The Past in the Present at IU
This online exhibit explores the history of Indiana University through oral history interviews and the Indiana Daily Student. The interviews presented here were conducted in two projects, from 1968 to 1981 and 1991 to 2001. Articles from the Indiana Daily Student cover several major events in the history of Indiana University, and add context to the memories discussed
The "Past in the Present at IU" puts two generations into conversation by focusing on the moment in time when their paths crossed. The recollections of one generation’s past collide with the present moment for a generation still in motion. The earlier generation, while sharing stories of their own youth, is also commenting on the student unrest of the 1960s and 1970s. They are contrasting their own experiences at the university with those of the younger generation. In the second wave of interviews, this younger generation is recalling their conflict with that same earlier generation’s attitudes and assumptions.
We see the unfolding of important events in real-time in the Indiana Daily Student. Articles come from across the twentieth century, with particular attention paid to the moments when these two generations came into contact. The Indiana Daily Student content from this era captures the tension that characterized the present
moment of these interview.
The memories shared in these interviews are retrospective constructions. Oral history provides a new context for the re-telling of personal experiences. These interviews show former students, faculty, and staff, remembering a past that has been, “... constructed and reconstructed as part of a contemporary consciousness.” Yet the socially constructed nature of memory only enriches our understanding of the past. What makes oral history so useful is that it provides a space for competing interpretations of the past.
Features of this exhibit highlight former students recalling social life and Bloomington hangouts. African-Americans and women talk about challenges faced as students. Many of the faculty and administrators in this collection first came to Indiana University as students in the interwar period. They give us the long view of campus changes. Interviewees also consider various student movements of the late 1960s and early 1970s, memorable athletic events, and the effects of World War I and World War II on the development of Indiana University.