing a really good live review of the show and they also included the thing that I said, which was supposedly funny in the introduction, which is, you know, kind of weird for this little show at Skidmore, would end up in Billboard, and weirdly a quote from me would end up in a Billboard article, so, I, I remember both of those shows pretty well. [00:19:17.595] Um, and we had a lot of good Lively Lucy's shows and um, I, I guess, it's, what is it now, is it Earth Fest? What do we call it? Something like that...
[SE] Earth Day.
[MW] Earth Day, sorry. Um, so, it seemed, before that became quite as full-blown as it has been for the last decade or so, it used to be kind of a Lively Lucy's, outdoor, spring music day, um, and I think it evolved to include more facets as it has now, but there were lots of really good events, musical events, around that as well. [00:19:49.084] So, and then that, I guess it was more folk-based then, too, it was more of a singer-songwriter and folk-based show than it necessarily is now, and it was some really beautiful April days just out on the green listening to really good music, um, [?that was a piece?] of those days, musically too. [00:20:07.714]
[SE] Do you feel like, as a music writer, you've been able to, you know, excel in this environment? Or do you ever feel like you should be living somewhere else? [00:20:21.757]
[MW] No I actually, I've never thought, I've never thought that, but now that you mention it, I suppose, because it's a place that is welcoming for music and has a lot of students interested in music, it's been possible for me to imagine courses and to, uh, figure out a way to include in my teaching life, um, the study of music, in, in a way that I certainly didn't when I first came here. I mean, I would teach classes in writing about the arts and we would include some musical writing as well, that was there from the beginning, but then to feel able to design and offer courses that have to do primarly with music and music writing, um, has probably something to do with the fact that musical culture here, um, which is more of a teaching than writing myself, but, um, but, but I think being around so much music and finding it possible to see so many good things that had been used, like SPAC for bigger shows, or Caffe Lena for smaller shows, has been necessarily something that's kept my head wrapped around music a lot, and maybe that wouldn't happen in a different place as much. [00:21:36.331] Um, and maybe the fact that we're pretty approximate to Boston or New York is - a chance to go see music in those places - is possibly significant, but, but you know that's a good question to think about and to think about how the writing of mu-, about music is place-based, I've never really thought of that before. [00:21:58.238]
[SE] Um, you just mentioned how you took a course in writing about arts, and I guess, on a broader term, how have the courses offered at Skidmore changed and hopefully have gotten better? Are there any courses...
[MW] [speaking over SE] Ya that was a course actually I taught, not took, but, um, just, that was a class that I used to teach a lot for first-year students who took a writing class in English, as they still do, called 105, um, I don't know, I found I because I have a kind of independent, not independent, but kind of hybrid position because I'm editing Salmagundi and serving in that capacity and also teaching as lecturer I'm not teaching as much as people who are full-time faculty, um, I found that the English department, and more broadly the college and MDOCS, has been very open to my proposing different things to do, which, I think, is a hallmark of Skidmore, you know, the ability of the institution to, uh, use the energy and, and interest of its faculty to come up with things that might increase the opportunities for students to do different things and find a way to make that happen. [00:23:18.981] So, that's always seemed to be a hallmark of the institution, is, you know, "this sounds like an interesting idea, how could we limit that instead of saying 'no that's not in the curriculum' or, um, 'we don't have that kind of course, so, I guess we shouldn't have that kind of course.'" People tend to, if it's a good idea, try to make it happen, and I think that has added, I'm just speaking from my own personal experience but I'm sure that's true for any number of faculty who proposed new courses and figure out how to, you know, implement what they, what they really love to teach in the classroom, I think, um, that's probably something that creates a lot of good energy around what we offer students. Is it different than what happened in the old days? I'm not sure if it was more rigid then or not, I don't know. Um, but, I've always appreciated the openness to ideas and the openness to encouragement of new things that [inaudible] the academic life that I've experienced here, at least. [00:24:17.210]
[SE] Ya, that's great. Um, kind of to direct it back to something you said much earlier, you said that you were living at Moore house...
[MW] Moore Hall.
[SE] Moore Hall, Moore Hall, um, were you here when the campus got switched to... [00:24:30.793]
[MW] No, that had happened probably, what, 72... so it was probably about eight, eight or ten years before the switch was happening, I don't know when it was completed. So that was, like, the last dorm, and they kept that dorm for quite a long time and people lived there, I'm not sure, they just tore it down this year, as, um, as they've started to put up condos on that, on that spot, um, and it was a, you know, terribly ugly, but endearingly ugly, building [laughter from SE] that was made of pink, um, rock-like material that was supposed to age to gray, an elegant gray, but it never did, so it was known as the "Pink Palace" and, you know, it-it was kind of a, I don't know what it was -- a 1960's, kind of, failed cubist design that looked very different from anything on Union Avenue, that's for sure. [00:25:20.402] And it had no trace of Victoriana about it, whatsoever, so um, so no I didn't experience that switch, and, you know it was interesting though to be part of that vestigial campus that was downtown because, you know, I also, I also loved the fact, when I wasn't taking the bus that we would walk to campus, which was a significant, a significant walk, a 20-25 minute walk, and just to be part of town in that way and really experience the architecture of the beautiful, old buildings that, that lined all of the streets, and to feel like Saratoga had a deep history, and it had, uh, a sense of place that wasn't fully dependent on the college, though the college was part of that sense of place, seemed to be really important, and, and, you know, it provided a kind of depth to your experience here, I guess, as a, as a student or as a person that is not insignificant. [00:26:13.189] I mean there are so many wonderful colleges within a very short reach of here, um, and some of them are in, you know, tiny towns essentially out in the middle of the country and, I think we have a special, uh, a special reality here because of the town's deep history and what's available to us, maybe the most notable aspect of that is the architecture which we can see and experience and walk past each day, and that gives us that sense, but then the more you start to understand the town as a whole and its history and what's gone on here and how it was first an Indian -- Native American healing place and then became, also, a healing spring for white settlers, um, and established itself in that way, that long history is not what you have everywhere. [00:27:08.412]
[SE] Yea...
[MW] So...
[SE] Yea. Um, so I guess to wrap it up, how do you define your relatinoship with that Saratoga history that you were just talking about and also just Saratoga today and especially Skidmore College. [00:27:26.818]
[MW] Hmm, um, I don't know, I find [that] because I grew up in an area of Massachusetts, um, I grew up in Carlisle but my friend was from Concord, the next over, which has itself a very rich history and was, you know, obsessed with the American Revolution when I was a boy and I went to high school in a town where Thoreau and Emerson wrote and were buried, that, it's sort of unthinkable to me to live in a place that I don't know the history or care about it, so for me, understanding upstate New York history, which I didn't know that much about, coming from Massachusetts, and starting to look into the Native American history around here and how this land was contested by the Mohicans and the Mohawks, the Iroquois and the Algonquian, different peoples, and how the Dutch influenced the area -- that's become something I've really spent a lot of time reading about and thinking about and that I'm deeply interested in. [00:28:30.077] So, so for me part of, part of being a Saratogian is, is really having a sense of the importance of that past and the detail of that past as much as I can and that makes the place, for me, livable, in some way, I mean that's really important to me, is to-is to have a sense of place of -- a place's history, and, you know, there's a lot more to learn, I don't know anything like all I could but what I do know has made this place feel rich and feel very much like home or a home, um, in a way that it wouldn't if it didn't have history. [00:29:08.296] And Skidmore's sort of impossible to think of in any objective way outside of my own experience because it's been home for so long, you know, aside from, um, six years when I was at graduate school , you know, I've lived here since I was eighteen years old and it's inextricable from every development that's -- that I could imagine for myself I suppose. Um, and, it's really where I, you know, as a-as a place, as, Skidmore, as a place where I lucked into a relationship with some of the smartest people I've ever met who are incredibly good-hearted and incredibly brilliant, um, in the English department, in Salmagundi-at Salmagundi, uh, Magazine, at the development of my love of literature which I came to Skidmore with, but which changed and deepened when I was here, uh, and continues to do that and to talk, you know, in these offices with Robert and Peg and our student assistants and other colleagues in the department about work that we love and to communicate with some of my favorite authors who I happen also to be friends and contributors to our magazine seems like a really extraordinarily rich way to live and to me that's completely inextricable from Skidmore and from living in Saratoga. [00:30:35.810]
[SE] Yea, that's great, that you so much.
[MW] You're welcome, thanks.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Interview with Marc Woodworth
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
Spring 2018
February 21st, 2018
Is Part Of
A related resource in which the described resource is physically or logically included.
Skidmore Saratoga Memory Project
Description
An account of the resource
An oral history interview with professor and alumni Marc Woodworth. He discusses his time as a student on campus versus as a professor, and life as a Saratogian in general.
Language
A language of the resource
ENG
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Eberhardt, Sophia '19
1980s
1990s
Caffe Lena
downtown campus
Lively Lucy's
Moore Hall
music
public history
Salmagundi
Skidmore faculty
-
https://www.ssmp.mdocs.skidmore.edu/files/original/c485d466be1911234fdd757f0ed649ad.JPG
bfb0857ea1b315fd2856f8694ae7d93d
https://www.ssmp.mdocs.skidmore.edu/files/original/470b3872bfe55b90577607eaef10e976.mp3
4b5b7c922d44c1e9dbffc058a87b253d
https://www.ssmp.mdocs.skidmore.edu/files/original/7c2b15b09f5d782bda2bb4de5f805e9e.pdf
9c1b3529981116e1270b4e5d2426d626
https://www.ssmp.mdocs.skidmore.edu/files/original/e593cd5557125fccb070c8e3d94b1faf.JPG
b290b262f63003580268a9e5e61aa808
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Oral History
Description
An account of the resource
Many people who have worked or studied at Skidmore College or lived in Saratoga Springs or the surrounding area carry the memories that help us tell the stories of our communities.
This collection offers a glimpse into our past in the voices of those who have shared their stories.
Oral History
A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge.
Record Contributor
Individual who prepared the item and/or edited it.
Elizabeth Picken
Interviewer
The person(s) performing the interview
Elizabeth Picken '21
Interviewee
The person(s) being interviewed
Tod Pardon
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Interview with Tod Pardon
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
October 26, 2019
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Elizabeth Picken, '21
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Tod Pardon
-
https://www.ssmp.mdocs.skidmore.edu/files/original/bb7728d13b337413eee904280491c15e.jpg
ad736b49156b2e3832ae2524ce63b376
https://www.ssmp.mdocs.skidmore.edu/files/original/935bd5d7ac4027fa126a88a8e581c51b.m4a
8ce8fd3f456571ffaff64c33a2f96fc5
https://www.ssmp.mdocs.skidmore.edu/files/original/302c148993179e06f3f0bab8b3a22e99.jpg
fff7d77e5ab015199ec15c8a7a14b448
https://www.ssmp.mdocs.skidmore.edu/files/original/62e66feefaa9462c2cc743ca8569afa9.pdf
970423d2b78f3c23effe7588bc793ed7
PDF Text
Text
1
Title
Evelyn Vasquez Interview
Date
June 2nd, 2018
Language
Eng
Interviewer
Emily Rizzo
Location
Media Services, Skidmore Library, Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, NY
Original Format
Audio Recording
Duration
39:30
Tags
HEOP , Opportunity Program , Raíces , Study abroad , Alumni , Oral history , Skidmore College
�2
ER: Can we start with you saying your full name, your class year, your major, and where you’re
from?
E: Class of 1998. originally from the DR, I was born there, grew up in Washington Heights, New
York. currently live in Westchester, NY.
ER: You said you met your husband here? Can we talk about that?
EV: So, we met here. we were both HEOP students. It also happened that he's also Dominican,
so I guess there was an attraction, some sort of comfortable place with that. we actually didn’t
date until senior year. and that's when we became a couple, things happen in-between, and 10
years after we graduated... yeah 10 years, we got together for good. we have now four kids,
two boys and two girls, ages of 12 and four, four through 12. One of the benefits of your
partner being from the same school and actually the same year, makes coming back actually so
much sweeter. Because he's also comfortable in the environment, he also wants to come and
see friends. and we can sort of reminisce together, "Oh you remember in the cafeteria, all the
parties we attended..." So, it's sort of an always Skidmore reminder when that happens to
someone, which is a good thing.
ER: Yeah. What have you guys been reminiscing about? Anything that is really sticking out?
EV: Oh, me trying to get all the girls off his back! *Laughs* The majority here are girls. The
student population is mostly female, and I think was 60... I don’t know I can’t remember the
ratio but... So, I always joke with him, I always had to stand my ground and let the girls know,
"Hey he's with me." [Laugh].
ER: It's always a problem here.
�3
EV: Then the other thing we reminisce about is our HEOP experience and our HEOP summer.
And a character that's always lively from a professor perspective was Sheldon [Solomon,
professor of psychology]. So all the funny grades he would give us and then we would say, "You
know what? He was right." My husband was saying he got an F- and the comment was, Sheldon
wrote, "You should try harder to fail." And then another one was, "You got a D for dog shit."
And he's like, "You know what? But he was right." Because he wasn’t up to the quality and it's
like... back then we were like, "How dare he give us this grade and say all these comments!"
And then we look back and he's like, "You know what, those were great advice." [Laugh].
EV: We reminisce about... We were also part of Raíces. I don’t know if it has the same name,
but it was the Latino Hispanic student club and we would do performances. So obviously we
were always part of the dancing crew. There was always a group of us that for every Latino
celebration we made sure we did some sort of dance performance to a meringue, salsa... {...]
and we were always involved with that. And sometimes we'd get upset like, "You're not
following me, what are you thinking, pay attention, you don't know how to dance." Cause we
would practice a lot, we thought we were professionals on stage because we wanted to put on
a good show. It was a cultural show, we wanted to show that off like this is our culture and
we're proud of it. So we took time and pride in what we were building to put out for the
Skidmore community.
EV: Just a couple of things that we reminisce and talk about.
ER: That's amazing. I want to ask questions about all those things, but I want to start from the
beginning... can you talk about your experience with HEOP?
EV: Mind you, this was 20 years ago, so HEOP was the Higher Education Opportunity Program. I
think it has evolved a little bit through the years. So back when I started it was mostly for
domestic students. I think now we've expanded to serve international students. The
perspective to give domestic students, usually from inner-city, who obviously have shown
�4
potential through their high school career to have access to outstanding college education. So it
came with not only a support system, but it also came with financial aid support as well.
Because obviously a lot of kids that came to that program had also financial... required some
financial support as well.
EV: But what I remember most is all the support the program provided. So, I guess a lot of us
came from inner cities where a lot of us didn't receive the best education growing up but we
definitely had the potential to develop and obviously be in a classroom with kids that have had
a world class education all through their lives. And they had what they call the higher education
opportunity program summer, the HEOP Summer, and there you would get tutored in all the
foundations to give you a good start for college. So it was the summer before your freshman
year. You come in you get an intensive writing course, you get your basic math course, then we
also took some sort of psychology... that liberal arts perspective as well. So it was really a
program that supported you more than just financially, it was emotionally. I know a lot of us
went to the HEOP office for emotional support, people that you can talk to when you're having
a hard time.
EV: For many of us coming to Skidmore was a culture shock. People talk, "Oh it's the real
world." But I look back and I'm like, well I was living in the real world before coming to
Skidmore except that everybody looked like me, talked like me...I grew up in a neighborhood in
Washington Heights that was predominantly Dominicans, Latinos, so everybody spoke Spanish.
I went to high school where 99.9 of the people were people of color. You obviously got exposed
out of your real world but pretty much my real world was people like me, that sound like me,
that ate like me, that dressed like me, that had curly hair like me right. And then you come into
Skidmore and for me it was a culture shock and I'm pretty sure for other students that perhaps
never even dealt with somebody of color, it was also a culture shock. So it was sort of the first
time that I looked around and I'm like oh I'm the darkest person. That never happened to me.
�5
EV: Oh, wait I'm the only one with curly hair. Oh shoot I'm the only one with an accent and you
do feel a little bit like an outsider and to be honest that was really hard for me and it took some
time for me to understand my environment and try to be successful in it. Not because I couldn't
but because everything was... how can I say it? Because other things that should have been
okay, became top of mind for me, like my skin color, everything else, my accent. I remember,
reading whatever assignment, whatever we had, like 20,000 times because I was like oh my god
I have a question, but I want to make sure that it’s not answered in the book because I was like
I don't want to speak up. If the answer is in the book then I can figure it out myself but if it’s
not, oh I have to raise my hand and speak up and my accent... You sort of feel so much
conscious about what is I guess your natural being.
EV: So the HEOP was there to support a lot of us through that and make sure that we not only
survived in an environment that was not our everyday environment, an environment that we
weren't used to, but really strive in it and do well. I mean I think I did great from an academic
perspective at Skidmore. I was a double major, I was part of the honors society. So I think if the
HEOP office wasn't there I would have most likely gotten lost and a little bit drowned by all
these things that became top of mind rather than my focus on my studies. So I look back and I
think the HEOP program was really the foundation for me to do well here.
EV: And I think back and look back at Skidmore as this great place that opened the world to me
in a way. So as you go through it you may not be appreciate but then after you've gone you're
like you know what? I'm glad it took me out of my comfortable Washington heights because
that was my world, but the world is so much bigger than that. And it's an appreciation for
different worlds out there and that are accessible to me. I was reading somewhere; a great
college is not one that prepares you for the four years that you're there it's really the one that
prepares you for life. And I think that's what Skidmore has done to me; sort of prepare me, not
for the four years that I was here because they go by so quickly but what comes after that for
the rest of my life and how do I handle myself, how do I carry myself, how do I take advantage
of those opportunities that I see and really open the world and a new perspective.
�6
ER. Wow thank you so much for sharing, I really appreciate it.
EV: No problem, no problem.
ER: It's really nice to hear. Thank you.
EV: Not a problem.
ER: I mean I'm so glad that it exists, the OP program.
EV: And I hope that it still does that, I know that Skidmore is doing great strides for diversity
and I hope that the Equal Opportunity Program is the backbone to that because it does provide
so much more to the students that come in who for some reason may feel different or
otherwise that perhaps would not do well without the program. It's a great program.
ER: I think Skidmore needs to keep going with it, keep getting better and better, because it's
still predominantly white. Most of the teachers are white and teachers, this is something I've
been thinking a lot about lately, a lot of the teachers are really just not... are stuck in their
comfort zone and not willing to talk about what it means to be white and what white
supremacy is and how whiteness affects how they teach and how they should, how race and
social issues and the world should be part of the classroom. We're not really talking about that.
I'm looking forward to that happening more.
EV: Yeah and a lot of the issues that you mention, white supremacy, a lot of people do not, it's
so engrained into our society that it happens subconsciously without people thinking about it. I
think we do need to take a pause, say what's going on here, because we can put numbers
around it. But going back to what I was saying, how do we know when we're successful? And I
think that's when somebody like me can come in and not look around and say oh my god I'm
�7
the darkest person. Oh my god I'm the only one with curly hair, oh my god I’m the only one
with an accent. Instead of numbers its really like when you can have this diverse group of
people be part of the community and not feel like they are the only one and they are the one
that looks like an outsider. So when we have that, like when people like me don’t have to look
and say oh I’m the darkest one, brown skin, I’m the one that sounds kind of weird, looks
different. And it's not only a Skidmore problem. It goes beyond that. But yeah what is the
school doing, is it doing enough? Or is what it's doing being efficient? Because I'm pretty sure a
lot is being done and it's top of mind for the school, but I think we need to take a step back and
say okay what are the actions we are taking and is this working? Is this creating the value that
we want to be created? And it's something that me as an alumni take seriously. We try to shape
that by volunteering, by our time, by giving a different perspective as well. Because I just
cannot come back every reunion year and expect things to change if I don't give back and be
part of the process and be part of the solution and be part of how can we make Skidmore
better? So it works both ways as well. But yeah, I definitely agree there is much work to be
done and I know it's top priority for Skidmore. Whether it is where we want it to be, I’m not
sure.
ER: Well thank you so much for your work, your devotion to this place. What ideas do you
have? I mean are you seeing some things that Skidmore is doing and saying this isn't efficient
and what do you think Skidmore should be doing? I feel like you will have a perspective as an
alum... You're saying that you're aware that this is top priority right but maybe it's not efficient.
What do you think they can do to be better or what's something new they can do?
EV: That's a good question and I don't think I have the answer. [Laugh]. I definitely have some
ideas. This is the thing with diversity because you need to have a balance... an easy one is you
need to increase your diversity numbers, which I think Skidmore is doing. But I think it's once
the student gets here, what support are they being provided. What can the college do more
from that social engagement? Which I think was something that I didn't have. And again, it
could have changed. To give an example, some of it could be my fault but also... some of it like I
�8
said could be self-inflicted, but also some of it could have probably been a little bit relieved by
the college. So one of the... I don’t want to say one of the biggest regrets but if I could do
something over in college its expose myself socially more. Because I was so concerned about oh
my god I represent not just me but my race, my ethnicity, that you don’t want to be the
dumbest person in the class. I think... and again I'm talking personally, I created this bubble
around me where I didn't socialize as much with people outside of my HEOP classmates. I
always look back and I’m like how know what I could have socialized a bit more I could have
engaged more with people. And again, some of it is self-inflicted but I think if there was some
sort of way to increase that social engagement it would be a win win for the college and for the
student because going back the HEOP provided great support great emotional and academic
support but I think for that social engagement with everybody else within the college and
within your classmate was a little bit failing. Again I don’t know if there exists something that
can create these environments and for that socialization to happen, but I think it’s important.
Because then what you're going to have is people still staying in their own little groups you
know, and you’ll only have a few that might be branching out and creating friendships outside
and sort of creating that social dynamic, which I believe then would impact everything else. at
least that’s... that would be some of the things that I would improve. looking at what kind of
social opportunities are there for that engagement to happen. because the other thing with
diversity is, anything that’s like you call it diversity only certain people will show up, which are
the people that identify themselves as diverse for a reason or other. and so what happens then,
even that group it’s the "diverse" group only, when it should actually be imbedded within the
total community. I was actually for one of my last employers, I was one of the diversity
recruitment. And we had a bunch of activities. And I’m like you know what it’s great that we're
talking about diversity but the only people that are coming to this diversity talk are the African
Americans or Latinos or women and I’m like where’s everybody else? were like preaching to the
choir. So it’s like how do we make diversity so that at it becomes a natural to the backbone of
the Skidmore experience, rather than just these pockets of activities that are happening. where
then only people that are affected by some diversity issue attend, its like I said, it’s like you’re
�9
preaching to the choir, amen hallelujah. you’re not doing it to the entire congregation. so I
think it’s that. its embedding it through the whole Skidmore experience.
EV: How do you do that? I mean that's a great question. [Laugh].
ER: That's another story. Okay I want to ask, what was your favorite class here? Do you
remember?
EV: Oh my god, so you know what? I remember what was my favorite class and I don't know if
they do this but BU107... Let me go back. So I was a double major in business and government.
And the first class that I had was BU107. I don't know if it's still the same curriculum, but you
study... you select a group of people, you study a company, and then at the end of the semester
you present a big presentation about that company’s sort of financials, marketing strategy,
operation strategy and you present it in front of a panel. oh my god that presentation, I
remember my legs were shaking like crazy because I wasn’t used to public speaking. and it
stuck. I was so nervous I mean I can still feel... every time I think about it I can still feel my
hands getting sweaty, my team... we [were] standing outside the room with our corporate
attire and my legs are shaking oh my god I think I had the financial piece of it. oh man. so it was
one of those classes, at least for me, coming from where I was coming from, where it’s like you
either swim or drown kind of deal. so I don’t know if it’s my favorite but it’s definitely the one
that I remember the most and I think about it and I’m like oh I can totally take back all these
emotions that I was feeling at that moment. I remember that into today, my hands were sweaty
my legs were shaking. it was in itself an experience to have. I think it was a good experience. it
puts you out there in front of people that are evaluating you, and then I remember dreading oh
my god they're going to have questions they're going to ask questions, what questions do they
have? So I remember that class.
ER: So is it one of those things that you appreciate more now...
�10
EV: Yeah you definitely appreciate it more because I was like I’ve never spoken in front of
anyone. and I definitely have brought out ideas or anything that I’ve studied out to the open
and saying this is what I think and challenge it and never had the opportunity to be in that
opportunity. It’s great it’s what you do in your everyday... I don’t want to say life but definitely
in your job. you present your ideas and people want to challenge it and then you come back
and say that’s great but let’s look at it this way. so I think it was a great stepping stone. I look at
it with a lot of.... not reminiscing.... with a positive mindset.
ER: That class is a big deal still.
EV: It's still a big deal? Okay.
ER: Oh, I know... I always see the groups together, they’re dressed up. It's one of the classes
that I wished I experienced because it seems like such an experience, you learn so much.
EV: It is, and you do. You're preparing for it. Every semester. it’s not like the last three days
before the presentation. you’re studying the company, you’re looking things up. I remember
my business case was Robert Mondavi wine, winery. Which back then was starting. Now I think
it’s big but that was our study case, the Robert Mondavi company. And I remember that [laugh]
and it was 24 years ago. So it was nice. It was nice. Let's see what other class I took... I took
some government courses which was interesting. I took dance. I actually wanted to minor in
dance, I took modern dance one and two, I took ballet one and two. And then I took an
improvisational course, dance improvisation or something like that and we did a performance
and my friend came out of that saying, "Yeah stick to business." [laugh]. They were good friends
[laughs]. So I didn't take a dance class after that [laugh]. And I was like well that’s kind of mean
and they were like yeah you know [laugh] stick to business and government for now, leave the
dance. but it was great. I got to experience that. so yeah, I mean it was fun. it was fun doing the
dance classes.
�11
ER: That's so Skidmore, to take a random dance class.
EV: Yeah [laugh]. I never took ceramics oh my god, that’s the one that I always wanted to take,
and it just never quite made it into my schedule. My junior year I actually was not at Skidmore.
That was a year that I spent away from Skidmore. Because first the fall of my junior year I went
to American University and I did the semester there and I got an internship with senator
Moynihan back then. That was awesome. that was an awesome experience. You probably don't
know Senator Moynihan, but he was the Senator that we can refer back as coining the phrase,
"You're entitled to your own opinions, but not your own facts." Which is so true for today. He
coined it so many years ago. He passed away, he was the senior senator for New York. And my
job was simple as an intern there. I needed to open the letters that we get from his
constituents and say okay this is related to education, this one is related to the environment,
the highways, so sort of organize them in the buckets they belong. But it was just a great
experience being on capitol hill and doing that and seeing him walking down the hall and you’re
just like, “Wahh that’s Senator Moynihan.”
ER: That's so cool. That was through Skidmore?
EV: That was through Skidmore yeah. Skidmore participated in that American University
program. It's mostly government courses and part of that program was to get an internship so
that was my internship that I got there so it was great. Then my Spring semester I went to Spain
through Skidmore study abroad program in Spain. And that was wonderful. When I'm telling
you, it was an eye opener, it was amazing. I mean just the flight getting there, it’s like, wait we
have to be more than four hours in the air plane? How is that possible? I remember we needed
to get research... And I’m like it’s this many hours in the airplane it’s like a whole day! Yeah just
it’s all that, it’s just great and the Skidmore program was so great because you not only took
that culture immersion through the Skidmore program there but perhaps unlike other study
abroad programs you got to take courses at the university. which was awesome. so you actually
go to socialize with Spanish students there. so it wasn’t just you and your own little Skidmore
�12
friends in the Skidmore center you actually went out there with the other students. you went to
university classes like you would here. Your professors were Spanish professors. It was an
amazing experience. That was great. That definitely opened my world. Definitely a defining
moment of my Skidmore experience. It's an opportunity that a lot of perhaps college kids do
not get through their campus and here it’s there pretty much for anyone who’s interested. I
believe there’s GPA requirements but other than that the program (needs stability). That was
great for anybody who wanted to participate in such things. For me it was definitely an eye
opener. I don't think I... coming to Skidmore I didn't even know that existed, study abroad
programs, I didn't know about that. Just coming here... If I tell you the reason why I chose
Skidmore [laugh], it's actually a pretty funny one. It had nothing to do with rankings. Yu know a
lot of people, I guess it's about the experience and peoples' backgrounds but... and I’m pretty
sure my kids would do this... but... people put time and research in schools and visiting schools
and what is their ranks and what career they're going to have and what are their majors, I
wasn’t thinking like that. all my mom said was you need to go to college. I was like okay. that
was the expectation in my family. and I remember I went to a college fair with my cousin, we
were the same age, and there was a Skidmore table there and they said... so we went we were
visiting tables and we ended up in the Skidmore table, and there where was people from the
admissions office, there was this lady from the HEOP office, Michelle Dupree, I don’t think
she’s... She’s no longer with Skidmore but she was definitely into getting me here. so, they were
putting out a flyer of a one weekend program at Skidmore. they would pick you up at 42nd
street, bring you up from New York City for the weekend. you get to get mini classes, they give
you housing and food while you were here. So, I looked at my cousin and was like oh let’s go
there. and they mentioned a party and I’m like, "Oh a party? are boys going to be there? yeah
okay fine great sign me up. and its free and you come pick me up and you bring me back?" so
me and my cousin signed up, thinking it’s a party there’s going to be boys, we were 17 years old
right, so I come here... First of all, the drive was beautiful because it was in the fall. And you get
one of the current students to host you, so you get to go to their dormitory and stay with them,
we had sleeping bags. But guess what? Those rooms are huge for two people. So I remember
asking my host, the current student, I’m like " Wait this entire room is for two people? With this
�13
big closet? I mean we're five in my family and we all were sharing one room. And it's like, sign
me up, where do I come here? I get my own closet [laugh]. Not the rankings, not the major, I
was just like what I get my own room my own closet! It's all about the people coming in and
what are their backgrounds and experiences. But now I know better and for my kids they’re
going to be looking at rankings and what the school has to offer... how many of the students get
jobs after graduation. that’s one of the important metrics. but for me it wasn’t like that. all I
knew was that I needed to go to college and all I knew was I lived in a crammed apartment with
five of us sharing a tiny room and one closet and it was amazing when I came here, and I was
like wow just one closet for me I don’t have to share with nobody? This bedroom just me with
one other person? So yeah it was definitely an experience. There you go that's how I chose
Skidmore. Skidmore chose me too. Because I think it was luck of the draw me going to that
table. It was definitely... probably one of the luckiest days of my life when I ended up saying,
"okay fine, sign me up." They had a nice party and I'm like "Oh it’s going to be like this all the
time." Nah. [Laugh]. I wouldn’t call Skidmore a party school. I don’t think so. Not at least in my
experience. But maybe for other people it was that. My 4 years here, I think they were that.
They definitely took me out of my comfort zone, which at the time that you're going through it
you don’t see all the good things. But definitely after I graduated it was like "Oh my god that
was the best thing that happened." All the opportunities that I got, all the experiences that I
was able to take advantage of and pursue, definitely makes me a better person today and a
more worldly person with a more worldly view of what I think, what my opinions are and what I
think does matter, and how can you sort of have an impact to improve things and others.
ER: Thank you so much this has been really really great.
�
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Oral History
Description
An account of the resource
Many people who have worked or studied at Skidmore College or lived in Saratoga Springs or the surrounding area carry the memories that help us tell the stories of our communities.
This collection offers a glimpse into our past in the voices of those who have shared their stories.
Oral History
A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge.
Interviewer
The person(s) performing the interview
Rizzo, Emily, '18
Interviewee
The person(s) being interviewed
Vasquez, Evelyn Yesenia
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Interview with Evelyn Yesenia Vaszquez, '98
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1 June 2018
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Emily Rizzo, '18
-
https://www.ssmp.mdocs.skidmore.edu/files/original/825f37bc4dff08106aa7950383db3a33.jpg
f81e9e7a2dad51812add01bdbe36f540
https://www.ssmp.mdocs.skidmore.edu/files/original/284769a83d0a17972911fa5b9b217d0b.m4a
465171a6322e81f9b02c1e4fc888a90a
https://www.ssmp.mdocs.skidmore.edu/files/original/724ff6655787aefe8f48aed07a0d4a9c.m4a
1549bb5d751b9315ecd569ec7c45ddc0
https://www.ssmp.mdocs.skidmore.edu/files/original/01f584a9570f9cd3768a28587239732d.txt
3d17847ec511800f3a775e8529ea62ff
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Transcript 1
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
November 11, 2020
https://www.ssmp.mdocs.skidmore.edu/files/original/8867a37639625ca9caf41650e8d4894d.txt
a0f8498804e6ff584a66b38160403e96
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Transcript 2
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
November 12, 2020
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Oral History
Description
An account of the resource
Many people who have worked or studied at Skidmore College or lived in Saratoga Springs or the surrounding area carry the memories that help us tell the stories of our communities.
This collection offers a glimpse into our past in the voices of those who have shared their stories.
Oral History
A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge.
Interviewer
The person(s) performing the interview
Iona Herriott
Interviewee
The person(s) being interviewed
George Koshuta
Location
The location of the interview
Skidmore College (Zoom)
Saratoga Springs, New York (Zoom)
Original Format
The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data
Zoom Recording
Duration
Length of time involved (seconds, minutes, hours, days, class periods, etc.)
45 minutes
Record Contributor
Individual who prepared the item and/or edited it.
Iona Herrriott
Record Creation Date
Day/Month/Year of record creation/edit
12/11/2020
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Life History of George Koshuta
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Iona Herriott
Description
An account of the resource
a life history of George Koshuta that reflects on his experiences as a human being, an athlete, an observer of political history, and a banker.
Language
A language of the resource
English
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Iona Herriott
Subject
The topic of the resource
George Koshuta
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Saratoga Senior Center and George Koshuta
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Podcast, audio/ video
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
family, observations of people, advice
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
His life
Date Created
Date of creation of the resource.
Nov. 11 & 12 , 2020
Access Rights
Information about who can access the resource or an indication of its security status. Access Rights may include information regarding access or restrictions based on privacy, security, or other policies.
Iona Herriott
Skidmore College
License
A legal document giving official permission to do something with the resource.
Iona Herriott
Skidmore College
Rights Holder
A person or organization owning or managing rights over the resource.
Iona Herriott
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
November 11, 2020
November 12, 2020
oral history fall 2020
-
https://www.ssmp.mdocs.skidmore.edu/files/original/e7dab351090afd4678110ac7287e69ad.png
990aabf62c6437ee549ffd5f2ae37fee
https://www.ssmp.mdocs.skidmore.edu/files/original/01100df398b2011ea8e43869e406baae.mp3
a5a1638e222e2326e0efba87ed8c63e7
https://www.ssmp.mdocs.skidmore.edu/files/original/741e4635f544d36741ea40d4b40558c2.pdf
d53727555a1b57c903bd2591255e9ac0
https://www.ssmp.mdocs.skidmore.edu/files/original/caf3ce928db5a10ace0bf5ab9740b8bb.pdf
bc3acdd8895bea076fef2cbacbd2ec7b
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Oral History
Description
An account of the resource
Many people who have worked or studied at Skidmore College or lived in Saratoga Springs or the surrounding area carry the memories that help us tell the stories of our communities.
This collection offers a glimpse into our past in the voices of those who have shared their stories.
Oral History
A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge.
Interviewer
The person(s) performing the interview
Isabel M.R. Long
Interviewee
The person(s) being interviewed
Lauren Roberts
Location
The location of the interview
Saratoga County History Office
Record Contributor
Individual who prepared the item and/or edited it.
Isabel M.R. Long
Record Creation Date
Day/Month/Year of record creation/edit
07/12/2019
Transcription
Any written text transcribed from a sound
Isabel Long: My name is Isabel Long. Today is October 28th, it is approximately 2:35pm. I am in the Saratoga County History Office. I am here with Lauren Roberts and we've here to talk for the Saratoga Memory Project. Lauren, could you introduce yourself, please?
Lauren Roberts: Yeah. My name is Lauren Roberts, and I am the Saratoga County Historian, and I am also a Skidmore alum.
IL: Wonderful, thank you. So, just to get things going, what's your earliest memory of Saratoga Springs?
LR: Hmmm. Well I grew up about an hour away from Saratoga Springs, so when I was young, we used to come to Saratoga to go to the racetrack and to shop downtown. I was born in 1982, so my memories would be probably from the early 90s of coming, coming to Saratoga. But that's primarily why we would come over here. I grew up in a pretty rural town, so Saratoga would have been one of the closest malls to shop in. But also, my family always went to the race track in the summer time, so we would come for that.
IL: Could you describe where you grew up?
LR: Sure! I grew up in the village of Northville, actually, let me say, I grew up in the town of North Hampton because I'm actually outside the village. But for all intents and purposes we all it, Northville, which is in Fulton County. And, ah, small town. I grew up in a – I grew up on several acres of land that used to be an old farm, the Simpson farm, which probably started in the late 1700s, so. I lived in a modern house that was built on the farm, but there were a lot of remnants in the woods around that you could tell that it used to be farm land. We had apple trees from the old orchard in our yard and I had a neighbor who was about the same age as I was and we would go in the woods and find old milk pails, and barbed wire fences, and pieces of ceramic in the old stream bed. So, it was a good place for someone who had a budding interest in local history, and I'm pretty sure that's why I was interested in local history. But also, the story of the great Sacandaga Lake was of interest to me because Northville sits on the Great Sacandaga lake and the lake was a man-made lake. It was flooded in 1930. They put a dam in, the Continental Dam to be able to control the flow of the Hudson River downstream, and to prevent flooding. So there were a lot of hamlets that were flooded out in order to do this and I became interested in that because in the fall, when the water levels went down, you could find lots of different artifacts along the shores of the beach: places we would hang out or go swimming, things like that.
(3:25) And I went to a very small school. The name of the school is Northville Central School. It was K through twelve in one building. I graduated with about 60 kids in my graduating class. So, but I had a great, what I thought was, you know, a great elementary school and high school experience. I had some really great teachers. I grew up in a really – You know a lot of people will look on small town life as pretty nostalgic, and it has its pros and cons, but I had a pretty good, I had, what I consider, a really good time growing up in a small, rural town.
IL: (4:10) Thank you. So, could you elaborate on what you mean by pros and cons.
LR: I would say, you know– When you choose to live in a small town you know there are sacrifices that you have to make. I live in a small town now, so I would say commuting, to work, but maybe when I was younger some of the pros and cons is no public transportation. We rode our bikes everywhere. I lived outside of the village so, it was a couple miles to ride to school. No cellphones then, so, you know, we could use the pay-phone to have your mom come and pick you up in the village. (4:47) And you know, maybe there would be less programing offered in the school. Rather than having to play one sport, were people where cut for the team, you really needed all of your friends to go out for the team so you had enough people just to field a full team. I can remember, you know, kind of recruiting people for our sports teams so that we had enough people to fill the roaster. And, you know, I did everything I could. I was in the chorus, and I was in the band, and I was in drama, and I played all the sports. So, you really needed a lot of participation. (5:27) Most of the kids I went to school with I knew from the time I was probably pre-school age. And we grew up, you know, we were like a family. I don't want to make it sound perfect, you know, but that's – you know, it was pretty great, and we spent a lot of time outdoors, you know. We were in the southern Adirondacks there so, you know we lived on a lake. We did a lot of swimming. A lot of my friends – we had boats, beaches, a lot of four-wheelers, snowmobiles. We spent a lot of time hiking. We had trails- miles and miles of trails behind our houses that, you know, even before we were sixteen and had our licensees, we had different kinds of off-road vehicles. But we spent a lot of time outside. And like, you know we didn't have – yeah, we didn't have cell phones, we didn't have a lot of electronics, but I don't even think – I don't think I had cable until I was maybe a junior or senior in high school. We just had, like, the local channels. But it didn't matter, I was busy enough. I didn't have time for that anyway. And, you know, you can still see the way small towns pull together when you have, let's say, like a family has a tragedy like a house fire or someone passes away unexpectedly, and they don't have enough money for the funeral. You know, spaghetti dinners, and basket raffles, and all that kind of stuff the community seems to pull together for, so. Some of those things that I'd say are maybe cliché about small towns were really true about Northville.
IL: Thank you. Could you help me understand how your trips to Saratoga fit into that for you. (7:15)
LR: So we were about– in Northville, were about 45 minutes to an hour away from either Glens Falls or Saratoga. So doctor’s appointments, like I said like malls, things like that, those were kind of nearby. We played sports – we actually played Spa Catholic because we were a small school and they were a small school, so we would come over here. We played against them in softball, sometimes soccer I think too. So, you know, they weren't like major trips, they would just be – I think when you live in a rural area an hour trip is par for the course. You need to get, to get anywhere that has what you need, it's about an hour.
IL: So, em, thank you. Help me understand the role the races played in your life at that point. (8:11)
LR: Oh, it was just an entertainment kind of thing. My father's family came from Corinth, which was nearby, and my grandfather and some of his brothers used to really like horses. So, my father would go to the races, and we would go too. We were always backyard people, which is where you bring your own picnic and you sit on the picnic tables. You know, we weren't sitting in the club house but we were walking up to the fence in the paddock watching the horses be saddled before the races, that kind of thing. So, it was just sort of something we enjoyed.
IL: Wonderful. So, thinking about, kind of, the next step for you. So, you – coming to Skidmore. Were you the first person in your family to go to college? Or –
LR: Nope, both my parents went to college. My dad was actually an RPI engineer. And actually, I didn’t start out at Skidmore. When I was a senior in college [high school], I had planned to apply to several small liberal arts schools. I knew that's where I wanted to go. I applied to St. Lawrence University and they got back to me first because I applied early admit, and they offered me one of their presidential scholarships. And if I accepted their scholarship, I need to agree that I would not apply to any other schools. So, I decided to accept their scholarship, so I didn't apply, I didn't finish my application to Skidmore. So, I ended up, Freshman year I went to St. Lawrence, and it just wasn't a fit for me. There wasn't any one thing in particular except that – I should say I went with the intention of studying anthropology. That was what I wanted to major in. And I liked anthropology, but during that year I was kind of looking around at other programs and I heard about American Studies, which they didn't have at St. Lawrence, and Skidmore did have. And it was a– I thought it was a really intriguing program, and some of the other things, ah, St. Lawrence had a really big sports program, and I didn't play sports, so it wasn't something that was beneficial to me. The other thing I am really interested in is musical theater. I've been involved in musical theater my whole life. We have a – Sacandaga Musical Theater which is our home town musical theater company that I've been kind of a director for a long time, so St. Lawrence didn't really have that and Skidmore did have Cabaret Troupe which was a student run organization, which I really liked. Because I knew I wasn't going to have a career in musical theater, but I still wanted to be involved in it. So, I decided to apply to transfer to Skidmore, and I was accepted. So, I finished the year out at St. Lawrence, and then I started my sophomore year at Skidmore. Started out living in Moore [Hall], which is the old dorm that was downtown. And, my first week at Skidmore was when 9/11 happened. (11:33). So, I can still remember I was in Spanish class, in, ah, Tisch. I think it was Tisch. The first plane hit right before we went into class. And at that point we all thought it was an accident. And then when we left Spanish class, there was kind of like a little lounge area, and all the teachers were watching on TV, and at that point the second plane had hit and they knew it was no longer an accident. And I was on my way to one of my first Anthro classes with Professor [Gerry] Erchak, and we went in, and sat down, and everyone was kind of in shock, and he just said go home. And, ah, it was, ah, a shocking, you know it was shocking for everyone. I was kind of in a group of transfer students cause they put all of the transfer students in Moore for our first semester. I am not really sure why. Hm. But there were some transfer students from New York City who were obviously much more affected because they had family members very close to the city. And that afternoon, the president of Skidmore at the time was Jamie Studley, and they called a meeting on the green and I can remember – it was a beautiful day. Warm, sunny, and, you know just trying to figure out how to cope with what had happened and what was still unfolding that day. You know, it was really kind of – it was a terrible way to start my Skidmore experience, but at the same time watching students come together and comfort each other and not really knowing where we'd go from here and how our country was going to change because of this attack you know it was, um, maybe it was a little bit easier to have a community around you that, you know, we were all trying to figure it out together. (13:37)
IL: That's sounds wonderful to have that Skidmore community in place. Thinking about that community, how would you define it during your time at Skidmore? Was this moment of 9/11 kind of one of those definitive pieces that you think exemplifies what it means to be part of the Skidmore community? (13:54)
LR: I would say, you know, people coming together and thinking about larger context is a way to describe Skidmore. I guess I haven't really thought about my cumulative Skidmore experience. You know that's definitely one of the times that's like a picture in my memory, that I remember being at Skidmore. But there are lots of others also. I think like any time you have like a national traumatic event like that you remember where you were, what you were doing when that happened, and how you felt. But I don't know that it really– that it defined my whole experience there. Maybe it was a good starting point to know how the college was going to be able to bring people together to be able to react to, you know, a common grieving experience. But, you know, overall, my Skidmore experience was, was great. I had a lot of really great professors that I knew on an individual level. That I, you know, I think a lot of college students don't have that. Trying to remember – I had several professors where I actually visited their houses which is kind of a unique, or somewhat unique thing, for I would think, a college student to be able to go to their professor's home. To be welcomed, individually. You know, small class sizes. I was able to – One of the really cool things that Skidmore did was they offered – I was a work study student, and they offered a program where you could work for a local non-profit and Skidmore would pay you to work there. So, um, I – go ahead.
IL: Sorry, could you define work-studies as you understand it. Just for the record.
LR: So, I believe certain students are eligible to be able to work for– to pay for part of their education. So, they had programs where you could choose a nonprofit and then you would turn in your hours to Skidmore, and Skidmore paid you to work there. So, I choose to work at Saratoga Springs Historical Society, which is now called Saratoga Springs History Museum, which is at the casino at Congress Park. And of course, I lived in Moore for my first semester, so I could walk to the casino. And, ah, I was an intern there, and it was really great to be able to make a lot of connections downtown in the local history community. I was able to work with Jamie Parillo who was the director there, but also, they had a curator and they had someone who administered the Bolster Collection which is an important Saratoga Springs photography collection. So, I worked in the photograph collection, I cleaned exhibits, I helped send out mailings to the volunteers, to the membership list. I worked at their holiday gala, helping. I did research and wrote a panel for one of their exhibits. I got a lot of experience working at a small museum and knowing what it's like to have to wear the many hats that you do if you work for a nonprofit or a small museum, public historian. Ah, so, you know, I thought that, that was a really great thing. It really benefited the community and it benefited me as a student being able to get this experience and figure out what its really going to be like. Because I do think, you know, Skidmore – I don’t know if you still have this terminology, but what we called the Skidmore bubble, you know where people – it's a, it's different than reality when you are at Skidmore because there are really grand ideas. It's a really conducive place to think outside the box and then sometimes when you graduate and you go into nonprofits or small businesses, it’s not always, it doesn't always line up with the grand idea that you think you are going to be able to do. So, having that real-world experience and being, having Skidmore being able to pay for it, because the museum would never have been able to pay you to work. I thought that was a really great thing to do. Trying to think – I ah, after I left Moore, I was there for one semester then I moved to Scribner Village in a drama house. Actually, Cabaret Troupe had their own house. I don't know if they still do it this way but club could live together. You could apply for a house, like environmental – I don't know, I'm trying to think what the other clubs are.
IL: Could you, um, explain what Scribner Village are. I am a bit confused.
LR: So, Scribner was the old houses, I think they are all torn down now, but on the side of campus that was kind of on the Clinton Avenue side, I don't know if there is any left, but they were apartments, kind of like the ones, I can't remember what they are called now, Northwoods or something like that.
IL: Oh, yes, uhm.
LR: It was like that but way older and, like, not anywhere near as nice as those apartments. I mean it was like moldy and our pipes would freeze. They, ah, I mean it's a good thing they tore them down, it was not good. But, at the time you could apply to live in a house, especially if you had a common interest like a club. So, at that point I was involved in Cabaret Troupe which was the student-run musical theater organization. So, I lived with a bunch of kids that were in Cab Troup, and that was a lot of fun. Because we spent a lot of time at the theater, and Cab Troup didn't really have a home, I’m not sure if they do now, but we would use the Dance Theater as a performance space because we did a full musical in the fall semester and a full musical in the spring semester. Once I got, I think my junior and senior years the spring musical had to be in Falstaff’s. I think we did two shows there, maybe just one show. Because the dance theater – there wasn't enough – there was never enough performance space on campus. That was before you had Zankel.
IL: Yeah. So, thinking about shifts then with Skidmore, I know you were there at a time of change for the president. You'd mentioned President Studley before; it's President Glotzbach's last year, so could you talk about that? Was that something that was, um, part of the campus consciousness at all?
LR: I remember going to the ceremony when Glotzbach was inducted. But I don't know that really a – I can't remember anything specifically about it or, I don't remember being either concerned or excited about a change in presidency. I would guess that for your average student, things like who your roommate is going to be the next semester or am I going to change my major, or who's my advisor going to be, you know, those, what I'd say local level kind of changes matter much more in my consciousness than who the president of the univ– of the college was.
IL: So then thinking about more local consciousness, could you talk about how you, what your relationship with the town was as a student, cause you were talking about living in Moore, and that is not something today Skidmore students experience. Could you expand?
LR: Yeah, ah, I mean I – let me think. So, I didn't like living in Moore because you were far away from the rest of the campus. It was like one lone building in the middle of downtown. And especially because we were transfer students, um, you didn't really get the on-campus experience. You weren't, ah, you weren't really, you know like things that happened – There was a bus. There was a bus that ran at certain time that brought you back and forth. But I have a car there, but parking in Moore, there were like literally ten parking spaces and then you had to park on the street., which was hard to get a parking spot. So, it was not convenient to live in Moore even though I had a car. I would have much rather lived on campus because that was where all the events were happening. The one nice thing about being at Moore was because I worked for the Casino I could walk down there. But it was kind of tough not being on campus, especially as a transfer student. I transferred in my sophomore year. So, it was kind of like starting over. And they did kind of group us in with the freshmen a lot because we did have to do orientation and we did have to take out, not sure what you call it now, but LS1, LS2, do you have that?
IL: No.
LR: Liberal Studies one, it was like a freshman program that you had to take. They made us take it too as transfer students. So, ah, you know, I loved the community, but I think as far as being acclimated and being enveloped into the college community it was tough to be in Moore. So, I was only down there for one semester. But, you know, I think that the community, because I worked in the community, you know, I was able to form relationships with people that were downtown. The woman who was in charge of the Bolster collection at the time I was working at the casino, her name is MaryAnne Fitzgerald, she was a UWW– what's it called, yeah, University Without Walls? Do you still call it that?
IL: Um, – can you elaborate?
LR: There was a program for mostly adult students. Yeah, I'm thinking that's what it was called.
IL: I think that was, but I'm not sure we have that anymore.
LR: Okay. She was able to get her degree though Skidmore as an adult. So, she was a Skidmore alum and she had gone through the American studies program, but much later in her life. And she now serves as Saratoga Springs city historian. So, I work with her all the time now, but I was introduced to her as a Skidmore student and she was a Skidmore alum, so, you know I thought that the connection between Skidmore and the community was a good one.
IL: Fantastic. Could you talk about what it was like to then go downtown once you were on campus and removed from that more.
LR: Um, I was still downtown a lot. My, my junior and senior years, I worked for– I worked at the library. I was a student supervisor; I spent a lot more time on campus then and because I was working at the library. And I still – I had a job at home. I only lived an hour away. Working for the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. There was a camp ground on the lake, so I would actually drive home on the weekends as soon as the camp ground opened and work. But, I, I still went downtown all the time. I mean I had a lot of friends who lived Downtown. Cause once you get into upper classmen; they were all moving off campus and living in apartments downtown. So, I spent a lot of time downtown still. And I always loved downtown, um, you know, all the restaurants and shopping, and uh, trying to think. I think my sophomore year there was like a Skidmore community chorus, I don't know if they still do that, but it was members of Skidmore– Skidmore students and members of the community singing together in a chorus. We did that.
IL: So then could you talk about how your relationship has changed with Skidmore now that you have graduated.
LR: Sure. So, you know, I feel very grateful to Skidmore, I feel like I really got a great education there. I went on to get my masters right after I left Skidmore. I went to U Albany and got my master’s in public history and I started working right way for an archeologist. So I graduated in, May of '04, and in August I got a job working for Curtain Archeology, and the, the two owners of the company, Ed Curtain used to, he would teach – he wasn’t a professor there but he would teach archeology, I think, at Skidmore, and his partner Carry Nelson was a Skidmore alum. I actually got the job, well, I knew about the job because it came through the Skidmore career network, I don't know what you call it now, but I was able to get the notice that they were looking for a researcher. So, and my, I should say, I graduated with a dual degree in anthropology and American studies, so it was pretty awesome that I was able to get a job in my field right away after graduation cause when you get a degree in something like anthropology, the first thing people want to say is [effecting voice] you will never get a job in that! Why are you studying anthropology? Why aren't you in Business? Why aren't you a nurse? Why aren't you a teacher? [drops voice] But that wasn't what I wanted to do. So, I do feel lucky that I was able to find a job right away, in my field, and that job was in Saratoga Springs. They worked, it was cultural resource management, or CRM, so they worked mostly for developers who need to comply with New York State regulation in doing archeological surveys before developers or companies were allowed to build on, you know, mostly develop large sites. So. So I was able to get the job there, and um, I worked there for five years, and in the course of working there I spent a lot of time coming to this office. The Saratoga County Historian’s office, because of their collection here. I needed historic maps and census records, and things like that that weren't always online, so I spent several trips here. I got to be friends with the county historian, and then when this position came open, I left the archeology world to become a historian. And I’ve actually, I've been here for ten years. And I also feel lucky to have this job. It is a great job. And, you know, I've had a lot of interaction with Skidmore since I’ve graduated. I went back to see several of the Cabaret Troupe performances because by the time I was a senior, I was president of the organization. I had a lot of underclassmen that I was friends with and I continued to back. I've seen performances there. I still go back to the library. As an alumni you can use the library, so I still use the library. Any time that any of the professors have asked me to come back and speak about my role in public history, my career, any of that. I've spoken to American Studies classes, and history classes. I served on a panel about public history last year, ah, and actually I was able to get some help through Jordana [Dym] when I was making a documentary on the history of the Great Sacandaga Lake where I had some material – original material – that I was borrowing that Skidmore had the right equipment to be able to scan at a high resolution which I needed for the documentary, and they were able to use an intern to scan all those documents and return the originals to us. They were able to keep a digital copy of the information and I got one for my office and one for the regulating district who allowed me to use the documents. So, I mean I think, I think Skidmore is great for the community. I also serve on, what is sometimes called the Round Table, but is kind of a collaborative historical group that includes Skidmore and the museums in Saratoga Springs and Brookside, which is the county historical society, and my office. And we talk about where collections should go. I did a um – we all worked on a mapping exhibit together in 2015. 2015 was the centennial anniversary of Saratoga Springs becoming a city. We did a mapping through the hundred– through the centennial, I guess. [laugh] I can't remember what it was called but we all used different maps from our collections. And we, ah, were able to put up an exhibit at the casino showing the history of Saratoga Springs through mapping. And it was the Skidmore class that actually put it all together and we just gave our input.
IL: Seems like there are a lot of joys in being the county historian. Can you speak to any of the challenges of practicing history in this area?
LR: Absolutely. Funding. Funding is always an issue for historians because you are always competing with all the other departments in government. And everyone's always trying to keep the costs down, not raise taxes, um, so you're always scrambling for funding, for getting grants, things like that. We're lucky here in Saratoga county that our elected officials are very supportive of history. We use history as part of our economic tourism base. People are drawn here because we have a significant history, one that's well known. And not just the mineral waters, but there's the racetrack, and Saratoga Battlefield. There are lots of different kind of important events that centered around this area. So, I would say, you know, staffing. It would be great to have a bigger staff so that, you know, there's so much work that could be done here in the collections, in historical preservation, research, writing. There's lots to be done and not enough hours in the day to get it all done. So, you know, I think there's always going to be challenges but I think it's, um, I don't want to say easier, but – I think there's more support for the history community now than there has been in the past. And I think that's a good thing. We are moving in the right direction.
IL: [33:53] Fantastic. So, um, one of the things I've understood about Saratoga in general is there has been kind of a historical – a movement for historical preservation. Is that something you feel is still ongoing? You said there's a lot of funding available, or a lot of interest in funding history at least. So, how – could you help me understand how that feeds into the tourism industry.
LR: Sure. You know there's a lot of different groups that provide different kinds of historically experiences. Whether you're looking for a cemetery tour, or whether you are looking for genealogical information to find one of your ancestors, historic tours of the race track, visiting a museum. We have lots of different options here, and they all bring in tourist dollars. If they visit the museum, they're going to eat in town. If they're coming to the track, they're going to stay overnight in one of our hotels. If we are interested in our history, you know, people are going to come and see how did you preserve this building, how were you able to fund restoring this cemetery? And then people are more interested in passing on important history to you because they know, or they believe, you will be more able to care for that collection forever, in perpetuity. When you take something on, they want to know that you are going to be open and accessible to the public, and that you are going to continue on caring for the collection. I think the county has done a really good job. There are also several communities and towns and cities in Saratoga county that have historic preservation commissions. They all might call it something different. Historic buildings and structures committee, I think Saratoga Springs is called the Design Review Commission. [cough] Excuse me. So, you know, there are– even in the governments, there are plans and committees in place that are interested in preserving the history so that we don't just wipe out our pasts and start from scratch. And I think that's important.
IL: Thank you. Um, so what have – you’ve been talking about your recent project with the Sacandaga Lake. Have there– is there anything you've found while being your time as county historian that you’ve found particularly exciting and that are, kind of, hidden pieces of this history?
LR: I mean, I find something interesting every day. I love looking through old documents, you never know what you are going to find. Some of the interesting projects I've worked on – I mean, I think definitely that the Great Sacandaga Lake Project is nearest and dearest to my heart because that's where I grew up. I think that that story really needed to be told, and we told it from the perspective of the people who had to move. Whose land was claimed by eminent domain and they had to leave their homes. So, I think I'm probably most proud of that documentary which hopefully will be on PBS next year. [laughs]
IL: Oh, congrats!
LR: Thanks. So, there’s lots of other good projects I’ve worked on. I give a presentation about the county– the Homestead which is the Saratoga county Tuberculosis hospital that I think had a lot of myths around it, thank you, internet. And, um, [laughs from both] we were actually able to put together a really good collection. We had some good donations come from that because, you know, when you get the truth out about something – and it’s not always easy to do because a lot of times people don’t want their history debunked. They want to believe what they have always been told in the past. There’s always more clarity to be added to those stories. And we continue to do that, right? I mean this is not the defining moment of history. From twenty years from now there’s going to be more information to add to those stories also. So, I am not of the mind that you just are able to say well that's not true, this is the real story. There'll always be interpretation connected to the past. But you know a couple different county institutions that are able to get information out about – the other is the county court poor house. That's really important to our past and the way we treated people who didn't have the money or the means, or maybe the ethnicity that we valued at different points during our history. Right now, I'm actually co-hosting a podcast with a New York State Historian called "A New York Minute in History." I was actually at WAMC studio's today recording our script for that. That's Northeast Public Radio. So, you know, there's lots of different projects. And even here, just looking through documentation, I keep finding lots of really interesting cases all the time. And I get hundreds of inquires a year with people looking, either at their house histories, their property histories, a farm, genealogy absolutely. There's tons of questions about genealogy. Quaker history, all those different kinds of things like that. You know, there are small gems everyday that you are able to help people find or add to the collection, so. There is no typical day. It's different all the time, and I really like that and the county has given me a lot of support with being about to choose which direction I'm going day-to-day. And of course, 2020, we've got some pretty important anniversaries coming up including the centennial anniversary of the nineteenth amendment and women getting the right to vote. It's also the seventy-fifth anniversary of end of World War Two. We still have some WWII veterans alive here. Few, but some of them. But being able to celebrate that and their generation is really important too.
IL: [40:40] So, thank you, that's very illuminative of your interaction I think with the broader county history. Can you talk about your interaction with Saratoga as a private citizen? So, do you go into town still, often? Do you– is it a less frequent thing, are you more over here in Ballston Spa, or with your family? How's that kind of evolved for you as time's gone on?
LR: You mean Saratoga Springs, the city?
IL: I mean, kind of generally I guess, yes.
LR: Hmm, yeah, I still go to Saratoga Springs all the time. It's a great community. I am in Ballston Spa a lot, because that's where my office is. I still go back to Skidmore, and I still visit the track. Yeah, I mean Saratoga Springs is a great place, and I’m still very involved in some collaborative groups up there. As far as historic preservation, we actually have an oral history group that's lead up by Laurie Weese of the Saratoga Springs public library. She works in their Saratoga Room, which is their local history room. We're actually working on some collaborative oral history group projects, including digitizing what we already have in our collections, and hopefully soon, phase two will be adding more oral histories. So, yeah, absolutely, I'm still there all the time.
IL: So, of course, this is part of an oral history, so that living memory. It's a very valuable part of how we understand things. Do you feel that the con– How– Let me rephrase that. How continuation of memory – How has that factored into your experience?
LR: I'm not sure what you mean.
IL: So the fact that there's institutions that have been set up to preserve memory, but then also working with people to capture, whether oral histories and thinking about sustaining these institutions as you were talking about having a place for people to deposit their histories. So that sort of continuation.
LR: So, do I think it's important to continue capturing oral histories?
IL: Mmm, more, how have you personally engaged with preserving memory beyond, ah, physical paper records?
LR: So, yeah, I've done a few oral histories, and I do think they're important to take. I actually am working on a project right now. I have someone in my family, my grandfather, was one of five brothers form the same family who served in World War Two, and when I was at Skidmore, two of those brothers were still alive. And I took a class from Professor [David] Eyman, in History, about WWII, and my final paper was about these five brothers and their rolls in WWII. And I have their oral histories that I did when I was a Skidmore student that I have digitized and added to the collection here because they lived in Saratoga County. So, I think it's really important. We did lots of oral interviews for the film, The Great Sacandaga Lake. And we did both people who had their own memories and then we also did historians in the area who had collected information from other people. And then we also had some modern programs that are going on today, like invasive species stewards, people who check for water quality, things like that. So, you know I think it's really important to capture that, digitize it. And, you know, obviously you have to take– [paused] Marian Fitzgerald who’s the city historian always says we have to call them oral narratives, rather than oral histories because you're talking about someone's memory. You're not talking about a fact, a published fact of history, and sometimes they get it wrong. And I'm sure there are somethings in here that I'm getting wrong, but it’s what– it’s my narrative. So, that being said, I don't think it takes away from what those memories are and the including bias that you are getting as part of that interview– I think it changes, for instance, what pieces of the interview you include in the film or you'll include in whatever piece you're putting together. But I don't think that by any means that takes away from what those memories are. In fact, I think it adds more to what they believe was happening at the time, what their perception of that history is, or what it has become. Evolved. Because a lot of times, you know, we were asking people – we were asking someone who was in their nineties to remember what it was like when she was five years old. ...
IL: So then to circle back a bit. So, one thing I am interested on hearing your perspective on is Cabaret Troupe. So, they've been struggling recently to have the number of members to make musicals.
LR: Really.
IL: Yeah. So, this is one of these on-going stories on the Skidmore campus. So, can you talk about what Cabaret Troupe was during your time.
LR: Yeah, mmm. Cab Troupe– Cab Troupe was student run, which was different than the department. So, we didn't get credit for what we did. We always had to fight for performance space, we had to fight for a budget. And it was a ton of work. But there was really no other place to perform musicals because the department never did musicals, they did straight plays. And– but we pulled in, we had a lot of people, that– department kids that were also in Cab Troupe, and we usually had an orchestra that was taken from Skidmore's orchestra. [IL: Yeah.] A pit band, I should say, from the orchestra. So, we had other people that were not just musical theater geeks. But it was a ton of work that you didn't get credit for, but we did it because we loved doing it. And we – you know, we had to hire people for sound, and [laughs] and set construction. But I'm surprised to hear that because we always had a huge group of people.
IL: So then could you elaborate on the relationships with the departments. So you said you had people from the orchestra and the theater, so this was kind of outside of the department, and just students who came in, or was this partly department, I’m going to say– not told to do, but the departments would kind of express support for.
LR: I would say it was pretty separate because we were completely student run. We did have some, you know fighting for performance space was really tough because the dance theater– I mean, the dance department at Skidmore was really big, and they were, there were always other groups that wanted to be able to perform at the dance theater and we always ended up getting into conflicts with other groups because, I'm sure you know to put on a musical you need a lot of rehearsal time. And you have a set- [phone rings in background] Sorry. I'm going to wait till it’s over.
IL: Okay.
LR: So, we need a lot of rehearsals time there, and it was tough to fight for, and that's why I think my senior year we ended up coming to the compromise that we would have one musical at the dance theater and one at Falstaff’s. Because Falstaff’s was not an ideal performing space. In fact, in I think my senior year the heat broke there, and it was broken while we were rehearsing. We had to wear like hats and gloves and coats inside the building. It took forever to get the part they needed. Definitely less than ideal and we couldn't fit a lot of people in there. And we used to sell out most of our performances in the dance theater. So, I don't think the departments were against us, but it was difficult, we really had to work at being able to find our way and find support. I don't want to say there was anybody that wasn't supportive, and we did have help from the theater department at times. But we were really kind of our own entity.
IL: Thank you. Um, so thinking then about, your experience with the American Studies Department. It seems like it was very formative for you. Could you talk more about what the program was while you were at Skidmore?
LR: Yeah. I liked the interdisciplinary approach because I had a lot of different interests. And I think that probably goes back to growing up in a small school where you had to be involved in everything, to make it work, to have enough kids to participate or make a go of it. So, I had already said I was interested in anthropology. That's kind of how I started out my freshman year. So, I already had some classes in anthro, and then when I started with American Studies, I took an intro class with Professor Greg Pfitzer, and I just, I fell in love with the class. I thought it was just great. there were so many different aspects to it, and the idea that you could take classes in the history department, or women's studies, or English and have them count towards your American studies degree, I thought was a really innovative approach. And there were some students in my class that had – I can't remember what it was called – where you – self determined major. So, you know, it was, kind of Skidmore's idea that you didn't have to fit your studies into a box and have a single degree that said this is what I know how to do. But that you could in cooperate all these different pieces to fit into the puzzle of, you know, how you could be a well-rounded researcher. Because you know that's something that is very interdisciplinary. So, I just, I really liked the classes. We had a lot of decades classes. I don't know if they still do that, but I had one on the 1930s which was kind of like our methods class. I took one on the 1950s. And then senior year, the class that everybody wanted to take was the seminar on the 1960s with Professor Pfitzer. It just, you know – really understanding in our country where we came from. And when I was– when I was little, elementary school, I think probably fifth grade and seventh grade, my parents decided we were going to take these road trips. It used to be you had two weeks off at Easter instead of one week off for President's week and then one week for Easter, we had two weeks off at the same– put together. And, um, the first time we had a minivan. And I have a brother who’s two years older than me and my parents drove us across country, over two weeks, in the minivan. And we got to see all of these American history sites first hand. Things like the Indianapolis speedway, the St. Louis Arch, and the museum of westward expansion. Mount Rushmore, Custard's Last stand, intertwined, like, with Americana. Like the Corn Palace which is a building made completely out of corn. So, you know, there were all of these things. we did like a northern route the first time we went, and two years later we kind of like a southern route that include like Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico. And I really think that those trips and seeing what the country was like in all the different areas, ah was, really helped form what I was interested in as history goes. And I think taking those decades classes of, you know, what the country was going through, not just east coast, the whole country at different times. I think that was really formative in helping me figure out, you know, what is America? How did we get here? What is important about our past? How we place value on different things we've done, accomplished. Or maybe things we haven't done, or things that we want to sweep under the rug and not talk about. So, so I think American studies helps you explore that and come to terms with being an American and studying our past and, you know, I just– it was really a perfect, a really perfect fit for me.
IL: That sounds amazing. Um, before we're get to the end here, is there anything we haven't discussed that you'd like to bring up?
LR: Not that I can think of. I'll probably think of it you know ten minutes after.
IL: Of course, of course.
LR: That's how it works. [laughter] No, I think that's it.
IL: Then is, ah, I'd like to just kind of reflect for a moment on, sort of, your journey, and it seems that Skidmore offered you a place to have a different way of thinking about things. How do you think that's a, kind of, been something that you've taken with you?
LR: Hmm. I mean I think Skidmore really allows you to think not within a certain constructed box. And, you know, the idea of being interdisciplinary is something everyone can benefit from. And I think that's kind of been a theme through my life. You know, I'm thinking my senior seminar in American Studies, I dealt with reenactors, so, um, and kind of the bad rap they get, but also what they do to push historical study, historical interpretation. You know, places like colonial Williamsburg, or you know, or just pop-up reenactments, Civil War reenactments, things like that. And I think that probably reflects my interest in history with my love of performance, musical theater. So, I think– And that's something that I continue today. I'm still am– I co-direct drama club for my kids at school and I'm in musical theater all the time. But I also am still interested in local history– history on a local level, stories that haven't been told. So I think, you know it just allows you to develop those skills that– Here's Skidmore that’s like a really, I'd say, well-funded institution. They've got a lot of equipment and resources at their finger tips. They allowed me to work for a small museum that didn't have any of that. You got to see both sides of how that kind of works. And I'm somewhere in the middle, I guess, today. Cause I do– I'm employed the government, but I, you know I do a historian's job. So, I guess maybe it gave me confidence that it can be done. You can find a middle-ground, and you can pull from different areas of your interest, and um, and your talents to be able to make whatever that journey is that you're on to try– to make it work, to make it successful, and accomplish whatever it is you set out to do.
IL: Thank you. I've just one quick thing you've mentioned, and I'd just like to elaborate on quickly. You mentioned that you co-direct for your children's elementary school. Could you help me understand what your kind of being a parent in the community is like?
LR: Sure, so I actually live in Edinburgh, which is a tiny little town on the Great Sacandaga Lake. It's within Saratoga County, but it's ten minutes from where I grew up. So, my kids, I have a nine-year-old son and a seven-year-old daughter, and my kids go to a very small school, only pre-K through six, and my son has like nine kids in his grade, and my daughter does too. So, I am able to help co-direct their drama club that was started just a few years ago in their elementary school. So, it's just kind of giving back to the community, letting the kids have the same kind of opportunity I did when I was little, to be able to perform. And hopefully instill a love of theater in them too.
IL: Wonderful. Thank you very much and thank you for agreeing to do this interview with me. It's been really wonderful talking with you Lauren.
LR: You're welcome, thank you.
Original Format
The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data
MP3
Duration
Length of time involved (seconds, minutes, hours, days, class periods, etc.)
58:41
Bit Rate/Frequency
Rate at which bits are transferred (i.e. 96 kbit/s would be FM quality audio)
44.1 kHz
Time Summary
A summary of an interview given for different time stamps throughout the interview
00:00:00 Header
00:00:51 " used to come to Saratoga to go to the racetrack"
00:01:28 Grew up in Northville
00:02:40 budding interest in local history from exploring as a child
00:02:46 Great Sacandaga Lake
00:03:23 School growing up
00:04:12 Life in a small town
00:07:13 Trips around the area
00:08:10 Races at
00:08:56 going to college, first St. Lawrence, then transferring to Skidmore
00:10:41 musical theater
00:11:30 Experiencing 9/11 at Skidmore College
00:13:52 Reflection on the Skidmore community.
00:15:52 Work-studies
00:17:36 " and knowing what it's like to have to wear the many hats that you do if you work for a nonprofit or a small museum, public historian"
00:19:02 old Scribner village
00:20:09 Cabaret Troupe
00:21:12 Glotzbach's induction was not especially significant to the students
00:22:11 Living in Moore away from campus in town with other transfer students.
00:24:33 University Without Walls
00:25:35 Work
00:26:45 Community Chorus
00:27:03 Post-grad
00:31:21 The Round Table discussions in Saratoga county about history.
00:32:22 Funding of history in the area.
00:34:22 Historical tourism in Saratoga.
00:38:18 Practice of history
00:40:58 Still come to Saratoga Springs and Skidmore, as well as being part of a historic preservation group.
00:41:32 "Collaborative oral history group projects" between the Saratoga Library and the county.
00:42:44 "I've done a couple oral histories" as an interviewer. How she personally is engaging with oral history, including oral histories done as a Skidmore student.
00:45:36 Defining Cabaret Troupe her time at Skidmore.
00:47:34 Departments and Cabaret Troupe "pretty separate." Eventually compromising on fighting for space by using Falstaff's.
00:49:36 Liked the "interdisciplinary approach" of American Studies.
00:50:41 Self-determined major "Skidmore's idea that you didn't have to fit your studies into a box."
00:51:16 "Decades classes" on each decade of US history.
00:51:45 Family road trips when she was little, seeing sites of American history and American. "seeing what the country was like in all the different areas." Shaped her interest in history.
00:53:54 American studies "helps you come to terms with being an American and studying our past."
00:55:00 "Skidmore allows you to think not within a certain constructed box."
00:55:27 Senior seminar in American studies "dealt with reenactors."
00:56:08 "I co-direct drama club for my kids' at school," and her application of things she was involved in at Skidmore in her life now.
00:56:36 Experience while at Skidmore prepared her for job today and reflecting on the journey.
00:57:40 Being a parent in her community and doing drama for her children's school.
00:58:41 END
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Interview with Lauren Roberts
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
October 28, 2019
Language
A language of the resource
Eng
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Isabel Long, '21
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Oral History
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Lauren Roberts
-
https://www.ssmp.mdocs.skidmore.edu/files/original/e09c8c9e5a17fce2b2b4a5743d84386b.png
5f059df335ed5c0f08fcd3ed9080109a
https://www.ssmp.mdocs.skidmore.edu/files/original/18ad9c7c7702d732e925be72caa0c9fe.m4a
805ec005958fae1e659dbca4db796ea7
https://www.ssmp.mdocs.skidmore.edu/files/original/80ffce96906a10dced5adbf6af2f08a8.pdf
cb172e4b674b31e9e2e4f3e0ee1bc200
https://www.ssmp.mdocs.skidmore.edu/files/original/2417b8ef23f3ccb8833084604b2c22ed.pdf
0cbf5152ff698803da0b600fffb94f3b
https://www.ssmp.mdocs.skidmore.edu/files/original/44b850fe3c23f3027a8ba647ccecec3f.m4a
87fdeb2781e84c2fde326bcefd615c28
https://www.ssmp.mdocs.skidmore.edu/files/original/94785925a3b6f1a435d2070b99e719db.pdf
96ccc0fcbd3ec1ef48fbae86d2356e0d
https://www.ssmp.mdocs.skidmore.edu/files/original/239344656eb93a2c5a1f82fcfc6904ff.pdf
0d2da0cec4811662d3c0187c46a5f5aa
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Oral History
Description
An account of the resource
Many people who have worked or studied at Skidmore College or lived in Saratoga Springs or the surrounding area carry the memories that help us tell the stories of our communities.
This collection offers a glimpse into our past in the voices of those who have shared their stories.
Oral History
A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge.
Interviewer
The person(s) performing the interview
Isabel M.R. Long '21
Interviewee
The person(s) being interviewed
Sandra Welter
Location
The location of the interview
Scribner Library, Skidmore College
Transcription
Any written text transcribed from a sound
November 23, 2019 Interview
Isabel M.R. Long: So, my name is Isabel Long. Today is November 23rd, 2019. It is approximately 12:05 in the afternoon. I am in library room 128B, here with Sandra Welter. Sandy has been a– is a retired professor from Skidmore. She worked here for many decades in many facets of the college. So, Sandy, could you introduce yourself?
Sandra Welter: Great, thank you, Isabel. It's actually a pleasure to be part of this project, and I was very glad to be asked to be involved.
I came to Saratoga Springs as a Skidmore wife back in 1971. So, I've been connected to Skidmore for many, many, many years. I was a graduate student at that time, finishing my graduate work, I finished that work. My husband at the time was working here at Skidmore, and I then spent seven years teaching in the high school. I was an English teacher in the high school – junior high school and high school. We had our children. I left public school teaching and then, when my children were young – three, four, five years old – I decided I would like to do some part-time work. The public schools at that time, in the late 70's, were not as modern in their thinking about people working part-time in positions like teaching. So, I was– I approached Skidmore and asked if there were any opportunities. I actually began my teaching and administrative career at the University Without Walls. The University Without Walls is no longer functioning here at Skidmore, but it was a very important aspect– branch of the educational opportunities at Skidmore for non-traditional, adult students who needed to complete their undergraduate degrees. These are men and women who began their college career and were unable to complete it for a number of reasons, or never started college at the traditional moment. At age eighteen. The University Without Walls was a fabulous introduction for me into the Skidmore community. I was an advisor to many of our UWW students. I taught basic English composition as independent studies for many of our students that were off campus, for which many of our UWW students were. And then I worked with a lot of faculty as I administered putting together programs, curricula, for some of our UWW students. So, I got to know a lot of our faculty.
One of the aspects, one of the branches of UWW that was vibrant in the mid-70's, all through the 80's, and into the early 90's was the UWW prison program. The prison program was a full academic bachelorette program that we brought to two correctional facilities in upstate New York, about an hour from Skidmore. Every night, at four o'clock, a cadre of twenty – fifteen or so, twenty – Skidmore faculty would finish their work here at Skidmore with the undergraduates, get in their cars and drive up to Comstock, New York, and teach their series of courses to a select group of inmate students who had applied to Skidmore, who had been accepted, and who had received funding – both federal and state funding ¬– to support their college education. So, I started teaching in that program because I could be home with my children during the day, and when my husband got home, I could be off doing my teaching at night. So, it worked out perfectly for me, I taught in the prison program for ten years. I became the director of that program, the last four years of it. I unfortunately– When we lost funding– both federal and state funding – I then, with the help then of the faculty here at Skidmore, we had to close the program down. But those ten year were the most vibrant teaching experience I had ever had, to date, at that point. And I met and worked with so many faculty that were so giving of their time to a population that didn't have access to education at all. And it changed lives radically. I say that with complete confidence. It's not like I imagine that they changed lives, I knew that this program changed individuals lives, and families lives, communities. Everything, these men would go back into their communities a much more viable source of positive influence, both on their families and on their communities. But unfortunately, in 1993 the funding for this program was pulled, both at the federal level and at the state level, and we had to close our program down. we graduated many hundreds of students. I worked in that program even after the program was closed. We volunteered. We had a group of volunteer faculty that would go up for no pay that would do reading groups, study groups, in order to talk with former students. We kept that going as long as we possibly could. At that point I began teaching part-time in the English department and moved to what the college had, at that point, was a master’s program. So, I moved from just part0time work teaching in the English department to full-time administrative work in the master of arts and liberal studies program. That program, again, was like UWW but at the graduate level. I was the administrator. I was the director of that program for some years and advised many graduate students as they put together these interesting interdisciplinary graduate programs. That program also was closed. And, so at that point I began teaching full-time in the English department, and that is what I did until I retired two years ago. And met wonderful students. like you, and students– the first time I had ever deeply embedded myself in the residential program. Many of my experiences at Skidmore were with our non-traditional students, our UWW students, our prison students, our graduate MLAS students, all of whom were off campus. They were not necessarily residential. So, that gave– this last ten year of my career gave me a wonderful experience of embedding myself in the residential community where I was working full-time with freshmen, sophomores, juniors, teaching English 103, English 105. I worked with our international students in a course numbered English 100 which was for international student for whom English as not their first language. So, I worked with them preparing them to begin doing the work that was required of them at Skidmore. So, I've had a really varied experience of teaching at Skidmore, and I one I couldn't possibly replicate any other place. One of the wonderful things about Skidmore is they were, historically were so open to new ideas about how to educate people, who could be educated, who should be educated. And Skidmore as a place that had a very open mind about that, those questions.
IL: Fantastic, thank you. You were taking about UWW, so I would like to go back that first [SW: Sure.] before kind of revisiting the different moments in your career. [SW: Sure.] So with UWW, you have set up kind of the who and when for me, can you tell me a bit about the how?
SW: Sure. Men and women would apply to the University Without Walls program, they would be reviewed through an admissions committee. They would be interviewed. We would determine what their interests were and whether or not Skidmore had the capacity to fulfil their undergraduate requirements. Historically, if a student came to us and said they wanted to become an electrical engineer, we would probably advise them to go to another institution. That was not a good fit for us. But, for those who were interested in the liberal arts and sciences, those we could accommodate. Once the student was accepted at UWW, he or she got two advisors. One was a major advisor, and one was a UWW office advisor. Someone who oversaw the compilation of the student's curriculum. That was my job. And so each semester, and in some cases not ever the semester, because in some cases the students were doing independent study and might be working on a course for six months rather than a regular, traditional semester-long experience. UWW would pair that student with an appropriate faculty member. So, my job was to talk to the student, listen to his or her desires of a particular course in environmental studies with a focus on land management, or on sustainability, or on water quality. I would then go to the department, like the environmental studies department, and I would talk with the faculty. I would say I have a student who is interested in land management, or water quality, and he or she wants to do an independent study or many if they were local, take a course with you. Would you be available and willing to work with that student? SO my job was to pair students and faculty in their learning. That was a hundred and twenty credits, so that was a lot of hands-on work. It was very labor-intensive process of getting a student through an undergraduate degree at UWW. But, we had an amazingly energetic faculty who were willing to work with our UWW students independently. They often invited local independent UWW students into their classes too so they could hear the lecture right on campus. So, it was a very useful kind of collaboration. That's how it worked. Students worked through their courses at their own pace. All of these UWW students were working men and women. They were not eighteen-year-olds, they were not living on campus, they were not full-time students. So, we had to balance– they had to balance their work life, their family life, and their student life as they proceed to get their undergraduate work done. Not an easy task. And so, for many years in working with these UWW students, I was incredibly impressed with their energy, with their commitment, with their focus because you know how hard it is to get your courses done, imagine if you had a family and a job to balance. And that's what these UWW students were doing. So my job was to facilitate that process and make sure their course work was appropriate, that their degree was balanced, that they had 120 credits, that they had correct distributions, that they had all the components of the major – all the things that your advisor does and your registrar does here on campus, that's what the UWW staff did.
IL: That seems very helpful to a broader community interested in pursuing their higher education.
SW: Exactly. And UWW was a national forum. Skidmore was not the only campus that ran a UWW program. It was actually a concept that was designed at the federal government level, offering opportunities for adults to go back and finish their degrees. And many campuses across the nation designed UWW program, and Skidmore was one of them. We were one of the earliest ones, and we were one of the latest ones to close. In the meantime, many other colleges across the county also had UWW programs.
IL: So then taking the UWW to the prison program, you were talking about faculty going there later in the evenings. So were they doing lectures, or was this again, kind of an independent study type?
SW: Yeah. Good question. The prison program looked very much like a residential college program. In other words, the faculty when in, they had a class. They had a class of ten, fifteen, eighteen students. They went in, they sat in the class, they gave lectures, they– the students had their textbooks, they did all the stuff that you would do, that any undergraduate student would do in a class. It was organized by semester, very traditionally. They started and ended in a traditional way. They started, they ended, the students had exams, they received grade. IT was very, very tradition looked because we had the structure. The students were there. It was easier to design that and run that that way than it was for independent adults who were working and living in places all over the country. Our prison program could follow a much more residential pattern, which is what we did. So, the students received transcripts. Their transcripts looked just like our undergraduate residential student's transcript, it's just that it said Comstock on it rather than just plain Skidmore College. It was Skidmore College Comstock Program, which mean that it was offered at the Comstock facilities.
IL: Could you help me understand what your personal experience was with that?
SW: Well, I had various experiences. Going in– The reason that I got involved in the prison program actually, was that I had a friend who was teaching up there. A colleague, an English professor. And he said to me, one night at home, at my house, we were having a dinner together with a group of friends, and he said "you know, Sandy, I think that you would really like teaching in the prison." And my then-husband looked askance, and said "really," and my friend Bob said "yeah. I think that you would like that. You're the kind of person that I think would be really good. It's not everybody who can do this. Any faculty go up, and they observe, and they say 'Not for me. I don't like the gates; I don't like the feeling worried about being in a prison.'" And he said, "well how do you feel about that?" And I said, well I need to go up and see how I feel. One was a maximum-security prison, and one was a medium security prison, and they were all-male. So of course, there was major concerns. I had major concerns. So, but I said, let me go try. And I walked– I went in with him. I got permission; I had a pass as a guest. I went in with him one evening, and I observed the teachers teaching. I observed the classrooms, I participated in teaching a class with my colleague, and he was right. It was a– it was instantaneous for me. The students were, one, incredibly prepared. Everybody had done their reading, everybody had done their work, everybody came in with hundreds of questions. Some of which were off the wall, but some of which were incredibly insightful. They were like sponges. They were so eager to get this learning and to participate in this exercise. It's like an adventure. This was not their life, imagine, living in a prison. So, at night they could come up and walk into a classroom which had windows and desks. They were with other people, there was a professor there. This as for them lifesaving. And I could tell. I could tell. So, the next semester I taught a class, and I never turned back. I just, I just loved it. I taught composition to mostly freshmen. I then became an advisor, so I was putting together curricula. So, I was making sure the students were developing their majors in certain good way. So, I was working as an advisor, and at the very end I was the director of the program, until we closed. So, lots of great experiences. We had full graduations at the camp– at the prison. We would bring up faculty in their full regalia. Their families could come up, observe their graduation. we would have cake and cookies afterwards. It was as close to normal as we possibly could create given where we were.
IL: Wonderful. You wrote a monograph about dealing with behavior.
SW: I did.
IL: Could you talk about what lead to that, and what you were dealing with?
SW: Yeah. One of the– Obviously as a woman, I was always approached by women faculty and men faculty who would say "aren't you afraid? Aren't you threatened? Isn't it dangerous?" Obviously, all appropriate questions. The fact is, I never once – in ten years – never once felt personally threatened. Not once. Now, were there moments? There were maybe, out of ten years, there were maybe three or four moments where there was a scruff. Where there was something that went on– not that had anything to do with me, but was with something in the hallway, or something was going on. But it was immediately shut down, it was immediately– the guards were right there. They're not in your classroom, but they are right in the hall. But personally, I was never approached by a student, by an inmate student, I was never spoken to inappropriately. The students knew that the health and the veracity of this program was on their shoulders. If they screwed up, the prison would close this program down immediately. Skidmore would want to keep coming, but the prison would close it down. So, they knew, if they wanted this program to work, they had to mind their manner. And they did. In fact, they go so wrapped up in their learning there was no time. There was really no time for that. But that being said, a colleague of mine who worked in another prison in the western part of the state, she and I were talking at a conference one time. A prison programs conference that was, happened across the state of New York, and we were talking about, yes, our colleagues were always asking us, you know, what about the behavior? What do you do? And we said, you know, why don't we write a little how-to. Because, yes, of course, there will be situations were a student will overstep, wither knowingly or not knowingly, overstep the line, what do you know. So we decided to put our head together and write a monograph, which we did and we distributed to all of the prison programs across the state for women instructors so that they had a kind of game plan. Or a kind of guidebook. Or to read to decide if they even wanted to do it. And it was great. It was very useful, and the state was very happy that they had it. I gave it to the officers to so that the officers could see what we were saying. And they approved. They said yes, this is appropriate instruction. So we had good cooperation with the prison administration as well.
IL: Wonderful. Was there anyone in the program, both with the prison program and with the University Without Walls that was particularly impactful for you personally?
SW: Woah. Hundreds, actually. [laughs] Yes, there were some amazing, amazing students. I remember a middle-aged man in the prison program. He was a philosophy major, so he wasn't– he was my advisee. And Michael was– loved to write poetry. And many of the men used to write poetry, and most of it was pretty horrible, but Michael’s was astonishing. It was absolutely publishable. And I can remember when he graduated, he handed me a collection of some of his writings, and I still have them. He's passed away, and he died of AIDS, I believe in the late 80's or early 90's. But he was a very brilliant man and had a really horrible life. But his mind was– just, always remember thinking, anyone looking at this man would think he was just this thug, but all you need to do is just let him speak. Listen to what he had to say, and look at what he was writing about, and you would realize that he had a heart and a mind that was quite beautiful. And so I do remember that. My UWW, not prison students, many students– what I loved about them, they went on to do great things. One on my UWW graduate students is currently directing the economic opportunity program in Saratoga. And she did her degree at Skidmore UWW and was one of my advisees and so she's making a huge difference here in our community here in Saratoga. And that makes me feel great. When I see her name in the paper, and her picture, and the projects that she's doing, I feel like we did the right thing.
IL: Well that's wonderful. Another program that I know has been impactful in the community is the Master's of Liberal Studies program. How– could you help me understand your involvement with that, and what that mean to you?
SW: Well, we realized that after many years of running UWW, we realized that so many of our graduates kept asking us "we want to do an interdisciplinary master's program. We loved the fact that we could put together our own programs here at UWW. We could create these interdisciplinary, these programs that saw the synergy between different disperate academic inquires. And that by allowing, you know, science and art to talk to each other, we get something bigger and more." And they kept wanting to know where there were graduate programs like that. There weren't very many. There were only, in the country, there was a master's of liberal studies at Gerogetown, there was one in the mid-west, there was maybe one out in Oregon. There weren't very many. And we thought, you know, we should really think about whether or not we the capacity to offer – we being Skidmore. Because of course all these programs need the energy and support of the faculty, and the faculty are [cough] – excuse me – [cough] The faculty have a fulltime job teaching the undergraduate residential students. So, we started small. And I was on the ground floor of this program. Once the prison program closed, I came over. The director of UWW had begun, became the director of MALS, he and his secretary were beginning to put the idea together, and they hired me as the advisor, as the person to help work with the students and put course programs together. It took a while, and we knew that we had to keep it small, cause again, it taxed the energies of the faculty. A graduate student needs more work, needs more attention, needs more intellectual stimulation than an undergraduate. And so we understood that starting a graduate program would mean a real commitment on the faculty's part. So, I worked with the director. We also had a faculty advising committee. We had a group of faculty who came on board and looked at what we could do. It felt like it was workable, so we went forward and designed it pretty much looking like UWW, but instead of 120 credit undergraduate program, it was a thirty credit master’s program. And it was interdisciplinary, so the students had to have at least two disciplines represented, they had to write a thesis, and/or a final program. Some of the performing arts students did photography exhibits, they did creative writing programs, but it was– they had to do a thesis at the end. And those were all to be reviewed by a team of readers. So again, it was very intensive faculty advising, which was on of the reasons why it eventually closed. I mean, it needed so much energy on the part of residential faculty, and the residential faculty was also needing and experiencing more and more with their residential students, their undergraduates, that the college really felt it couldn't sustain it. Which I thought, was probably a reasonable decision on the part of the college. If we are going to do it, we want to do it well, and to the best of everyone's ability. And I think the faculty were feeling very pulled in many directions.
IL: Thank you. With this, you were teaching, at the same time a couple classes?
SW: Yes. Every semester, while I was doing all my off campus UWW or MALS work, at least one course a semester I would teach in the evening, in the English department. I liked to keep connected– I liked to feel connected to the residential students. IT helped me to make sure that the work I was doing with UWW students and masters students was in line with what the college was doing with its residential students. So, the English department– I as an adjunct faculty member was hired for at least one or two courses in the evening, per semester to teach. And I taught English 103, English 105, and then I worked with the international students. So that was on going. I did that for decades, but it was always quiet, and it was always a smaller part of my Skidmore identity, the most being my work in the non-traditional programs. When both of them closed, UWW and Master, I was not quite ready to retire. I was, I really felt that I had more that I wanted to give, and more, more projects, more opportunities I wanted to offer. I also had a couple of classes that I'd never taught before that were in the back of my head. The most recent being my travel writing course. I'd never taught this, but I's always, always been an avid traveler, I'd always been an avid travel-writing reader, and I kept thinking this is a vehicle that could be a good one to teach freshman comp. The 103, I mean the one-oh-five courses have a topic base, and therefore I kept feeling like there was a real desire and possibility that this could be a great course. So I put together the course, and I proposed it to the English department the last couple of years of my tenure at Skidmore, and that was kind of what I finished my career doing, was teaching my travel-writing courses, which actually were almost another highlight of my career. So, I started with a great highlight in UWW and I ended with a great positive highlight with my travel-writing students. They were, it was a great course. I think they loved it; I learned a lot. We read wonderful writing from travel writers from all over the world, and since retirement I have tried to follow some of their footsteps, and so I have been to many of the places in which we read narratives. So, it's been great.
IL: It's fantastic that you were able to kind of move into a second-high point in your career.
SW: I did. And it wasn't more of the same. I really wanted to do something different. And I thank the English department very much for allowing me to do that, because they could have said no, keep doing what you are doing, it's fine. And it was fine, but this was a great plus for me, and I was very pleased to do it, and I had terrific students who still stay connected and are always contacting me and letting me know where they are, and where they're going, and were they are traveling, so it's always good.
IL: Wonderful. I remember you saying in a previous conversation, maybe a year, maybe two years ago that you taught in Chine briefly.
SW: Oh, yes! Yes! I forgot about that, didn't have that on my list! [both laugh] How could I forget?! Yes. When I was working in the master's program, I had done many years at UWW. We were in eh master's program, I was feeling– I was feeling a little stale. I was not doing as much teaching, as much one-on-one teaching. The UWW program offered me lots of really wonderful teaching opportunities. Once that program closed, then the prison program closed, I was doing almost all administration. And I was fine with that, except I really missed the communication and the connection with students. So, I applied for a sabbatical. As an administrator Skidmore does offer, occasionally, an administrative sabbatical. I was not a tenured faculty member, so I wasn't due a sabbatical, but I applied. I gave them a proposal in which I said I would like to teach for a year in China, at the university Skidmore had a relationship with. And my proposal was approved, I was given a nine months sabbatical, and I went to China. [Laughs] I took off. I did not speak Chinese; I did not need to speak Chinese. My students were all English majors at a teaching university in Shandong province, which is provincial. It is not near a big city; it is not near Beijing or Shanghai. It was in one of the oldest– it was one of the oldest universities in China, and one of the oldest communities. It was in the hometown of Confucius. It was were Confucius was born and were his family and he is buried. And around this very old community, they built a university, and it was a teaching university. So off I went. I left for a year. I lived at this university. I had an apartment on the campus. I taught six courses a semester with thirty-five or forty students in a class, so I taught three hundred students in the course of a year. And I taught composition. So, I was teaching – and they were – their reading English was actually quite good. They understood their reading quite well. Their spoken English was not very good because they had no access to native English speakers. The people who taught them oral English were Chinese teachers. Lovely, very lovely people, but their English was not very clear, and so the students' English was not very clear. So, I taught– I did a lot of informal, come to my apartment, let's practice our English. So, at night, I would teach all day, and then at night I would have twenty-five or thirty students for tea, and we would just talk, and practice our English. So, and then I did that for a year. But then I did composition. The year that I was there our students published a literary magazine. I was very proud of that. The only time they've ever done that. We out it together in the Spring semester. We had an editorial board, we had submissions. The students read the submissions, they made selections, they did editing, they did layout, they did artwork, and we put together a literary magazine for the whole junior class. The junior year was when they did their composition writing in their curriculum. So, I was very proud of that. I had it published, and every student got a copy, which I signed before I left. It was great. It was a good experience, a really good experience, and I have still stayed in contact with many of those students who are now middle-aged at this point. Cause I was there in 2001, 2002, so many of them are adults either working in teaching or working in cooperate situations where they are using their English as translation.
IL: That sounds really, really formative experience.
SW: Yeah. Well it also was– I think it was one of the impetuous for me wanting to do the travel-writing course. When I got back, I thought, there's so much wonderful writing that goes around travel, and new experiences that I really felt– that began to make more interest. And the reason I ended up going – let me share this with you – the reason I really wanted to go to China was that Skidmore was accepting many more international students at that point in the late-90s, early-2000s. And they were in my classes. They were in my one-oh-three classes, or my English one hundred classes, and I was so impressed with their work ethic, and their diligence, and how hard it was for them to work in an environment where this was completely not in their native language. And I thought, I would really like to know more about the Chinese educational system because they are producing these really interesting, smart, thoughtful, fun students that are coming to Skidmore. So that's really what got me started. And when I found out we had a relationship with a university in China that we could send faculty there to teach, I jumped on that opportunity. So Skidmore, the undergraduates were actually my stimulus for me going to China.
IL: That's fantastic that the courses here fed nicely in, and then the experience in China fed into your next [SW: Right, exactly.] set of courses. So in working with these international students in EN 100 and EN 103, I know you taught EN one-oh-three for, what, twenty-two years?
SW: Right. A really long time. [both laugh]
IL: Just a bit.
SW: Yeah.
IL: [both laugh] Could you talk about, sort of, what that meant to you as an adjunct professor?
SW: Yeah. Yeah, I mean, it's unusual, a little unusual for a faculty member to teach a course for that long. There are many more opportunities, with tenured faculty, for them to do more courses. The English department has to provide, kind of, nuts and bolts necessary writing instruction for every student that comes here. It's our responsibility. Obviously, as you know, every student is required to be a competent writer from the get-go. They walk on this campus and every faculty member expects them to be able to be a thoughtful, competent writer. That is true for most of our students, but not all of our students. And certainly, our international students have a much steeper learning curve. And so, I– I was always a teacher, I am a teacher who likes to work with students who are challenged. I find that absolutely so stimulating. Whether they are adult students coming back and need to work around family, or whether they are prison students who have to deal with their life in prison, as well as their education, or international students who have to deal with a new language, or students, regular residential students who are coming out a high school experience that was maybe not as absolutely basically fulfilling as it could have been. And so, they are here at Skidmore because they are smart. My students are really smart. They are so capable, but their skill level, the stuff that they need to know, the nuts and bolts – the kind of tools that they needed – they may not have them all in their toolbox yet. My job as a 103 teacher was to give them the tools that they may or may not have gotten in high school. And, for me, every student that walked into my class – even though I am teaching the same course – every student who walked in was an individual challenge. And for me that was so stimulating because I had to figure out a way to help each one of these students, in whatever way I could, to get him or her to the place where they could be fully successful at Skidmore. So, I loved that. I loved the idea that helping a student– especially writing. Writing is not a discipline that has right answers the way maybe biology does. Either this is this enzyme, or it’s that enzyme. Or history: it's either this year or that year. You have to know the facts. In writing there's a path to getting better at this skill, but that path is not a single path. Everybody chooses the path that works best for them. My job was to help each student find his or her path to becoming a competent writer. And a confident writer. So many times, my students were really fine writers, but they lacked the confidence. They kept saying, well I'm not a good writer, I'm not a good writer. I said, how do you know that? Somebody told me. I said, well, let's forget that. We're not going to worry about that voice, we're going to start a new voice which is you are a competent writer, and you can get better, and our job is to get you there. And that was how I approached English 103 for twenty years. Or more.
IL: This is a wonderful philosophy. Do you feel like you have a set– a guiding philosophies or principles that you've followed? Wanting to help people who have challenging perspectives and challenges that they are overcoming.
SW: Right, right. I don't know if I– other than the fact that my first– my basic point is that every student can do it. You can do this. This is not impossible for you. It may feel impossible and it may take twice as long than someone else, but you can become a better writer. Writing is not– Writing is a process, it's not a product, and if you think about that then you are going in the right direction. Students always say look at this piece of writing. My writing is not as good as this piece of writing. That's a product. I'm not interested in the product. How did that writer get to that product? That's what we all need to understand. So, if I can help students realize that the best writers edited, and edited, and rewrote, and rewrote, and rewrote, if I can have students figure that out and understand that their writing can always get better, then I've done my job. Because then the student realizes they're in control. They have the capacity to become a better thinker, a better writer, a better reader. All those three things go together. So, that would be my philosophy, that it's a process not a product. Don't look at the product.
IL: That's a wonderful philosophy, and thinking about then, the process, you've been– or were at – Skidmore while technology was changing.
SW: Right.
IL: That effects many–
SW: Huge! Yes, yeah, great question. Yeah, I'm thinking back over my early years. In fact, I always used to tell my students about using a typewriter, and of course they would look at me like I was crazy. They would– I would tell them about the card catalog in the library, where you would have to go an actually look at a piece of three-by-five card to find the book and go in the stacks, and that there was no electronic databases at all, these kinds of things. But, yes. And writing has been incredibly impacted by all the technology. Research, for example, was a– used to be a big frustration for me. I always wanted the students to get into the library to understand the notion of searching out information using, what I considered the old way of thinking about knowledge acquisition. The students taught me so much more because they are so much more facile with the electronic databases, with accessing information. My job for them was to always help them sort out what was the value of the information. It's not quantity, it's quality, and so my shift– I had to shift my focus from here's how you get information – research, etc. – to how do we know this information is valuable, it's correct, it's been reviewed. That's critical nowadays because there's too much information out there and it make students crazy. They grab the first ten things they find, eight of which are bogus. They have to figure out, let's make sure they understand how to validate the data they are gathering and the information that they're reviewing, and to realized that more so now than ever before, the author has to be validated. What is the author's point of view? Who is the author? Is there an agenda behind the author's point of view? Are we getting a balanced approach to the information? So, technology has made students, faculty lives, both more helpful, more easier, but also there are much more responsibility that come along with this huge availability of information that we must be responsible for figuring out what's valid and what isn't.
IL: That's a great– That's really interesting for me to hear about the shift in research, because that is such a big part of student life now.
SW: Exactly. I mean, huge, huge amounts. Students do their research in their dorm rooms. That's not the way I did any of my research as an undergraduate or as a graduate student. Or as a teacher! Even as a professor I would be in the library, I still an in the library. It feels right to me to be in the library, but I'm becoming a relic. And students who are– the young faculty who are coming on board, they do their research just like our undergraduates do now. So it's becoming a little more seamless. We older folks are fading away [laughs] and moving into– we understand that times are changing.
IL: So we're wrapping up the interview here. Is there anything that we haven't covered that you would like to cover?
SW: No. I'm glad you asked about China because I totally forget about my China experience which was amazing. As I said at the beginning, I think that my profession trajectory is so uniquely a part of the Skidmore philosophy. I don't know of another institution that would have allowed me, encouraged me, championed me, to do the kinds of things I have done at Skidmore over thirty-three years. It's a testament to Skidmore's creative thought matters slogan that they allow an individual like me, a faculty like me, to do, to think, to work with students, to incorporate, to invite different populations of students into the Skidmore learning experience. And I can't thank the college enough for that. It's been a terrific experience for me. My children, who did not go to Skidmore, they think very, very warmly of this place, and understand how much it's meant to me and it has affected them too as they've watched me do my teaching the way I have. So, I thank Skidmore a great deal for that opportunity.
IL: wonderful. So thank you very much Sandy.
SW: You're welcome, you're welcome, Isabel. This has been a great pleasure, and good luck on the project.
IL: Thank you very much.
February 5, 2020 Interview
Isabel M.R. Long: My name is Isabel Long. Today is February 5th, 2020 and I'm here with Sandra Walter in library 126 – sorry, 128C. We're on Skidmore College campus. We are here to do interview two of two in our series for the Saratoga Skidmore memory project. So just to give a brief overview of what we previously covered, we talked about the prison program that ran at Saratoga, in– with the local prison for a while, and we talked about graduate programs which Sandy was head for a while. We talked about her time teaching EN103, and traveling to China and working in China, and then teaching her travel writing class.
Sandy Welter: All good. [Both laugh.] All right. Thanks for reminding me.
IL: You're welcome. It was a fabulous conversation.
SW: It was, I enjoyed it very much.
IL: I'm glad, I did too. So, I have just a couple things to follow up with [SW: Sure.] that I'd love some clarification. So, one of the things you mentioned very briefly right at the end of our conversation was your sons' connection with Skidmore. You mentioned they felt very connected to college even though we did not attend here.
SW: Right.
IL: Could you elaborate on their connections with Skidmore?
SW: Well, as you know, I live right in Saratoga Springs. They were born and raised here in Saratoga. And in the early days of Skidmore, both my husband, at that time, and I were affiliated with Skidmore, he in the counseling center and me– I was, at that time, teaching in the public schools, but was involved with bringing my kids to campus for various projects and activities that happened here on campus. It was a much smaller community back then than it is now, and so the kids, my children, felt very much as though Skidmore was a sort of home away from home. When I started teaching here full time, they, um, they use my office as a great after school drop off place, sometimes, to stop in on their way off to a soccer game, or practice, or a bike ride with some friends. And so, while they did not necessarily participate, um, educationally in the activities, they did- they did fully appreciate the community that Skidmore offered all of them, the faculty and staff that lived- that lived and worked here. They used the library regularly, they loved to the library, and, uh, you know, they had many friends whose parents were also involved at Skidmore, and so it was a sort of a mini community. So that's sort of what I meant, was I think Skidmore was an extension of– they felt as comfortable here on the Skidmore campus as I would downtown, or at the high school, or the other places that they were active in.
IL: Wonderful, thank you. One of the things you mentioned is that your former husband worked at Skidmore.
SW: He did. Yep.
IL: Yeah, so, from my understanding from our last review you joined the working body of the Skidmore community later on.
SW: Right, exactly. I came to Skidmore as a new bride, actually. My husband, at the time, he and I got married right after– I got married right out of college, actually. He got the first– the job as the first director of counseling center here at Skidmore. Skidmore didn't have a counseling center in 1971. They were about– they had just started to accept men. There was a clear need for a network for support for students. The student body was moving to the new campus. When I first came in 1971, my husband's office was in downtown, in the old– on the old campus. Many of the activities of course we're still here at the new– I called the new campus, the campus. And, so, I came, as a new bride. My husband was working at Skidmore and I was in graduate school. I was doing my graduate work at SUNI Albany. So, I did my graduate work and finished. After finishing my graduate work, I got a job teaching in the Saratoga Springs high school, and taught there, and was tenured there for the next six– five or six years. At that point I had two small children and did not go back to teach full-time. And by the mid 80s, the early 80s my children were two and five. They were starting to go off to school or school in kindergarten, and I was anxious to get back to the workforce. I had many friends here at Skidmore, through my husband, and I was invited to come and work at UWW, and then in the English Department. So, it was an interestingly slow transition to Skidmore for me. I started actually as a faculty wife, as an employee's wife, but then came on as a– as a full-time employee and faculty member.
IL: Thank you for elaborating.
SW: Sure.
IL: There's several pieces of your comments I really want to touch on.
SW: Yeah.
IL: We're going to go back to a couple of the them.
SW: Sure.
IL: But first that I think is relevant– kind of in chronological order, working backwards, is the transition to a co-educational school for Skidmore.
SW: Right.
IL: You were here right as that was happening. [SW: Yeah, yes.] Was there a culture shift that was going on?
SW: Yeah.
IL: Could you help me understand what the campus atmosphere was like?
SW: Yeah, yeah. It was– it was a huge culture shift. I came from my undergraduate school, Elmira College in western part of New York State, went through exactly the same transition when I was an undergraduate student. So when I started at Elmira it was in all women's college, when I graduated it was a co-educational institution, so in four years at had transition to a co-educational institution. When I got here to Skidmore, right after I had graduated from my undergraduate school, it was also in that exact same transition. So, both Elmira and Skidmore were probably transitioning to a co-educational institution at exactly the same time. And there was a huge cultural shift. I guess the funniest story that I can share with you which I think encapsulates exactly the problem– actually two small stories. The first was, I can always remember my husband coming home and saying, 'Well the men are in the counseling center all the time.' I said, 'Oh dear are they having a terrible time?' He said 'No, actually the problems are fairly soluble. And I said, 'What do you mean?' I said, 'I mean are they are they having major emotional problems?' He said 'No, no.' He said, 'The first problem is that there's no options except ballet in terms of physical education for them, and they were having difficulties explaining to the phys-ed department that they needed more options. And the second was that they couldn't get enough food. That the cafeteria was not serving them large enough portions. That they kept going back, and back, and back and that the cafeteria ladies were used to feeding women, you know young women, and not used to feeding eighteen-year-old boys.' So, he said, 'Once we get those two things straightened out, I think that the mental health of the entire community will probably be a whole lot better.' So that gives you a sense of sort, the small problems that could go in co-education, you know, provided or presented to the college. Obviously, dormitories and space, and those kinds of things. But really, they needed to think about their curriculum, they needed to think about their support services, and I think they've done a great job of doing that over the years.
IL: Thank you. So, you mentioned, Elmira going co-ed, and being at Elmira. Could you help me understand what your time at Elmira was like?
SW: Sure! I was– I came from a fairly– a very blue-collar working-class community in southern Connecticut. Going– I was the first member of my whole family to go to college. And so, going off to college for me was huge, and the idea in the early 1960s, for me to go off to college, to really have a completely different experience would be to go to a girl school, for me. I don't know why that I was convinced that that was an important thing, but somehow, I was convinced that that was a good thing to do. And so, I started applying applied to many of the women's institutions at the time, and I got into a lot of them. I selected Elmira not because it was the best. Because in retrospect, probably in terms of just in terms of academic caliber, it probably wasn't the strongest of the ones that I had gotten accepted into, but it was the one that was the farthest away from home. And so, I chose that. Because I what I needed to do at that moment, was to prove to myself that I could be a college student and live in an environment completely different than when I was used to. And so, I went to Elmira. It actually was a wonderful, wonderful choice for me. I met some, some fantastic faculty who have– who remained supportive of me for my entire career, and beyond. I met some lovely, lovely women who have remained friends my whole life, in fact just had a reunion with a couple of them, over 50 years of reunion with a bunch of them recently. I went junior year abroad, and so I went to the University of Leicester in England for an entire year, which was an amazing experience for me, and was– and it probably fed my latent desire to all– to travel, to see the world, which I have continued to feed throughout my entire life. So, Elmira was a wonderful experience for me. It prepared me well for graduate school. I went to SUNI Albany and got my degree there, and felt well prepared, and was very happy to be trained in the early 70s to be a teacher, and so I felt as though I had gotten a very good education, even though I think, the reasons I ended up– I initially went there were probably not the best. [Chuckles.]
IL: You ended up being there, and then a transitional moment for Elmira.
SW: Yeah, yeah it was– of course, anywhere you were. If you were in college in the late 1960s, you were in the midst of a huge revolution, cultural revolution in terms of, of identity and educational opportunities, and politics, and countercultural definitions. This was all so embedded in a college experience at the time. I mean, I started college in 1967, I was at Woodstock in 1969. I was in– I was at the University of Leicester in 1969 and '70, and then I graduated in 1971. So, it was right in the in the heat of all of the activities that were going on campuses across the country so, you couldn't avoid, it is great.
IL: If you had to pick kind of a definitive moment of your college experience, what would it be? SW: Well, I think it was the opportunity to go abroad. That was– I mean Elmira is this small little sleeping community in western upstate New York. It doesn't necessarily provide the kinds of– even the simulations that Saratoga does. Saratoga Springs is a culturally rich environment beautiful, beautiful geography. Elmira is not that. Didn't have that kind of opportunity, both visually, geographically, and culturally. So, for me to go abroad and to study, and to be there for a year, was life changing for me. And that– I worked with some fantastic faculty at the university. I met several of them later on, after I finish my degree and have– and stayed in touch with many of them. Most of them are gone now, by now.
IL: Could you help me understand the wonderful experience of being at Leicester?
SW: Yeah, yup. It was– well it's– it's not– it's a red brick university, that's one of the quality characteristics. It's one of the universities that grew out of the push to enlarge the university system in Britain after the Second World War. It was well, well known for its English literature faculty. Many of the universities of Britain had a particular strength, and so if you were interested in X, Y, or Z you would think to look at, to go to those institutions. Leicester had a very strong English literature and culture department, and I, I was lucky enough to get accepted into that. And so, that to me was life changing. Their educational system, which is much different than United States, in which we took classes once a week, didn't have exams except at the end of the year, met in one on one tutorials with the faculty every week, so you were always had to be prepared, you always had to be ready to be able to speak what you had in your mind well face to face with a full professor, and then, and then prepare for an exam that you would have only at the end of the year. So, it was a very difficult, very different way of learning than I was used to here in the United States. And that taught me a lot about pedagogy, which I put to work when I came here to work at Skidmore.
IL: Fantastic. If you could only pick a couple individuals who defined your time at Leicester, who would they be and why?
SW: I think that the uh– I think that the Shakespeare professor was particularly wonderful. And I’m not going to remember his name, sorry. [IL: No worries.] I could've– I also took, I took an American history course. Because I was intrigued at the time to see how, how the British taught American history, and that professor also was absolutely fabulous. And showed me a way of looking at history in general, and history of my own country in relationship to Britain that I never had had been given before. So that was exceptionally fine. The third component– the third really important part of my experience at Leicester had really nothing much to do with my faculty as much as it had to do with two groups of students. One was a group of international students that we formed. There were six or seven of us. Two of us from United States, one from Australia, three from Germany, two from Japan, etc. So, we had this group of international students who were international students at Leicester at the time, all studying either in the foreign languages department, or in the history departments. And so, we ended up taking classes with each other and gathered in very informal friendship group throughout the year, because we were the– we were the foreigners, we were the outsiders. And it was– it's fairly small university and so they weren't a lot of us. We've stayed in contact with each other over almost– over almost 50 years now, so I just, in fact, two days ago spoke with the German student who friend of mine, and he's on his way to Japan to meet with Hiroshi, one of our other students. It has been over 50 years. So that group of students has were really influential and showing me how the rest of the world thought. How they think. How do other people in other parts of the world think. And again, that really informs that well how I teach.
The other group of students that helped me a huge amount where the women in my dormitory. We lived in a hall, called College Hall, and we were– we ate together. It was part of the system. We would be at least once or twice a week we would eat together and have high tea together. We studied together, often. And again, we have stayed in close contact with each other over all these years. A group of us just had a reunion last year. And went I went back to Britain and saw them for the first time in almost 50 years. And we had a lovely time. Picked up right where we left off. [Chuckles.]
IL: That's fantastic.
SW: So those kinds of experience, both friend friendships, were as much– as much a influencing force on who I am as a, as a teacher and as a, as a person as my faculty were, and they were also quite wonderful. So.
IL: Thank you for sharing.
SW: Yep, sure.
IL: In your time last year, did you travel elsewhere, were you mostly based there?
SW: I did travel. I came at the end of August. Our term started in September. We studied until December, and then they have a big long break. During that break, I traveled a great deal. I visited German students in Germany, I went to Austria and Switzerland, and did some skiing and– I did a lot of traveling. And then, in the– after the break in May, that was after my exams were over, many of the foreign students went home. I had– I, luckily, had saved enough money and then I could actually stay for another couple of months. So, I stayed through August. So, I was gone almost twelve months, and during that time I traveled to Spain, and Italy, France and did more of the southern European traveling, and again met up with many of the students and friends that I had met during the year. I did, I did hike in April. I hiked the Lake District with a with one of my college friends, in Britain. I went to Edinburgh; I went to Glasgow I went to Wales. I did see a great deal of Britain, because it was easy. It's easy to do so because of the train, trains, and it was inexpensive if I had a student pass, I could get anywhere, and I backpacked the whole time. So, I stayed in hostels and it was really inexpensive. I could, I could get around easily under $5 a day. So. I was able to do that as well.
IL: With being on campus and involved in student culture in Britain, you define some of the Elmira culture as having the counterculture movement super characteristic [SW: Right.] of the late 60s, early 70s. Was that something that [SW: No.] was distinct?
SW: No, yeah. It wasn't– we did not see that as much. I did not see that, at least I don't remember. It's a long time ago. [Chuckles.] I don't remember that at all. And it was funny because, because I was gone in 1969, 1970, I kind of unplugged from the height of the activities that were going on in my country at the time, and I didn't– I was gone a full year from August to August, and that's, that was a long time. That's a lot of– a lot of events occurred during that year that I was not in the in, you know, in my country, to experience. In Britain, it was much less– I was, I was very involved in my local life, and did not necessarily, feel a sense of that counterculture movement at all.
IL: So, you went to Woodstock, left for Britain–
SW: I did.
IL: Was away for a year, and then came back.
SW: Exactly, exactly! In fact, I got– I went to Woodstock, and two and half weeks later I left for Britain. And when I got there, everybody at the university said, 'did you go to Woodstock?' And I said, 'I, I did.' And they could not believe it. They said, 'no.' I said 'yeah. I was there.' And I was. [Both laugh.] I was. So, that was– I kind of became sort of instant celebrity for a few weeks. [Laughs.] And then classes start, and then everyone was busy.
IL: Was it like a story you told them to, kind of, share what that experience, since they were so interested?
SW: Well, well yeah, they asked because it had just happened. I mean, literally just happened, and here's two Americans arriving on their university not, you know, two-and-a-half or three or three weeks after they watched all this on their, on their telly. And here we are, and my friend Jackie and I, Jackie was not at Woodstock, and I arrive at Leicester. And, you know, that's what they wanted to know. Well, what was it like? And so, all I can remember telling them was it was very muddy, 'cause it rained the entire time. I said it was very muddy, and there were lots and lots of people, and it was the most peaceful group of half, quarter million people I've ever seen in my life. Ever. So, you know, it was– of course the music was fabulous. And they wanted to hear did you here so-and-so, and did you hear so-and-so? And I– yep, yep, yep.
IL: So, in learning about their culture, they also very–
SW: Yes, absolutely. Yeah.
IL: So then, when you got back to the US–
SW: Yeah.
IL: How had your perspective on Elmira, for example, or your life in the US changed?
SW: Yeah, and it had changed a great deal. Really good question. You know, I– I realized how–I mean there was a part of me that realized, because I wanted– 'cause I decided to go as far away from home as I could, that staying at home was small. That there was something– it was loving, and wonderful, and I loved my hometown, and my family but there was something about it that was a little stifling for me. And– because nobody ever left. It was a kind of place where everybody was happy being right where they were, and that southern Connecticut was just fine. Just a fine place to be born, and raised, and work, and die. And I'm thinking, no, no I don't think so. Not for me. And so by going off to Elmira and then going to England, that way– it was like, it was like I lit a fire, and that's, as you can imagine, as you know as one of my former travel writing students, you know that I continue to constantly desire to see more and more of the world. This interview had to be postponed because I was in Africa just until a couple of weeks ago. So, I have continued to be just enthralled with the variety and the complexity and the beauty of this world. And that's certainly what Elmira and my experience at Leicester started way back when I didn't know, I mean, didn't know a thing. I was so naive, and so young and so inexperienced that I give– I gotta give myself credit for trying as much as I did even back then, 'cause I think I didn't know what I was doing at all but, it will worked out fine.
IL: I'm glad.
SW: Yep.
IL: Could you kind of describe sort of an average day in your hometown?
SW: Ah! An average day my hometown. Well, my hometown was a working class, pretty much exclusively– not exclusively. About 80% Italian, first generation Italian Roman Catholic blue-collar community. Most of the men went off to New Haven and worked as tradesmen or as factory workers. Almost– most of the moms stayed home and took care of their families. I lived in a small post-World War Two little house in a little development where all the houses looked about the same. I walked to school. I walked home for lunch. I walked to my high school. It was– it had a very old downtown center, which of course, because it's Connecticut, it had some pieces of early pre-revolutionary notes– old stone church and an old green and area. But, and there was an old neighborhood. But the large portion of my day was spent in these kind of post-World War Two developments of young families. There were in every house in my neighborhood there was two to four children. And when you– when we walked to school, the whole street was filled with kids. When you walked home, it filled with children. You went home, you put your play clothes on, and you went outside. And you were in the neighborhood playing with friends until your mom called you for dinner, and dinner, homework, and in bed, and then off to school again. My parents owned a little tiny cottage on the shores of Long Island Sound in the town next to where I was, where I grew up, called Branford, and in the summers we would go there. So, I would unplug from this kind of intense, you know, kind of dense family community, kid-oriented, to a much more relaxed, out– get more or less about doors community, where I stayed all summer, with a whole group of families and friends that were not part of the group of neighbors that I grew up with. But I stayed– we stayed in that community. My sister and I grew up in East Haven, we both went to East Haven high school, graduated. My sister actually bought my parents' house when they graduated, and so she stayed there her whole life. She stayed there her life. She never, again, she never left. And that's was not at all atypical. She was friends with all of her high school friends. I was not. I mean, I didn't see my high school friends much 'cause I never– never was home again. And we had different– we had different interests. They were happy to be where they were, and I was not. You know, I wanted to see more. But, I mean, it was it was a lovely childhood. It was lots of fun, and lots of activities. I remember learning to roller-skate on the streets, and interesting things that people can't even imagine. That you rake your leaves. All the families would rake their leaves into the– into the edge of the street, and then you'd burn them. Which of course, God forbid you can't– but never do that now, and that you'd come home, and you'd play in the leaves, and they'd be these little fires in these little embers, and it would get dark and you can remember seeing the embers along the side of the road, and you come in and you smell like, like leaf smoke. These are, you know, these wonderful memories that kids don't have anymore. It's just not a– it's a different life, it's a different environment. But kids have other wonderful things to think about now too, right, so.
IL: Do you– is there, kind of, one memorable meal from your childhood you could tell me about?
SW: Well, I’m a– I'm from– my grandparents on my mother's side were both Swedish. They were first– they were born in Sweden, came as younger, young people, both my grandfather and my grandmother. My grandmother was a wonderful cook. I can always remember my grandmother making a roast– and they didn't have very much. They were– they had large family, not very much money, and we would go over to my grandparents' house on Sundays sometime, or certainly on a holiday. So, if it was a holiday like, I don't know, Easter, or Christmas, or something, she would make a roast pork. Some kind of a piece of large piece of meat. And there'd be hundreds of grandchildren, seems to me, there wasn't hundreds, but there was a lot of grandchildren, lots of children around. And she would be cooking and baking, and there'd be potatoes and, and she would make– always have– so this, this big piece of meat would come out and I will be sitting in my grandfather would cut it up, he was a carpenter. He built a lot of Yale University in his, in his active years as a carpenter. So, he would take the trolley from Branford, his hometown, to New Haven, work on the buildings at Yale, and then come home again. So, he always remembered– I remember as a child him telling me– we'd take the bus into New Haven, and he'd say, 'you see that? I built that, I built that archer, or I–’ ‘cause he built all the woodwork, he did all the woodwork. Anyway, so, we were at this, at this– he was cutting up the meat, and everybody got a piece of this meat, and then we had roast potatoes and vegetables, etc. And I looked at my grandmother's plate, and always, this was always the case, on my grandmother's plate were all the bones. Just the bones. And I said, 'Grandma, you don't have any meat.' She said, 'Oh, I don't want any of the meat.' She said, 'This is the best part.' And she would pick up and spend the whole meal just nibbling, and sucking, and chewing off all of the good parts of the bones. Now, I can– you know, as a child, I kept thinking, well she just doesn't want to give– she wants to make sure that everybody get some meat, and so she's giving it all to all the children, and she's just being generous. But I think she was right. I actually think she was right, that probably that was really delicious, all of the good roasted bones.
The other, other thing that I always remember– my grandmother was really the center of my meal remembrance. My mother was not a very good cook at all, and once I got to be a teenager, I ended up doing a lot of the cooking in my house 'cause my mother really was not, did not like to cook. So many, many of my memorable meals were at my grandmother's. Whenever you walked into my grandmother's house day or night, 8:00 o'clock in the morning, 10:00 o'clock at night, there was always a big pot of coffee perking on her stove. Didn't matter what time it was, it was always hot. and just perking. Hear that little blurp, blurp, and the whole house smelled of coffee. And the other thing you'd always smell is Swedish coffee cakes. She would bake Swedish coffee cakes every morning, and you could smell the cardamom, and the other in– clove, which you put in the coffee cakes, and so there was always, always coffee and always coffee cake in her house, whenever you walked in the house it didn't matter. And you, and you– and Grandma would always let us, the grandchildren, even as little as we were, taste a little sip of coffee, we could taste some. So that was always exciting.
IL: Sounds really lovely to have that– to know that you could go and get some coffee.
SW: Yes. Grandma was– she always had coffee going, and there was always a coffee cake that she had just taken out of the oven. She was a great cook, and she taught me how to cook. She was the one that taught me how to cook. I remember as I was in college, I went and visited her, and knew or realize that she was getting very old, and so I sat down and asked her to give me her recipes, some of her recipes. She of course, she never measured anything. And I said, 'Well Grandma, show me how you make the rice pudding.' She'd say, 'okay,' and then she would sit there, and she would say, 'Well first you take some rice.' And I said, 'Well, how much rice?' 'You know, enough.' [Laughing] And I say, 'This isn't going to work.' I said, 'I'll tell you what, you make the rice pudding, and let me watch you, and then I'll be able to figure it out.' So as she was making it, I would make her– I would ask her to stop, just before she would pour the milk in, or pour the rice in, or pour the seasoning in, and measure it. I would measure it because she didn't– it would be this is how much it is, whatever it was. I said, 'Okay,' and so I would measure it and then write it all down. I had to cut some of the recipes still.
IL: Do you have a favorite recipe you made?
SW: I like her rice pudding. That's what we– she always made the best rice pudding. And it's– again, that they were very poor, and so they used everything up. So rice, if you made rice, you always made rice pudding with it. And she would make oatmeal, oatmeal cookies because she'd make oatmeal or porridge for the, all the kids and then whatever was left she would make something. She would make delicious dumplings. She was a good dumpling maker. So these are some of the things I remember. Easy, inexpensive meals.
IL: It– food's always a really wonderful, I think, part of family life generally.
SW: Yes, yeah.
IL: Is there kind of a, memorable meal you've had with your kids since then?
SW: My own kids. Well, you know, we– yeah. I, I like to cook. I'm, I very much like to cook. And because I had two sons, and no daughters, I just taught them how to cook this, because why not? And they were interested. So, and they are now in their 40s, and so. One of the things I had– one of my sons, when he was seven, after having done a research paper at elementary school or kindergarten about animals, you know, and realizing that people ate animals, he decided he was going to be a vegetarian, at age eight, or so. And I said, 'That's fine, you know, that's fine. If that's what you want, and then we'll do.' Then the other son, he was like, you know, 'No I’m not going to do that.' So, I was making– I tried to make a vegetarian option for, for my– for Josh, the younger one. The problem was of course, is he didn't like vegetables. [IL laughs.] So, I said, 'Sweetie, if you're going to be a vegetarian you have to eat vegetables, and you have to figure out how to get some protein.' So, he said, 'Well, I like pasta.' So, I mean– and he liked peanut butter. So, there were many years, I think, in his life where he subsisted on pasta with tomato sauce, which had some vegetables, and peanut butter sandwiches. He's now, you know, six-two, and you know, is perfectly well, well-endowed in terms of a healthy strong man, and his– I think one of our favorite meals was we used to make homemade pasta. And with a with a roller, with a machine hand-cranked pasta rolling machine, and he was, got very good at– now he has twin seven-year-olds, little girls, and he, every month, every Sunday they make homemade pasta together. So, it's carried on several, you know, several generations now, homemade pasta which is one of the twins' favorite meals. And pizza, lots of pizza. They love pizza, which of course Josh makes from scratch, so. So, that kind of shaped our, our meals a lot.
IL: Meals are always prepared in kitchens. That's always something– I found now, being in college that that's very important [SW: Yeah.] space sometimes. So, with your home, would you define the kitchen– how, how would you define your kitchen?
SW: Yeah, it's the center of our house. And still is, even without the kids there, still the center of our house. When I entertain, we all end up in the kitchen, for some reason, because I have a big kitchen, I have a cooking and working kitchen, 'cause I like to cook, and I liked other people to be in my kitchen with me when I'm working and cooking. My kitchen is also an open space into a family room. So, there's a, a couch and a TV, and bookcases, and things to read and do as well as the kitchen area which is kitchen-y. So, it's a wing of my house that's probably the most used. My kids, when we did– my house is a 1791 farmhouse. This is this old farmhouse. When we first bought it, the kitchen was kind of an old Victorian 19th century add-on to the original revolutionary-time farmhouse, and it was not in very good shape. So, we tore it down very soon after we bought the house and built this bigger space, and in that space we made the kitchen area, but we made it because we knew that we wanted, also, the whole family to be part of it. So we made this larger space for the family living. And when the children were small, it was their play area. There was nothing in there with a big rug, and all their toys, and so that they could play, we could talk, I could cook, they could come over and help me cook, or go back and play. So, it was a good space for when they were younger. When they got older, and moved in my books, and a TV, and things like that so we could use it in that way as well. So, it's a big part of my– it's still a big part of my– big heart of, the heart of my house. So you've been to the house, so you, you remember what it was like. It's a– it's a working, it's a good working kitchen.
IL: It's very beautiful.
SW: Oh, thanks. [Chuckles.]
IL: So, I'm thinking that about, your house that you very much made your own, making the kitchen the way you want it.
SW: Right.
IL: That's– How would you say that's defined your experience in Saratoga?
SW: Yeah. That's a really good question because in 1971, we'll circle back to my graduating from Elmira, and getting married, and my then-newly-minted husband saying, 'I just got this job at Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs. We're going to move– we have to move there.' And I then change my graduate work to SUNI Albany, rather than other places. And I came up here, and Saratoga in 1971 was not a very attractive city. Skidmore was struggling. It was just starting to try to get its feet on the ground, in terms of co-education. It was changing its location from the old campus to the new campus. It was, it was struggling, it was. And the city itself was really struggling. It was very depressed, and depressing. I just got here and looked around and said, 'Oh my gosh. I really have to love this man to come and live here [laughs] because I don't know about this place.' And you know it– and it was, it was difficult at first because it was a difficult place, but within a year we made wonderful friends. We lived in several houses in the community before we moved to the farmhouse that I currently living now. I loved working in the high school. I met wonderful community leaders and friends, and other teachers. My graduate work was excellent at SUNI Albany, and I ended up lot starting to love the upstate New York area. I got to know the Adirondacks, so I got to understand lake environments, 'cause I was so used to being near the ocean that I missed the saltwater. I missed the ocean. And the lakes seemed to be not an adequate substitute. But in fact, it– they were. And I learned to really love this area. And Saratoga, at that time, was then beginning to really open up, and grow. It was a time when opportunities to do interesting things within the community were available as well. If you were young, and energetic, and had ideas, people were around that said, 'Well let's try it,' because there was– We needed to do something. So, I met a group of women, both faculty wives and community women. We did things like starting the gifted and talented program out of the high school in elementary school. We worked on art festivals where we took all of the abandoned, that, not abandoned, the for lease, vacant storefronts on Broadway, and there were many, if you can imagine. You think about Broadway now, it's absolutely chockablock with wonderful opportunities for businesses. There were places in blocks of Saratoga, of Broadway that were empty. That these businesses were just empty. And we put together things like an arts festival where high school kids could come in, and we would, we would display their artwork. We would have– we would bring in local artists to do demonstrations and classes. We started working with Historical Society. So, there was stuff that we could do, that young– if we were young and had energy, they were willing to have us do, and we did. And so that was lovely, and it was a way of, again, validating my interests and my energies, and my children could see their community really growing. And it was a lovely place to live. I mean, they're just nice people here. Just, just really nice people in this community, both here at Skidmore as well as in the, in the town itself.
IL: Is there any particular project in town that you're proud of?
SW: Well, I– you know, I'm very proud of the– I worked, early days, with the, with the gifted and talented program. Phyllis Aldridge, a wonderful friend who's still alive, still here in town, organized this project where we were able to take, present after school opportunities for talented young students in many of the elementary schools, and we would meet at the library, the library which was downtown, and we would do courses. I did a poetry writing course, I did a journal writing course. There was art classes, there were music classes. That I'm very proud of. We did, I did a journalism course where we put together a newspaper. We visited the Saratogian which was the local newspaper, is the local newspaper, and brought all the kids there. So this is the kind of thing that I'm very proud of, and it's still going. That, that's great. That kind of grassroots effort, I think, is so, so satisfying. And the town is big, much, much larger now and much more complex, but still, I think, it still has that kind of heart of wanting to do the best for its citizens.
IL: That's fantastic, thank you for describing that. I'm– have covered most of what I have on my list here.
SW: Sure.
IL: But I have one question that kind of jumps a little bit away from what we were discussing.
SW: Sure, yeah, yeah.
IL: When did you first realize you liked writing?
SW: Ah! That's a great question. I want to make sure I'm very honest and clear about this, I'm going to think. Well, I was always a reader. So that's first, first and foremost. And I, as you know, and as I've told my, all of my writing students, you can't be a good writer and less you're a good reader. You have to read because the word on the page becomes your models, and becomes your image– the images and the, and the cadences of the other writers as they write on the page become the voices in your head, and that's really, really terrific. So, I was always an avid, avid reader. I think that I never thought of myself as a writer primarily because it never was ever encouraged. It was again, if you think back, I've lived in this kind of community where it was not that sort of writing. Oh, you know, that's, that's fancy stuff, you know, that's writing is fancy stuff. I think I started writing in elementary school because I got a diary, for a gift, like a Christmas gift or something, or birthday present, and I, and I got a pen pal. And so, the idea of having a pen pal in another city– I got two pen pals when I was little girl, one was in another city in New England, someplace. I guess one of my teachers hooked us, you know, hooked the students up with a pen pal, and another was a pen pal in India. Don't ask me how I got that pen pal in India, but I got one, and I always remember loving to write letters to her and getting her letters back 'cause the stamps were so fabulous. The stamps were the best. And the paper felt so different than the paper that I had in the United States. So, those experiences of having a pen pal and having a diary actually probably were the things that started me off on writing, for myself. When I started teaching, I was always involved in, in student newspapers. Forever. From elementary school, to junior high school, to high school, to when I was in college, I was always on the newspaper staff. So, when I started teaching, although I wasn't a writing teacher, I was always teaching all the optional experiences of either journalism or being the newspaper club advisor. So that pushed me in that direction. As I started to do that, I realized that no one was actually teaching these kids how to write at all. It was just by osmosis that they were writing. That they were in English class, but writing wasn't really what was described. When I went to graduate school, I spent a lot of time learning pedagogy around, or, or theory around writing. Writing theory. How does– how do people think about writing, and how do they plant, how do they train themselves to be writers. Which is– what are some strategies. And that turned into some really interesting projects that I did with my high school students. That's what got me started in working with college students. So it was a kind of gradual process, both for me, and then through my early teaching experience to, to the needs of the Skidmore community, and I– because I like working with international students, I started working with international students first with my writing has a tutor, and then transitioned into teaching, working with the larger campus community with writing.
IL: Thank you for sharing. I'm– I have a follow-up question with that. You mentioned that your community was fairly dismissive of an interest in writing.
SW: Well, yeah. It was– I didn't– I don't remember in my high school, I'm thinking about my high school, my own high school, I don't remember, I mean, I think– the teachers that I remember encouraging me to, to love language was my Latin teacher. My Latin teacher was the person who really inspired me to love language. My English teachers were great, and I remember writing, and they all said, 'That's great, that's great,' but I don't think anybody ever gave me any actual constructive criticism. I don't think anybody sat down with me and said, 'You know, you could make this better.' It was always like, 'It's fine, it's good.' I was an A student, I was always. But I thought, well that doesn't help me. That isn't helping me. If I want to get better, you're just telling me that this is okay, and I'm done. And so, that's what I meant. I didn't– I don't, I don't remember my high school as being a place where creative writing, and in writing in general was encouraged. I could, I could be missing 'cause it was 100 years ago, so, I don't know. [Laughs.] But I'm remembering it mostly as a, something, a love that was nurtured mostly inside of me, and not from an external source until I started working with other students. Then I realized, oh I really love this.
IL: Thank you. But, I– Before we kind of wrapped things up, [SW: Yep.] is there anything you'd like to share? Things that have come up in this interview?
SW: When you have– you know, you know more about me than, [laughs] than anybody in Saratoga Springs right now! No, it's been a pleasure, actually a pleasure, Isabel talking with you about both my career at Skidmore and my life in Saratoga, and my life as a, as a youngster, and how I got to where I am. And it was, it's actually great fun to think about this because right before I came in here for, to have our conversation, I was FaceTiming with one of my children and my grandchildren, and as I was describing some of these stories I was telling you, I was thinking of them and saying, 'I should tell these stories to these kids. These kids don't know any of these stories.' And they need to know them, I think. So that's– you've peaked my interest ant gotten me excited about sharing some of this with, with them as well.
IL: Well I'm so glad, and thank you so much for sharing this with me.
SW: You're welcome.
IL: It's been an honor and a privilege.
SW: My pleasure, and I hope your project in this larger project continues to go as well as, as it seems to be going.
IL: Thank you very much.
SW: Okay, thank you.
Original Format
The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data
Oral history interview
Duration
Length of time involved (seconds, minutes, hours, days, class periods, etc.)
Interview 1 – 54:04
Interview 2 – 54:03
Bit Rate/Frequency
Rate at which bits are transferred (i.e. 96 kbit/s would be FM quality audio)
128 kbit/s
Time Summary
A summary of an interview given for different time stamps throughout the interview
November 23, 2019 interview
00:00:00 Header
00:01:55 University Without Walls
00:03:20 University Without Walls prison program
00:05:20 "it changed lives"
00:06:40 Master's program at Skidmore
00:07:24 Master's program closed, and Welter started full-time at the Skidmore English Department
00:08:11 Last ten years of Welter's career
00:09:23 Question on University Without Walls (UWW)
00:13:34 Welter's job with UWW
00:14:09 UWW national forum
00:14:58 Prison program set-up
00:16:36 How Welter became involved in the prison program.
00:18:33 "They were like sponges."
00:19:52 "As close to normal as we could create" for the prison program.
00:20:12 Writing a monograph on behavior, she never felt in danger.
00:23:00 "game plan or guidebook"
00:23:42 Amazing students, hundreds positively impacted by the program.
00:25:12 "All you need to do is let him speak" [on a student of the prison program].
00:26:18 Master of Liberal Studies (MLS) program
00:28:16 Welter hired as an advisor.
00:30:01 Why the MLS program closed.
00:30:49 On-campus teaching
00:32:00 Not ready to retire, travel writing course.
00:33:40 "Since retirement"
00:34:40 Teaching in China
00:38:26 Literary magazine in China
00:40:00 Welter wanted to go to China because of international Chinese students at Skidmore.
00:41:40 Teaching EN 103
00:42:39 Welter likes "working with students who are challenged."
00:44:30 On the discipline of writing.
00:46:33 "Every student can do this."
00:47:51 Changing technology, writing incredibly impacted.
00:50:48 Technology added ease and responsibility.
00:52:25 Her professional trajectory reflection and in connection with Skidmore philosophy.
00:53:32 How Welter's children think of Skidmore.
00:54:02 END
February 5, 2020 interview
00:00:00 Header
00:00:24 Summary of previous interview.
00:01:14 Sons' connection with Skidmore.
00:03:12 Came to Skidmore "as a new bride."
00:04:36 Teaching in the Saratoga Springs High School.
00:05:04 "[A]nxious to get back to the workforce."
00:06:00 Going co-educational, Skidmore and Elmira.
00:08:25 Choosing Elmira.
00:11:27 Cultural revolution in the 1960s.
00:12:18 Going abroad.
00:13:15 University of Leicester.
00:16:06 International students at Leicester.
00:17:37 Women in her dormitory.
00:18:46 Traveling while studying abroad.
00:20:53 Missing events in 1969-70.
00:21:56 Experience with Woodstock.
00:23:39 Returning to the US and "staying at home was small."
00:24:37 "...lit a fire" of interest in seeing the world.
00:25:54 Talking about hometown and childhood.
00:30:14 Her maternal grandparents, eating a meal at their house.
00:32:58 Grandmother's house.
00:34:17 Cooking with her grandmother.
00:36:17 Cooking with her sons.
00:38:44 The kitchen is the center of her house.
00:41:00 Coming to Saratoga and being involved with happenings in town.
00:45:15 The gifted and talented program.
00:46:57 How Sandy's love of writing grew.
00:52:49 Closing comments.
00:54:03 END
Record Contributor
Individual who prepared the item and/or edited it.
Isabel M.R. Long
Record Creation Date
Day/Month/Year of record creation/edit
7/2/2020
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Interviews with Sandra "Sandy" Welter
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
February 5, 2020
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Skidmore College
Language
A language of the resource
Eng
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Sandy Welter
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Isabel M.R. Long
Description
An account of the resource
This life history interview shares the story of Sandra "Sandy" Welter, who worked as director of University Without Wall (UWW) prison program, administrator for the Master of Arts and Liberal Studies (MALS), and English professor at Skidmore College from the early 80s, until she retired in 2017. After a childhood in in East Haven, Connecticut and studies at Elmira College that included a year abroad at Leicester University (UK), Sandy came to Saratoga Springs in the early 70s as a Skidmore College spouse, and worked at Saratoga High School. When teaching in and advising students of the UWW prison program, Sandy supported non-traditional, non-residential graduate and undergraduate students and taught EN 103 (Writing Seminar) for many years. She ended her tenure at Skidmore teaching a travel-writing course, reflecting her own love for travel.
-
https://www.ssmp.mdocs.skidmore.edu/files/original/748554e93a20a2c92cf3b21a9dfba295.png
4913b70da521bd9c0072cdee7b2152ec
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Dora Daley
https://www.ssmp.mdocs.skidmore.edu/files/original/4dd06166e4e45cf7afed7dbb313f5a76.mp3
27d5f2ba820b87c7eb64ee444859a8af
https://www.ssmp.mdocs.skidmore.edu/files/original/bfb881fa70c9843716140ed8b872531c.mp3
86ef23ce24c783fa402d5fcd4d31bab9
https://www.ssmp.mdocs.skidmore.edu/files/original/d9eb2795d37e727f80b23ec32338b447.pdf
47e25a35b5e2dea45a1d84dd936edbb1
https://www.ssmp.mdocs.skidmore.edu/files/original/1d3049984c6f7c8be345c4f28661637b.pdf
44d424a573dddf552f141de620f16d61
https://www.ssmp.mdocs.skidmore.edu/files/original/10cfb0c43b48723d4dc861b03c41508f.pdf
7570344b29b17da9f088284b63e9b1b9
https://www.ssmp.mdocs.skidmore.edu/files/original/4e0a60a9553c61ed801200073a0cecb8.pdf
bef3040bab495d4811821378145c0b54
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Oral History
Description
An account of the resource
Many people who have worked or studied at Skidmore College or lived in Saratoga Springs or the surrounding area carry the memories that help us tell the stories of our communities.
This collection offers a glimpse into our past in the voices of those who have shared their stories.
Oral History
A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge.
Interviewer
The person(s) performing the interview
James Eason, Lois Celeste
Interviewee
The person(s) being interviewed
Dora Daley
Original Format
The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data
Zoom meeting
Duration
Length of time involved (seconds, minutes, hours, days, class periods, etc.)
1:12:84
Location
The location of the interview
Skidmore College (Zoom), Saratoga Springs (Zoom)
Transcription
Any written text transcribed from a sound
Attached
Time Summary
A summary of an interview given for different time stamps throughout the interview
Attached
Record Contributor
Individual who prepared the item and/or edited it.
James Eason
Record Creation Date
Day/Month/Year of record creation/edit
11/18/20
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Interview with Dora Daley
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
October 30, 2020
November 14, 2020
Language
A language of the resource
English
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
James Eason
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
James Eason
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Mp4
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Oral History
Abstract
A summary of the resource.
This is a interview with Dora Daley through the Saratoga Springs Senior Center about her life spanning from childhood to recent years.
Description
An account of the resource
Dora Daley is a lifetime resident of Saratoga County. In this interview, she describes how In her youth she worked at a newspaper and as a young adult she worked at the paper mill in Mechanicsville. She left work to raise her children. Dora has then surrounded herself with a large, close, and caring family.
oral history fall 2020
-
https://www.ssmp.mdocs.skidmore.edu/files/original/b962768874556c2de708c2ba9dc8265e.m4a
d46b84b2b2df6cadbe13ffa146eaf136
https://www.ssmp.mdocs.skidmore.edu/files/original/79930eb0c641e7ba0a8c8b2fda1ade4c.pdf
fdc46015e6acd5e2f16a50df38aec497
https://www.ssmp.mdocs.skidmore.edu/files/original/59213eb0ac9ef7a29e199eb939664ceb.pdf
ba2ebbf2c35e87925a93188eb2000991
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Oral History
Description
An account of the resource
Many people who have worked or studied at Skidmore College or lived in Saratoga Springs or the surrounding area carry the memories that help us tell the stories of our communities.
This collection offers a glimpse into our past in the voices of those who have shared their stories.
Oral History
A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge.
Interviewer
The person(s) performing the interview
Justin Rizzi
Interviewee
The person(s) being interviewed
Johann Miller
Location
The location of the interview
Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, NY (Zoom), and Milton, NY (Zoom)
Record Contributor
Individual who prepared the item and/or edited it.
Justin Rizzi
Original Format
The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data
Audio recording
Duration
Length of time involved (seconds, minutes, hours, days, class periods, etc.)
56:44
Record Creation Date
Day/Month/Year of record creation/edit
06/11/2020
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Interview with Johann Miller
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Justin Rizzi
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
October 26, 2020
Is Part Of
A related resource in which the described resource is physically or logically included.
Skidmore Saratoga Memory Project
Description
An account of the resource
In this interview, recording by a student in the Fall 2020 oral history class, as part of the project titled "Preserving Our Past," Capital Region resident Johann Miller describes her life, from leaving her childhood home at 18 to attending Woodstock with her future husband.
Language
A language of the resource
English (en)
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Justin Rizzi
Johann Miller
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Oral History
Date Created
Date of creation of the resource.
December 4, 2020
fall 2020 oral history
oral history fall 2020
saratoga senior center
-
https://www.ssmp.mdocs.skidmore.edu/files/original/8db67e735ff753e96e7bbc28ace65b63.jpg
b4a9ca3abcd43e8f7239d974c092d082
https://www.ssmp.mdocs.skidmore.edu/files/original/07afd8a62bb886b06666e165efa855b8.pdf
c85cab8a986d433b9e431a08a5b79cff
PDF Text
Text
Lawrence Opitz Interview
Josh Karen: This is Professor Larry Opitz, professor of theater at Skidmore College,
and founder of the Saratoga Shakespeare Company. So first, how did you get
involved in the Saratoga and Skidmore communities?
Lary Opitz: As far as the Saratoga community goes, it's kind of interesting. I came
to Saratoga when I was 26, married and from New York, and I came here
ostensibly to spend one year back in 1974. That was the plan because after
doing a lot of freelancing in New York in the theater here was this opportunity to
get out of New York for a year, make a decent salary where they pay me every
two weeks and then come back to New York and go back to work. Ummm the
other motivation was a friend was offered a job here or an acquaintance was
offered a job here in the theater department and he interviewed, came back
to New York and told me you gotta go up there, forget about the job, you gotta
see this town, it's beautiful, beautiful Victorian architecture, tree-lined wide
boulevards, and they'll take good care of you, they'll wine and dine you for the
weekend. So I said "what the hell?". So I came up here. Pouring rain, everything
was rushed, they wound up offering me a job. And I didn't make a decision,
because Barbara, [his wife], wasn't with me, and I wanted to talk to my friend, to
see if either of us or both of us really wanted to come up here. Umm, so.
Needless to say, we did. I don't know that for many many years I felt much of a
connection to the community of Saratoga. I thought of myself, and in some
ways still do think of myself as a New Yorker, meaning New York City. Umm still
had a lot of family in New York, went down regularly, a lot of my work was in
New York, I would travel back and forth all the time. This was where I worked,
but, and here's the tension, I was part of the Skidmore community, and I'll talk
about that specifically in a moment, but there was very little connection to the
Saratoga community. And through the years, I spent a lotta time traveling, when
I was a lighting designer, so, even though I had two kids up here, born in '76 and
'79, I wasn't that connected with their lives in school, as activities went, because
I was so often away, and Barbara was in charge of that. So I didn't feel any
strong connection to the community. That didn't change very much for many
many years, I wasn't a member of any organization, I think that so what became
important was that six or seven years after we had already lived here, we did
join what was then, what still is called the Jewish community center, which was
uh then an Orthodox congregation. We did it because it was time for the kids to
start religious studies, and we had two choices: we had a lot of friends who were
members of the reform congregation, we didn't know anybody who was
orthodox, we went in and we wound up joining there, and became very
involved very quickly, and that was our community. If it wasn't family, it was the
Jewish Community Center. So all community activities were focused there really.
Ummm I became active in terms of serving on the board, eventually becoming
�president, built a new building, and all of those relate to the community, but not
the community at large. One thing that changed that was probably some time
in the 80's, joining the local chapter of NAACP, but not getting too involved, and
again, not a whole lot of things I'd call community involvement. We lived in a
very, we still live in a very neat neighborhood, on the east side, and within a two,
three block radius, there were a lot of families with kids our age, kids the age of
our kids. So that was sort of a tiny little community. In 2000, I was a founding
member of Saratoga Shakespeare Company. That tied me into the community
more than anything else had to date, and continued working with Saratoga
Shakespeare, and people in town knew me from that, from my performances
every summer, and then eventually, about six years ago, Barbara and I took
over the company, and we have absolutely necessarily, by force, had to
become more intimate with the Greater Saratoga community, because we
needed to raise money. And again, we see 6,000 people every summer, many
of whom are Saratogians, and so we've become very connected with things
that we had never been connected with before. But that's, that's been, you
know the past 43, 44 years in terms of the community of Saratoga. Skidmore is
very different, but even there it's kind of weird. I came up here as a staff
member, not a faculty member, though I started teaching immediately, as a
lecturer I guess, and I spent a few years here, and all that mattered was the
theater, I wasn't involved in campus events very much. What's interesting is that
at that time, I was only six years, seven years older than most of my students, the
drinking age was 18, there was no stigma at all attached with hanging out with
students at parties and drinking, things were very different then, and there was a
lot of partying in the theater department. But it was all about the theater and
the work in the theater, and theater students and theater faculty. I had no
connection with the rest of the campus, other than the occasional friendship
that would pop up either because of our kids or just encounters. In, somewhere
in 19-, in the late 70's, I was going to leave here for another job, Boston University,
that I'd been offered. Decided to stay partially because they offered me a real
academic title, and I became an assistant professor with a nice salary raise, and
decided to stay, and that meant I had to be more of a community member.
Ummm. It took me a long time in the theater department, in meetings, in the
theater department, when I was 26, to really participate and voice my opinions.
Then I had the challenge of being a faculty member at large at faculty
meetings, and speaking up, speaking my opinions in front of the entire faculty.
But that was my responsibility, if I wanted to stay here, the goal would be to get
tenure. At that time, tenure was not attached to a promotion, now it is. When
you're automatically an associate professor, back then, you could get tenure
and then you had to go for promotion. So if I wanted to keep my job, and if I
wanted to grow in the job, I'd have to be more connected to the community,
the college community, which meant serving on college committees, which is
doing service for the faculty, but in the process of doing that, you're meeting
new faculty members, and developing new relationships. Governance started
�becoming more important to me, and standing up and speaking my mind in
faculty meetings became very important to me, and I was developing as
something of a leader and something of an impassioned speaker, because I am
an actor, meanwhile I was taking leadership in the Jewish Community Center,
taking leadership in the department in my first term as chair, so I started taking
more leadership in the faculty at large, meeting more people, developing more
relationships, developing relationships with administrators, and that led to two of
my most important, my most important service as a faculty member, which was
serving on CAPT, which was the committee on appointments, promotions, and
tenure, which has always been considered the senior activity, and I've been on
that for two full terms and I was chair of it, and that put me on a position where I
had to take a tremendous amount of leadership, because we're not just
involved in those decisions, the administration has always dealt with CAPT for
other all college issues. When I took over the chair in my last term, which lasted
ten years, I had to put all the focus back into the theater department and
continue to function as a full faculty member participating in meetings, but most
of my service, in recent years, has been in the theater department. That pretty
much covers it.
JK: So, going back to getting involved in the Skidmore community, over the
years that you've been involved in it since you moved up here, how have you
seen the community develop and change and what kind of trends have you
seen go through it?
LO: Yeah, uh, (laughs) some things have changed for the better, and some for
the worse, and when we talk about change on campus, we're talking about
three different things in my mind: one is changes in the student body, changes in
the faculty, and changes in the administration. Umm... I think our students have
gotten stronger academically over the years, and that's partially because we've
become more selective, partially because I think Skidmore has improved over
the years in its offerings and its commitment to education. So, I think there is
strength there in students because 40 years ago, 30 years ago, I found our
students far more independent and uhh- independent meaning largely
independent of the will of their parents, and there was no such phenomenon as
helicopter parents, today I'm dealing with students who seem incapable or
unwilling to make a decision without calling home almost every day, if not every
day. Those two things, there's a tension there, remarkable change. And I've seen
it in the theater too, that um, there was a period, 20 years ago, 15 years ago
where rarely would I pick up the New York Times and not see something that
one of our students was doing. Now in the past 5 years, that's fallen off a bit, our
students are going out and forming their own theater companies, more than
they have in the last 10 years. Again, that has to do in part with independence,
and taking control of your own life. In the faculty, the, there was a greater sense
of independence and strength in the faculty, 40 years ago, 30 years ago than
�there is now. There was always a tension between the will of the faculty and the
goals of the administration. Now we all were pulling for Skidmore to be the best
possible place, but that meant different things in different times to different, to
the faculty and the administration. And I felt that there was much more
independent thinking on the part of faculty years ago, now it seems that young
faculty straight out of PhD programs are concerned primarily with getting
tenure, obviously always an issue, but it seems to be the foremost though upon
getting here, "what do I have to do to get tenure in six years, seven years", and
there's a tendency, in part because of that, to be less confrontational with the
administration, to stand up for things, principles when there's disagreement with
the administration. So, I think the faculty in general have gotten more sheepish,
more willing to deal with the administration as, as, as, as parents, and taking less
responsibility for leadership. And in the part of administration over the years,
what I've seen, and this is not unusual, it's every college, is what's typically called
administrative bloat, where the size of the faculty has only in recent years grown
in considerable ways, but nothing compared with the explosion in the size of the
administration. Things that were done by two or three people, 30 years ago,
now are done by 8 people. Everybody's got an assistant. The work has not... in
some areas the work has grown, computers, library, external forces like the
demands for assessment have required us to expand administration in various
ways, but in general, it just, and as a result of that in part is ore turnover than
there ever used to be, 30 years ago 40 years ago, if I needed to borrow a truck
from the campus, I'd call up a friend who ran the motor pool, or whatever we
called it then, the physical plant, I'd say "Jerry, I need a truck for the weekend,
any problems?" "No, pick it up whenever you want!". Now, first of all, now the
policy has ended. A few years ago, I would have had to go through a ridiculous
amount of rigmarole, now some of that's external, insurance, stuff like that, but,
you used to pick up a phone, call somebody and get the person on the phone,
not an answering machine, a person who you knew by their first name, and you
helped one another. Now, the phone won't be answered, you'll get a machine
more often than not, you're calling a person to deal with a problem and you
don't know who that person is because they've replaced the last two people
since you knew the person, so it's become a less personable place to be, and I
have regrets for that, it used to be much more, it used to be much smaller and
more of a family, and I miss that. That seems to be at odds with that I was saying
about my connection to the community, to the college community, but I was
differentiating between you know my job as a professor as opposed to my life in
the community and you know, you just knew everybody, and yeah we talked
about secretaries then, not administrative assistants, but you knew most of them,
and they spent many years here, their families grew up here, they had relatives
in the area, they retired here, and those days are long gone, and this is part of
society, we've become more mobile, so we move around a lot more, we
change jobs a lot more than people used to. But the result of that is, there's a
breakdown in community.
�JK: And on that note, do you think the general identity throughout Skidmore and
its community has shifted over the years or changed in any way since when you
first got here?
LO: Yeah, again, both good and bad, I think we've become more socially
conscious, as has higher education in general, and that's a good thing, but I feel
less connected with students, and maybe that's partially because of age, I feel
less connected than I used to. As far as the Saratoga community goes, it's
grown, but not outrageously. What's changed more than anything else in the
demographics is the influx of ummm people who've- this always was something
of a bedroom community for Albany, so you had a lot of people whose lives
were in Albany but wanted to live further away. About 30 years ago, these
multimillion dollar housing developments started popping up around, we started
getting people who spent half their week in New York City and half the week up
here, so 30 years ago, I'd go out to a restaurant, and we eat out a lot, and I'd
know everybody, inconceivable not to see people, know the waiters well, know
the owners well, well there's turn over in business too, and, but what's astounding
is I go to restaurants now and it's not that often I know people there, who are
dining there, that, that affects me, it's changed things, even people on the
street, don't see people on the street as often, people that I know as often when
I'm walking downtown. And then the most recent phenomenon in town is all of
the condos that have gone up, multimillion dollar condos, you know, a twobedroom condo for 1.5 million in Saratoga Springs, just who are these people?
Um. So, the community has changed primarily I think because of that, uh
thankfully downtown has maintained its identity, and that's a terribly important
part of downtown. Summers in Saratoga have always been bizarre, because of
the track, because of SPAC, for the past 18 years Saratoga Shakespeare has
had its effect in town, the balletamens who come up here, the Touts from New
York who come to vacation, who spend their lives at Aquaduct and Belmont
and come up here for a week or two in the summer, the owners, unlike you
know other tracks, the owners come up here for the season, we have the track
hands, who are largely Hispanic, who have their lives in the community, we
have the Hassidic Jews who come up here in the summer still on war reparations
from Germany, its bizarre!
�
https://www.ssmp.mdocs.skidmore.edu/files/original/49e05830d484d6edb33e694c02ba61a5.MP3
fb2a9230e4a675d971cfc37c7d723cbf
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Oral History
Description
An account of the resource
Many people who have worked or studied at Skidmore College or lived in Saratoga Springs or the surrounding area carry the memories that help us tell the stories of our communities.
This collection offers a glimpse into our past in the voices of those who have shared their stories.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Interview with Lawrence Opitz
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2/28/18
Description
An account of the resource
Interview with Professor Lawrence Opitz, professor of theater at Skidmore College, and founder of the Saratoga Shakespeare Company. He came to Saratoga from New York City in 1974.
Language
A language of the resource
Eng
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Karen, Joshua, '18
-
https://www.ssmp.mdocs.skidmore.edu/files/original/2fc93b3e6157a930e8ffa08fcb6e78dd.png
dbcc612dbbc2df743200077e9a390e8e
https://www.ssmp.mdocs.skidmore.edu/files/original/d313d9143388f99bd63787eeaf548bf8.mp3
0e86f11a531aa5615c4cdde8b6892e80
https://www.ssmp.mdocs.skidmore.edu/files/original/15be95dd6f108a50094fb144222def95.mp3
e3148292b0095d1a77b998f992fc0519
https://www.ssmp.mdocs.skidmore.edu/files/original/e0edccae347b859ed50ec17d1c60bbdc.pdf
cf0a4d6e6628e302568d61e0e2c0f9f0
https://www.ssmp.mdocs.skidmore.edu/files/original/c468fb28eb29e5688a547a49a143aef1.pdf
255ed40c497818e0dffda4ea4657e15d
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Oral History
Description
An account of the resource
Many people who have worked or studied at Skidmore College or lived in Saratoga Springs or the surrounding area carry the memories that help us tell the stories of our communities.
This collection offers a glimpse into our past in the voices of those who have shared their stories.
Oral History
A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge.
Interviewer
The person(s) performing the interview
Langyintuo, Kevin
Interviewee
The person(s) being interviewed
Daley, Donald
Location
The location of the interview
Zoom (
Record Contributor
Individual who prepared the item and/or edited it.
Kevin Langyintuo
Record Creation Date
Day/Month/Year of record creation/edit
13/11/2020
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Interview with Donald Daley
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Kevin Langyintuo
Subject
The topic of the resource
Retiree Oral History Project
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Kevin Langyintuo
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
Skidmore College
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Mp4
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
November 2, 2020
November 14, 2020
Description
An account of the resource
This Oral History is a retelling of World War II Veteran Donald Daleys life from the man himself. He recounts his childhood, his first job, enlisting for the war with friends and his later life.
Language
A language of the resource
English
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Oral History
Abstract
A summary of the resource.
This is the Oral history of Korean war Veteran Donald Daley. Facilitated by the Saratoga Springs Senior Center, we cover Mr. Daley's life from Childhood all the way to retirement.
Baseball
basketball
Korean War
Mechanicville
Oral hisotry
saratoga senior center
Vetran
-
https://www.ssmp.mdocs.skidmore.edu/files/original/6a2aaca0b71092b3ab59952ba4ca2e02.jpg
8857464b91000d9250f3a5614e230e48
https://www.ssmp.mdocs.skidmore.edu/files/original/47cad13878f7831d6787530186ceb62b.m4a
8da0d675e4e1df9363ea6741ea5f3528
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Oral History
Description
An account of the resource
Many people who have worked or studied at Skidmore College or lived in Saratoga Springs or the surrounding area carry the memories that help us tell the stories of our communities.
This collection offers a glimpse into our past in the voices of those who have shared their stories.
Oral History
A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge.
Interviewer
The person(s) performing the interview
Li, Hongqiao, '18
Interviewee
The person(s) being interviewed
Bosshart, Samantha
Location
The location of the interview
Saratoga Springs Preservation Foundation
Duration
Length of time involved (seconds, minutes, hours, days, class periods, etc.)
21 mins
Record Contributor
Individual who prepared the item and/or edited it.
Li, Hongqiao, '18
Record Creation Date
Day/Month/Year of record creation/edit
08/03/2018
Original Format
The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data
.m4a
Bit Rate/Frequency
Rate at which bits are transferred (i.e. 96 kbit/s would be FM quality audio)
64kbps
Transcription
Any written text transcribed from a sound
HL: So...Um, this is um an interview um to Samantha...
SB: Bosshart.
HL: Um, Bosshart. Um, and at the Saratoga Springs Preservation Foundation. This is um Ted, and the date is December 20th, and right now is 10:10.
SB: February.
HL: Yeah, February. Ok. So um, first, can you tell me something about yourself, like where are you from, um, like where do you live, and what is your job?
SB: Um, I'm originally from Ohio, I was raised in Kent, Ohio, um, that's where I went to grade school, and high school, and upon graduating from high school, I went to Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana, where I got a Bachler’s of Arts in history and criminal justice. And then after that, I moved to Galveston, Texas, where I was fortunate enough to rehab some houses, and then also work for the Galveston Historical Foundation, which is the second, at the time, was the second largest local non-profit preservation organization, and from there, after five years, I've decided to um, pursue, um, a master's in historic preservation planning from Cornell University, which is what brought me to New York State. Um, I completed my course work with honors, um, but did not finish my thesis, and I um, after that, moved to Saratoga springs, where I took a position with Historic Albany Foundation, where I was the Director of Preservation Services, um, there for a year and a half, before I was fortunate enough to be offered the Executive Director position with the Saratoga Springs Preservation Foundation in 2008. So in June, I will have been here 10 years.
HL: Nice. Um, so can you tell me more about your job, like your current job, like, like what is like a typical day for the work?
SB: Well, um, there really isn't a typical day. Um, we, ah, the mission of the foundation is to preserve the architectural, cultural and heri... landscape, heritage of Saratoga Springs, and we do that through advocacy, technical assistance, education, and restoration. And um, so that involves lots of different things throughout the year. Um…For example today, I already helped homeowner providing him information on who could potentially, ah, repair his lotus stained glass window. Um, I, will be working with the First Baptist Church on a, actually, a grant to, I've helped them with a grant to restore their stained-glass windows and help to, help them continue to do fund raising for that project. We are also in the process of, um, helping, um, home owner, um, gets historic tax cutouts for a historic house on the west side, and we're in the mids of planning our historic homes tour, which is our largest fund-raising event of the year. Um, so any day can be different, ah, it really just depends on what the focus is at that immediate moment, ah, whether we're planning our summer Sunday strolls that take place every Sunday throughout the, the summer, working with volunteers, distinct home owners, providing comments on, preservation practice, um, to our city's Land Use Boards. For example, tomorrow night is the designer review commission meeting, so we'll be providing comments on several projects at that meeting tomorrow. Um, in particular, on the Rip Van Dam Hotel edition. So no day is typ, typical. Um, and we work on lots of different things, and we have lots of different committees, so we have a Fund Development Committee, and Advocacy Committee, an (a) Events Committee, Marketing Committee, Membership Committee, and Ad Hoc Saratoga Race Course Committee that reviews, um, plans for capital improvements of the oldest sports venue in the country, um, and, so there really isn't a typical day.
HL: Yeah. Um, can you, um, tell me more about the foundation, just in general? Like what's its mission, or, like, wh, what kind of people do you usually, you know, like, involve with or, jus?
SB: Well, I think I, I, I touched on the mission in the last question, which again was, um, the mission of the foundation is to um, promote, um, protect and preserve the architectural, cultural landscape heritage of Saratoga Springs, and as I said, we do that through advocacy, technical assistance, education, restoration. Um, the foundation was founded in 1977, so we are just completing our 40th year. When the foundation was founded, it was founded as an outgrowth of the Saratoga, um, plan for action. Ah, at the time in the 1970s, Saratoga Springs was not the community that you see today, was not a vibrant, thriving year-round destination. Um, downtown had vacant store fronts, it had vacant upper floors, the large beautiful homes on North Broadway was selling for 10,000 dollars. They were being sub-divided into apartments, the carriage houses being sub-divided. There were, um, so, ultimately, ah, the Saratoga Plan for Action, which is a traceries community let effort for community leaders, they chose to, um, enact a plan on how to revillize downtown, and one of that aspect of that plan, was to create a grant program to assist building home, building owners rehabilitate the facades and buildings downtown. Ah, it was identified that they needed it to be a separate organization from the city, and that organization was identified and established was the Saratoga Springs Preservation Foundation. So we initially oversaw, um, we, ah, 25 grands for buildings downtown, and then exchange for that grand funding. The foundation will receive a preservation easement for 25 years, meaning any exterior changes made to a building, the foundation would have to approve. So, um, since then we've involved with, um, establishing state and national historic districts, expanding local historic districts. Um, we've been involved with, um, restoring the Gideon Putnam Cemetery, the oldest burial ground in the city. We have, um, rehabilitated several buildings, ah, one on Clinton Place, one of the road houses is there, along with 117 grand former Adirondack Railway Station, ah, then we were also involved with New York State Main Street Grant for Beekman Street, which, ah, initially provided, ah, 190,000 dollars and funding, and, I always, it was for 3(ah)50,000 dollar building rehab grants and 4 for facade grants, um, each building owner had to match each grant, dollar for dollar. And in turn most exceeded that, and we believe that estimated, um, investment on Beekman Street as a result of that grant was nearly three quarters of a million dollars. So we were also involved with that. Ah, we were also, ah, involved with, when Skidmore College, ah, had the opportunity to move their campus to North Broadway, nearly 90 buildings, mostly, historic buildings on Union Avenue and the east side neighborhood were left vacant. The foundation, ah, worked with local realter John Roohan and others to, um, ensure that those buildings were gonna be rehabbed and, and, and made into single family residences or business or what have to make them survive, and we were fortunate enough that we did not lose any historic buildings as the result of that, um, then most recently, ah, our largest project was the Spirit of Life, an Spencer Trust Memorial restoration which we partnered with the city, for the national, nationally significant sculpture, and surround that was designed by Daniel Chester French, and Henry Bacon, who also designed the Lincoln Memorial. Charles Leavitt, Jr., who was landscape architect, he was also responsible for, um, many race tracks in the country, but he was responsible for re, large reconfiguration at the turn of the century, Saratoga Race Course, and we worked with the city to raise, um, 450,000 by, by the foundation the city matched that amount, and we were thankful to have the generosity of individuals, um, businesses, and ah, foundation support that effort. That project also was a total of 750,000 dollars, and its, um, rededication took place on centennial of the original dedication, which was June 26th, 1915. So those are some of the history of the foundation, um, I'm sure there's much more, but there's some highlights for you.
HL: Um, so my next question is, what kind of difficulties do you think you have encountered, um, while preserving the architectures of Saratoga Springs?
SB: Um, well, I, I can't speak to the early times, I think I'm sure times funding was a hard, um, was a challenge for building owners, and I think that's why it was so important for the foundation to assist home owners with the tax credit program, the federal tax credit program, so we're available then, I think, um, the Historic Preservation Act was established in 1966, so it was relatively still new when the foundation was founded, so preservation well, um, Saratoga had a history of wanting to preserve its heritage I think was relatively in new concept. I think, building owners ah, often don't fully understand the importance of being in a historic district, and can be frustrated or upset when they can't do what they would like to do to their building. I think that is a challenge. Um, I think, one of the challenges that this organization faces now is those who were here in the 1970s and 1980s when Saratoga was, um, not vibrant in a destination recognize the importance of historic preservation. They recognize that it had an important role in Saratoga's economic vitality and success. And they think a lot of new people who move here that are transplants take for granted that historic preservation takes effort. It doesn’t just happen. And that our organization is the one to promote it and ensure that what we have that so special is retained, and that it doesn't just happen. So I think that's one of our biggest challenges that we face now.
HL: Ok. Um, so my next question is, can you tell me like, one story you remembered the most in your work, like?
SB: Well, there's a couple. Um, when I first started at the foundation not long after there's a handsome, um, Pre-Civil-War Italianate house that I always, um, admired, walking by with my dog, even before I joined the foundation, and I remember one day, walking by this house, and the windows were being taken out, and, um, the house had been purchased by the adjacent owners who lived on North Broadway. And they wanted to demolish the house. It was in good condition, they had paid for over a million dollars for the house. And, um, it was sort of shocking to see a home so beautiful and in good condition, sold for a million dollars, being proposed to be demolished. So that was a memorable moment. At that time, we, the foundation, ah, asked for a demolition moratorium in the city, which we were successful in getting and throughout that period we attempted to expand the local historic district, which would have given oversight, ah, for demolition, ah, to match the boundaries of the national register historic district. And unfortunately, as I mentioned before about challenges, many of the home owners in that particular area did not want to have any oversight by the design review commission. They did not want to have to seek approval to make changes to their building. So with that we were unsuccessful and ah, it was difficult to watch 23 Greenfield be demolished. And today it is a fenced yard, with no building. Ah, another, sadly, another one I think the loses are the hardest ones, and those are the ones you remember most, um, would be 66 Franklin, which um, was a beautiful Second Empire house granted in poor condition, um, maybe not beautiful to most immediate glance, um, but, um, was designed by J.D.Stevens, who would also design our, um, historic hotels, ah, the Grand Union, ah, the Grand Central, and this was one of his last works in Saratoga Springs, there are still a couple that remain, but one of his last, and ah, building owner want to purchase the home and demolish it, ah, unfortunately he was unwilling to share, at the time, what he was proposing to build in its place, which was a, um, the historic review ornaments requires that building owner provide an acceptable post-demolition plan, and he was not, by the foundation standards providing that. Ah, this was ah, I believe a four-year court battle. We were in city court, we went city court, we wanted the state level more than one case and ultimately it was returned back to the designer review commission who accepted a fence and a sign as an acceptable post-demolition plan. So that was another one that was tough to watch, however I'd say one of the most rewarding was the Spirit of Life and Spencer Trust Restoration, because it's truly transformed the way people use the northwest portion of the park. Um, when I first came to Saratoga, the entrance um, the walkway entrance of Broadway was sort of hin, it was dark, um, there, the trees and bushes were overgrown. It was not welcoming, sadly it was the respite for the homeless. There was no lighting at night, ah, there were no benches, ah, there was little landscape, but some of the trees immediately that variety along the reflecting pool wherein overgrown. And, um, today it is an active, vibrant part of the park with people sitting on benches, having picnics, um, there's people walk through there at night, um, it's just really transformed how people walk and use of the park. So that's probably been one of the most rewarding for me since I've been here.
HL: Ok. Um, I guess my last question is, what do you want to say about the history and environment of Saratoga Springs?
SB: Saratoga is, Saratoga Springs is this amazing, little spot in upstate New York that has a great college, more than one actually, with Empire State College, but Skidmore College it has um, the oldest sports venue in the country, ah, with one of the oldest, the oldest state race, Saratoga Race Course, which is truly magnificent. It is wholly intact from its early time from 1840s to today, um, we are fortunate to have the SPA State Park with SPAC, amazing performance venue that is home to New York City Ballet and Philadelphia Orchestra, and we have this great downtown and neighborhoods, and that's all walkable and it's a variety of architecture, and it's just has a really rich history...
[Long Pause] [She starts to cry]
There aren't many [Long Pause] cities that have what we have. And such a community that has embraced it, and supported it at least up til this point, and hopefully that doesn't change.
HL: Ok. Um, do you have anything else you want to contribute to the interview?
SB: No. I think you've covered a lot.
HL: Ok. Alright. Thank you so much, um, for this...
SB: Sorry.
HL: No, no, it's totally fine, yeah.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Interview with Samantha Bosshart
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
February 20th, 2018
Description
An account of the resource
Samantha Bosshart talks about her experience preserving the history of Saratoga Springs.
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Li, Hongqiao, '18
Is Part Of
A related resource in which the described resource is physically or logically included.
Skidmore Saratoga Memory Project
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Audio recording.
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Oral history
-
https://www.ssmp.mdocs.skidmore.edu/files/original/fe55a79c8f42bfb4147ab46bec293719.jpg
3892ed4cb7fadc8eb842f81403a63782
https://www.ssmp.mdocs.skidmore.edu/files/original/a5bc8fa925a5404b7be3b2455f6ad96b.mp3
d294d057639fafc339d4d5649f18d3b9
https://www.ssmp.mdocs.skidmore.edu/files/original/4f8b3e4295aa36c07243430a9bd3c904.pdf
dd3529f20b52d5fc0dbeab23ede068a3
https://www.ssmp.mdocs.skidmore.edu/files/original/132c41f4eadfd750431f9aa3b3737cc1.pdf
993a57633e53706747d531993d6554ac
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Oral History
Description
An account of the resource
Many people who have worked or studied at Skidmore College or lived in Saratoga Springs or the surrounding area carry the memories that help us tell the stories of our communities.
This collection offers a glimpse into our past in the voices of those who have shared their stories.
Oral History
A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge.
Interviewer
The person(s) performing the interview
Mateo Bolado
Interviewee
The person(s) being interviewed
Kenneth Klotz
Location
The location of the interview
Saratoga Springs
Record Contributor
Individual who prepared the item and/or edited it.
Mateo Bolado
Record Creation Date
Day/Month/Year of record creation/edit
1/11/19
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Interview with Ken Klotz
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
October 25, 2019
Is Part Of
A related resource in which the described resource is physically or logically included.
Saratoga Springs Memory Project
Language
A language of the resource
English
Description
An account of the resource
This is an oral history of Ken Klotz for the Saratoga Springs Memory Project. Ken is a former faculty member of Skidmore College, Ex-Mayor of Saratoga Springs, Former Finance Commissioner, and Former Chair of the Saratoga Democratic Committee. In this one hour interview, we hear about Ken's childhood all the way to his time as the Mayor of Saratoga Springs and everything in between.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Mateo Bolado, '23
Subject
The topic of the resource
An Oral History of Ken Klotz.
Date Created
Date of creation of the resource.
October 25th 2019
Democratic Party
Local Politics
oral history
Saratoga Springs
Saratoga Springs Politics
Skidmore College
Skidmore faculty
Yale
-
https://www.ssmp.mdocs.skidmore.edu/files/original/54fa13fbe1bffb57d263092477fa0de9.jpg
81250c6dc37cc300b0817cd658b4119b
https://www.ssmp.mdocs.skidmore.edu/files/original/5574f86677273201fd9e94501b2b7af5.mp3
d0486f82144531ff4b83e4a899ac3df7
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Oral History
Description
An account of the resource
Many people who have worked or studied at Skidmore College or lived in Saratoga Springs or the surrounding area carry the memories that help us tell the stories of our communities.
This collection offers a glimpse into our past in the voices of those who have shared their stories.
Sound
A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds.
Record Contributor
Individual who prepared the item and/or edited it.
J. Dym
Record Creation Date
Day/Month/Year of record creation/edit
04/11/2016
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Neoliberalism
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
April 29, 2015
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
<a title="David Porter Interview (2014)" href="http://ssmp.skidmore.edu/exhibits/show/oral_histories/item/228">David Porter Interview</a>
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Maya Obstfeld
Subject
The topic of the resource
Skidmore College -- Audio Documentary -- Class Project
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
David Porter
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
mp3
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
audio recording
-
https://www.ssmp.mdocs.skidmore.edu/files/original/cc8038814c5e62f770f4bac5413ef3b5.JPG
2869b9d9a3cf0e65dda9587598353851
https://www.ssmp.mdocs.skidmore.edu/files/original/8b70ad1e4a064010f854d607b987498d.mp3
fb50e97167f893d59365fdaeccc83337
https://www.ssmp.mdocs.skidmore.edu/files/original/1844591779534a0324bb2be123a09160.pdf
6211e04b033deb7d8269c8be1de3bbee
https://www.ssmp.mdocs.skidmore.edu/files/original/bafa16de22996c19723c641191f07468.JPG
7a1b9774eb6b3f32579317e95e22375e
https://www.ssmp.mdocs.skidmore.edu/files/original/7abc3a4b940ddbc03035eb0a01548878.JPG
c788632722d7d840f347bdd10a00362c
https://www.ssmp.mdocs.skidmore.edu/files/original/1ce586bc5b14dd64b75ad8ee5ec35d6a.JPG
598bc109b6c1b08b410fe9a408ddc908
https://www.ssmp.mdocs.skidmore.edu/files/original/615b531a4fb466502ffabc4c9fa8b6ca.JPG
45606424bc352d16ceb8fb8208e1fe89
https://www.ssmp.mdocs.skidmore.edu/files/original/25ba143b7c301ecb415263c0b7f2725e.pdf
c1ece65511f6074dfa0abd8411e9b7c6
https://www.ssmp.mdocs.skidmore.edu/files/original/bcdaafd5f24bb7942cca1ccb8a0c5acf.pdf
f7f539e4f9e1f79d4e8ffa36d77a3327
https://www.ssmp.mdocs.skidmore.edu/files/original/a3ff99faf8ea448fa30520c4cf4777f8.pdf
2828f0342526d891a429ae8368be35dd
https://www.ssmp.mdocs.skidmore.edu/files/original/6d9743a03fda2099f8d2aa847a31db64.mp3
b5c2561388de58e1571c03021a19b19b
https://www.ssmp.mdocs.skidmore.edu/files/original/50821ea7a3ad7958932123cbdc0cb6b8.m4a
5db3f4f36182b00eaf1bb342fbc1caae
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Oral History
Description
An account of the resource
Many people who have worked or studied at Skidmore College or lived in Saratoga Springs or the surrounding area carry the memories that help us tell the stories of our communities.
This collection offers a glimpse into our past in the voices of those who have shared their stories.
Oral History
A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge.
Interviewer
The person(s) performing the interview
Milan Stimler
Interviewee
The person(s) being interviewed
Beverly Mastrianni
Location
The location of the interview
Saratoga Springs, NY
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Interview with Beverly Mastrianni
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
October 28, 2019
Language
A language of the resource
English
Is Part Of
A related resource in which the described resource is physically or logically included.
Skidmore Saratoga Memory Project
Description
An account of the resource
This is an interview with Beverly Mastrianni for the Skidmore Saratoga memory Project. Mastrianni is an alumna of Skidmore College, arts advocate, and artist in Saratoga Springs. She chronicles her work with the community and in the studio in this ninety minute interview.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Milan Stimler, '21
Subject
The topic of the resource
Interview with Beverly Mastrianni
Date Created
Date of creation of the resource.
October 28th 2019
-
https://www.ssmp.mdocs.skidmore.edu/files/original/830109b742f808acb56bb0858fe60c85.jpg
c0069a0323c122400b21eb30643d74c0
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2006
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
Skidmore College Office of Communications
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Scope
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Steve Gerritsen, '06
https://www.ssmp.mdocs.skidmore.edu/files/original/c05cbd552fa37056d27dce89acff4fa7.mp3
78bd7bed3b9103e6322e53f0beede5e7
https://www.ssmp.mdocs.skidmore.edu/files/original/5b9ec5cc331896b10b72dccac4b23d9a.JPG
3cac6b3b978486bf280afc016ae0921d
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Moore Hall
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2006
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
Skidmore College Office of Communications
Description
An account of the resource
Windows
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Steve Gerritsen, '06
https://www.ssmp.mdocs.skidmore.edu/files/original/157b5cd8e8ac2f18a489cb24e41a36e3.jpg
0989777059a6598786199edcf934657d
https://www.ssmp.mdocs.skidmore.edu/files/original/c34b4f19bb060bee38c19abc1a8ac298.JPG
9108b92bcd0b4cc6ae878d34096a9444
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Moore Hall at Night
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2006
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
http://www.skidmore.edu/scope/summer2006/features/index.htm
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Skidmore College Office of Communications, Scope, Summer 2006
Description
An account of the resource
Moore Hall at Night
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Steve Gerritsen, '06
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Oral History
Description
An account of the resource
Many people who have worked or studied at Skidmore College or lived in Saratoga Springs or the surrounding area carry the memories that help us tell the stories of our communities.
This collection offers a glimpse into our past in the voices of those who have shared their stories.
Oral History
A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
The Pink Palace
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
4/29/2015
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Plumer, Daniel, '16
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Landis, Margie
Monosson, Deborah
Wilkinson-Hunter, Susan
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
(c) Daniel Plumer
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
MP3
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
audio recording
Abstract
A summary of the resource.
An audio documentary with reminiscenses by alumnae Margie Landis, Deborah Monosson, and Susan Wilkinson-Hunter, of Moore Hall (32 Union Avenue), more familiarly known to students as "the pink palace." <br /><br />This former residence hall was sold by the College in 2006; a Scope article features <a title="2006 scope article on Moore Hall" href="http://www.skidmore.edu/scope/summer2006/features/index.htm">additional reminiscnes</a>. <br /><br />Accompanying photos show groundbreaking for the building in 1957, and photos of the Hall by John Gerritsen, '06.
Date Created
Date of creation of the resource.
4/29/2015
Rights Holder
A person or organization owning or managing rights over the resource.
Daniel Plumer
Description
An account of the resource
Audio doc about Moore Hall (the Pink Palace) by Dan Plumer, '16, made as part of Radio Storytelling, Spring 2015, taught by Eileen McAdam
Moore Hall
oral history
Skidmore story
-
https://www.ssmp.mdocs.skidmore.edu/files/original/8f943dc3abc3fc2b13899d761ce66827.jpg
4e09e8950f9b7db28a8c3ef262f9ba65
https://www.ssmp.mdocs.skidmore.edu/files/original/1d4b9f70c8d8a84e034deefa4e02305b.m4a
81f124c905fcaf2bbeff4cc168e0e8ce
https://www.ssmp.mdocs.skidmore.edu/files/original/d75d0a3eea3b78dec510fbf2bd8e14da.pdf
c59428a0a63fb3144eac3232ee4b5254
PDF Text
Text
Ann Schapps Schaffer ‘62 Interview Log
00:00:00 Class of 1962
00:00:10 Majored in Romance Languages: Spanish, French, and Italian
00:00:20 When graduated, worked for United Nations in translation
00:00:30 Tutored in Spanish, Italian, and Latin once starting family
00:00:35 Started taking class, “Collecting Art Successfully”
00:00:45 Only took one art history class at Skidmore
00:01:10 Started teaching class on purchasing contemporaty art
00:01:30 Trustee at Montclair Art Museum and a trustee of ICI, trustee at Museum of
Modern Art, Co-Chair Photography Council at Guggenheim, and involvement at Tang,
Vice President of the National Advisory Council
00:03:00 Interest in culture started at Skidmore: lectures, such as Robert Frost
00:03:30 Gave interviews to prospective students, and donate financially
00:04:20 When bump into other Skidmore alum, a lot of friends in the art world
00:04:51 Opened home to Art History class to see personal contemporary art collection
00:05:20 Likes art that’s photograph based, where what you see is not what you get
00:06:00 When language major, you read the greatest works
00:07:00 Loved sociology and psychology courses
00:07:50 Since all girls school, encouraged to cement solid friendships
00:08:00 Didn’t worry about boys, so went to more lectures, met with Professors
instead
00:09:00 Memories of Happy Pappy Weekend, when fathers would come to visit
Skidmore
00:09:30 Daily life in dorms: had strict curfews, and spent time in other’s rooms
as an international student helped students settle into Saratoga
00:10:15 No phones, fax machines, or computers
00:10:30 Wrote papers, had to white out letters, and retype letters
00:10:45 Spoke to parents max once a week, and maybe now with technology lack of
independence
00:12:25 Creative Though Matters has always been underpinning of school, all girls
school made that possible, because some girls may have been shy to express opinion
with strong male voices in the room
00:13:00 Geared to think that we could do anything
00:16:45 Donated with what her and Ian Berry thought best to learn with at Tang
00:18:10 Even if you don’t see friends for a while, pick up where you left off
00:19:30 Tried to engage his personal background for other students to understand his
background
00:22:00 Tries to use his resources now to help others get similar oppurnities
�
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Oral History
Description
An account of the resource
Many people who have worked or studied at Skidmore College or lived in Saratoga Springs or the surrounding area carry the memories that help us tell the stories of our communities.
This collection offers a glimpse into our past in the voices of those who have shared their stories.
Oral History
A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge.
Interviewer
The person(s) performing the interview
Rebecca Zosia Stern '16
Interviewee
The person(s) being interviewed
Ann Schapps Schaffer
Location
The location of the interview
Skidmore College
Record Contributor
Individual who prepared the item and/or edited it.
Rebecca Stern
Record Creation Date
Day/Month/Year of record creation/edit
26/06/2017
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Interview with Ann Schapps Schaffer '62
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
June 6, 2017
Is Part Of
A related resource in which the described resource is physically or logically included.
Skidmore Saratoga Memory Project
Language
A language of the resource
English (eng.)
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Rebecca Stern
Curating
Fraces Young Tang Teaching Museum
Romance Languages
Skidmore College
-
https://www.ssmp.mdocs.skidmore.edu/files/original/b16443279a49e7f060c00d805f6b5edc.JPG
915df209902a5a488580fcc456f7fed6
https://www.ssmp.mdocs.skidmore.edu/files/original/f4fd64738121906af6fbf8db0e9205fe.mp3
784607b8fab70a9814dbdfc7f4935e0a
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Oral History
Description
An account of the resource
Many people who have worked or studied at Skidmore College or lived in Saratoga Springs or the surrounding area carry the memories that help us tell the stories of our communities.
This collection offers a glimpse into our past in the voices of those who have shared their stories.
Oral History
A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge.
Original Format
The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data
Audio
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Jane (Yana) Kjaer
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
October 2, 2015
Is Part Of
A related resource in which the described resource is physically or logically included.
Skidmore Saratoga Memory Project
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Rebecca Zosia Stern '16
Date Available
Date (often a range) that the resource became or will become available.
November 18, 2015
Date Created
Date of creation of the resource.
November 18, 2015
Date Copyrighted
Date of copyright.
November 18. 2015
Date Submitted
Date of submission of the resource. Examples of resources to which a Date Submitted may be relevant are a thesis (submitted to a university department) or an article (submitted to a journal).
November 18. 2015
oral history
-
https://www.ssmp.mdocs.skidmore.edu/files/original/01c8c8e069acdcecffa6e344b77e5959.jpg
a195e2a06751a7ac5b9d5be0cac40e70
https://www.ssmp.mdocs.skidmore.edu/files/original/cd61e3f47c4d2d86d6eea9e9a281a50d.m4a
cabdb8a02cdf10bec66aad579bfdbbb4
https://www.ssmp.mdocs.skidmore.edu/files/original/130988402da4559a69388781f8bf6fc4.jpg
00f403913b838a591cd633f077bd9e14
https://www.ssmp.mdocs.skidmore.edu/files/original/18afeba47f4a1654b00b653001a7a78c.jpg
0b0f08762011357edeb8d017a29f63fd
https://www.ssmp.mdocs.skidmore.edu/files/original/9d2e9cd941c5068416ab32362a52164c.pdf
f3c2858473c3e5cadaa63682b937810f
PDF Text
Text
Liz Laitman Hughes ‘92 and Cathy Laitman Burke Interview Log
00:00:00 Liz Laitman Hughes grew up in Stamford, CT and lives outside of D.C
00:00:13 Cathy Laitman Hughes grew up in Stamford, CT and lives in California
00:00:30 Mom went to Skidmore, Liz Rosenthal Laitman, Class of 1957
00:01:00 Cathy interested in Studio Art and loved Saratoga
00:01:20 First memory of Saratoga was downtown and juxtaposed with the modern
campus
00:01:50 Joke that each family member went to three different schools: Mom went
when it was all girls.
00:02:00 Mother took cooking class that went to the supermarket to impress men
00:02:40 Cathy came in 1982, when the drinking age kept changing
00:03:03 Was a party and social school when Cathy started
00:04:45 Liz remembers interdisciplinary courses
00:05:20 Beginning of the core curriculum
00:06:30 Liz lived in Moore halls when on campus drinking rules changed
00:07:30 Liz went on tour of Tang
00:08:15 Cathy felt like Saratoga felt like a small town in the 80’s, now is more of a
small city
00:12:00 Cathy lived in Howe Rounds freshman year, memories come back like
insecurities
00:14:00 Liz majored in Art History and has worked in museums since
00:17:00 Cathy met with college friend years later, and felt like no time passed
00:18:15 First reunion for both Cathy and Liz
00:20:00 Had friends that did music, friends in Bandersnatchers
00:25:22 Cathy appreciated the intimacy of small campus
00:26:00 Both Studio Art minors
00:28:30 Liz always loved museums, went to NYC museums with mom
00:30:25 Liz produces art films
00:33:00 Liz and Cathy’s Skidmore experiences were different
00:36:00 Changes in technology change the college experience
00:36:30 Pay phones in each suite, many suite mates had long distance relationships
00:38:12 Mostly sophomores in Moore Hall
00:40:10 Cathy finds it great to look back and visit years later, “absence makes the heart
grow fonder”
00:40:37 Remembering college has changed since Facebook
00:42:00 Wish Mom could see this Skidmore reunion
�
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Oral History
Description
An account of the resource
Many people who have worked or studied at Skidmore College or lived in Saratoga Springs or the surrounding area carry the memories that help us tell the stories of our communities.
This collection offers a glimpse into our past in the voices of those who have shared their stories.
Oral History
A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge.
Interviewer
The person(s) performing the interview
Rebecca Zosia Stern '16
Interviewee
The person(s) being interviewed
Liz Laitman Hughes '92 & Cathy Laitman Burke '86
Location
The location of the interview
Skidmore College
Original Format
The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data
wav
Record Contributor
Individual who prepared the item and/or edited it.
Rebecca Stern
Record Creation Date
Day/Month/Year of record creation/edit
26/06/2017
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Interview with Liz Laitman Hughes '92 and Cathy Laitman Burke '86
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
June 3, 2016
Is Part Of
A related resource in which the described resource is physically or logically included.
Skidmore Saratoga Memory Project
Language
A language of the resource
English (eng.)
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Rebecca Zosia Stern '16
-
https://www.ssmp.mdocs.skidmore.edu/files/original/d5538366f008cb9d9fdfa1ededdc588f.jpg
8e49437b6ca6ff787a014ae8a426141a
https://www.ssmp.mdocs.skidmore.edu/files/original/9af58930ab3022dbd557d461df978ac9.m4a
63ac0c1fbc6d91a1843413eb244b2bd1
https://www.ssmp.mdocs.skidmore.edu/files/original/ea7ff647cb68fcf5f75bb17c0bed1d50.pdf
56f5fc0a0395a5589a3da22d1db56e7d
PDF Text
Text
Melvis Langyintuo ‘12 Interview Log
00:00:00 From Tamale, Ghana
00:00:10 Double Major in Business & Management and Economics
00:00:20 Lives in Downtown Manhattan and is a trader at Goldman Sachs
00:00:40 At Skidmore involved in International Student body and Student Government
00:01:00 Class President
00:01:20 Currently involved in local Skidmore Happy Hours and an Alum Finance
Group
00:01:50 Sister recently graduated from Skidmore
00:02:00 Feels like hasn’t left when comes back to campus
00:02:40 Well aware of things going on at Skidmore
00:03:30 Notices student diversity population has grown
00:04:00 Growing investments in infrastructure
00:04:40 Midnight Dodgeball event freshman year
00:05:55 Took Education Department class, School and Society
00:08:00 Winning first Liberty League Basketball Tournament for Skidmore and repeat
senior year
00:09:30 Success of Dodgeball Event spurred interest in SGA
00:11:00 Helped bind community, biggest group of students back for alumni reunion
weekend
00:12:30 Academics helped work as a trader and interest in philanthropy
00:13:15 Works for Pencils for Promise, an organization that builds schools in
Guatemala Ghana, and Laos. Raised over $120,000
00:15:30 Experience as an international student helped students settle into Saratoga
00:19:30 Tried to engage his personal background for other students to understand his
background
00:22:00 Tries to use his resources now to help others get similar oppurnities
�
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Oral History
Description
An account of the resource
Many people who have worked or studied at Skidmore College or lived in Saratoga Springs or the surrounding area carry the memories that help us tell the stories of our communities.
This collection offers a glimpse into our past in the voices of those who have shared their stories.
Oral History
A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge.
Interviewer
The person(s) performing the interview
Kira Hastings '17
Interviewee
The person(s) being interviewed
Melvis Langyintuo
Location
The location of the interview
Skidmore College
Record Creation Date
Day/Month/Year of record creation/edit
06/06/2017
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Interview with Melvis Langyintuo '12
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
June 6, 2017
Is Part Of
A related resource in which the described resource is physically or logically included.
Skidmore Saratoga Memory Project
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
Audio, Photo
Language
A language of the resource
English, (eng.)
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Rebecca Zosia Stern '16
Description
An account of the resource
Langyintuo '12 from Tamale, Ghana, graduated with a double major in business and economics and served as class president for four years. He remains connected to Skidmore through local happy hours and an Alum finance group. After his graduation, he started working in Manhattan in finance. He credits his education with preparing him for his current career as a trader at Goldman Sachs.
alumni
ghana
kickball
management & business
SGA
Skidmore College
student government
-
https://www.ssmp.mdocs.skidmore.edu/files/original/3fe4f85fa2d021aaaa1979ba53f92c24.jpeg
a89be8911847e2c39be75c40912864d6
https://www.ssmp.mdocs.skidmore.edu/files/original/22282d1ea4f2320a71a2188b2e01399b.mp3
c2b26302ad27d654558a48670e97fdb2
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Oral History
Description
An account of the resource
Many people who have worked or studied at Skidmore College or lived in Saratoga Springs or the surrounding area carry the memories that help us tell the stories of our communities.
This collection offers a glimpse into our past in the voices of those who have shared their stories.
Oral History
A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge.
Interviewer
The person(s) performing the interview
Samuel Register
Interviewee
The person(s) being interviewed
Tillman Nechtman
Location
The location of the interview
Skidmore College
Original Format
The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data
.WAV
mp3
Duration
Length of time involved (seconds, minutes, hours, days, class periods, etc.)
30:56 min
Record Contributor
Individual who prepared the item and/or edited it.
Samuel Register
Record Creation Date
Day/Month/Year of record creation/edit
08/03/18
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Interview with Tillman Nechtman
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
21 February, 2018
Is Part Of
A related resource in which the described resource is physically or logically included.
Skidmore-Saratoga Memory Project
Language
A language of the resource
English
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Register, Samuel '20
-
https://www.ssmp.mdocs.skidmore.edu/files/original/330482596733b29ce36ec19eec2c7620.jpg
42d6594fa4b7d43862815d133d7bf861
https://www.ssmp.mdocs.skidmore.edu/files/original/fe4b75c9384f20b503784a7295e001cd.m4a
41a1eb0aa8d778518c5a1718c8df525d
https://www.ssmp.mdocs.skidmore.edu/files/original/2758b22bbb751b30b534451a60a8c1e9.jpg
eedc0a49cdc09f06aeca67cab8e0705b
https://www.ssmp.mdocs.skidmore.edu/files/original/e53a2903a4b769a9a60dc88e2b0b2015.jpg
b34953359fc4ea11b9b80566a66b44e5
https://www.ssmp.mdocs.skidmore.edu/files/original/6ac8c8ada256bff471f21c221d2bd36d.jpg
53ff1f93fe7b3227d9ec58fe42deccbf
https://www.ssmp.mdocs.skidmore.edu/files/original/c47094ffa5f9c7692a2a8c255de64378.pdf
79487377c3616602157dfa4858f8461d
PDF Text
Text
1
Cohen & Carr
Interview with Emily Cohen and Jennifer Carr
by Harry Sultan, Skidmore College
Saratoga Memory Project, Skidmore College, NY June 1st 2018
Harry Sultan: Could I have you introduce yourselves?
Emily Cohen: I'm Emily Cohen, Emily Diminiani Cohen. Class of 1988
Jennifer Carr: I'm Jennifer Carr and I'm also class of 1988
HS:
And how did you two meet?
JC:
We met on our move in day of our freshmen year, so 1984. September. But we
met on the phone prior to that. Emily gave me a phone call after you get your
letter - back in those days you got an actual delivered letter that explained who
your roommate was and what interests my overlap. And Emily phoned and we
had a fun conversation.
HS:
Do you remember that conversation?
JC:
Do you?
EC:
Bits and pieces, I think you probably remember more than I do, you have a
better memory for those.
JC:
I remember Emily saying that she was from New York and that she spoke very
proper and I had a Boston accent that was fairly thick at the time and Emily
quietly note, 'oh, you have a thick Boston accent' and I think it lead into the fact
that she would be allowed to have a car on campus and I was like, "ooh a car on
car on campus, that'll be exciting"
EC:
Right, that was back in the day. I think now Freshmen are not allowed to have
cars, but I think we did. I don't remember if I had it from the very beginning or six
months in.
JC:
I don't recall
EC:
We might have. So yes, we met move-in day. My parents, Jennifer's parents. I was
teary, I couldn't believe I was going to college, and going to be independent and
�2
Cohen & Carr
separated from my parents and Jennifer was ready to celebrate and throw her arms
up in the air.
JC:
I was celebrating. Parent free. It was a nice opportunity to be away from my
parents that I was very much looking forward to.
HS:
And what dorm were you in
JC:
Tower. Tower 8th floor correct?
EC:
8th floor, yes.
JC: And we had a balcony room
EC: and a co-ed floor which my parents were horrified by
JC: Oh gosh, mine as well. My father met a young man who had an earring,
and he was a little, discombobulated by that fact. I think, first that there was
a man on our floor and what did that mean in 1984. Didn't mean anything;
that he liked an earring.
HS: And when you got to your room did you decorate, did you settle in, did you
explore the campus?
EC: We bought a few things. You had a bit more flare than I did. You brought
maybe a lamp, something for the walls, posters. There was definitely an Ice
Cream Social, that was an icebreaker. I do remember that, going to that
together. After I stopped crying we went to the ice cream social. We had the
window seat, did you make that your bed?
JC: Yea we moved the mattress off the bed-frame, I don't know where we were
allowed to put the bed-frame after that, but we moved the mattress to the
window seat so my bed was there and Emily had the modular unit.
EC: Right, so I had to climb up some stairs and then the desk below. We had a
nice room. Nice suite
JC: We had suite-mates. 1, 2, 3, rooms on our side and then two rooms on the
other side of the bathroom.
�3
Cohen & Carr
HS: So when you got into Skidmore did you have any idea of what you'd want
to major in or what you wanted to get out of Skidmore?
EC: I wanted liberal arts, so that's what drew me to Skidmore. I studied French,
but really a broad liberal arts curriculum. So I think I was looking for that
experience. You were business-minded.
JC: I was a business major, and I think I knew that from the beginning but I
also was excited about the liberal arts experience and I remember thinking
partially through the school year how each class room experience had some
shared knowledge that sort of transcended from one class to the next and I
was very excited about that because that's not how high-school was.
HS: Do you have any examples how those classes transcended into the rest?
JC: It was a long time ago. Let's see. I do remember we took a business, we had
BU-107 I think it was in the beginning stages of that and just how that
incorporated accounting, but also had english features to it that you had to
do presentations
EC: Right, and read the book and even as a french major I took BU-107 and I
remember to this day reading the book called House. I think that's what it
was called, about a married couple who built a house - it was a novel about how they almost ended up divorced because of this process together
so even in a business class there was this whole study approach.
JC: The aspect of working in a group and who would take on which roles, and
who was slacking and who was not slacking. I think I wasn't the best
business major in the world
HS: And did you take the class together cause you were such good friends?
EC: We didn't take the class together, no. I took it maybe as a junior just ya
know to take because it was one of those, 'oh you have to take BU-107 and
�4
Cohen & Carr
learn about McDonalds and Gillette Razors' and all of those classic
business examples. You took it probably first year.
JC: I took it first year, maybe second semester. I remember it being springtime.
I remember on our day of our presentation listening to a Crosby Stills and
Nash song, I don't know why that sticks in my mind, and having to present
in front of these business men, there were no women at the time. But it was
very nerve racking. I was nervous.
HS: Do you remember what song?
JC: I'm not good with the songs, but it's the one that goes on for about 12
minutes long.
HS: Sweet Judy Blue Eyes?
JC: mmm we'd have to google it I think
HS: And could you tell me a bit about not just your dorm room, but your dorm
life? Did you hang out with people in your suite and the floors?
JC: We did, there was a freshmen group, they were in a triple.
EC: Yes, one of our dearest friends to this day, she lives in Colorado so
unfortunately Claude Goldberg is not here, but we're dear friends to this
day. And then a junior in a single
JC: And a senior on the other side whose boyfriend took photographs for Sports
Illustrated and that was kind of fascinating; we got to see the photographs
of - what sticks in my mind is the swimsuit issues were always so popular
at the time and kind of sexist I guess now; but the swimsuit issues would
come out and you'd look at all the photographs but we got to see all the
photographs before they were retouched and we were amazed at how
different things were.
EC: I do remember that.
JC: You remember that?
�5
Cohen & Carr
EC: I forgot about that.
HS: Were there parties in the dorms or more relaxed?
JC: I think they used to have like floor parties, maybe the RA's would pair up
with another floor and you'd have like seventh and eighth floor would have
like a social and I think they could serve alcohol cause the drinking age was
eighteen at the time and they would put a sign on the water fountain that
said 'non alcoholic beverage' kind of thing. And they'd be socials so they
weren't hours and hours long but there was a common room
EC: There was, I was just about to say I remember - was it on the top floor?
Because I remember our freshmen year watching the Super Bowl in some
sort of common room, but not on our floor because we were the last class to
have J-term so we spent January, we came back right after December
vacation and had a one month - I think I took art history that month - a one
month intensive maybe three week class. And skiing, we used to go to West
Mountain and Ski. So we were here for the Super-bowl. I remember going
to a party freshmen year on that floor
JC: Yea it's the penthouse I believe
HS: So when you weren't in classes - you just said you skid - were you part of
any clubs or activities?
JC: I was on the riding team, the horse riding team for a couple of years. And
did we join in the some other thing within the dorm, I think we might've
EC: Maybe, I remember some sort of volunteer opportunities. I remember
something in town, maybe with an elementary school that I did at one
point. It was such a long time ago now but my memories are of, and that
was what touched me this morning listening to the award ceremony, and to
our classmate who received the Creative Thought Matters award, that there
was this commitment even then to social activism and taking care of the
�6
Cohen & Carr
other and it wasn't called creative thought matters but it was definitely in
the culture of, you know, putting yourself out there to help in the
community and the world.
HS: And so I guess coming back here are you seeing anything that has stayed
the same that you're happy has stayed the same since when you were
around?
JC: I think the overall campus layout is the same so it feels familiar. Still the
same buildings that are here now but I find comfort knowing like where to
go to find which dorm, the names of the buildings return to my mind, when
someone says the Ladd building, I'm like "oh the Ladd building". But
mostly the dorms I think bring back a little nostalgia feel. Like which
window was mine, you know remember that year you lived in that dorm
and traipsing across the quad we would have occasionally on Saturdays or
Sundays they would have sort of like cake parties out there I guess.
Someone would put a speaker up in Howe-Rounds out their window and
just be out.
HS: And was there anything that you came across on campus while you've been
here that started an immediate flashback to when you were in college?
EC: Being on the green probably. Sitting there this morning having the
skidmosas and looking out onto the green remembering those parties and,
as I said, the music. I remember that Livingston Taylor came and played
and there was a piano on the green.
JC: I don't remember that, but I remember the gatherings. Some kids played
hackey sack, there was always hackeysack, frisbee. Sometimes we would
just sit out there and listen to the music, watch everybody come and go. It
was nice cause you were all together and didn't have a class. It was all
relaxed.
�7
Cohen & Carr
HS: Anything that as you've come back and see things that you wish were
different, or things that you wished changed that you see are still the same?
JC: I don't
EC: No I see only progress. You know the garden, we were commenting if we
would garden, and the answer is probably not. But young people today,
college students today are so minded toward that so I only see
improvements. The growth and the landscaping is more beautiful, the patios
are more wonderful
JC: Skidmore to me is like an awesome place and nothing, I would never
change anything about it. Um, those places down there
EC: Sussman
JC: Sussman is reminiscent of what we lived in but is also nice and new. I am
always happy to come back. No regrets. The only thing I wish is that we
had more of things they have. You know the beautiful museums and the
music center we were in today.
EC: Zenkel is beautiful, and the tang.
JC: We didn't have that.
HS: And did either of you study abroad
EC: No I didn't, remember, I didn't want to leave. I should have but I was so
happy in Saratoga, so happy at Skidmore that I didn't. No. We were both
here all four years.
JC: I think I was happy to be here.
HS: And while you were on campus did you ever break outside the Skidmore
bubble, explore Saratoga?
JC EC: Always
JC: I think we would walk down or take the crazy bus that was offered
�8
Cohen & Carr
EC: And we went to the battlefield, the Saratoga Battlefield, we would go to
Lake George occasionally, explore. Yes we felt that we were in a beautiful,
we loved the area.
JC: Sometimes we'd go out to dinner together or with another friend. Even as
freshmen we would find someplace else to eat besides the dining hall.
EC: Yes, the dining hall is a huge step up from our dining hall. Huge step up in
looks and quality
JC: I remember shrimp cocktail. Every, maybe once a month, they'd put out this
huge display of shrimp. Do you recall that? I think I overdosed on shrimp
because that would be like the only food I would eat. Seemed the freshest. I
had so many shrimp
EC: I remember eggs. Always making egg salad from the hard boiled eggs. Yea
that's my strongest dining hall memory
JC: The shrimp always caught me off guard, like what college has shrimp. My
other friends were like, 'you get shrimp in college?' I'm like 'yea'
HS: When you went out for dinners in Saratoga was there one place that was
kind of the go-to?
EC: Madame Jammels for Sunday brunch which I think is gone. The Court
Bistro which is also not there. Oh and Hattie's Chicken Shack is still there,
we used to go there on Sundays for dinner. Gaffneys of course for wing
night.
JC: And that was inexpensive
EC: Yes. Um Where else did we
JC: When our parents were in town we'd make them take us to the expensive
restaurants like the Old Bryan Inn.
EC: Lillians we went to occasionally
JC: What was that place out by the lake? On Saratoga lake
�9
Cohen & Carr
EC: It's still there. It's big, it almost has a theme to it now.
JC: I think it had a water feature on the inside.
EC: Yes I think so. What's it called, out on the lake or towards the lake.
JC: They had coconut bread as the bread they serve from the beginning and
they had a recipe that my mother still has.
EC: Oh really? I can't remember the name of that restaurant.
JC: Steven [Mosk] took me there on our first date. Big spender that he was.
EC: Showing off
HS: And have you been to any of these places since you graduated?
EC: Definitely.
JC: Mrs. Londons we enjoy. Gaffneys. I mean the physical buildings are still
there, most of them anyway.
EC: So Jennifer and I, because we so love Saratoga and Skidmore, we've come
to every reunion and we've also come over the years for a fall trip to meet
each other or a spring trip with our moms, did we come once with our
moms. So we've definitely stayed very connected. We rented a house one
summer we were remembering this morning, 20 years ago, no 19 years ago.
Yea so we've stayed very attached and very connected to Skidmore.
JC: It's one of our favorite places to be, I think. It makes us happy when we're
here.
HS: Did you feel like, or has your appreciation of Skidmore or Saratoga change
since you left Skidmore?
JC: I know I think we still feel, like we come back and we feel we know which
streets to go up and down, it feels familiar
EC: It's grown quite a bit, the downtown. We definitely reminisce about the way
things were before there were more retail chain stores, that's a difference.
But it's kept its character and we just love seeing what's new.
�10
Cohen & Carr
JC: Grand Union's gone.
EC: yes
JC: Price chopper. What else did we do? We used to go there to get snacks
EC: Right. Is the diner still there? Down toward
JC: Comptons?
EC: No, there was a diner wasn't there? Toward the lake on Broadway? I don't
know.
HS: So what was an average week like?
JC: I remember we would have classes. It wouldn't be a full day of classes.
You'd have whatever you chose for your times, for your class schedule. But
you'd have a class, a little bit of time off, time to have a lunch break, go
back to an afternoon class. Some would have an evening class, some would
have a 7 o'clock class. We'd have dinner in between, then library/ study in
the room. I was not a very good library goer. And then I think every day
was a little different but that was sort of the general them, I don't remember
sleeping in.
EC: No. And maybe exercising. The athletic center isn't what it is today, but it
was really nice in 1984, 85. We played squash, played a lot of squash. Um
we watched friends compete in sports.
JC: Hockey
EC: Yes, hockey games
HS: Were the sports a big part of the culture at Skidmore back then?
JC: It was small enough that I think you pretty much knew everybody who
played a sport and who didn't play a sport so if your friend or girlfriend was
playing an important game on campus you'd definitely want to visit and see
what they were up to. I don't think I took in too many basketball games, but
a few.
�11
Cohen & Carr
EC: no. Hockey, lacrosse, occasional soccer.
JC: Tennis
EC: We'd watch tennis.
HS: And was that the same with the equestrian team?
JC: So the equestrian team didn't really have shows, maybe once a year we'd
have shows here so we'd have to travel around. Got to go to Cornell, I've
forgotten some of the other places we would go. St. Lawrence, we would
drive all the way up there. So it was more off campus, and we'd have to
sleep overnight usually which was strange. We'd be in kind of crummy
hotels and no bus would take us we'd have to drive in someones personal
car which I don't think they do anymore. Probably legal reasons
HS: what was it like competing at the collegiate level?
JC: That was awesome. The horse back team is a little bit different than a
traditional sport. As a team you're not out there at the same time, you're sort
of doing it individually to accumulate points as a team. So you were still
riding horses like you were normally in your previous life but it was fun to
be with a bunch of ladies and men, because it was a co-ed sport so that was
pretty neat.
EC: Bruce did it with you
JC: Yes, I was on the team with Bruce
EC: On our freshmen year
JC: Yup that's how we got to know each-other a little bit better. But it was a fun
thing to do as a co-ed group I guess. And we spent a lot of time traveling
back and forth so we would chat about whatever, eat pizza out usually is
what we ended up doing but it was kind of fun to see other schools and got
to meet the kids at a different level, like we would spend more time with
them because we would be hanging at the schools with them. Different
�12
Cohen & Carr
schools were competing in one arena, you go and you right their horse so
you don't know what you're getting until you get there which was the
unique part about it.
HS: And you did it all four years?
JC: I didn't do it my senior year. Three years. I don't know what happened
EC: I don't remember
JC: I don't remember either. I don't know if it was taking more time than I could
spend, or I wanted to diversify cause I ended up being on the government
committee. Student government committee.
EC: Mmm. SGA, you did do that, I forgot about that.
JC: Yea so the student government council?
EC: Association I think. SGA?
JC: I don't remember.
EC: I think
JC: And we would sit on disciplinary hearings for students so we were sort of
in charge of making disciplinary actions amongst your peers which was a
sort of unique experience in itself.
HS: Any things from there that remain with you?
JC: I remember it being very difficult and I thought it was a challenge to
participate in that because you are their peers and we didn't have a court
system like you do now. We didn't have a ton of evidence it was more one
person speaking for themselves, maybe someone else speaking for or
against them. And then we had to decide what the disciplinary action would
be. We had a guide and there was definitely a faculty or administrative
member on the team. But I don't remember what we listened to to be
honest. What kind of crimes they were.
EC: What sort of infractions. I don't remember
�13
Cohen & Carr
JC: There may have been a sexual assault discussion which now would be
probably something you hear more often, but back in 1987 or '8, whatever,
that was, it was hard I think to understand what was right and what was
wrong with facts and evidence
HS: and were you part of SGA as well?
EC: No I wasn't, I did more volunteer work I remember. I did have an internship
at the Hyde Museum. I was thinking about that during my drive here. In the
rare book department and that was fun. I would drive to that museum and
do some work there but no student government for me.
HS: Was the Hyde internship something that you got through Skidmore?
EC: Yes it was. I don't remember how, and I don't even remember if it was
our junior year or if it was over two years but it was a wonderful museum
and I was thinking about it on the way here, if we had more time it would
be fun to go back and see that museum.
HS: And was that an area that you thought maybe after college that you'd go
into?
EC: I think I was just exploring more than anything honestly. I liked art, liked
books, and it was an opportunity that presented itself so I don't think I
really, thirty years ago things were so different. We just didn't think that
much about what we would do after college. It's, to look at the wall
downstairs of the seniors from this year that have phenomenal jobs in
banking and law and medicine and the Your Hired Photos; we commented
yesterday, we wouldn't be on that wall.
JC: We went to Europe.
EC: We went to Europe.
HS: For how long were you in Europe?
�14
Cohen & Carr
JC: Two months. I think a total of eight weeks. Our third friend Claude came
with us and we all met at Emily's parents house and they took us to the
airport and sent us off on Air-whatever we were on-france? And we had
such wonderful experiences cause Claude had an uncle in Paris and we
stayed in someones friend's flat and we went to the south of France and
stayed with yourEC: My brother's client, yes. And we crossed paths - so maybe students do it
still - but we crossed paths with so many Skidmore friends throughout
Europe and my kids always grown when I say this but, pre cell phones we
would say, 'okay we'll meet you next Tuesday at the fountain at three
o'clock' and we did, it worked. It wasn't, 'are you there yet? are you
coming? are you sure'. We just made these plans and ran into friends and it
was great. We had a great time.
JC: And we ran into another classmate, he was the class president, we ran into
him at the [museum name] museum? Randomly. So it was definitely
something that a lot of graduates were doing at the time. Traveling.
EC: Backpacking through Europe.
HS: You studied french, so obviously that came in handy. Was there any other
things you learned from an actual class at Skidmore or just being a
Skidmore student that you felt like prepared you for this unchartered
world?
JC: I took an art history class, I remember because I didn't know enough about
art and art history so I remember seeing some of those things we studied in
class in real life and how amazing that was. That I enjoyed, that piece. My
business piece sort of applied in the, after our travels I think.
EC: But I think just the general Skidmore feeling on campus of being open to
experiences and
�15
Cohen & Carr
JC: that we felt comfortable doing that experience
EC: Exactly. Exactly.
HS: and what was your average Friday night like?
JC: I think usually we wouldn't leave campus until maybe 10pm. 9:30pm? and
then go downtown and find a spot to be with all of our friends. There was
the Trattoria, we remembered last night, was the three floor storied place
with music and a lot of music I think it was. Someone would DJ, sometimes
a Skiddie would be DJing.
EC: and Barclays which is no longer I think. But that was Tuesday nights I
think.
JC: That was definitely midweek. Maybe that's why it closed.
HS: Were there many nights during the week that you'd go down to these
places?
JC: Thursday nights we would
EC: Thursday nights we went to a bar, it's now called Baileys, it was the grill at
the time. I think Tuesday nights was a Barclays night, and Thursday nights
was the Grill and Friday night was wherever, or a house party. A lot of
people lived off campus our junior and senior years. But late. We definitely
stayed. And everything stayed open late. And then late night wings or
popcorn at Gaffneys
JC: There was that hotdog place that at the window, you'd walk up to a facade there was no place to sit or anything - you'd get your
EC: Cheesy fries
JC: Something
HS: And this is downtown?
EC: Downtown. I think it's next to the Tin and Lint still? Maybe it's gone, or
next to Gaffneys I don't know.
�16
Cohen & Carr
HS: And this was going on Freshmen, sophomore, junior, senior year?
JC: I know when we first started cause the drinking age was 18, the campus life
was a little more vibrant cause you could have alcohol on campus and they
allowed you to have keg parties as long as there was an alternate beverage
offered. But I think after the drinking age changed there was definitely a
shift in how much time we spent our time on campus in the evenings.
HS: So it changed while you were in college?
JC EC: it did.
EC: It went to 21. From 18 to 21.
HS: Do you remember what year you guys were?
EC: I think it was spring of our freshmen year? Or fall of sophomore year
JC: It went to twenty. I think it went to twenty, when we were sophomores and
when we were just about to turn twenty it turned twenty-one.
HS: So what was that like being students in this place where you had all these
freedoms and then to have it crashing down?
JC: It was, we felt annoyed by that because, you're from NY, I wasn't from NY
so it was already 21 at home. But at school I was allowed to drink alcohol
and then you come back from winter break and you're no longer allowed
legal. And they didn't grandfather anyone in, maybe they did for New York
people?
EC: I don't think so because I remember thinking that it was just so wrong, and
being so irritated by that, 'how can you let us drink for 6 months and then
all of a sudden you say you can't drink anymore'.
JC: It did disrupt the feeling of the town I think and I think the town businesses
suffered as well because they couldn't let us in.
HS: Did that put any strain on your relationship with the school?
EC JC: no no
�17
Cohen & Carr
JC: No, they just had to follow the rules, so the party size changed where - oh
yea I forgot, I was the Bud rep on campus our senior year. So we would
(laughs) - Spuds McKenzie
EC: I forgot about that
JC: You were not even born then. So there was an Annheiser Busch distributor
not far in Saratoga and I worked directly with the distributor and each party
would have to go through the rep to acquire their alcoholic beverages so I
would help them supply them with a cool, a kegerator kind of thing where
you hook up the kegs to it. So I'd go and set up the kegs and attach them all.
But in the beginning you used to have like a ten keg party and then when
the drinking age went from 20 to 21 it was down to like a four keg party
and then they stopped offering keg parties on campus after I left. But the
Spuds McKenzie thing, we had like swag we'd hand out, t-shirts. It's kind
of funny I forgot about that experience. I had to diversify didn't I, from the
horse team. I was on SGA and the Bud rep at the same time.
HS: I guess looking back if you could tell yourself one piece of advice going
forward is there anything you would have changed?
EC: Maybe the study abroad. Even though we traveled, I think that having
children who have studied abroad I think that I should've done that, but I
don't regret it. Definitely not. I made the choice, I loved Skidmore, I loved
Saratoga and wanted my four years here. Couldn't think about missing a fall
here or a spring here, even the winters ya know now I can't stand winter
but, and we got feet and feet of snow. You still do, I'm sure. But it wasn't a
big deal. So that's probably the one thing that maybe I would say, 'oh, you
should've gone to Paris'
JC: I think that I would tell myself to pay a little closer to my studies, to you
know use my time a little more wisely as a student. But also participate in
�18
Cohen & Carr
all the school has to offer, don't miss out on both things. I think my
studying could've been better. But it was fine. It all was good.
EC: It all worked out.
HS: Great, and any last great stories you didn't get a chance to tell?
JC: I don't know, we had so many fun times together just, our other girlfriend
Claude joining us in some of the fun and being part of each-others lives is
always a fun story but I don't know if theres one specific.
EC: No, just such an intimacy that we really are family, you know I love that as
I said, we didn't have creative thought matters, but we did. It just wasn't
called that. And we didn't have hashtags but I love that hashtag Skid4Life.
Because we are Skidmore sisters and just in each-others lives because of
our experience here. Our kids are in each-others lives, our husbands. Four
of us, another girlfriend who's here at reunion and Claude, the one in
Colorado, the eight of us - with our husbands - went to Las Vegas to
celebrate our fiftieth birthdays so that was a real Skidmore reunion.
JC: And we met up with a fifth friend who lives out in that area, so that was
really fun having ten of us together and it felt like we had been together
every month but some of us haven't seen each-other in 20 years or only
every five years. So its just great.
HS: That's wonderful, well I think that just about wraps it up.
�
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Oral History
Description
An account of the resource
Many people who have worked or studied at Skidmore College or lived in Saratoga Springs or the surrounding area carry the memories that help us tell the stories of our communities.
This collection offers a glimpse into our past in the voices of those who have shared their stories.
Oral History
A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge.
Interviewer
The person(s) performing the interview
Rizzo, Emily
Interviewee
The person(s) being interviewed
Cohen, Emily; Carr, Jennifer
Location
The location of the interview
Lucy Scribner Library, Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, NY
Record Contributor
Individual who prepared the item and/or edited it.
Jordana Dym
Record Creation Date
Day/Month/Year of record creation/edit
6/27/18
Original Format
The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data
audio recording
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2-Jun-18
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Rizzo, Emily, 18
Is Part Of
A related resource in which the described resource is physically or logically included.
Skidmore Saratoga Memory Project
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
Audio, Photo
Language
A language of the resource
English (eng.)
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
audio recording
Title
A name given to the resource
Interview with Emily Cohen and Jennifer Carr, '88
alumni
oral history
Skidmore College
-
https://www.ssmp.mdocs.skidmore.edu/files/original/0112e20e3c4af230a84be1720072fcb0.jpg
6ee0b6f04ad290999f54d721e83579fd
https://www.ssmp.mdocs.skidmore.edu/files/original/4e3e521d48a56480b5499c111d29058f.jpg
f9d7aded77e3dd1fd9e7cc6ce6b45299
https://www.ssmp.mdocs.skidmore.edu/files/original/fe0f2a2372764f954c14703677d93c31.m4a
d49d47cd73d72d4331124a36c6efa747
https://www.ssmp.mdocs.skidmore.edu/files/original/03c1fa9f243af125000abc19ea842efa.pdf
007f650d827c0373ec64efbab65a5e09
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Oral History
Description
An account of the resource
Many people who have worked or studied at Skidmore College or lived in Saratoga Springs or the surrounding area carry the memories that help us tell the stories of our communities.
This collection offers a glimpse into our past in the voices of those who have shared their stories.
Oral History
A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge.
Interviewer
The person(s) performing the interview
Rizzo, Emily
Interviewee
The person(s) being interviewed
Warner, Andrew
Location
The location of the interview
Lucy Scribner Library, Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, NY
Record Contributor
Individual who prepared the item and/or edited it.
Jordana Dym
Record Creation Date
Day/Month/Year of record creation/edit
6/27/18
Original Format
The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data
audio recording
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2-Jun-18
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Rizzo, Emily, 18
Is Part Of
A related resource in which the described resource is physically or logically included.
Skidmore Saratoga Memory Project
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
Audio, Photo
Language
A language of the resource
English (eng.)
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
audio recording
Title
A name given to the resource
Interview with Andrew Warner, 83
alumni
oral history
Skidmore College
-
https://www.ssmp.mdocs.skidmore.edu/files/original/745f0730cd37fb8cb837fcdfdee36694.jpg
121f376bf3035819e8d876a6da25f8b5
https://www.ssmp.mdocs.skidmore.edu/files/original/929d62ce27166cad1c83b8565713c1e0.m4a
8c5c0771aa9aca275334946c61ba3731
https://www.ssmp.mdocs.skidmore.edu/files/original/72884b2f97d7e29e264c8bee0b1140d4.jpg
6996ce0101f9959b285b20315192948a
https://www.ssmp.mdocs.skidmore.edu/files/original/86ac753ae12344d373f4f886fba59b22.pdf
3982fb6ceeb301292b73e94aca4f657f
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Oral History
Description
An account of the resource
Many people who have worked or studied at Skidmore College or lived in Saratoga Springs or the surrounding area carry the memories that help us tell the stories of our communities.
This collection offers a glimpse into our past in the voices of those who have shared their stories.
Oral History
A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge.
Interviewer
The person(s) performing the interview
Rizzo, Emily
Interviewee
The person(s) being interviewed
Blodget-Holberton, Anne
Location
The location of the interview
Lucy Scribner Library, Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, NY
Record Contributor
Individual who prepared the item and/or edited it.
Jordana Dym
Record Creation Date
Day/Month/Year of record creation/edit
6/27/18
Original Format
The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data
audio recording
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1-Jun-18
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Rizzo, Emily, 18
Is Part Of
A related resource in which the described resource is physically or logically included.
Skidmore Saratoga Memory Project
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
Audio, Photo
Language
A language of the resource
English (eng.)
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
audio recording
Title
A name given to the resource
Interview with Anne Blodget-Holberton, 73
alumni
oral history
Skidmore College
-
https://www.ssmp.mdocs.skidmore.edu/files/original/74b9baeccc5e0fd9426516fa3c5d44be.jpg
c46c38cc106a037a6b33dfcffd42e8b8
https://www.ssmp.mdocs.skidmore.edu/files/original/96f76eaa5d4f1d8846cd96582ada1323.m4a
521c96a16d0d85f70c5cf6a8a2c84e2e
https://www.ssmp.mdocs.skidmore.edu/files/original/02fac18fad0022bf75f2c5cd7f205938.pdf
eba65f8d0bd8f749c309fa1529ea60b7
PDF Text
Text
1
Title
Jacob DeLeon Navarrete Interview
Date
June 2nd, 2018
Language
Eng
Interviewer
Emily Rizzo
Location
Lucy Scribner Library, Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, NY
Original Format
Audio Recording
Duration
39:13
Tags
Alumni , Oral history , Skidmore College , Tour guide , Admissions
�2
ER: So, you can you say your full name and your graduating year and your major or minors?
JV: Sure, my name is Jacob DeLeon Navarrete. I graduated in 2008. I was a double major in
psychology and history. I focused on existential psychology with Sheldon Solomon and I worked
with Jennifer Delton in American History, mostly focusing on the civil rights era all the way back
to colonial period.
ER: Wow that's amazing. And where are you from?
JV: Dallas, Texas.
ER: Dallas, Texas. Wow I always wanted to take an existential psychology class with Sheldon and
I never got to fit it in.
JV: Yeah, he's... I got really lucky because he was my advisor when I first started as a student. So
I took LS1 with him, I don't know if you guys still do LS1 or not, but he was my LS1 teacher and I
really just connected with him. At the time I wasn't going to be a psychology major. I had come
in interested in doing pre-med but quickly learned that other peoples' blood freaks me out so
being a doctor was not necessarily the best path for me. And I had always been very interested
in human behavior and what drives human choices and an intersection of psychology and
philosophy seemed really cool and anyone who’s ever seen Sheldon Solomon knows that he’s a
captivating person. So it was kind of hard to not have chosen that. When I think about the
person that I was coming to college and then having the opportunity to engage with such
interesting minds, I was very influenced by those elements more so than a real passion for the
subject matter, that grew as I began to dig deeper into the actual academic component of it.
ER: Wow that's really great. I guess since we already started talking about it... Can you talk
about what it was like being head tour guide?
�3
JV: Oh. So I... When I got to Skidmore I really didn't know what to do. Being from Texas, not
knowing anyone here, I tried very hard to make sense of the community and that meant I did a
lot of activities I tried to learn where buildings were, and I saw an opportunity to be a tour
guide. They made the first option available to first year students in second semester. So I
applied for it and I was really excited about it. I was hired as a tour guide and there was
something about being able to share my passion for Skidmore that I really enjoyed. And so, I
was a tour guide pretty much in the earliest moment possible. And because I was from far away
I spent some summers on campus and I was a summer tour guide. And by the time I was a
Junior I had been hired as one of the co-head tour guides. And I spent my junior and my senior
year running the tour guide program. It was really interesting to see that element of higher
education because it wasn't about me. It was about these other people. And I think a lot of
students view tour guiding as a job. And it is, it's a great way to make some extra cash, have an
opportunity to pick up a couple skills if you haven't already. But very few people I think
approach it as community service. And that's kind of how I approached it. Don't get me wrong,
enjoyed the pay check, very much appreciated the work. But I loved it because I was giving
students the opportunity to see the institution the way that I did. And I knew it wasn't going to
be right for every student, but the student who it was right for, they would fall in love. And it
was also really cool to see students come in as first year students, during my third or fourth
year, who I had given a tour to and who really responded to the way Skidmore was presented
to them. So, it was a lot of fun and I really enjoyed being able to share my experience in the
community with people who probably would have never thought to ask me about Skidmore
because I don't think I represent the average Skidmore student, particularly not in 2000.
ER: Wow I have so many questions. So, you loved Skidmore a lot?
JV: Oh yeah, I was a student senator right out of the gate, they always have the three spots, at
least my time it was three spots, available for freshman students. So I ran. The funny thing was
only three of us ran and I had the lowest number of votes. It was really interesting.
�4
ER: Yeah.
JV: But I got really involved with student senate. I was the very last coordinator of diversity
affairs before there was a vice president of diversity affairs, that was the person who followed
me. But I eventually realized that student government was not what was right for me. And
that's when I shifted from having my hands in a bunch of things to focusing on working in the
admissions office and as I got older I just spent less time doing things that were for the sake of
doing it and more time focused on the things I was really interested in. And student
government was fun, but I think it's best done by the people who want to devote energy in
ways that I don't think I have the patience for, in a certain sense. But tour guiding is... the
patience that you have to have is a very different kind of patience.
ER: What do you mean by that?
JV: So the patience you have to have for student government I would say is the same for
politics.
ER: Yeah.
JV: You have to suffer everyone. No one is wrong. Everyone's opinion and perspective is
important because you're representing everyone. And so, student government being
representative of government, you have to listen you have to take into consideration things
that you don't believe, people that you don't agree with. And that's great that we have
individuals that are willing to put themselves through that. I think the saying is, "People who
are willing to suffer fools." As a tour guide, you suffer fools in a completely different way. Your
goal is to help people see what you see. And for a lot of tour guides, they just lie. I'm not saying
that happens at Skidmore per say, but just in general you go to a museum they're going to spin
the best story possible. But you don't have to. A really good tour guide doesn't lie. They find
ways to respond to your question in truth, but hopefully, if they're perceptive enough, they
�5
know what you're really asking and can come around to address how the school handles that
issue. When parents ask questions about drinking, what they're really asking about is safety. No
parent thinks that kids don't drink in college. It happens. It's just what happens in the United
States. So, the real question is, "Is my child going to be safe while they're participating in
activities? Are they going to feel like they're forced to participate in activities? So a tour guide
who isn't thinking that far ahead will say, "There's no parties." Or, "Nothing is under age." Or,
"People get in trouble." But that's not true. A smart tour guide would respond that Skidmore is
the type of place where students can make whatever choices that they feel comfortable
making, that Skidmore provides a really safe environment to do so, there are tremendous
amounts of opportunities for students who don't want drugs or alcohol, all sorts of
programming... That's how you respond to that question. You don't say people don't party. You
don't say everyone parties. Or whatever the easiest answer is. And that's just one example of
why I think I was much more interested in being a tour guide than being in student
government.
ER: Yeah definitely. Yeah, I think tour guides sell Skidmore as more diverse than it actually is.
Because Skidmore includes in its numbers, in its percentages, international students, everyone
who's international is counted in the diversity percentage, which doesn't make sense because
not everyone who's in the international percentage... some of them are white and they're
thrown into that percentage to make it seem more inclusive than it is. So it's like, "Are you
lying? Are you giving that percentage?" But I think some tour guides try to give that number
and pretend... or try to tell this lie.
JV: I think that's also a reflection of the difference between the institution internally and the
institution externally. So, I ended up being an admissions officer here for three and a half years.
So I was a tour guide and then got hired as an admissions officer. And I think when institutions
utilize percentages to craft a certain narrative, it's usually a reflection of the industry more than
an individual office. It's very common for schools to include international students in their
diversity numbers because colleges try to have the most broad definition of diversity. And that
�6
can be problematic sometimes when people are really asking, "How many white people are
here?" Right? And I think it's fair to ask that question, versus how diverse are you? Because
diversity is a cop out word. Right? You can have diversity with a bunch of white men. There can
be a lot of diversity in the way you think, how you see the world, right? So including
international students in the diversity number makes sense if what you're saying is, we have a
lot of different people from different experiences and walks of life. But we also know that that's
not what people are really asking when they say diversity. And so that's the internal versus
external tension. It's the same thing that when we use graduation rates. We say it out of six
years but it's really out of four. But four isn't as nice so everyone does it out of six.
ER: What's the out of six?
JV: So most four-year graduation rates are actually out of six years.
ER: Oh oh.
JV: Yeah. But they factor in taking breaks, going abroad, switching your major.
ER: That's okay.
JV: Right but people think it's the four-year rate.
ER: Yeah.
JV: And it's not the four-year rate it's the six-year rate. That's what the government does for a
degree. So being an admission officer gave me the opportunity to learn a lot about how
colleges function as institutions relative to how they function for students. And it gave me a
really good view into how a class is made. And I think a lot of students have a completely
misguided notion as to how they got into college. I think if you were to ask the average
�7
Skidmore student, "How'd you get into college?" "Oh yeah I worked hard. I did well in school."
It's like, "No that's not why you got into Skidmore. It isn't. You fit exactly what the institution
was looking for at that year." And at a place now where they're taking 25% of the students who
apply, it's even more so, "We need this particular subset of people to have the class that we're
looking for." You didn't get in, it's more of a reflection, not of your ability or not of your
strengths, it's, "You just didn't have what we were looking for this year. If you apply next year,
you might get in. If you applied the year before, you might get in. It's just this year. There were
a lot of girls with brown hair and blue eyes who played soccer and were violinists. Sorry." That's
the flip side of access. Everybody's going to apply. That's what makes it much harder to get in.
Admissions officers are humans. They're not machines. Some students are just going to stand
out to them. So, it was an interesting experience to learn. It helped me better contextualize
myself instead of thinking, "Oh I have this because..." I could step back and say, "Well, there are
probably plenty of other people who were just as good or whatever the reason." I'm a college
counselor now, among other things, and so having that knowledge in the back of my head really
helps when I talk with students who don't get into their schools of choice. It's not a reflection of
you, it's a reflection of the school.
ER: Yeah so, I wanted to ask, that's actually a good leeway, what are you doing now?
JV: So right now, I am the associate head of upper school at the Auckland School in Dallas
Texas. It's a Montessori and international baccalaureate school, educating students from 18
months to 18 years. And we actually just had our first graduating seniors. So the schools been
around for over 50 years but had stopped at 6th grade for a long time and stopped at 8th grade
about 15 years ago. That's when they opened the middle school and so we opened the upper
school four years ago. And so I handle all the college counseling, student life, and now as the
associate head, pretty much everything. I'm just very deeply involved with what goes on. And I
feel very happy to say that I had a student who was accepted to Skidmore. She didn't choose to
attend but it was nice to have that be one of our first seniors apply and then be admitted to
Skidmore. So that's what I do.
�8
ER: Wow that's amazing. Yeah it feels like, from what you've said, everything that you've done
at Skidmore helped you get to...
JV: Where I am?
ER: And then your admissions position at Skidmore and now you're really a... leadership role...
JV: There's no doubt that my time at Skidmore was fundamental for who I am as a person. I just
finished my masters degree at Stanford and the most interesting element of that was how
often my undergraduate experience was really useful. And I think that my belief in creative
thought mattering has really been an important perspective when dealing with problem
solving, dealing with people. Just remembering that you have to be creative. And usually when
you remember to be creative it reminds you to be patient. And that has been really valuable for
me as a person. Skidmore has really been critical to the person that I am. I wouldn't say that it
defines me, but I also can't think of myself without it. So I wouldn't be surprised if I find myself
with a job here again as my last job or something. Like I really did love my time here and I love
what they do for students. And that's why I do what I do, because I had a great college
experience and I want that for every other person. I want every human to have the time of
undergraduate experience that I did. Because if you had asked me at 17 if I'd be doing what I'm
doing now... No, not at all. A 17-year-old Jacob would look at 32 year old Jacob and say, "What
are you doing with yourself? Working at a high school? With teenagers?" But 32-year-old Jacob
can look back at 17 year old Jacob and say "You just don't know enough about life. You don't
know enough about you yet." And my time at Skidmore helped me learn so much about myself.
Because there's something about the community and the campus that encourages you to
explore internally and externally.
ER: Something about the campus?
�9
JV: I think that the combination of the campus layout, all the trees, the green spaces, the
Northwoods, the general approach to student development and student learning, mixed with...
at least this was my time, I can't speak for Skidmore today but... When I was a student there
was some sort of open mindedness, of not necessarily non-judgmental, but much more flexible
with what you chose to do. A certain unspoken encouragement to figure out what you wanted
to do and to be okay with that. I will also admit that in 2004, the entering class, the standards
shifted dramatically from the class of 2005. Just from an admissions stand point., the selectivity
was dramatically different. So a lot of us that graduated in 2008, we feel like we're the last class
of the old Skidmore, before Skidmore became a place where everybody wanted to go, and no
one got in. I think my freshman year, our acceptance rate was something like 40% and now it's
like 20%, in ten years, 15 years. That's a really big difference and that says a lot about the type
of student that goes here. And I don’t think that that shift, I hope not, has not impacted that
desire, that curiosity, that openness to explore yourself, to figure things out. The number of
people I saw who came in Skidmore one way and left Skidmore a very different way, but so
authentically... I don't know if that was just the common college growth that happens
everywhere... I don't think so. I think what happens here is very special. And places like
Skidmore... I don't think Skidmore is the only place on the planet that does it. I think there's
something about a liberal arts college on a beautiful campus with faculty who really want to
engage in the learning and development of students. That produces something special. But I
think you add that to Skidmore's history as an all-women’s institution, Skidmore's history as an
art school, Skidmore's history as an institution believing in creative thought. I think all of that
together allows for that internal exploration, almost a permission to explore yourself. And then
externally I think that marketing itself to students who are looking for something different it
does produce more opportunity to dig. And maybe not be so afraid about it. Because I feel like
a lot of students at giant universities, they kind of wake up and realize they’re not the person
they want to be. I’m not saying that doesn't happen at Skidmore, but for the kids that that does
happen here, there's more opportunity for you to be like “Oh okay I’m going to find some new
people.” I just don’t know if that happens in schools that are more anonymous.
�10
ER: I think it's been changing, a lot of people have been coming for the business department.
JV: It's very famous.
ER: Yeah and I don’t know if it was the same when you were here...?
JV: It was just starting. Because I think also... I think a big factor was Fall 2008, the economy
crashing, Leeman Brothers, all of that., changes the world. when I was a senior in college you
didn’t have to have a job, you didn’t have to know what you were doing. I had a summer job. I
fell into the admissions office. That was normal 10 years ago. Now, if you don’t have everything
lined up in January you're completely screwed. So I also think the changes in the students
coming to Skidmore is a reflection of both how strong the business department actually is but
also because you can do business here and art and it’s not going to pull you one way or the
other. A lot of other schools that have a business school or business program the other things
are secondary, they just are, but here it’s not. And so I do think that that’s probably part of why
that shift has been happening but hasn’t completely over thrown the college. Because I think in
the world we live in today, it could be even more of a business orientation. But I think it’s the
strength in music, the strength in visual art, the strength in dance, the strength in the social
sciences, the strength in the foreign languages, the strength in English. There's so many quality
nonprofessional programs here, and I mean that in relation to professional degrees like an MBA
or a Doctor of Social Work or a doctor of exercise. that’s what I mean by professional as
opposed to the more general term, allows for that dichotomy and the slowing down of the
change, because you do see a lot of liberal arts colleges, there’s a big shift. you see a lot of
liberal arts colleges just get eaten up bigger universities because people don’t see the value
anymore because people don’t see the value anymore.
ER: Yeah, I hope that it doesn't change, I'm worried.
JV: It's fair to be worried I think.
�11
ER: Is there any memory that has come up as you've been here?
JV: I mean that was the crazy part. Myself and a friend who came up, when we first got to
campus we just walked around. And that’s what happened for 45 minutes, just like "Oh my god
this" and "Oh my god that." And I think a lot of stuff occurred, a lot of memories, a lot of crazy
memories, but I think the one that probably shocked me the most was., or surprised me by how
overwhelming it was, was actually something that I didn’t even remember until I was reliving
the experience. So as a psychology and history major almost all my classes were in Tisch
(Learning Center). I was a Tisch kid. I was always in Tisch. I called it the “ology building” when I
was a tour guide, even though history isn’t an ology, and I would literally say that, "although
history isn't an ology." There is the walkway out of Tisch leading to Palamountain (Hall) where
the early childhood center is, right there’s that L covered walkway and all the honey suckle. The
smell of the honey suckle got me. Because I forgot how much that smell was constant, how
strong that smell is, and how often I smelled it. In context to walking from one building to the
other. I was frozen when the smell hit my nostrils and all of these memories just washed over
very quickly. Particularly I used to do observation in the early childhood center. I was a
sophomore and I was taking a child development class. Because at the time I thought I was
going to be more focused on childhood development but not at all, I ended up not doing that at
all. But that was a really interesting semester for me because I had never engaged with
children, and so the combination of the smells and just how much that time influenced me, one
way or the other. So I think that was probably the biggest memory. It was also just to go walk
around and see which professors were still here and which ones are not still here. It was also
nice to see there was more diversity in the faculty, I can tell there’s not much now. but when I
was here there was none. I didn't have a single male of color teach me at Skidmore. Maybe I
had one female of color teach me. I knew there was a male psychology professor, Hassan
Lopez, who I didn’t have until my final year. He was actually the first male of color that I had I’m
pretty sure. I could be wrong about that, but it was so few that... but then looking around and
seeing that there were a handful more teachers of color, said something. now, I’ll be honest,
two percent of the population has a PhD. so were already looking at a very small section of
�12
people. when you look at the cross section of education, there just aren’t that many PhDs that
are black, or Mexican, or anything that isn’t white. so that’s not necessarily a reflection of
Skidmore, but Skidmore could work harder at really finding diverse faculty if they wanted to. so,
there’s always a tension one way or the other. But it was nice to see new faces, it was nice to
see new scholarship from people who are not the standard professorial type. that was really
cool to see.
ER: Yeah Skidmore needs to work on its retention.
JV: Yeah it does.
ER: What else would you like to see improve at Skidmore?
JV: I love this place. I just want to see Skidmore not be so slow about what it does. I loved
seeing the signs on campus letting visitors know, this is renewable, or this is sustainable, or we
have this goal. I saw the goal of 25% food sustainability by 2025. why isn’t it 50%? why isn’t it
75%? obviously that’s ambitious and it would require a lot of thoughtful changes, but Skidmore
is the type of place in my opinion where there are so many creative people here that there’s no
reason why they shouldn’t be pushing themselves harder. I would love to see the
administration push back on some of the faculty who are not as tolerant as they think they are.
that’s one thing that I do know is true. I have kept enough in touch that there have been some
issues in town with students of color and I was very disappointed in how the administration
responded to that. I was very disappointed to see that there was not a 100% defense of the
students. Period. The students were students. Even if they were wrong which they weren’t. but
even if they were wrong, I feel like if they were rich white students, it would have been a whole
different response. and I don’t think that anyone made that decision deliberately, but that’s
what bias is. you don’t see that you would treat someone else differently because of some
immutable factor. If they were rich white kids, "Oh we have to be careful about the parents. the
politics involved...". well why isn’t that same consideration given to a poor brown or black kid?
�13
they have just as much value as a person right? and again I’m not saying that this is Skidmore
only, this is the world we live in, but I think Skidmore could do a better job. particularly since
they have a commitment at least in words, to bring in diversity, to bring in a variety of people.
like I loved seeing that the opportunity program is now one big unit. Because when I was a
student it was HEOP and AOP, no one really knew what AOP was, all the HEOP kids were
clumped together because they were from New York City. And it was nice that they were on
campus, but they were completely ostracized from everyone else. No one intended to do that
but that’s what it was. And so as a student of color who was in neither program, it was weird.
So now to see that all the opportunity programs are all together, there’s a whole place for
them. That just made me feel like okay this is the kind of action that I want to see. Why did it
take so long? I was sad to see that some of the administrators who have left, why they’ve left…
That made me kind of sad. But I think it is important to remind the Skidmore community that
you can’t rest on your laurels. That just because you are better in a lot of ways than other
institutions that doesn’t mean that you get to slow down, that doesn’t mean you get to set
targets that everyone else should set. That I’m disappointed by. But not disappointed enough
to not care, but just be like, “Hey.” Like you know when you get disappointed in your friends
who don’t live up to their potential? That's kind of how I feel sometimes. That we could be
pushing ourselves more. We could be doing more. We could be having more courageous
conversations with ourselves, with each other, around these sensitive issues. Like it was great
to see a Black Lives Matter thing in Case Center. That’s great. But do the Black lives here
actually feel like they matter? Because there was a time when I was a student where a lot of
black lives didn't feel like they mattered as much. I never really felt that. But just because I
don’t doesn’t mean it’s not true for other people. So that’s why I would say I would want to
push Skidmore, particularly in a place like Saratoga Springs that's very different than the people
who come to school here. We could be fostering more education, more awareness. I don’t
mean tolerance in the sense of just accepting. But I really mean like, “You have wrong beliefs
because you’re not educated in the right things so let’s provide you more education.” Let’s give
you more opportunities to step outside your comfort zone. Because people believe things
�14
because they don’t have anything else to counter that belief. They have no experience, no
exposure. There is so much here that could make Saratoga better and they don’t do enough.
ER: We really don’t engage in Saratoga.
JV: And I will admit, I know enough to know that the town doesn’t really want them to. But that
doesn’t mean you accept it. That doesn’t mean you say, "Okay you don't want us then fine."
There are enough educated, thoughtful, powerful, rich people in this community, Skidmore's
community. They could be on seats in the board in town. They could be actively engaged in
changing Saratoga. But they don’t want to. So that’s what I mean by pushing more.
ER: And it's even true for pushing faculty more. Faculty and staff showed up though...
JV: That must mean they want to try. I feel like, the one thing that I want younger people like
you to hear, because I was where you were at some point, I'm on my way to that other point,
young people are impatient, you are. Because for you, you see the way... It’s like "This is how it
should be! Why is it not?" And that's great, never lose that. But just remember that as you get
older, you begin to understand why things are older, that doesn’t just defy it. But I guess try to
find the wins. Because the story you just said, makes me think, "Okay, at least the staff want to
engage." Maybe enough kids didn't come, but the fact that there were a lot of staff members
who came, that says that there's a willingness to have the conversation and that’s huge. And
my fear is that young people, the younger people, haven’t lived enough to recognize, haven't
lived enough to recognize how much it is to get someone to come to the table. And that open
mindedness is a lot more difficult than you think. I have found a lot of progressives and liberals
are some of the most closeminded people I’ve ever met because they think they’re right. And
I’ll admit I use to be like that when i was young, I was like, " I’m right. Why would I be openminded? I’m open-minded because I’m right!" Actually, if you think that you're right, you’re not
open-minded. So let’s talk about... Do we really want open-minded-ness? Is it actually a good
thing? Or do we want closemindedness that’s correct? I don’t know I’m just saying that it’s
important that young people just recognize that experience does dictate how you see the
�15
world. And even in my own job, I had seven things I wanted to do this year, I got three of them
done and I learned, I was like, "You know what? I’m going to be proud of those three things
because everybody else is super proud of them. I’m the only one that’s mad that I didn’t get to
do all seven. And my boss was like, "Jacob, we only have room as people, for three things a
year. You want to do more than 3 things? take away something," just, that’s something that I’ve
had to learn and grow with. But don’t ever lose the passion. just, almost forgive yourself as you
move through it. Because you’re going to get a point where you’re going to be 30 and you’re
going to realize, "Oh there's so much more." And that’s not to excuse slowness, that’s not to
excuse behavior, but I think it does help from becoming a state of despair. I feel like a lot of
young people after the election were in a state of despair. And rightfully so it was a despairing
moment for a lot of people. But it’s been almost two years now. were in the second year, right?
were still here, were alive, people are fighting. it’s an awareness now and that’s valuable. That’s
more valuable than if she had won and people didn’t know that they lived in the world they live
in. And so being able to have this dialogue about Skidmore, if nothing else, the people who are
interested in making change at Skidmore listen to all the different people have all these
different opinions and stories and histories about Skidmore, if you really want to make it a
better place, listen to what people have said. Don’t just take what they’re saying as truth, but
listen to the whole thing. What’s the points that seem to be sticking out? And how does that
relate to what the students right now are saying? What’s the parallel? What’s the dissonance?
It’s hard to be a leader. It’s easy to want to lead. It’s very hard to actually lead. But I’m excited
to see how Skidmore plays out over the next 10 years, see what kinds of students come here,
what changes happen, what changes don’t happen. Because there’s some things what just
shouldn’t change, but it shouldn’t not change simply because they don't want it to. There
should be a reason that it stays the same. If you can’t come up with that reason, then it’s got to
change. And I think any alum would be okay with it changing for the right reason. So I’m excited
to see how it all plays out.
ER: I’m excited to see what you do.
�16
JV: Oh well thank you. That's very nice.
ER: Thank you so much.
JV: My pleasure.
ER: This was really great.
JV: Absolutely. I enjoyed it.
�
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Oral History
Description
An account of the resource
Many people who have worked or studied at Skidmore College or lived in Saratoga Springs or the surrounding area carry the memories that help us tell the stories of our communities.
This collection offers a glimpse into our past in the voices of those who have shared their stories.
Oral History
A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge.
Interviewee
The person(s) being interviewed
Navarrete, Jacob
Location
The location of the interview
Lucy Scribner Library, Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, NY
Record Contributor
Individual who prepared the item and/or edited it.
Jordana Dym
Record Creation Date
Day/Month/Year of record creation/edit
6/27/18
Original Format
The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data
audio recording
Duration
Length of time involved (seconds, minutes, hours, days, class periods, etc.)
39:13:00
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1-Jun-18
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Rizzo, Emily, 18
Is Part Of
A related resource in which the described resource is physically or logically included.
Skidmore Saratoga Memory Project
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
Audio, Photo
Language
A language of the resource
English (eng.)
Description
An account of the resource
Navarrete, '08, from Dallas, Texas, graduated with a double major in psychology and history, focusing on existential psychology with Sheldon Solomon and American History with Jennifer Delton. He started working with Prof. Solomon in LS1 (Liberal Studies 1, an interdisciplinary course formerly required of all students), and soon began work as a tour guide. Eventually running the tour guide program, Navarrete both made connections on campus and was able to share his passion for the college. He joined SGA as a student senator in his first year, and was the last coordinator of diversity affairs, before the position became a Vice President of diversity affairs. After graduating from college, he worked in admissions and learned about how classes are shaped and chosen, and is current the associate head of upper school at the Auckland School, a Montessori school, in Dallas Texas. He recently finished a master's degree at Stanford University. He particularly values what he felt was a non-judgmental atmosphere with "unspoken encouragement" to experiment, have curiosity, 'explore yourself, to figure things out." He noted a shift in recruitment between 2004 and 2005, with Skidmore becoming increasingly selective, and wonders how classes following his fare that way. Back on campus, the smell of honeysuckle outside Tisch Learning Center, brought back memories of observation in the Early Childhood Center next door in Palamountain Hall. He welcomed increasing diversity on the faculty, as he had taken no classes from a male of color and only one female of color as professors. He would like to see more, faster, change on diversity, and welcomes the combination of the AOP and HEOP (opportunity programs) on campus.
Title
A name given to the resource
Interview with Jacob Navarrete, '08
admissions
alumni
Diversity
Latinx
Opportunity Program
oral history
Skidmore College
tour guide
-
https://www.ssmp.mdocs.skidmore.edu/files/original/57d08e4ad6cb7545ba35b102bfb00734.jpg
132511ed2d207cc2661dc8fca6bce113
https://www.ssmp.mdocs.skidmore.edu/files/original/4ac22e1dc72aa54d332218874d5a56b3.mp4
14382406027d8f68e4a8495dc6adcabc
https://www.ssmp.mdocs.skidmore.edu/files/original/9e4fc6a346942127c16d3bffd5febb6e.pdf
1dc29cea790eb1479789ea644f4de798
https://www.ssmp.mdocs.skidmore.edu/files/original/b21e4254d348eadaee87971336d82f0c.pdf
a80176cf039b0bd061cacc92885cbaa7
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Oral History
Description
An account of the resource
Many people who have worked or studied at Skidmore College or lived in Saratoga Springs or the surrounding area carry the memories that help us tell the stories of our communities.
This collection offers a glimpse into our past in the voices of those who have shared their stories.
Oral History
A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge.
Interviewer
The person(s) performing the interview
Samantha Murphy
Interviewee
The person(s) being interviewed
Joe Levy
Location
The location of the interview
Lucy Scribner Library, Saratoga Springs N.Y
Record Contributor
Individual who prepared the item and/or edited it.
Samantha Murphy
Record Creation Date
Day/Month/Year of record creation/edit
Nov. 1, 2019
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Interview with Joseph Levy
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
October 26, 2019
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Samantha Murphy, '23
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Joseph Levy
Is Part Of
A related resource in which the described resource is physically or logically included.
Skidmore Saratoga Memory Project
Description
An account of the resource
This is an interview with Joesph Levy, a photographer who moved to Saratoga in the 70's. He is known for is photography at the Saratoga Race Track, and also ran for state senate with the Green Party. Levy has made an impact on the arts community in Saratoga and is keeping the Green party alive for future generations. In this interview, you will learn about his life growing up, his life in Saratoga and his work in politics.
Arts Photographer
Green Party
Hyde Collection
Photographer
Photography
Saratoga Arts
Saratoga Arts Workshop
Saratoga County
Saratoga County Green Party
Saratoga County Politics
Saratoga Race Course
St Yaddow
Track Photographer
-
https://www.ssmp.mdocs.skidmore.edu/files/original/4d33950c94bc655985c40dc76031f4b2.jpg
2f2a9859cb417db2e4810ec0bf4cfc1b
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Oral History
Description
An account of the resource
Many people who have worked or studied at Skidmore College or lived in Saratoga Springs or the surrounding area carry the memories that help us tell the stories of our communities.
This collection offers a glimpse into our past in the voices of those who have shared their stories.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Aldo and Dennis-Cenus
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Sarah Coburn
-
https://www.ssmp.mdocs.skidmore.edu/files/original/8444139072e711b47e6d656476755e9d.jpg
9586bbe014d52fd0f899ecfeffc1f6fa
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Oral History
Description
An account of the resource
Many people who have worked or studied at Skidmore College or lived in Saratoga Springs or the surrounding area carry the memories that help us tell the stories of our communities.
This collection offers a glimpse into our past in the voices of those who have shared their stories.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Aldo and Dennis- Are Latinx United?
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Sarah Coburn
-
https://www.ssmp.mdocs.skidmore.edu/files/original/92637a302d763b7aca4b34756fca4fb4.png
b5c1ab1a581c3576b1cbdc4963900a41
https://www.ssmp.mdocs.skidmore.edu/files/original/de5dfa3e5054ca3d727696343078fc4c.mp3
49469dba0c1a4932facb2fef9a1febf2
https://www.ssmp.mdocs.skidmore.edu/files/original/4f734966b92b1f0d61fad28ac159e5c4.pdf
56077aba05c538b94d503f382d438d1c
https://www.ssmp.mdocs.skidmore.edu/files/original/115566a603ddb65e7b7cc090ce97d2be.pdf
8e09d0a66766973b790704c32d9f6634
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Oral History
Description
An account of the resource
Many people who have worked or studied at Skidmore College or lived in Saratoga Springs or the surrounding area carry the memories that help us tell the stories of our communities.
This collection offers a glimpse into our past in the voices of those who have shared their stories.
Oral History
A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge.
Interviewer
The person(s) performing the interview
Sophia Spelman
Record Contributor
Individual who prepared the item and/or edited it.
Sophia Spelman
Interviewee
The person(s) being interviewed
Herta Spencer
Location
The location of the interview
Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, NY (via Zoom) &
Saratoga Springs, NY (via Zoom)
Duration
Length of time involved (seconds, minutes, hours, days, class periods, etc.)
01:09:54
Record Creation Date
Day/Month/Year of record creation/edit
13/11/2020
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Interview with Herta Spencer
Language
A language of the resource
English (en)
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Herta Spencer
Sophia Spelman
Lois Celeste
Nursing Home Staff Member
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Sophia Spelman
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Oral History
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
October 27, 2020
Description
An account of the resource
This interview was conducted by a student in Skidmore College’s oral history class and is part of the Saratoga Senior Center project, “Preserving Our Past.” Herta Spencer—originally from Austria—has lived in New York City, New Jersey, Switzerland, Connecticut, and the Capital Region of New York State. In this interview she recounts fleeing Nazi-occupied Austria, attending college and medical school, and working as a psychiatrist during the mid-twentieth century.
Is Part Of
A related resource in which the described resource is physically or logically included.
Skidmore Saratoga Memory Project
Date Created
Date of creation of the resource.
November 29, 2020
-
https://www.ssmp.mdocs.skidmore.edu/files/original/ba9e0a4a1c18b780829770b2fcb21002.mp3
02c236a9adb5311329626f9efdf25f0f
https://www.ssmp.mdocs.skidmore.edu/files/original/d07535096f3ef0b580cda8eea464de2b.jpg
fbc61a7d9d9c4d35313132759b71a87e
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Relais sur glace, ou abalakov.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
January 18, 2014
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
<a title="Wikimedia File" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Abalakov.jpg">https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Abalakov.jpg</a>
Description
An account of the resource
Ice climbing gear taken at 45° 34′ 11.78″ N, 7° 19′ 31.87″ E
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Fanny Schertzer
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
J. Dym
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
Creative Commons
Medium
The material or physical carrier of the resource.
digital photograph
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Oral History
Description
An account of the resource
Many people who have worked or studied at Skidmore College or lived in Saratoga Springs or the surrounding area carry the memories that help us tell the stories of our communities.
This collection offers a glimpse into our past in the voices of those who have shared their stories.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Ice Ice Bébé
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
April 29, 2016
Description
An account of the resource
An interview with Skidmore Biology faculty member Erika Schielke by Stephen McCann, '16, as part of Producing Radio Doc, Spring 2015, taught by Eileen McAdam
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Stephen McCann
Subject
The topic of the resource
Skidmore College -- Faculty -- Oral History
Skidmore College -- Documentary Project -- Student
Skidmore College -- Documentary Project -- Audio
-
https://www.ssmp.mdocs.skidmore.edu/files/original/a78b73ca5f1ef2c77534f84dda7fc119.jpg
9e8f68358234541a754b6beaacdab222
https://www.ssmp.mdocs.skidmore.edu/files/original/bd4cd4fc43b9e627170effa398127c0b.jpg
a05a3fad0bc28eb5e76afc32626d6809
https://www.ssmp.mdocs.skidmore.edu/files/original/6e3c37674b44daf5aed44aa7874eba60.jpg
3b273cfe7e6fff2ef73898fb37d8f004
https://www.ssmp.mdocs.skidmore.edu/files/original/d9e4e508132a89f5d9a610b5c2205594.jpeg
a840e28a2e91a4026a0e25719b712a21
https://www.ssmp.mdocs.skidmore.edu/files/original/9f6ececc484d8f5d5d1ee25588ff8652.jpg
7b475becfcadd023568fc5fcb2966386
https://www.ssmp.mdocs.skidmore.edu/files/original/73d6495223e79a43a0f211f83ab56fd5.zip
dbfe21b956e09f045f29ab7220de86fd
https://www.ssmp.mdocs.skidmore.edu/files/original/e599aad7b90889339f4f9021aae281fb.zip
21e2d0efebaf5cfcd74ea3f95404c2f8
https://www.ssmp.mdocs.skidmore.edu/files/original/603a56e14bbe5f1b3a7fc59f0dde5ff0.m4a
957ccf2788fce239514ee6fa31565486
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Oral History
Description
An account of the resource
Many people who have worked or studied at Skidmore College or lived in Saratoga Springs or the surrounding area carry the memories that help us tell the stories of our communities.
This collection offers a glimpse into our past in the voices of those who have shared their stories.
Oral History
A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge.
Location
The location of the interview
Woodstock, VT
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Stacey Gerrish Interview
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
August 30, 2015
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Stern, Rebecca
Dym, Jordana
Subject
The topic of the resource
Skidmore College -- alumni -- student days
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Gerrish, Stacey
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
(C) MDOCS
Relation
A related resource
Interview with Ms. Gerrish' grandmother <a title="Barbara Stroock Kaufman" href="http://ssmp.skidmore.edu/document/241" target="_self">Barbara Stroock Kaufman</a>
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
audio interview
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
oral history
Abstract
A summary of the resource.
An interview with Stacey Gerrish, '87, about her college days at Skidmore College. MDOCS interviewed Ms. Gerrish' grandmother on the same day.
Date Copyrighted
Date of copyright.
2015
Description
An account of the resource
An interview with Stacey Gerrish, '87, about her college days at Skidmore College. MDOCS interviewed Ms. Gerrish' grandmother on the same day. Ms. Gerrish talked about teaching a friend to drive, her work reading the news at WSPN and other memories.
alumna
alumni
interview
oral history
WSPN
-
https://www.ssmp.mdocs.skidmore.edu/files/original/3bce122b764ea6ba4bef43a6d162e506.jpg
dade20f81fe2ea7696bbfae2e8147b30
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Jan Saglia
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
June 4, 2016
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Dorothea Trufelman, '16
https://www.ssmp.mdocs.skidmore.edu/files/original/cc26cefe6902787734243e39745b0bf0.jpg
f06cf85dd3ae28b09279743737b239af
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Three generations of Skidmore, including Elana Scaglia, '15
https://www.ssmp.mdocs.skidmore.edu/files/original/7cf9d4f8806eada1260b61a21e81da53.mp3
8eb704c31241c989b9a5d369e0380876
https://www.ssmp.mdocs.skidmore.edu/files/original/9689ad18e91c96bcda526ec460cd5778.docx
ca1f1a4bca54d74e201e0cf72440852a
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Oral History
Description
An account of the resource
Many people who have worked or studied at Skidmore College or lived in Saratoga Springs or the surrounding area carry the memories that help us tell the stories of our communities.
This collection offers a glimpse into our past in the voices of those who have shared their stories.
Oral History
A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge.
Interviewer
The person(s) performing the interview
Rebecca Zosia Stern '16
Interviewee
The person(s) being interviewed
Jan Scalia '86
Location
The location of the interview
Skidmore College
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Jan Scaglia '86, Interview
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
June 3, 2016
Is Part Of
A related resource in which the described resource is physically or logically included.
Skidmore Saratoga Memory Project
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
Audio
Description
An account of the resource
During her time at the College, Jan Scalia '86 majored in Studio Art and enjoyed helping with dance activities. In this interview, she discusses her tri-generational family: her mother graduated in '59 and her daughter in '15. She also discusses drinking culture, January term, and a professor "scandal."
Language
A language of the resource
English (eng.)
Date Modified
Date on which the resource was changed.
June 4, 2016
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Stern, Rebecca Zosia, '16
Alhambra
alumna
alumni
art history
arts
Barclay's
caring faculty
close-knit community
coed
Connecticut
development
dormitory
drinking age
Elana Scaglia
friendships
J-Term
Jonsson Tower
new campus
old campus
Pat's
Saratoga Springs
Scribner Village
second generation Skiddie
Skidmore child
Skidmore College
Skidmore parent
social life
tri-generational
-
https://www.ssmp.mdocs.skidmore.edu/files/original/efc8c15eac9a46497ab0e5edabe7dc8a.jpg
9b8474f88e40e88878009d56330441ee
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Matthew Rosen, '76
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Dorothea Trufelman, '16
https://www.ssmp.mdocs.skidmore.edu/files/original/3930cfd2ce9c6fabbf9d13b04d9e7f97.mp3
01b2d2713471176bc41514c79cc695fd
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Oral History
Description
An account of the resource
Many people who have worked or studied at Skidmore College or lived in Saratoga Springs or the surrounding area carry the memories that help us tell the stories of our communities.
This collection offers a glimpse into our past in the voices of those who have shared their stories.
Oral History
A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge.
Interviewer
The person(s) performing the interview
Rebecca Zosia Stern '16
Interviewee
The person(s) being interviewed
Matthew Rosen '76
Location
The location of the interview
Skidmore College
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Matthew Rosen '76 Interview
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
June 3, 2016
Is Part Of
A related resource in which the described resource is physically or logically included.
Skidmore Saratoga Memory Project
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
Audio
Description
An account of the resource
During his time at Skidmore, Matthew Rosen '76 participated in Student Government as senior class president and played recreational tennis. In this interview, conducted on Alumni Reunion Weekend, Rosen recollects vivid memories on the Wilmarth Dorm fire, where one student died, and the process of choosing Carl Sagan as his class' commencement speaker.
Language
A language of the resource
English (eng.)
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Stern, Rebecca Zosia, '16
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Stern, Rebecca Zosia, '16
alumni
arts
business
cafeteria
campus job
Carl Sagan
Clare Oles
class president
coed
commencement speaker
Dean Oles
downtown campus
history major
John Harris
lifelong friendship
new campus
Ohio
old campus
Peabody dormitory
Pete Sipperly
Ralph Sciancio
reunion weekend
SGA
Skidmore College
Spanish
student government
tennis
tragedy
Wilmarth dormitory fire
-
https://www.ssmp.mdocs.skidmore.edu/files/original/e20f32f9d25f8c56cb58d59bc0151c01.jpg
0f156de29d7b56e4389b5034a104be36
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Janet Copeland Eschenlauer, 56
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
June 4, 2016
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Dorothea Trufelman, '16
https://www.ssmp.mdocs.skidmore.edu/files/original/9a382b1c56813ac827798d09bd4f2f08.mp3
0bbd541cb344d3f97a30cfa52c21c447
https://www.ssmp.mdocs.skidmore.edu/files/original/7b39ab9034693fbaf8a406e19726aae4.docx
7fdfd2f2d1cb829bdb8a7bad1df71064
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Oral History
Description
An account of the resource
Many people who have worked or studied at Skidmore College or lived in Saratoga Springs or the surrounding area carry the memories that help us tell the stories of our communities.
This collection offers a glimpse into our past in the voices of those who have shared their stories.
Oral History
A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge.
Interviewer
The person(s) performing the interview
Rebecca Zosia Stern '16
Interviewee
The person(s) being interviewed
Janet Copeland Eschenlauer '56
Location
The location of the interview
Skidmore College
Record Contributor
Individual who prepared the item and/or edited it.
Rebecca Stern, '16
Record Creation Date
Day/Month/Year of record creation/edit
04/06/2016
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Janet Copeland Eschenlauer '56
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
June 3, 2016
Is Part Of
A related resource in which the described resource is physically or logically included.
Skidmore Saratoga Memory Project
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
Audio, Photo
Language
A language of the resource
English (eng.)
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Stern, Rebecca Zosia, '16
alumna
alumni
arts
ballet
bibs for first year students
biology
chapel
coed
dance
dormitory
downtown campus
East House
mathematics
Melissa Hayden
modern dance
New Jersey
physical education
reunion weekend
Skidmore College
student clubs
welcoming community
-
https://www.ssmp.mdocs.skidmore.edu/files/original/5882d776f20a7a4b1f00d24a3896b0c7.jpg
3166bb475303964fd41c7784615ee8f3
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
David Miner, '91
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
June 4, 2016
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Dorothea Trufelman, '16
https://www.ssmp.mdocs.skidmore.edu/files/original/2fec22ee965a24a00d538db5dd661498.mp3
8742e22086c7197468182688f23a6cbe
https://www.ssmp.mdocs.skidmore.edu/files/original/ee97184191ad81bdd66d082ee1734fde.docx
3b1b8e9ad099424044c915062bf22fb6
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Oral History
Description
An account of the resource
Many people who have worked or studied at Skidmore College or lived in Saratoga Springs or the surrounding area carry the memories that help us tell the stories of our communities.
This collection offers a glimpse into our past in the voices of those who have shared their stories.
Oral History
A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge.
Interviewer
The person(s) performing the interview
Rebecca Zosia Stern '16
Interviewee
The person(s) being interviewed
David Miner '91
Location
The location of the interview
Skidmore College
Record Creation Date
Day/Month/Year of record creation/edit
04/06/2016
Record Contributor
Individual who prepared the item and/or edited it.
Rebecca Stern, '16
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
David Miner '91
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
June 3, 2016
Is Part Of
A related resource in which the described resource is physically or logically included.
Skidmore Saratoga Memory Project
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
Audio, Photo
Language
A language of the resource
English (eng.)
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Stern, Rebecca Zosia, '16
alumni
Arthur Miller
comedy
ComFest
David Porter
Skidmore College
Skidmore marriage
student club