Saint Mary's University Oral History Project

Hansel Cook, Saint Mary's University Archives, Canada
http://www.smu.ca/administration/archives/oral

Demonstration: Demonstrations - Session 1

Saint Mary's University is a 200-year old institution with a rich and dynamic history. First opened as a seminary in downtown Halifax, Nova Scotia, it soon became a degree-granting college run by various religious orders. Since 1970 it has been a secular, co-educational university that today has more than 9000 students enrolled.

In 1993 a group of faculty began the task of documenting the University's rich history with the creation of the Summer Research Interview project. 53 former and current students, faculty, and staff were interviewed about their time at the school. When the University began its 200th anniversary celebrations in 2002 a new set of interviews were done, and every year since then they have been added to.

The information contained in these interviews covers not only the diverse history of Saint Mary's, but is also a snapshot of life in Halifax over the last sixty-plus years and a broad examination of the changes in academia. Researchers interested in general subjects such as co-education, secularization, and unionization in an academic environment will find the interviews to be a rich source of primary research material.

All interview transcripts have been fully indexed and added to a database. The Oral History Project web site allows the visitor to browse or search that database and read the full-text of the transcripts. Visitors can also sign up for interviews or, if they prefer, leave behind their own recollections using the memory submission form.

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