Gerald W. McFarland oral history with Daniel Chard
Description:
McFarland (Ph.D., History, Columbia University, 1965) began working in the UMass Department of History in 1964 and retired in 2008. He has taught hundreds of students and published four books and numerous articles dealing with various topics in U.S. history, such as party politics during the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, American westward expansion, crime and society in early nineteenth century Vermont, and Greenwich Village during the first two decades of the twentieth century. In this interview, Dr. McFarland discusses changes in UMass, the Department of History, and the history profession since the 1960s; his experiences teaching and advising UMass undergraduates; and the challenges of serving as Department Head from 1975-78, during a period of decreased state funding for public higher education.
Requests to publish, redistribute, or replicate this material should be addressed to the Swift River Valley Historical Society through Special Collections and University Archives, University of Massachusetts Amherst Libraries.
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