Description
This collection contains oral history interviews with faculty and students involved with
the creation and early years of the Program on Urban Studies at Stanford. Participants
recall how they got interested in urban studies as a field, their participation in the
administration of the program, and some of the courses in the program.
Background
Piloted in the fall of 1969 by a committee of the Associated Students of Stanford
University (ASSU), the Stanford Program on Urban Studies began in an age of experimentation
with student-initiated curriculum. At the time, the program consisted of three courses run
by a single student administrator. In 1985, the program was authorized to grant Bachelor of
Arts degrees; by 2020, the program listed or cross-listed some forty courses and was home to
approximately thirty undergraduate majors and minors. Timed to follow closely on the
program's 50th anniversary, this oral history project uses documentary sources and
interviews with affiliated faculty, program leaders, and students to understand how and why
the Program on Urban Studies was started, and how it has changed over time. The project aims
to produce more than just an institutional history; it hopes to illuminate larger themes in
the history of student activism, and in the politics of urban knowledge.
Restrictions
While Special Collections is the owner of the physical and digital items, permission to
examine collection materials is not an authorization to publish. These materials are made
available for use in research, teaching, and private study. Any transmission or reproduction
beyond that allowed by fair use requires permission from the owners of rights, heir(s) or
assigns. See: http://library.stanford.edu/spc/using-collections/permission-publish
Availability
Some materials are restricted to users with a Stanford University ID or may be embargoed
until a later date