Ferrell, Robert February 13, 1998

Creator:

Sheehan, Steven

Scope and content:

Robert H. Ferrell discusses his tenure as a professor at the Indiana University Department of History. He describes how his experiences as a soldier in World War II made him interested in studying history. He talks about his graduate experience at Yale and his mentor, Samuel Bemis. He describes the writing of his dissertation, and other publications after that. He talks about people he knows in the history department, and contacts with other historians in the United States. He describes the importance of being a good teacher as well as a good scholar, which he feels are inseparable despite the push in universities today where scholarship and publishing are valued far above teaching skills. He speaks of the declining quality of students since the 1960s. Finally, he speaks of the reasons for his retirement.

Physical description:

43 pages; 3 cassettes, 1 7/8 ips, 2 hours, 50 minutes; index

Subjects:

pianist
American history studies
Foreign Relations of the United States
Indiana University hiring practices
publishing
study habits
teaching
World War II
writing styles

Names:

Bemis, Samuel Flagg
Benns, Lee
Bryan, William Lowe
Buley, Roscoe Carlyle
Byrd, Cecil
Byrnes, Robert F.
Castle, William R., Jr.
Curtis, Lewis
Dulles, Foster Rhea
Ehrlich, Thomas
Friedman, Larry
Grant, James
Grossberg, Michael
Gucker, Frank Thomson
Jameson, J. Franklin
Kaplan, Larry
Kohlmeier, Albert Ludwig
Kunz, Diane
Lowengrub, Mort
O’Neil, Bob
Ryan, John W.
Stark, Lloyd
Truman, President Harry
Wells, Herman B.
Winther, Oscar Osburn

Access and use