News from the Oral History Archives

In the 1930s, journalist, biographer, and Columbia professor of history, Allan Nevins began to worry that future historians would find a dearth of evidence documenting the personal side of historic events because ephemeral telephone conversations were replacing letter writing. Nevins began experimenting with what he called oral autobiography: interviews with “living Americans who have led […]

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Go Set a Watchman in the papers of Harper Lee’s literary agents

HarperCollins publishes Harper Lee’s novel Go Set a Watchman today, July 14, 2015.  With an initial print run of 2 million copies, this is the most highly anticipated book release of the year, carefully promoted by HarperCollins since their February 3rd announcement . Go Set a Watchman’s publication has also generated advance press in the form of controversy. HarperCollins has billed […]

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