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A five-year project originally conceived of as a "picture book with a short essay" has come to fruition in a much more comprehensive form as the first scholarly history 火博体育学院的.

作者:美国研究名誉教授玛丽C. 林恩, 不要制定小计划—at 489 pages and more than 200 photos—is an in-depth look at the growth and development 火博体育的.

林恩 has traced the chronology of the Young Women's Industrial Club and the Skidmore School of Arts, the early years 火博体育学院的, the Depression and war years at the college, pivotal changes during the 1960s and 1970s and such themes as academics 以及校园生活. 这是一项合作的努力. 历史学教授Patricia Ann Lee wrote a chapter on college founder Lucy Skidmore Scribner; there are forewords by President Emeritus David 行李搬运工人 and former 学院院长 Phyllis 罗斯; and 这本书以美国前总统贾米安. Studley. 范围 Sue Rosenberg编辑了这本书.

When college officials asked 林恩 to tackle the Skidmore history, she reports, "At first I said no, because this is often a job given to the oldest living faculty member, 我觉得我还不够老!她同意重新考虑，开始之后 to work, she says that she realized it needed to be a full-scale research project 而不是一组照片和一篇短文.

A historian by training, 林恩 says one of her biggest hurdles was learning at the outset of the project that the college archives were temporarily inaccessible due 到刚刚开始的斯克里布纳图书馆翻新工程. 然而她发现 乌云中有一线光明. “结果是一件好事，”她解释说. “因为 I was forced to search the campus for records, and in North Hall I found two boxes 的材料. They were marked '火博体育大学 Historical and Cultural' and contained letters written by 学生, staff and administrators, about all aspects of college 生活，从20世纪10年代到60年代."

看完材料后，林恩想:“这太令人兴奋了.一个文件夹 labeled "The War Years" contained "wonderful, quite touching" documents. 她学会了 that a small labor crisis developed during the 1940s "when all the housekeepers and waitresses quit working at the college to take jobs in the defense industry. 因此, 学生 were enlisted to perform community service activities in dormitories and 食堂." One letter told of a housekeeper who found a pistol under a student's 床上. "It turned out to be the student's fiance's dearest possession, and she was keeping 当他从战场上回来的时候，”林恩回忆道.

“Here we were, in the late 1990s, 25 years into Margaret's retirement, talking to 火博体育的事. ... 当我们和玛格丽特谈话时，她已经是一位老妇人了 她几乎失明了，而且——后来证明是在她生命的尽头. 然而她却如此 快乐的. 我们欣喜若狂.”

林恩 had help from student researchers Karen Northrop '96, Kelli Butler '97 and Krista 参议员99年. 她 and the 学生 spent time at the 萨拉托加温泉市 Public Library, the basement storeroom of the Presbyterian church, the college archives (after the 图书馆重新开放)和校园里满是灰尘的壁橱. 林恩最喜欢的工作之一就是面试 他们对火博体育的回忆. 总共有大约60个面试， 其中一些尤其令人难忘. 林恩说:“克里斯塔和我一起去谈话 to Margaret Paulding (professor emerita of physical education and former chair of 部门). 她在20世纪30年代末来到火博体育，我们就在这里 late 1990s, 25 years into Margaret's retirement, talking to 火博体育的事. 她 still loved Skidmore and felt that it had given her much to enhance her life. 在 time we spoke to her, Margaret was an elderly woman who was nearly blind, and—as it 结果——在她生命的最后一刻. 然而她是如此的快乐. 之后我们都很兴奋 和她谈话."

Others whose memories had special significance were former first ladies Ruth 威尔逊, 安妮·帕拉蒙特和海伦·波特. 林恩说:“我对什么有了全新的认识 火博体育的生活对他们来说是怎样的."

林恩 says she treasures many memories from Skidmore's history, but some—like the tale 火博体育唯一的足球比赛——真正闪耀. 这件事发生在1946年，当时火博体育 temporarily opened its doors to male 学生, many of whom were veterans. 学院 had two campuses—in Glens Falls and in 萨拉托加温泉市—where men enrolled as day 学生. Says 林恩: "They wanted a 'real' college education, which included a strong 运动经验. 于是他们组织了一支足球队，向瓦萨大学的学生们发起挑战 去看一场比赛. 瓦萨学院的校长代表瓦萨学生拒绝了. 最后, the Skidmore football team organized a game with the Brown School—a prep school for 他们住在现在的萨里·威廉姆森客栈里.

"Approximately 1,500 people attended the game, which took place on the old campus 比赛以一场0比0的平局结束. 这个故事出现在新闻短片里 day and according the "Skidmore 新闻," was reported in more that 300 newspapers."

其他轶事之所以能引起共鸣，是因为它们呼应了校园里正在进行的主题. 林恩回忆起 spring 1971 incident in which a group of white and African-American 学生 seized the office of then-President Joe Palamountain and demanded the establishment of an Afro-American studies department and the enrollment of more minority 学生. 她 explains, "学院 was in terrible financial condition at the time and not very 响应学生的要求. 事实上，学院获得了法院的禁令 结束对总统办公室的占领. 但这两个学生都很坚定 and committed to make Skidmore more ethnically diverse, so about six months later some of then spent their January winter term working to recruit 学生 of color. And while it was not a wholly successful initiative, it did give the 学生 an idea 试图实现重大变革所涉及的困难."

One student who spent January 1972 working to make Skidmore a better place was Trustee Linda Jackson-Chalmer '73, who, according to the book, "noted that her activism 'shows how much we liked the college,' as she and others worked to help Skidmore become more 多样化，而不是放弃，转到另一所大学."

Now that her task is finished, 林恩 is reluctant to indicate which part of the job 是她的最爱. “研究和写作都很有趣，”她承认. “就发现东西而言，这项研究非常棒. 我一直很喜欢侦探小说， 有很多这样的事. 但写作是一种将秩序强加于整体的方式 大量的混沌信息. 我权衡了证据，数据和希望 令人信服的论据."

In addition to her writing and research collaborators, 林恩 says she is especially grateful for "two people who made the project possible": Rosenberg, her editor, "who made my prose so much better"; and Michele Dunkerley '80, whose 20th-reunion gift 学校资助了这本书的出版. 林恩称邓克利是个“了不起的人” 她是一个聪明活泼的学生. 她的贡献意味着我们可以提供这个 该书面向更广泛的读者，包括在校学生."

不要制定小计划 在火博体育商店出售(外. 5490)或网上查询.

(转载自2000年12月18日至31日的 火博体育对讲机.)