985 24 26018 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/d4d5d5c1dbcad75895d206151dab1e92.jpg 953ce5259673fcc18ba2dcdb4da23f45 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Faces of Grand Valley Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource University Communications Description An account of the resource A non-comprehensive collection of photographs of Grand Valley faculty, staff, administrators, board members, friends, and alumni. Photos collected by University Communications for use in promotion and information sharing about Grand Valley with the wider community. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1960s - 1990s Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived GV012-03. University Communications. Vita Files Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource In Copryight Subject The topic of the resource Grand Valley State University College administrators College teachers Colleges and universities -- Faculty Michigan Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. Special Collections and University Archives Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context GV012-03 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpeg Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Language A language of the resource eng Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context ToftRobert_Photo05 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. University Communications Title A name given to the resource Toft, Robert Description An account of the resource Robert Toft, Dean of College IV Subject The topic of the resource Grand Valley State University – History College administrators Colleges and universities – Faculty Michigan Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Communications. Vita Files, 1968-2016 (GV012-03) Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. Special Collections and University Archives Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource In Copyright Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpeg Language A language of the resource eng https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/30c34670912b56147e623fea4407cbbc.jpg c59f9fa3789803f1ff11a83d7b0294a8 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Faces of Grand Valley Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource University Communications Description An account of the resource A non-comprehensive collection of photographs of Grand Valley faculty, staff, administrators, board members, friends, and alumni. Photos collected by University Communications for use in promotion and information sharing about Grand Valley with the wider community. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1960s - 1990s Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived GV012-03. University Communications. Vita Files Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource In Copryight Subject The topic of the resource Grand Valley State University College administrators College teachers Colleges and universities -- Faculty Michigan Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. Special Collections and University Archives Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context GV012-03 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpeg Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Language A language of the resource eng Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context ToftRobert_Photo06 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. University Communications Title A name given to the resource Toft, Robert Description An account of the resource Robert Toft, Dean of College IV Subject The topic of the resource Grand Valley State University – History College administrators Colleges and universities – Faculty Michigan Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Communications. Vita Files, 1968-2016 (GV012-03) Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. Special Collections and University Archives Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource In Copyright Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpeg Language A language of the resource eng https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/ff074a03748f1618d387c210c4c315f5.jpg 4895464c2a67a2db9ac71ae02d279139 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Faces of Grand Valley Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource University Communications Description An account of the resource A non-comprehensive collection of photographs of Grand Valley faculty, staff, administrators, board members, friends, and alumni. Photos collected by University Communications for use in promotion and information sharing about Grand Valley with the wider community. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1960s - 1990s Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived GV012-03. University Communications. Vita Files Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource In Copryight Subject The topic of the resource Grand Valley State University College administrators College teachers Colleges and universities -- Faculty Michigan Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. Special Collections and University Archives Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context GV012-03 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpeg Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Language A language of the resource eng Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context ToftRobert_Photo07 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. University Communications Title A name given to the resource Toft, Robert Description An account of the resource Robert Toft, Dean of College IV Subject The topic of the resource Grand Valley State University – History College administrators Colleges and universities – Faculty Michigan Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Communications. Vita Files, 1968-2016 (GV012-03) Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. Special Collections and University Archives Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource In Copyright Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpeg Language A language of the resource eng https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/8f2fd6c1188c3ab9edbad03eb8953ff5.jpg 8886e726986a996c82c7297e28814d7c Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Faces of Grand Valley Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource University Communications Description An account of the resource A non-comprehensive collection of photographs of Grand Valley faculty, staff, administrators, board members, friends, and alumni. Photos collected by University Communications for use in promotion and information sharing about Grand Valley with the wider community. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1960s - 1990s Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived GV012-03. University Communications. Vita Files Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource In Copryight Subject The topic of the resource Grand Valley State University College administrators College teachers Colleges and universities -- Faculty Michigan Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. Special Collections and University Archives Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context GV012-03 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpeg Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Language A language of the resource eng Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context ToftRobert_Photo08 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. University Communications Title A name given to the resource Toft, Robert Description An account of the resource Robert Toft, Dean of College IV Subject The topic of the resource Grand Valley State University – History College administrators Colleges and universities – Faculty Michigan Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Communications. Vita Files, 1968-2016 (GV012-03) Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. Special Collections and University Archives Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource In Copyright Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpeg Language A language of the resource eng https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/1537fb899e44c2c8d9b7fa290d46a8e1.jpg 8c2d73294fef4bff2ec6f4ff75a4390e Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Faces of Grand Valley Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource University Communications Description An account of the resource A non-comprehensive collection of photographs of Grand Valley faculty, staff, administrators, board members, friends, and alumni. Photos collected by University Communications for use in promotion and information sharing about Grand Valley with the wider community. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1960s - 1990s Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived GV012-03. University Communications. Vita Files Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource In Copryight Subject The topic of the resource Grand Valley State University College administrators College teachers Colleges and universities -- Faculty Michigan Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. Special Collections and University Archives Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context GV012-03 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpeg Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Language A language of the resource eng Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context ToftRobert_Photo09 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. University Communications Title A name given to the resource Toft, Robert Description An account of the resource Robert Toft, Dean of College IV Subject The topic of the resource Grand Valley State University – History College administrators Colleges and universities – Faculty Michigan Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Communications. Vita Files, 1968-2016 (GV012-03) Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. Special Collections and University Archives Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource In Copyright Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpeg Language A language of the resource eng https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/b90aa917a5c31d871a6f2ef48338492d.jpg a3623825786cbefa67612b1edc74f0fa Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Faces of Grand Valley Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource University Communications Description An account of the resource A non-comprehensive collection of photographs of Grand Valley faculty, staff, administrators, board members, friends, and alumni. Photos collected by University Communications for use in promotion and information sharing about Grand Valley with the wider community. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1960s - 1990s Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived GV012-03. University Communications. Vita Files Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource In Copryight Subject The topic of the resource Grand Valley State University College administrators College teachers Colleges and universities -- Faculty Michigan Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. Special Collections and University Archives Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context GV012-03 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpeg Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Language A language of the resource eng Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context ToftRobert_Photo10 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. University Communications Title A name given to the resource Toft, Robert Description An account of the resource Robert Toft, Dean of College IV Subject The topic of the resource Grand Valley State University – History College administrators Colleges and universities – Faculty Michigan Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Communications. Vita Files, 1968-2016 (GV012-03) Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. Special Collections and University Archives Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource In Copyright Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpeg Language A language of the resource eng https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/7b1aa66a50432fab1a4d8486f459b22b.jpg e9f3c2a1fd5df1b774f9668f57931605 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Robert H. Merrill photographs Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Merrill, Robert H., 1881-1955 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1909/1950 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Robert H. Merrill papers (RHC-222) Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource In Copyright Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-222 Description An account of the resource Photographs, negatives, and lantern slides digitized from the papers of engineer and archaeologist Robert H. Merrill. A Grand Rapids native, Merrill held an accomplished career as a civil engineer. He founded the company Spooner & Merrill, which held offices in Grand Rapids and Chicago. From 1919-1921, Merrill lived in China, working as Assistant Principal Engineer on a reconstruction of the Grand Canal - the oldest and longest canal system in the world. Merrill became fascinated by archaeology, and among other projects, he traveled to the Uxmal Pyramids in Yucatan, Mexico, with a research expedition from Tulane University. Merrill's photo collection includes images of his travels and projects, friends and family. Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Merrill_NE_58_1924_018 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1924-06 Title A name given to the resource Tokepa, Kansas Description An account of the resource Black and white photograph of the back of a trolley car. Three people are sitting at the back of the trolley and two people are standing and leaning against the railing. A circular sign on the back of the trolley reads "Golden State." Subject The topic of the resource Topeka (Kan.) Trolley cars Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Robert H. Merrill papers (RHC-222) Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource In Copyright Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpg Language A language of the resource eng Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Merrill, Robert H., 1881-1955 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/f22a67360b4e18fee5ceb08a2975a51a.jpg 301a70d3d922903aab54613939b5a4bf Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Robert H. Merrill photographs Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Merrill, Robert H., 1881-1955 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1909/1950 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Robert H. Merrill papers (RHC-222) Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource In Copyright Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-222 Description An account of the resource Photographs, negatives, and lantern slides digitized from the papers of engineer and archaeologist Robert H. Merrill. A Grand Rapids native, Merrill held an accomplished career as a civil engineer. He founded the company Spooner & Merrill, which held offices in Grand Rapids and Chicago. From 1919-1921, Merrill lived in China, working as Assistant Principal Engineer on a reconstruction of the Grand Canal - the oldest and longest canal system in the world. Merrill became fascinated by archaeology, and among other projects, he traveled to the Uxmal Pyramids in Yucatan, Mexico, with a research expedition from Tulane University. Merrill's photo collection includes images of his travels and projects, friends and family. Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Merrill_LS00017 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource circa 1918 Title A name given to the resource Tokio Description An account of the resource Black and white lantern slide of a view of Tokyo, Japan skyline and rooftops, take from a cemetery. Subject The topic of the resource Lantern slides Tokyo (Japan) Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Robert H. Merrill papers (RHC-222) Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource In Copyright Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpg Language A language of the resource eng Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Merrill, Robert H., 1881-1955 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/9b18034c105d7df6b4e0c1e4bfd721d6.m4v 24133ee69c1fba728ae56068ac8e1efd https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/ca6b57e5e727dc09c8842d57f67cfb6b.pdf 2a21f573bf444bca87276173cd08bb91 PDF Text Text Grand Valley State University Veterans' History Project Phil Tolson Vietnam War 1 hour 36 minutes 20 seconds (00:00:14) Early Life -Born in Akron, Ohio in 1949 -Family moved to Los Angeles, back to Akron, then to Michigan, then to Illinois -Father worked for a salt company, rubber company, and drove trucks -Family settled in St. Clair, Michigan and he graduated from high school there in 1968 -Worked for a railroad -Worked as a switchman, clerk, telegrapher, and interlocking plant operator -Enjoyed it (00:01:21) Getting Drafted -Got drafted in March, or April, of 1969 -Knew little, to nothing, about the Vietnam War -Only knew one man that served in Vietnam -Went to Detroit for his draft physical -Didn't see any men trying to get out being drafted -Army was taking pretty much anyone (00:02:43) Basic Training -Sent to Fort Knox, Kentucky for basic training -Arrived in the middle of the night and was greeted by screaming drill sergeants -Got a couple hours of sleep his first night there Woke up the next day a little after 5 AM and began processing -Processing took one week -Received uniforms, a haircut, did paperwork, and took tests -Immediate emphasis on discipline -Taught how to do everything the "Army way" -Proper hygiene and uniform protocol -Learned about military courtesy and military justice -Received rifle training and hand to hand combat training -Learned about tactics -Learned how to set up a tent -A lot of physical training -Adjusted easily to life in the Army -Understood that he needed to comply with the orders given him -He was in good shape -Some men resisted being in the Army -Various discipline problems -Knew they didn't want to be soldiers and tried to get discharged -One soldier was so desperate that he killed himself -Basic training lasted eight weeks (00:06:57) Advanced Infantry Training �-Sent to Fort Lewis, Washington for Advanced Infantry Training (AIT) -Went on bivouacks that lasted a week to ten days -More physical training -More weapons training -Geared toward fighting in Vietnam -Tried to recreate the conditions they would experience in Vietnam -Mock villages -Escape and Evasion course -If you were caught you were taken to a mock prisoner of war camp -Trained by a mix of new sergeants and combat veterans from Vietnam -Realized that he was going to be sent to Vietnam (00:09:13) Noncommissioned Officer School -Sent to Fort Benning, Georgia for Noncommissioned Officer (NCO, sergeant) School -Volunteered for it -Didn't want to follow incompetent sergeants into battle -Immediately promoted to E-4 (corporal) -If you graduated from NCO School you became an E-5 or E-6 (sergeant or staff sergeant) -More pay, more responsibility, and more freedom as a sergeant -Best training he received -There was a lot of harassment to weed out the weaker soldiers -Received more tactics training -Received more physical training -More weapons training with a wider variety of weapons -Learned how to go out on patrols and set up ambushes -Trained with the M60 machine gun, light anti-tank weapon (LAW), recoilless rifle, and mortars -Trained by Rangers and Green Berets that had fought in Vietnam -Trained exclusively at Fort Benning -Lasted 13 weeks -Completed it around Christmas 1969 (00:13:17) Advanced Infantry Training Instructor -Sent to Fort Polk, Louisiana to act as a sergeant and instruct soldiers in AIT -Recruits listened to him -Shared his room with only one other sergeant -Allowed to leave base at night once he was done for the day -Treated soldiers well because they responded well to his orders -Went on patrols in swamps and through farmers' fields -Stinking, brackish water filled with bugs and snakes -Completed that in March 1970 (00:16:08) Deployment to Vietnam -Went home for 30 days of leave -Glad to be back home -Started thinking about how bad Vietnam could be -Family handled it well �-Sent to the Oakland Replacement Depot in California -Terribly organized -Just found a bed and slept in that open bed -Only knew when to report to be bussed to a plane -Kept busy with menial duties to keep soldiers out of trouble -Stayed there for several days -Flew on a chartered commercial plane to Vietnam -Stopped in Hawaii and Guam (00:18:37) Arrival in Vietnam -Landed at Tan Son Nhut, South Vietnam -First impression was that the country was hot, humid, and it stank -Stayed near Tan Son Nhut for several days to adjust to the climate -First day there the base took rocket fire -Base personnel were nonplussed (00:20:10) Assignment to the 101st Airborne Division -Assigned to the 101st Airborne Division -Knew it was a dangerous unit and had heard of the Battle of Hamburger Hill -Flew up to Camp Evans near Hue and Quang Tri -Went through Screaming Eagle Replacement Training School (SERTS) -Learned about any enemy activity in the area -Shown what enemy booby traps looked like -Instructed on enemy tactics -Joined Bravo Company 2nd Battalion 506th Infantry Regiment in the field via helicopter -Loaded his backpack and boarded the helicopter alone -Dropped off at the landing zone and didn't see anyone around -Knocked down by the helicopter's prop wash and he couldn't get up -Believed he would get captured -Squad collected him, teased him a little bit, then helped him up -Dug in for the night -One soldier managed to dig his foxhole into a shallow grave -Joined them in April 1970 -First night in the field wasn't too bad -Unconcerned about enemy contact (00:26:32) Patrols with B Company -Assigned to a squad in a platoon in B Company -Introduced himself -Told them that he wanted to talk to the most experienced soldier in the squad -Wanted to listen to him about how to keep himself and his squad alive -Moved as a platoon -Squads went out on patrols on their own -One squad guarded the perimeter during the day and another guarded at night -Bill Williams was the company commander at the time -Green Beret and on his second tour in Vietnam -Strict, but likeable leader -Ran into light enemy contact shortly after his arrival -Travelled over hills and through thick jungle �-Never went on the trails -North Vietnamese Army used the trails and knew the trails -Allowed them to set up ambushes and booby traps -After a week in the country he got into a minor firefight -Everyone got into cover immediately and returned fire -Short, sporadic engagement -Everyone knew what to do -Didn't take any casualties, and didn't believe the NVA took any either -Went on patrols until B Company went to Firebase Ripcord (00:33:41) Stationed at Firebase Ripcord -Got to Firebase Ripcord in early July 1970 -Going to Ripcord used to be like a semi-R&R -Hot meals, hot showers, stay out of the rain, sleep in a bed, use a toilet [latrine-no running water] -Usually rotated onto Ripcord for one week then left after that week -When they initially got there it was a great place to be -Prior to getting to Ripcord they noticed more enemy activity -Signs of increased enemy movement -Used trails, broken limbs off of trees, and newly built bunkers -If they found a bunker they tossed in a grenade to clear it -Got back to Camp Evans before going to Ripcord -Returned to Camp Evans at random and stayed for only a few days at a time -Had a battalion stand down at Camp Evans in late June 1970 -Walked onto Ripcord out of the field -Ripcord was on top of a bare hill top -Barbed wire formed the first line of defense -Behind the barbed wire were claymore lines and remote detonated barrels of napalm -Further up the hill were bunkers manned by infantrymen -At the top of the hill were the key parts of the firebase: -Artillery, helipads, ammo dump, fuel dump, aid station, and command center -Started to have more contact in the field before going onto Ripcord -More fighting around Hill 805 near Ripcord (00:41:05) Siege of Firebase Ripcord Pt. 1 -Siege of Firebase Ripcord began on July 1, 1970-Hill 902 attacked that night -Stayed at Ripcord through the siege in July -Stationed in a bunker overlooking valleys and mountains -Took more enemy mortar fire as the siege intensified -More enemy sappers trying to get up the hill -Probing the perimeter to make a map of the firebase -He never saw any North Vietnamese soldiers -Mortar teams fired down the hill at random trying to hit possible NVA rendezvous points -As July continued the NVA artillery barrage got more intense -Eventually got so bad that it was safer to stay in a bunker �-Took about 20 rounds every minute -Barrage lasted for a week -A U.S. Chinook helicopter crashed on Ripcord on July 18 -Watched it crash, catch fire, and cause the ammo dump to explode -The ammo dump exploding only made the barrage feel more intense -Could only send up one man to collect water and food for the men in the bunkers -NVA snipers fired up the hill at them -Received little information about the ongoing battle -Watched firefights going on at night (00:47:28) Fall of Firebase Ripcord -Received little advancing warning that Ripcord was being evacuated -Told a couple days before the firebase fell that the firebase was being evacuated -On July 23, 1970 Chinooks came in to bring out the artillery guns first -Men on the perimeter moved up the hill to the command center to wait for a helicopter -Artillery and small arms fire got worse throughout the day -He got wounded by a mortar shell -Had to go from bunker to bunker to avoid getting hit by shrapnel or bullets -He was the last man to get out of his bunker -Wounded men were evacuated first -Told that no more helicopters could come until the fire let up -Some men considered surrendering to the North Vietnamese -Men spread out, dug in, and fired down the hill at the advancing enemy soldiers -He got knocked out and woke up later in the day after sundown -Finally managed to get on a helicopter with one other soldier (00:55:30) Regrouping at Camp Evans -Flight back to Camp Evans took about 15 or 20 minutes -Got a hot meal -Went to the aid station to get the shrapnel taken out of his leg -Told he should go to a larger hospital, but he refused -Battalion surgeon removed the shrapnel from his leg -Ordered to stay on a cot for 19 days so the leg could recover -Surgeon brought him food and changed his bandages every day -Stayed in the Camp Evans post office for a little while -Brought American prisoners to the Army jail in Long Binh -Took a truck to Phu Bai then flew to Saigon and from there to Long Binh (01:00:42) Fighting on Hill 805 -During the Ripcord Campaign he saw action on Hill 805 -Came in on a landing zone near Hill 805 that was occupied by NVA troops -Took fire as soon as they landed -Took cover behind a log -Saw a man get hit as soon as he got off his helicopter -Phil went over to help him -He and a medic were able to get a man behind the log -Firefight stopped and he regrouped with squadmates -Moved up Hill 805 -Found a dead enemy soldier �-Looked Chinese, not Vietnamese -Appeared to have poisoned himself -Found an abandoned bunker with medical supplies and weapons -Placed the dead soldier in the bunker and blew up the bunker (01:07:53) Siege of Firebase Ripcord Pt. 2 -During the siege of Ripcord they laid down miles of wire in hopes of stopping the NVA -Proved to be useless when the siege got worse (01:10:20) Soviet Military Presence -His unit saw a Soviet military advisor during a patrol near Hill 805 -Heard movement near his squad's position -He went over to see if they were South Vietnamese/American or enemy soldiers -Turned out to be his platoon's lieutenant -Lieutenant yelled at Phil for seeing one soldier in his squad not wearing a shirt -Phil explained that that was impossible since his squad was with him -Man was described as being tall, white, and blonde -Evidence points to the conclusion that the man was a Russian (01:12:18) Escorting Prisoners & Drug Use -While at Camp Evans he escorted American prisoners down to Long Binh near Saigon -Did that three times -All the men he escorted had gotten in trouble for drug use -Knew there was drug use in the rear, but it didn't cause any major problems -Didn't think anyone did drugs in the field (01:13:59) Returning to B Company -Returned to his unit after about one month of recovery at Camp Evans -Most of the same men he served with at Ripcord were still in B Company -Had not sustained a lot of casualties at Ripcord -Went on patrols -Didn't see any enemy activity -Had some Kit Carson scouts -Kit Carson scouts: Viet Cong that defected to help South Vietanm -Rewarded with some land and shelter -The scouts were allowed to return home every month on leave -Sometimes they all went home at the same time then enemy activity got worse -Never seemed to be any help -Stayed with B Company until January 1971 when he left Vietnam (01:16:28) R&R -Went on R&R in Hawaii -Married his high school sweetheart -Is still married to her as of 2015 -Wasn't a good feeling going back to Vietnam, but knew he would get home soon -Got married in September 1970 �-Had to be in Vietnam for a while to get R&R -Married and engaged men got to go on R&R first -They went to Hawaii -Single, or married men that didn't want to see wives went to Australia, Thailand, etc. -Went on R&R in Vietnam -Went to a Vietnamese beach resort -It was beautiful and safe (01:18:42) Coming Home & End of Service -Wanted to leave, but didn't want to leave his friends in Vietnam -Got home in the middle of the night -Wife was renting an apartment -He was allowed 30 days of rest before he had to go back to work -Stayed in the apartment for almost all 30 days -He was so bored with civilian life he thought about returning to Vietnam -Didn't visit his parents for a month and a half, but they didn't visit him either -Took 19 hours to fly from Vietnam to Fort Lewis, Washington -Got a steak dinner -Took three days to get discharged -Flew back to Michigan from Washington -Wasn't harassed by protestors or civilians on his way home (01:20:59) Life after the War -Went back to work for the railroad -New workers resented him for getting his job back -Went to work for a salt company and lived in Chicago for a few years -Transferred back to Michigan -Worked for the salt company for 18 and a half years -Worked 11 jobs in 10 years -Got a job with the government for five years then permanently retired -Had issues with PTSD after the war -Took 20 years to get diagnosed and get medicated (01:23:42) Reflections on Service -Felt it was a good thing for him -Taught him about real priorities -Learned that if there is an issue to take action, don't just complain -If there is no viable solution for the problem, then forget about it -Showed him what he was capable of doing -Taught him that he could live with less if he needed to -Didn't talk about his experiences until later -No one seemed that interested at the time (01:25:34) Ripcord Reunions -Contacted by the writer Keith Nolan for Nolan's book on the Battle of Firebase Ripcord -Learned about the Ripcord Association and its reunions through Keith -Attended the first Ripcord Reunion and enjoyed it -Went to three or four more after that first one -When those veterans were together it was like they were all young men again � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Veterans History Project Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. History Department Description An account of the resource The Library of Congress established the Veterans History Project in 2001 to collect memories, accounts, and documents of U.S. war veterans from World War II and the Korean War, Vietnam War, and conflicts in the Middle East and elsewhere, and to preserve these stories for future generations. The GVSU History Department interviews are part of this work-in-progress, and may contain videos and audio recordings, transcripts and interview outlines, and related documents and photographs. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1914- Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Afghan War, 2001--Personal narratives, American Iran Hostage Crisis, 1979-1981--Personal narratives, American Korean War, 1950-1953--Personal narratives, American Michigan--History, Military Oral history Persian Gulf War, 1991--Personal narratives, American United States--History, Military United States. Air Force United States. Army United States. Navy Veterans Video recordings Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Personal narratives, American World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smither, James Boring, Frank Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-27 Language A language of the resource eng Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/455">Veterans History Project interviews (RHC-27)</a> Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-27_TolsonT1888V Title A name given to the resource Tolson, Thomas Phillip (Interview outline and video), 2015 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2005-10-09 Description An account of the resource Phil Tolson was born in Akron, Ohio in 1949. He was drafted in March, or April, 1969 and received his basic training at Fort Knox, Kentucky. He was sent to Fort Lewis, Washington for Advanced Infantry Training then went to Fort Benning, Georgia for Noncommissioned Officer School and was promoted to the rank of sergeant. He helped train new infantrymen at Fort Polk until March 1970 when he was deployed to Vietnam. Upon arrival in Vietnam he was assigned to lead a squad in Bravo Company 2nd Battalion 506th Infantry Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division. They went on patrols around Camp Evans and Firebase Ripcord before going onto Ripcord in late June/early July 1970. Bravo Company was stuck on Firebase Ripcord through the battle from July 1 to July 23 when the base was evacuated. During the evacuation Phil was wounded and recovered at Camp Evans for a month before rejoining his unit. He conducted patrols with Bravo Company until he left Vietnam in January 1971 and was discharged at Fort Lewis, Washington. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Tolson, Thomas Phillip Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smither, James (Interviewer) Subject The topic of the resource Oral history Veterans History Project (U.S.) United States--History, Military Veterans Video recordings Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Personal narratives, American United States. Army Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Moving Image Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/455">Veterans History Project collection, (RHC-27)</a> Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University Libraries. Allendale, Michigan Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource video/x-m4v application/pdf https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/c59f9bf9dcc9119a8a4cf503ac55e34b.mp4 4f0e3d17a74f413f35285835a4bd8d04 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/cffc9acb11a6e01e2e1e07f8d9677417.pdf c55bc3668777774525f179a7c8cd542d PDF Text Text William James College Interviews GV016-16 Interviewer: Barbara Roos Interviewee: Tom Bell Date: 1984 [Bell] Here at the Network, the Amway Network, bringing to you live today, a discussion. What was it you wanted to touch on? [Suzanne] [Inaudible] [Bell] What kind of things was it that, you know, we talked about the other day that seems relevant to you? [Suzanne] Community. [Bell] Community? You wanted to talk about community. That's probably the most difficult… [Suzanne] Why don't we warm up here for second [inaudible]. [Bell] Okay. What do you want to talk about? Where do you want to start? [Suzanne] How have you used what you learned at William James in your life today? [Bell] Okay, that's a really good question. I'm using the things that I got out of William James in ways that I probably didn't understand or didn't expect when I was in school. I think like a lot of folks, when you reach a certain point of pursuing an education in particular field where you're really paying all your attention to that particular field and you sort of set aside as a matter of convenience or really in the drive to obtain a degree, a goal to get out and do what it is you think you want to do. And so that process for me, I think I put aside a lot of the things were being talked about at William James. About process, about integration, about preparing for change. I put those things out of my mind as being conscious focused items and can try to get on with what I was there to learn. And oddly enough, the things that were the most valuable to me from William James, were exactly the things William James was trying to talk about. The aspects of integrating other disciplines into your own chosen field of discipline. To look towards the future with an eye to changing and accommodating change. Both social change and personal change. And I think, now, that a lot of the things that I really was pursuing and at the time with intensity, technical skills and job opportunities, are really not that valuable to me now. The things that are valuable to me are the �skills I've got that allow me to perceive the opportunities of change or the indicators of the need for change. The comfort that I have with going to other disciplines or actually always looking at other disciplines to see what it is that they're doing that I might find useful in my own genre of activity. I think that skill alone has probably made it worthwhile to spend time at William James. That has allowed me to have a greater breadth of ability and conversation with people doing other things. And that's terrifically valuable. [Suzanne] How was that enacted at William James? [Bell] I'm not sure I understand what you're saying. [Suzanne] How was the interdisciplinary thing that you are talking about, how did you see that happening at William James. As a student, walking in there. [Bell] I think the whole idea of interdependent disciplines was, and is, a difficult concept both to talk about in pragmatic ways and difficult to show unless you have a particular problem right in front of you. In my case, some of the things that I found really useful was… I was pursuing working in media realms with an eye towards social applications, to use media, and video, and film for social change in education and awareness. Which is, in a lot of times, becomes a very technical endeavor. And the things that I found useful in terms of interdisciplinary kinds of approaches to things. Let me back that up. The things I found useful in terms of interdisciplinary… the things that I found useful in terms of interdependent disciplines was developing the practice of looking at other disciplines like engineering to see how they organized their thought processes. I found a lot of things that engineers use, in terms of organizing projects and presentation modes, to be very useful, both in terms of organizing my own thoughts and my own projects, but also in terms of talking to technical people. It gave me the skill to know that I can go in and talk to this group of people within their own jargon, within their own realm, the paradigms that they're most comfortable with. That was a tool that I might not have otherwise had, had I stayed working with visual artist, or graphic artists, or writers, or musicians. And I'm sure that wouldn't have been available to me. I think another example of that is the way that environmentalists think about issues. In terms of taking an issue with a larger scope and water pollution, air pollution, viewing that in terms of how it affects a region, how it affect the whole nation, how it affects a neighboring nation, and then taking that larger view and then being able to bring it right down to a specific region of activity, a specific area that's contribute into it, or not contributing to it, and examining those things. In essence, being able to jump from a macro view of a situation to the micro aspects of it. Now that's a skill that has to be developed within that realm that is also directly applicable to what I do. Again, it also gave me the vernacular, as it were, of another discipline, so that when dealing with people in another discipline, where you can start out with a common ground. And �I think probably even more importantly than starting out a common ground is the process of developing the ability to listen to other individuals, to other practices, other disciplines. And any time you practice something like that you're going to get better at listening to them. Let me start that over again. I think more than being able to use the particular knowledge I've through the practice of… that's not what I want to say either. I think the practice of looking to apply interdisciplinary approaches to what you're doing, is probably immeasurably valuable. It has given me a leg up in getting in on particular kinds of activities, from the start. But also, it gives me a sense of comfort in dealing with awkward situations, knowing that, you know, that I do have a skill that I've been working with that is aimed at understanding other points of view, other applications, and not only understanding, but doing it with an eagerness to say: "What can I get out of this that's useful for me." [Suzanne] Do you remember [inaudible] students come in and had to go through this transition period [inaudible]. Do you remember that? [Bell] Yeah, yeah. [Suzanne] Can you describe it? [Bell] Probably not. The transition period of coming into William James, of leaving a conventional educational environment to getting into this alternative environment, I think was really awkward for a lot of people. People just didn't catch on. People didn't understand that you're responsible for your own process. You're responsible for your own education. And that was an idea foreign to a lot of students. Especially in the later years of William James. Now in the earlier years, it was a whole different story. That was the reason the school was there. I mean it was a reason a lot of those instructors, a lot of those professors, chose to be at William James was because they wanted students who were going to assume responsibility for their own educational process. I think that transition period of going from a high school or perhaps some other college that was a very structured, rigidly structured, environment into the William James environment was awkward for a lot of people. It wasn't particularly awkward for me, it was exciting for me, it was exactly what I wanted to do, and I wanted to get on with it. I couldn't learn fast enough in William James. It was an exciting period, to have the opportunity to jump into the kind of things that I wanted to do, at the pace that I wanted to do it at, was exhilarating, and I couldn't get enough of it. [Suzanne] Can you describe it [inaudible] a little bit more? [Bell] What kind of things are you looking for? What would be useful for me to touch on? �[Suzanne] What would be really useful if you said, in one line, actually you just said it. [Bell] No, I can say it again if it’s going to be for help for editing. As long are you're not making me lie. [Suzanne] No, it’s what you said actually about the students changed. Just some of the changes in here, real succinctly. Like the students changed. At first, they came here they came here, they didn't have to have that transition and later they had to make that transition and a lot of them couldn't and that was a problem. [Bell] I think making the transition from a conventional educational realm, whether it's high school, or another college, to the environment William James was difficult for a lot of people. The change in having the ownership of responsibility on the student was both a hard one for some people to comprehend and apply more. [Suzanne] More specifically… [Bell] Not that succinct, huh? [Suzanne] More specifically, when the school first started, people were specifically looking for that and they… [Bell] Oh, I see what you're saying. [Suzanne] How that transition, you think, was a problem. [Bell] Sure, sure. I think one of the unpleasant aspects for me about the experience of William James was… no, I don't want to do that either, that's kind of putting it in a negative tone. That's the way I feel, but when William James started, the responsibility for an individual's education was on the student. And I think that's why a lot of teachers were there. It was a different environment, a different way to work. I would say almost all the students that I met in earlier years of William James, that's why they were there, they wanted to shape their own educational experience. Well, that changed as the time period changed. We got a new generation of students and they just wanted to be handed the routine that they could adopt or adapt themselves to, rather. And I think that was a real major indicator that William James time as a college had come and gone. [Suzanne] Okay, now, community. Can you describe what the William James community was? Just the other day… it was a network, a network. It wasn't being friends; it wasn't all that. [Bell] I think one of the more nebulous parts of the William James experience has got to be trying to describe that community. I think for the most part, the William �James community only really exists between those students who caught on to being self-responsible for the educational experience. And they aren't necessarily the students who stayed in contact with each other on a social kind of basis, or even perhaps in in the professional realm. And yet that community of independent thinkers is a powerful one. Especially as students get further away from their educational period, their time in college and find the need to make contacts in other realms. That there is a network of people that exist because of William James where the dialogue has- the tone of the dialogue, rather, has only been established. It's one of being ready to think in alternative modes. But that community is a very narrow one and I don't think all the students from William James belong in that community, either by choice or just by being able to carry on the dialogue. It's sort of a self-exclusive room. [Suzanne] Can you describe it? The other day you were talking about what it wasn't. [Inaudible] It was great, there was this community there that was interdependent, and it wasn't friends or whatever. Remember you were talking about. [Bell] Yeah, yeah, and I'm not so sure that I really made the point that I feel strongly about come across. I think the community of William James College is very unique one, in that it is made up of people who are posturing themselves or placing themselves in the positions, intentionally, so they can discuss alternatives in what they're involved with. Whether it be alternatives in environmental aspects, or media aspects, or management. There is a basis for dialogue whose foundation lies upon this desire to look at alternatives and see if they might not be more appropriate. That's a very unique kind of community. It's a very exciting kind of community. It's, I think, a very, very valuable kind of community that is probably not going to happen again for a while. I think people are very much attuned, nowadays, in this particular period of you know ten years or so, into finding a status quo that works and to stick with it. Nonetheless, there is a community of William James students who are getting older and stay in contact, somewhat, and I just think that what makes that community valuable is that the readiness to talk about alternatives is ever present. Did that get you where you wanted to go to, Suzanne? [Suzanne] That was really good. [Bell] I'm not sure that the community that gets talked about, the William James community, is really as valid as a lot of the discussion and rhetoric might lend it to be. I think a lot of the rhetoric about that happens to come from hanger-oners. I think the people who really engender the spirit of the William James community, if there is such a thing, are those people who have taken the principles of applying what you're involved with, with an interdependent view. That is to say going into whatever activity you're involved with, with a view towards integrating other disciplines, integrating other points of view so that you'll find the most �appropriate way to apply yourself to a given challenge or situation. And I don't think that gets shared by everybody who came out of William James. [Suzanne] What about the faculty? I mean with the student community, does that, with the faculty? [Bell] Yeah, yeah. Oh yeah. Yeah. I think one of the more powerful drawing aspects of the early days at William James College was the faculty. I think this faculty was a very special group of individuals with very powerful ideas looking, for a way to apply these notions of interdependent educate… being personally responsible for your own education, interdependent disciplines. Wait a second, I'm going to back that up a little bit. I think for me, one of the things that drew me to William James was the uniqueness of the faculty. There was a powerful collection of individuals there, working with a lot of powerful ideas. And not all those ideas ever made it to fruition, or perhaps made it to fruition in the successful sense that a lot of people had hoped for. But nonetheless, there was a very powerful professorial community there. Which drew to it, I think, the early William James community, which was also a very powerful bunch of people in terms of energy, and ambition, and vision, and vision, and discipline. And I think that that's one of the things that set William James College apart and did make it unique. And for a while, really fulfill its intent, that is, of providing an alternative environment to acquire an education. [Suzanne] Good. I'd hate to ask you the same thing. [Bell] Fine, fine. If I'm not hitting where you need to go, please do that. [Suzanne] Yeah, do it for me again. [Bell] What is that you need to know about community? [Suzanne] What I need in the editing process [inaudible] is someone to give a concise, yet excited, that there was this community there. You know, and you can say the word community isn't quite right. Maybe a network. [Bell] Yeah, but see I don't think that was that much different from any other college. [Suzanne] You don't? [Bell] No, I don't think to the community that existed William James was any less enthusiastic than the community that existed at Michigan State. I think the thing that sets it apart is it's a pretty large collection of people, thinking in alternative ways. And it just doesn't happen that you get alternative thinkers who gathered in large groups very often. It's an exciting place to be in. To be in with a bunch of �people… to be inside of a community that not only encourages alternative thinking but pursues it. And beats it to death if it were to find ways to really come out ahead of where you started at. Both in terms of your thinking, your professional status, in your personal life. So, if there's a William James community, it's one based upon pursuing alternative visions. And in a lot of ways, it doesn't mean that it's a limited to the people who went the school at William James. There are places that still apply a William James technique to learning. And I think that those people are as much a part of that community as anybody who was tuition paying person. I think the community of William James is much larger than just the students and the faculty who participated in it. I think it's a global thing. Actually it's a network process, where you begin… you go to a place like William James to get involved in and expanding your processes of thinking. Expanding your own visions of whatever it is you're involved with. And in that process of doing so, you make contact, you make a network with other individuals. And that's the community. That's the exciting part. I don't get that sense of excitement, that sense of personal and professional value from people who gone to other schools and who have established their own networks based upon, you know, whatever their curriculum was. I think that there was something unique about William James College which extends beyond the school, and that is that group of independent thinkers. [Suzanne] Great [inaudible]. That was real good. What do you want to say, specifically? [Bell] What do I want to say specifically? I guess I can say, I think one of the more powerful aspects of my experience that William James happens to come to be one of anger rather. To have left the school feeling let down in the last two years of my time there. And to feeling a sense of disappointment that it was waning. The opportunity, the time of experimentation was slipping away. And I went to William James for that opportunity, to indulge in this time of experimentation that was, I think an outcrop of the sixties and a lot of social change that occurred. And to have that slip away, it was sort of embittering, for a while, until almost by surprised, I realized that I was really applying, in my daily activities, the form of thought, the method of thinking, that William James College was working on. And whenever that day arrived and I suddenly set up from my desk and I realized: "It's working! It's working! It made it worthwhile to go to William James." Because in spite of all the negatives that I had been focusing on, I got a wonderful kit of tools to take with me from now on out. [Suzanne] Okay, that's good. [Bell] Okay. I know there's probably one last thing that… I think a lot of people in the community surrounding the college, in West Michigan, business people, and a lot of students in other colleges, tend to look at William James, and students, as being unpractical, or air heads, or in most and a lot of times just in unpleasant �ways. And I think that kind of perception comes out of the later years, which was a result of it being a period of change. I think the very powerful time for William James to exist occurred at the end of the sixties, or the early part of the seventies, when there were a group of people, mostly Vietnam veterans, who were wanting to go to school and were able take charge of their own educational process and were looking for a place to do that in. And so, when you couple that up with a faculty looking for a way to offer a different environment to learn in, it’s a wonderful ready-made situation, which may not come along again for a long time. It was for a while, the most appropriate place for a lot of people to be. And when those people got their value out of the experience, when the professors got their value, and it started becoming burnt out and moved on to other opportunities, when students graduated and went on to apply what it was they were pursuing, the need for the place to exist dissipated. And so, I think it's probably appropriate, and it's very appropriate that William James ceased being. And I hope that in the future, and given ten years when similar circumstance arise, and it will happen, that those people at that time can say: "Oh look, they did this at William James, and it was very powerful, and some things worked really well, and some things didn't, and let's try it again based upon that." And I think, probably, if nothing else, the important thing about the process at William James was being attuned to change, being aware of the need for perceiving other ways to approach what it is you're getting involved with. And if you do that, you'll become aware just through the process of when it's appropriate to put something down and move on something else. And so, William James leaving us was ultimately appropriate. [Suzanne] Good. [Bell] Anything else? [Suzanne] Yeah. [Inaudible] [Bell] Let me try that again, alright? Let me shorten it up for you. I think the important thing to keep in mind about William James is that it came into reality during a time of terrific change and the kinds of things that it focused on were dealing with that change, were dealing with the changes both in terms of changing educational systems, changing social systems, and preparing yourself to be able to change in the future. So, I think it's ultimately appropriate that when the students who wanted that kind of education, when the teachers who are willing to give themselves to that situation, decided to either move on or that they were all through with the process, and then all new kind of students came in that weren't looking for that educational opportunity, when all that happened, it was ultimately appropriate that William James cease to be. Okay. [Suzanne] Great. About the community [inaudible]… �[Bell] No, fine, fine. If you're not getting what you need, let’s look for it. [Suzanne] We're getting it, I'm just thinking [inaudible]. You were talking about people outside the community, and they looked at… I guess what I'm talking about it the difference between people who are not part of the community… [Bell] Yeah. [Suzanne] Who are, I mean there's a major part of the world who aren't part of that community. So, is that community practical? [Bell] Oh yeah. Yeah. With the William James community you mean? [Suzanne] Yeah. [Bell] I think a lot of people question whether or not the educational process at William James provided people with practical tools. And I'd say absolutely yes. That when William James students interface in a more conservative conventional environment, there is no conflict per se. I mean we're just people, were working together, and, you know, suits and ties are just another kind of uniform. And we can all put on a uniform and for that little while people think it's all, you know, everybody's in the same kind of army, or team, or whatever. And yet, a William James student possesses a set of tools that makes him very versatile, or her, very, very versatile. Those tools being looking to other disciplines for useful tools, looking for other ways to integrate these other tools into your own application so that you can further yourself and further your own profession, or whatever activity it is you know you chosen to be involved with. So, no I don't think that people fitting William James students have any trouble at all fitting into a conventional industrial environment. As a matter fact, I think they have a leg up in the sense that a lot of them are subversive to begin with and it gives them an environment they can be subversive in and in a very practical way, and it sort of works out better for everybody because employers benefit from people thinking you know alternative ways, whether or not they're willing to accept the dialogue with that person thinking in those ways. So yeah, I think people coming away from William James, if they really caught on to what was going on there, have some very practical skills. [Suzanne] But if… [Bell] But if… [Suzanne] But if people- one of the issues in this today is going to come out as if society is…[?] wants people to just be able to [inaudible] one narrow job, everyday, don't �question it, don't make drama. I mean, things are getting more and more specialized and liberal education is going away, but William James was focusing on that. Is that part of the reason for the change or going away of William James? Is that one of the ways it was not successful because it was training people for something society doesn't want? [Bell] Well, I think there's two issues in the question of the change of William James. One issue is "Was William James successful?" Because, obviously, it went away as a school. And I don't think that there's any conflict in when you say: "Yes William James was a successful educational environment, and yes William James went away as an educational institution." The point still remains is that it was appropriate for a certain group of people at a certain time in history, and when that time came and went, it was no longer appropriate. So, to hang on to the school in order for it to adapt and to exist it would have had changed into an environment that it wasn't intended to be to begin with. So much better that it just went away altogether and rather than become some kind of hypocritical institution. And this… what was in part of that? [Suzanne] The professional training people for something that [inaudible] might not miss or really want. [Bell] Oh, oh, about…. [Suzanne] That sort of thing [inaudible] . [Bell] Yeah, yeah, yeah. And it's true that the other influence that William James suffered, you know it's demise was a result of…wait a second. Yeah, it's true that another influence that William James had to deal with, had to contend with, was the specialization of the job market. Was the increasing unattractiveness of a liberal education. And I think it's just a temporary thing. I mean, historically it's temporary. People get specialized, and learn about math, and science until we're engineered to death and people say: "We need more artist!" And then we get so many more artists until we suddenly realize: "Oh geez we're lagging in the technological race, so we need more engineers." I think it's just an ongoing thing. And I think that there's a lesson there to be learned from William James is dialogues with what it was trying to do, and that it was attempting to integrate these disciplines of creative disciplines, of creative art disciplines, the ways of being creative, with engineering disciplines, so that you don't exclude any activity. In fact, you include all activities, so that you actually integrate your society, your… first off on a personal level, and then on a social level, in terms of your society and workplaces you're involved with, so that what happens is that you don't have these peaks and valleys. You have a more fulfilled individuals. You have a healthier society in that it has the ability to adapt to the changes as those changes come up instead of always playing catch up there. You're always �looking to the situation in terms of what it needs to be appropriate for the moment. And I think the only you get that is if you are integrated with multiple disciplines. Okay? [Suzanne] Good. I want to ask you one more other thing. This is just something… [Bell] Fire away. [Suzanne] …that Barb is asking everybody to sum up, in just a few sentences or more, what was William James? In a few words or more. [Bell] Yeah. Yeah. [Suzanne] [Inaudible] [Bell] How would I describe William James to somebody that didn't know anything about it? I would say William James was a very exciting place to. That it was a collection of tremendous thinkers, in terms of faculty. It was a collection of a tremendous group of people, hungry for knowledge and hungry for a way to pursue that knowledge in their own ground and in their own terms. And as a result, it was a tremendous environment of experimentation that was very exhilarating, and a wonderful place to be for that period of time. [Suzanne] I'm going to stop the tape and look through some notes, to see if there's anything else [inaudible]. [Bell] To see if there's any more questions, fine. Hi Vern! [Suzanne] This is going great. [Bell] Good! [Suzanne] You're still taped. [Bell] Thank you! One of the keys to William James was its structure, in that it was a non-competitive structure, both non-competitive for students, in terms of not having grades, and also non-competitive for the professors. No tenure and things like that. And the dean wasn't some autonomous feudal lord. And the students also had a say in terms of how the schools was run. The student council was more than just an organizing fun committee for bands, and dances, and stuff. It was a very powerful voice in the decisions that went on in William James. And that made it for, again, a very unique environment. [Suzanne] That was great, can you say that… �[Bell] Even quicker? [Suzanne] No, with the point that it was intentionally structured that way, from the beginning. It was thought through and built that way so that it could fit this kind of environment. [Bell] Yeah, yeah. Sure, I can do that. Yeah, I think something that- that is important to make note about William James is that it structure it's non-competitive structure, where students weren't competitive, because there were no grades, and professors were not competitive, there wasn't tenure, and the dean wasn't some kind of feudal lord, as you find in other institutions. All that structure was intentionally. It was a well thought out structure for creating the environment that William James had. Is that what you need? [Suzanne] Good. Very Good. [Bell] Okay. [Suzanne] I'm going to stop it again. Why not just look at that sheet and see if there's anything else you want to talk about? [Bell] These are things that need to be said? [Unknown] No, not necessarily. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource William James College Interviews Description An account of the resource Videotaped interviews of William James College faculty, students and administrators by Barbara Roos. William James College opened in 1971 as the third baccalaureate degree granting college for Grand Valley. It was originally designed to be an interdisciplinary, non-departmentalized college consisting of concentration programs, rather than majors. Curriculum was organized around three concentrations that were meant to be interdisciplinary career preparation offerings: Social Relations, Administration and Information Management, and Environmental Studies. The college was discontinued in 1983 during a reorganization of Grand Valley. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1984 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/69">William James College faculty and student interviews (GV016-16)</a> Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Grand Valley State University Michigan Universities and colleges Oral histories Alternative education Interdisciplinary approach in education Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Roos, Barbara (Interviewer) Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context GV016-16 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource video/mp4 application/pdf Type The nature or genre of the resource Moving Image Text Language A language of the resource eng Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context GV016-16_GVSU_64_Bell Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Bell, Thomas Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1984 Title A name given to the resource Tom Bell interview (video and transcript) Description An account of the resource Interview with Thomas Bell by Barbara Roos, documenting the history of Grand Valley State's William James College. William James College was the third baccalaureate degree granting college for Grand Valley. It was originally designed to be an interdisciplinary, non-departmentalized college consisting of concentration programs, rather than majors. The college opened in 1971 and was discontinued in 1983 during a reorganization of Grand Valley State. Thomas Bell was a student of William James College who pursued the study of media and film for social change. In this interview, Thomas discusses the personal impact of his William James College education, the transition from a conventional educational environment to the alternative education environment, and the community of independent thinkers that made William James unique. This interview is part 1 of 1 for Thomas Bell. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Roos, Barbara (Interviewer) Subject The topic of the resource Grand Valley State University Michigan Universities and colleges Oral histories Alternative education Interdisciplinary approach in education Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/69">William James College faculty and student interviews (GV016-16)</a> Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Moving Image Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource video/mp4 application/pdf Language A language of the resource eng Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/87fe8e9817be0f2e3b0245814316d10d.jpg 9a192bd0c10e39002109006710615a50 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Decorated Publishers' Bindings Subject The topic of the resource Book covers Covers (Illustration) Graphic arts Publishers and publishing Pictorial bindings Description An account of the resource From the early 1870s to roughly 1930, many publishers issued their commercial book covers with a remarkable variety of graphic designs and illustrations. This sixty-year period saw many artists and designers contributing to this art form. While some can be identified from their style or initials, others remain unknown. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Seidman Rare Books Collection Michigan Novels Collection Regional Historical Collection Lincoln and the Civil War Collection Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2017-08-30 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a>, <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/NoC-US/1.0/?language=en">No Copyright - United States</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpg Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context DC-01 Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Source Seidman Rare Books. PR4809.H8 T65 1900 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context DC-01_Bindings0304 Title A name given to the resource Tom Brown's School Days Description An account of the resource Binding of Tom Brown's School Days, by Thomas Hughes, published by Rand McNally, 1900. Subject The topic of the resource Book covers Covers (Illustration) Graphic arts Publishers and publishing Pictorial bindings Language A language of the resource eng Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/NoC-US/1.0/?language=en">No Copyright - United States</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpeg Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1900 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/11cc0a8c7e5a170862bd06db1a335596.mp4 762baeffba01ff425bc7b6b2631cfa49 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/d38c0b5861c8395a12fc620aea8462ef.pdf 10d42c29a0b9e9ed96608dbafbfb09b9 PDF Text Text William James College Interviews GV016-16 Interviewer: Barbara Roos Interviewee: Tom Cunningham Date: 1984 Part: 1 of 2 [Barbara] Okay, the first question I have for you then is: Why James? [Tom] Why William James? As the name of the college? Well, actually he was… I thought him last rather than first. I thought about the entire structure of the college first and the notions of the college should be. I think I'd coined the phrase… yes, in fact, I know I was. Coined the notion of psychosocial humanism, rather than scientific humanism, or more classical humanism to describe what I thought would be the appropriate type of curriculum for our own day and had also coined the notion of college should be future-oriented, and person-oriented, and career-oriented. It is evident that we didn't want to go around call me in College III, that was the name of the task force I was asked to head. And so, what name? It's easy to name something before it's founded, then to name it after it's been in existence for a length of time. College of Arts and Sciences had not gotten a name, and apparently would never get a name for that very reason. There are too many persons that had a stake in this name or that name. It's like guessing what name to give that before it actually started. I had happened to have been reading about that a year before that some works on William James. I'd read James twenty years before as a phenomena – as a pragmatist. But some works by John Wilde particularly. From the Universal of Cal… University Florida. He had been at Harvard and Northwestern, he's a phenomenologist. He had written a rather interesting book on James as a phenomenologist. I never thought a James in that connection before and so it occurred much of the ideas that I had. Mainly the concerned with psychology, even social psychology. And the concern of manufacturing your own persona. So, it was a natural but when I had thought of the materials concerning psychosocial humanism and the other things that I wrote about, even talked about the divisions of the college that would come about. The emphasis on environment and so on. I had no name in mind. But then when push came to shove, I thought we better get in name before the college we founded and James just came to my mind. I had a difficult time convincing the committee to go for that name, to tell you the truth. [Barbara] What did they want? [Tom] They had nothing in particular. But it just looked like I was doing too much. Someone wanted to name it after a guy named Maxie. I don't know I think it was a Maxi training school for boys in the Detroit area. Some had some frivolous names, I thought. But I think much of it seemed to me that I looked like I was �having too much to say. But I thought James was a natural name for the orientation that they had voted on and was only a matter of time before they came around to recognizing it. I said: "Yeah, it would be an appropriate name." [Barbara] Maybe you better go back. [Barbara] I asked the wrong first question. Tell me what the charge was, and how you came up with the notions for the character of the college. [Tom] Well, I had finished my first year teaching here at Grand Valley, and sometime in the late summer or early fall I received a phone call from the President. And I knew it was him because my wife was about to have our first son as it turned out to be. President found me and asked me would I consider heading a committee to found a new college. The task force was in charge – College III task force. My inclination as a first-year faculty, having completed my first year as a member of faculty here was: one does not lightly turn down any of the President's requests. And truth to tell, I always have been interested in educational activities. I have a master’s degree in education among my degrees. I'm history and theory of criticism of universities. So, I thought this would be a time to put my ideas, if I had any, into practice. But of course, I had asked the President: "What do you want? What's the charge?" And there was a written charge, and it's written in the documents. But I thought more revealing was a conversation that I had with the President. I had completed my first year teaching at Grand Valley, and was about ready to start my second, And the president had completed his first full academic year Grand Valley. And was beginning to do his second. He had become president about eighteen months previously. Basically, had obviously had to learn this terrain, and the existing colleges on campus. There were two at the time: College of Arts and Sciences, and Thomas Jefferson College; and having grasped that, understood that then the obvious for him, too. I say it's obvious now, looking back, was for him to look at the founding Grand Valley State Colleges and to look to what was considered to be unique in the colleges. So, I give him full credit for that. He first took charge of the colleges that existed and then he very adroitly moved to begin a third college. Grand Valley apparently had been founded to have four relatively similar size colleges. That was the founding image twenty-five years before. Each college apparently had two or three thousand students total of between nine and fifteen thousand students on campus. That was the notion on the colleges were founded twenty-five years ago now. So, he said to me: "I have two bits of advice." He said: "One of them is I want to college that would enroll a large number of students, and then I would also point out to you that we do have one small college here in campus. Thomas Jefferson College." I think what he meant by that… I didn't think to inquire any further the times. I think what he meant by that was that the College of Arts and Sciences, at that time, enrolled something like twenty-two hundred students. Thomas Jefferson college had perhaps two maybe three hundred students. So, �the time two college is one of which enrolled between eighty-five ninety percent of its number students on campus. The other college, because of its nature, seemed unlikely that would enroll much more than three hundred students. [Tom] So, it seems me he was getting me a charge to have a larger college, then Thomas Jefferson and it's possibly the college’s largest is the College of Arts and Sciences. That in turn meant that look and see where students who have to enroll from then try to excogitate from those factors the likely orientation of the college. So, it seemed to me that the College of Arts and Sciences seemed rather traditional. You could either duplicate that, or else one can attempt to make something different. I chose to do the latter and make something somewhat different. But yet stick to the President's charge. It was to make something that would be different than the College of Arts and Sciences. But make something that would also enroll a significant number of students. With that in mind, the whole thing was my fields my students were interested in. I majored in philosophy, teach philosophy, and since I majored in physics as an undergraduate, and have some degrees in physics, history of science I should say, it seemed fairly evident that the college should not focus on physical sciences. A number of people majored in physical sciences. Very small to begin with. They tend to be traditionally oriented and therefore one of the orientations that some of the committee members wanted, namely, to focus on environmental sciences seemed to me to be misdirected. I have nothing against the environment, I enjoy environmental sciences. But the sheer fact of needing to know, in any serious way, work in environmental sciences – you need to know biology, geology perhaps, certainly chemistry – meant that you were going to limit the number student who would major in fields like that. Feels like time since we had one college [inaudible] all about the sizes which had very few majors and those fields seem to have it and we were not in this particular area. [Inaudible] another college I would have… would be competing for the same small pool. So we're not being [?]. Environmental sciences, in my mind, should be the focus of the new college. It should contain that, it seemed to me, as a program, but not as a complete focus. Some had thought of focusing the college on the University of Wisconsin's Green Bay which is focused on Environmental Sciences. Others had attempted to focus the college pretty much on, as I would say, Thomas Jefferson College had been focused. Namely imitating Evergreen College in Washington state, as a possible way of organizing college too but it tended to be a small college, and therefore seemed to me that that would not obey what the President had laid down. So, the notion… once again I'm concerned about the persons and the focus on Evergreen College, and colleges of that sort aren't developing a person… seemed to me to be utterly and totally important and of grave concern for anyone in our own day. Where the sense of the self is more problematic perhaps than in previous centuries, and where the students who would come to us would tend to have a more diffuse identity than students at more traditional colleges. It seems to me that students come to Grand Valley as students in �general in our around modern age do not come from a [?] background, do not have what sociologists I think all described notions, rather they achieve their self. [Tom] And so it seemed that rather than having a college where one would fit in because one's grandfather had gone there, or because one was a member of a certain class. You would really have to have a college in which some opportunity would be provided to assist the student to grow as a person and that the notion of a person oriented it also cemented the notion in my mind of psychosocial humanism. So those two things work together. However, psychosocial humanism also borders on how one gets along with people in social context, not merely how one develops internally. And therefore, it seemed to me that one could use this facet to develop the person. To recognize a person's development communities. To recognize also that communities have functions to take care of and so, granted that the one focus or one division of the unit on Environmental Sciences. And another concern with Social Relations, it seemed fairly evident that Social Relations would have in generally a larger market for possible auditors than say-Environmental Sciences. However, Social Relations… there are a limited number of jobs. Large, but a limited number of jobs for sociologist and even a psychologist it appeared to me. But most of the jobs in our own age, and throughout history have been concerned with business. People seem to forget that. I happen to have degrees in history of science, and one of my specialties was in studying Babylonian clay tablets. They're about ten to fifteen thousand clay tablets, about as big as your hand with inscriptions on them. And everyone remembers, whoever studies the history science, those are Babylonian clay tablets which talk about astronomy. Or talk to some degree about how the geometry. Really looking on the… what do they say, the Pythagorean theorem. Square of the hypotenuse equals how many squares of the other two sides. It's a famous tablet that shows that in algebraic form shows these triads. But, as a matter of fact, of those ten to fifteen thousand tablets there's only about two hundred tablets which would be called scientific. There's another hundred two hundred tablets which should be called, oh, casual. There's this one tablet that I remember reading where this student is writing home asking for money. [Laughter] Fits in with what we normally think of student life. but leaving aside those for five hundred maybe a thousand tablets which have to do with what we would consider intellectual matters. The great plurality of the of the tablets had to do with a simple computation. Business dealings, they were business records. So, I'm saying in Babylonian epics, in our own epic, the tendency of society is to have business and social concerns or service concerns attached to some sort of records and keeping records. It seemed fairly evident then that, like it or not, the business of America is business. As one of our former presidents said, and therefore most of the jobs would be in business. So, I had the third and most important part of the colleges, it seemed to me, would be in what I named administration and information management. I like acronyms so it was AIM – “Aim.” I had also copied this, I must say from a professor at Dartmouth College �who later became its president, John Kemeny, a great mathematician. [Tom] So, it seemed to me that the largest of those three units with these administration and information management, and that would where be where William James College would have the largest number of those majors. I have to admit that's one thing I had not entered my mind was to have media group but, as soon as it’s proposed by a committee members I certainly assented. It seems to me that if William Shakespeare were alive and writing today, he would be writing as Lucas does or any of the cinematographers who would be writing for cinema or for media. So those four units seemed to me to fit in a nice package. Administration and information management being where most of the jobs would be concerned. Those who would work in such professions would learn about how to govern people, and how to govern themselves from such relations component. They would learn a deeper reflection on man from their emphasis on psycho-socio humanism. And they would also learn about the world in which they… members by the concern for environmental science. [Barbara] This may be a troubling question. Did you do any marketing research as they would be running around doing today? [Tom] Did I do what? Market? [Barbara] This came from your sense of things. Did you run out and test these notions? That this would be where the students were. [Tom] Well, in in a very indirect way. One of my roommates in college is a fairly significant, at that time, was fairly significant member of IBM Corporation. And I consulted with him informally over the phone. I also did read the literature. Seems like one of the easiest things to do rather than make your market research is to read literature. Much has been printed before by persons whom we could not afford to hire. So, I did a great deal of reading in what was written about universities. From the beginning and then studied particularly Canadian universities over the last twenty years. Because Canada underwent an enormous expansion between nineteen forty-five and nineteen sixty-five with their universities. For a very narrow base, classically oriented universities, to a much broader set of universities that was encompassing. That we're allowing for a person who never come to college to go to college. So, I did reading rather than having survey done. [Barbara] We're going to run out of tape. We have another tape it’s just that we just don't want to interrupt an open answer. [Camera operator] [Inaudible] �[Barbara] We have another five minutes? Okay. [Tom] My face was not very mobile, was it? [Barbara] [Inaudible] I'd like to ask. Would you say something briefly about synopticity, which seems to have started right away. [Tom] About what? [Barbara] Synopticity? [Tom] Oh, yes. That was actually--I liked that very much. [Barbara] And then your comments as someone from the outside do you think we grew in the right way or did we get skewed off? And then something about the courses that were working against the success of the college. If you have any observations on them. [Tom] Alright. [Camera operator] [Barbara] This is not the right tripod. [indistinct mumbling] [Inaudible] It’s not the right tripod. [Camera operator] Okay. [Barbara] So authenticity seems there from the beginning. [Tom] Oh, yeah. Yes, the synoptic lectures here. That was probably the third thing of which I'm most proud in attempting to develop within James. It seemed to me that the most difficult thing for a regional college is how to keep the faculty active. And it's for that reason I designed the synoptic program. The synoptic program I envision would be rather similar to actually what William James had done. In the gifted lecture series, that were later titled, “The Variety of Religious Experience.” A way to bring to a… to Edinburgh a matter of fact, in James' case. To bring to a campus a visiting dignitary who it in ten twelve days open up his entire mind and give you his view of the universe. And I call them synoptic lectures. They would take place here at Grand Valley. I recognize them as highly significant to the students. I think the most important thing you can do for students to give them a view of the universe. That it allows people to tie together in some sort of a fashion. The diverse notions they have and to make an intellectual synthesis to the degree they have as well. About their entire status, and the entire stance to the universe. But I really thought of it is crucially important for the faculty. Grand Valley State College is in the middle of the peninsula. Grand Rapids is a good �size city, but it's not a metropolis. [Tom] It doesn't have the resources available to it as Chicago, or New York, or Detroit. And so, to me, it seemed to be crucial to keep the faculty active; to have a variety of persons from the faculty over a period of years would pick. As becoming some master teacher in their field to come to campus and to enunciate to students at a common level, not a technical level. The great ideas the faculty had. And I was following a man named Jerome Bruner. A good cognitive psychologist. In fact, he was one of the synoptic lecturers I had invited, as well Jean Piaget, who said that: "One can always explain, in a decent way, any idea at a level that would be capable of being understood by a particular audience.” So, that was the whole notion of a synoptic lecture: to give us a view of the universe for the students, but also to give the faculty chance to plan ahead for the great mind that they would consider dominant in that field. Plan ahead for that person visit to initiate students in that, and of course keep the faculty active. So, in a sense, I was looking to the faculty. Students come and go after four years. But the faculty can be here for twenty years. And it could easily turn over old ideas many times, unless one had stimuli from such great minds. Such as Jean Piaget, or a person like that. [Barbara] Would you comment on your observation from the outside that the development of our college… [Tom] Well, I guess, I did stay outside William James College. I tried to start off as best I could, you know with the committee. We did the best we could to get it going. And then I thought once you hire faculty, let the faculty do what they considered best. And obviously the fact that they proceeded in the certain direction. I think I would express concern. Seemed to me that the faculty either did not understand or did not pay attention to what President Lubbers said and asked in his first year. Namely that it would be a large college, and that it would enroll a wide variety of students in a broad number of fields. It seemed to me that the college never put the personnel into any administration information management program that the numbers of students would justify. I think when the faculty decided for whatever reason, probably very good reasons – I was not a member of the committees at the side of these – that they would not grow exponentially. But rather they would only replicate. I think that was crucial. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource William James College Interviews Description An account of the resource Videotaped interviews of William James College faculty, students and administrators by Barbara Roos. William James College opened in 1971 as the third baccalaureate degree granting college for Grand Valley. It was originally designed to be an interdisciplinary, non-departmentalized college consisting of concentration programs, rather than majors. Curriculum was organized around three concentrations that were meant to be interdisciplinary career preparation offerings: Social Relations, Administration and Information Management, and Environmental Studies. The college was discontinued in 1983 during a reorganization of Grand Valley. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1984 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/69">William James College faculty and student interviews (GV016-16)</a> Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Grand Valley State University Michigan Universities and colleges Oral histories Alternative education Interdisciplinary approach in education Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Roos, Barbara (Interviewer) Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context GV016-16 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource video/mp4 application/pdf Type The nature or genre of the resource Moving Image Text Language A language of the resource eng Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context GV016-16_GVSU_09_Cunningham Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Cunningham, Tom Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1984 Title A name given to the resource Tom Cunningham interview (1 of 2, video and transcript) Description An account of the resource Interview with Tom Cunningham by Barbara Roos, documenting the history of Grand Valley State's William James College. William James College was the third baccalaureate degree granting college for Grand Valley. It was originally designed to be an interdisciplinary, non-departmentalized college consisting of concentration programs, rather than majors. The college opened in 1971 and was discontinued in 1983 during a reorganization of Grand Valley State. Dr. Thomas Cunningham was a faculty member of William James College and longtime GVSU professor who was credited with heading the WJC Planning Task Force that founded the college. In this interview, Tom discusses the origin of the name "William James College" and how the character of the new college was created. This interview is part 1 of 2 for Tom Cunningham. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Roos, Barbara (Interviewer) Subject The topic of the resource Grand Valley State University Michigan Universities and colleges Oral histories Lectures and lecturing Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/69">William James College faculty and student interviews (GV016-16)</a> Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Moving Image Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource video/mp4 application/pdf Language A language of the resource eng Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/a35c2d05aa6a1750dc3ab9311882bdc3.mp4 f5d4d2533eda1e30b2afc769d9ff0676 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/80acad654035dba4f8c8b2edaa8fc212.pdf 1a9a17cd2107f484430a80c8fc5540fb PDF Text Text William James College Interviews GV016-16 Interviewer: Barbara Roos Interviewee: Tom Cunningham Date: 1984 Part: 2 of 2 [Barbara] Where were we? We were talking about growing... [Tom] Oh yes, I gather it was a crucial decision sometime in the second and third year of William James College faculty. Where they decided not to grow exponentially, you know, for a variety of reasons. They wanted to get to know each other. Each member of the faculty. But I think it was an unfortunate decision. At the time Grand Valley as in whole and in general was growing. And there's a certain number of faculty positions that are open when you're growing that become closed by the times. Not to grab hold of those faculty positions, for whatever good reason, means they are going to be closed to you later. And you will not have those choices to make later. So, it seemed to me that the faculty was deciding that they would be of a certain size and no bigger, and that's permissible. But it also meant that you had one college that continue to grow, College of Arts and Sciences, which would continue to have something like eighty/ninety percent of the of the students on campus. And therefore, all the other colleges, now two of them and then the third to start later, would define themselves in the shadow of that much larger college. Whereas the foundation documents of Grand Valley and the wish of the President was that you would have a number of colleges, each the same size. You can do the things if you are the same size. I looked to Oxford and Oxford University, where you have all your college and you're a Trinity College… they're pretty much the same size. The Trinity does not step over [inaudible]. They're members of a larger unit and they get service to the university. Each doing it in its own particular fashion. I don't think that ever took place here at Grand Valley, because the College of Arts and Sciences just ballooned. Whereas the other colleges I had to find themselves to be smaller for variety a of reasons, and I think that's an unfortunate. I think that eventually assisted in the demise of William James College. [Barbara] As we're on this topic, can you comment further on some of the reasons why the school had to be closed after only eleven years. [Tom] I don't know whether it had to be closed or not. But I do think that… why would it close? I suppose because most of the functions that it had been doing and then taken over by other units. It seems to me that William James was on its slippery slope when it gave up the Administration and Information Management program. I had never thought about computers, personal computers notion. I had thought of mainframes as John Kemeny at Dartmouth is associated with twenty-five �years ago. If I hadn't really known about the personal computers and could predict that, I would have invested my money and Apple computers and be a millionaire and not be here. But it was evident that the administration information management was a high growth potential. [Tom] For one reason or another it never achieved that here in William James College, and indeed, William James College allowed the computer personnel to be removed from it. That to me was already an indication that it was in its death throes. I think after that simply a matter of time. Why did it end? One can always look for scapegoats. There is a conspiratorial view history, with which I'm not in agreement, which says all of my problems are outside made. And even Freud knew that most of our problems are within me. And at James you would say that, too, I think. I do think that institutions survive – even if they're unpopular – if they perform a function. Nobody likes a prison. Not the prisoners, not even the people that work in the prisons. And certainly not the people that live next to prisons. Prisons endure because they perform a socially useful function. I think William James College, in the certain sense, died because it ceased to do that. Or at least deceased to do that in a unique fashion or in any cost-effective fashion. I don't have the data on cost effectiveness but one could look to that it seems to me. What I do think in the decision not to grow made it evident that William James would define itself in terms of a counter cultural college. In other words, it would look to and react against the larger college on campus. Whereas it certainly had the opportunity to be as large as the largest of colleges. So, I think in the great refusal it sealed its own fate. [Barbara] Many years ago you had certain… you did readings, and you had a philosophy on what would be important to found a college. Now, it's 1985. Would you do it the same way with the same rank order of importance to your decisions, or what would you do differently now? [Tom] Well, it does seem to me that college is still must fill a socially and personally useful task, and I think the tasks that were laid out at William James, however imperfectly, addressed or were attempting to address those issues. I do think that every agent, I mention from Babylonian age on, does look to service type jobs, does look to careers, I would say, in a variety of functions. In a variety of hierarchy, see. Careers in business, careers in psychology or sociology or whatever. I do think most of the documents I wrote to William James would be useful in assisting and founding any college. And I think that would be particularly useful in founding a college in our own day. One that would look to assisting. For example, that in Administration and Information Management. That was where most of the jobs would be for the next century. As far as any data showed. University of Texas at Austin is putting something like fifteen [inaudible] professors. A million-dollar chairs exactly in information management. Not that everyone who goes and gets a degree in information management will become a �computer specialist. But rather they will use computers. I think computers, which is simply another word for handling information, is really where the growth of American universities will be in the next century. [Barbara] What about the question of community though, and preparing this tape? What I get from our alums is a passionate attachment to this college. Because it fulfilled something that wasn't available to let most run the society. That's gone from Grand Valley, is it not? Can you imagine another college being founded in the near future? A small college that has this sense of community? [Tom] I don't know, I doubt it. I don't know why community has to be founded in a college-wide unit. I do know, for example, our geology majors in the College of Arts and Sciences in Grand Valley’s college now have always been closely knit. I think they're closely knit because their experiences on the digs. Our anthropology and our geology majors particularly are closely knit. I think something similar happens to our nursing group. Granted that there is attention there because only a certain number of spots are allowed for junior and senior years. But in anyone who shares an intense educational experience is an opportunity for community. I do think some of the community aspects maybe a function of the faculty meeting community more than students do. I think faculty come at a certain age, and you can go through community experiences at a certain number of times. But after all, if you're a normal faculty member you have your own family and that's where you will receive most of your community inputs. I do think that faculty require close interaction with students. I think that happens with majors, but I think the tragedy of American education in general, seems to me, is that the freshmen and sophomores are ignored, and the juniors and seniors majors in the field are prized. I think the inverse should be true. Freshman should be intensely worked with, that is where you develop community. And then the sophomores and juniors, they're around and they're your resources to talking to other freshmen. And I think that's what William James and smaller colleges tend to do. They have an intense experience with freshman students and that endures over the four years. I think in having large lecture courses in other colleges, for example, and now in Grand Valley in general. That sense, that opportunity for community is lost. So, I would say have freshman seminars, or perhaps even seminars directed to persons who might major in particular field as a freshman or plan on majoring. And you would have a community experience that could grow. [Barbara] Thank you. [Inaudible] I am out of questions, but I am not out of tape. Is there something else you would like to tell us? [Tom] No, I think you asked the basic questions. Namely how did it start. What occurred. [Barbara] I guess I do have one more question. Just something that doesn't feel real to me. �Lubbers asked you to do this. You say you did a lot of reading, but that cannot be the whole answer. How did you come up with this much this fast? [Tom] I worked… Isaac Newton was asked one day how he thought about gravity. And he said how he discovered the formula about gravity. He said by thinking on it [Latin?] day and night. I was working eighteen / nineteen hours a day for a period of three months. I have a picture of my newborn son who's born in September tenth, nineteen seventy. And he was lying on my chest. In fact, this jacket I wore when I interviewed with the President. I wore it. Well, my interview with the President (when he gave me those directions about the schools). Tommy was lying on my chest, and I was just sleeping between two o'clock feeding and six o'clock when I would get up. But I had been working steadily. I thought about education for forty-years. Twenty-years as a college student and university student. And it was a chance to put into practice all of my ideas. And I wrote them up because they were all of my ideas. I would also like to point out that Saint Augustine, someplace or other, says that most skills are learned in a short time when you're young or not at all. And I guess I wrote this material in a short time because I thought about it at great length under a period of many years. [Barbara] Quickly, what are your various educational experiences? [Tom] Three years ago I graduated law school. That was my ninth academic degree. I had studied physics as an undergraduate after serving in the United States Navy and Notre Dame. And, then I studied for the Roman Catholic priesthood and obtain six of my degrees. Three in philosophy, and three in theology. I picked up a doctorate degree in history science (medieval science) at the University of Wisconsin. And I think the degree I liked best of all is the master’s degree I obtained in education - history, theory, and criticism. That's basically what I do at William James College, was to lay out what I thought was important. [Barbara] Where is that master’s from? [Tom] From the University of Wisconsin. [Barbara] Wisconsin? Okay. [Tom] I did that University. One of the ways in which you see how ideas and science take root, is to see how they can transfer into a curriculum. In other words, Isaac Newton discovers gravity. How long does it take to get into a curriculum? That's what I did. That's why I majored in history, that's why I took a master’s in educational history. [Barbara] Okay. �[Tom] That didn't hurt it all. [Laughter] [Barbara] Thank you so much. That was very interesting. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource William James College Interviews Description An account of the resource Videotaped interviews of William James College faculty, students and administrators by Barbara Roos. William James College opened in 1971 as the third baccalaureate degree granting college for Grand Valley. It was originally designed to be an interdisciplinary, non-departmentalized college consisting of concentration programs, rather than majors. Curriculum was organized around three concentrations that were meant to be interdisciplinary career preparation offerings: Social Relations, Administration and Information Management, and Environmental Studies. The college was discontinued in 1983 during a reorganization of Grand Valley. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1984 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/69">William James College faculty and student interviews (GV016-16)</a> Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Grand Valley State University Michigan Universities and colleges Oral histories Alternative education Interdisciplinary approach in education Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Roos, Barbara (Interviewer) Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context GV016-16 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource video/mp4 application/pdf Type The nature or genre of the resource Moving Image Text Language A language of the resource eng Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context GV016-16_GVSU_10_Cunningham Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Cunningham, Tom Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1984 Title A name given to the resource Tom Cunningham interview (2 of 2, video and transcript) Description An account of the resource Interview with Tom Cunningham by Barbara Roos, documenting the history of Grand Valley State's William James College. William James College was the third baccalaureate degree granting college for Grand Valley. It was originally designed to be an interdisciplinary, non-departmentalized college consisting of concentration programs, rather than majors. The college opened in 1971 and was discontinued in 1983 during a reorganization of Grand Valley State. Dr. Thomas Cunningham was a faculty member of William James College and longtime GVSU professor who was credited with heading the WJC Planning Task Force that founded the college. In this interview, Tom discusses the growth of William James College and how it played a role in the closing of the college after eleven years. This interview is part 2 of 2 for Tom Cunningham. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Roos, Barbara (Interviewer) Subject The topic of the resource Grand Valley State University Michigan Universities and colleges Oral histories College administrators Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/69">William James College faculty and student interviews (GV016-16)</a> Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Moving Image Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource video/mp4 application/pdf Language A language of the resource eng Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/1dbb661ca4daa308cba5c904ef96b3bc.mp3 602a83006948cb7feaa93353dd0aefb6 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/97099fc5544c9b31650eb007e53e1908.pdf ce5309c965cebd94b193f9cdde641470 PDF Text Text Tom Fosdick interviewed by Nathan Nietering and Eric Gollanek June 2, 2018 NN: All right. So this is Nathan Neetering interviewer, Eric Gollaneck, interviewer and we are here today with Charles Thomas Fosdick at the Old School House in Douglas, Michigan, on June 2nd, 2018. This oral history is being collected as part of the Stories of Summer Project, which is supported in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities Common Heritage Program. Thank you for taking the time to speak with us today. We're interested to learn more about your family history and your experiences in the Saugatuck Douglas area. Can you please tell me your full name and how to spell your last name? TF: A full name is Charles Thomas Fosdick- F O S D I C.K. NN: And you go by Tom? TF: I go by Tom. NN: All right, let's see. Do you use any special accents when spelling or saying your name? TF: No. NN: OK. Didn't think so. So, would you like to ask the first question? EG: Yes. Tell us, you kind of came in to check out the school building. And just interested to hear more about where you grew up and experiences. TF: Well. Yeah, I've like I said, I tried to get in here before, I didn't know when it was open for the public to come in because last I remembered, it was an apartment complex. So, it was private. NN: The Old Schoolhouse building. TF: Yeah. Yeah. I grew up right next door. 112 Center Street. And my parents were the custodians in this school as long as I remember. And, just going to school here for. Kindergarten, I think through the second grade, I was in third grade at the school after they built that. NN: What were your parents’ names? TF: Well. My dad's first name was Charles. But he went by Fuzzy. All right. That was a nickname he got. I don't know when and. My mom was Josephine. NN: Okay, and they were both custodians of the school? TF: Yeah, pretty much they my dad worked second shift, so he was here during the day and then she would come over and sweep and dump the trash and stuff like that. At night, and we usually came with her, my two sisters and I. �NN: Did either of your parents have any other jobs in the community? TF: I don't think technically they did know no, but my dad... Growing up in Douglas, everybody knew everybody. So, everybody did whatever, you know. He was on the fire department. He did other stuff, just around town. So, they were both part of the Douglas Athletic Club, which was where the library is now. And he was president for a while, and they ran the summer athletic programs and stuff. They were sponsors for that. So, just that kind of stuff. NN: So you said you attended kindergarten through second grade in this building, that would have been in the mid 50s? TF: Yes. NN: OK. TF: You know, I was born in 49. NN: OK. All right. Do you still reside in Douglas? TF: No. NN: Area? TF: Well, I went through high school in Saugatuck and then I went to Navy and then after that and came home and got married, and we live on the north side of Holland right now, but I come down here a lot. NN: What service did you do in the Navy? TF: I was aircraft hydraulics mechanic. For four years, ‘68 to ‘72. NN: Where you stationed any place interesting? TF: No, not really. NN: Okay. TF: Norfolk, Virginia, and Milton, Florida, were my two main bases. But then traveled a little bit. NN: Norfolk is a large naval base, right, naval facility, shipbuilding facility area. TF: Yeah. EG: What… Tell us a bit more. Just thinking back to your childhood, other memories, you had, vivid memories of the neighborhood, the school... �TF: Well, when I was having my picture taken, I was telling the photographer that where you've got the gardens. Just off here to the side, we had a small ballpark there that we played baseball there and then, a little bit further to the west, there was a little hill with trees on the edge of the hill and on the other side between that hill and what used to be The Tara restaurant, there was another place to play ball, and that's where the older kids played. 5:07 TF: It was more of a laid out type of thing, and they would play over there, and that was pretty much all... We had the playground equipment that was on the other side of the school of Merry-Go-Round, a slide and teeter totters.And that was all that was there. NN: That was on the side toward your house? TF: Right. NN: OK. TF: And. Memory from a teeter totter I got. My cousin and I were on there one just in the summer one time, and he jumped off while I was up in the air and came down a split my head open up metal handle. [Chuckles] NN: Right. So. So you were obviously injured to some extent. Do you remember where you were taken to get patched back up? TF: Just home. NN: Back home, and that was OK? TF: At the time, Dr. Coxford was a doctor and he lived out down towards the lake shore. So that was where his office was. The hospital is across the street, across the highway, Bluestar. It's a hotel now. NN: The Kirby, yep. TF: Yes. NN: Were you born at the Kirby House? TF: Yep. NN: Were you, okay. TF: And my sisters. NN: What years were they born? �TF: Oh great. [Laughs] NN: About? TF: I have an older sister that's about two years older than me, and then a younger one was around ‘54. I think she was born. NN: Okay. And they were all born at the Kirby House? TF: Yeah. NN: Can you tell us a little bit about the fire slide on the back of the old schoolhouse? TF: The two? Yes, there was just a place that we used. We were told not to go in it, but we said it didn't matter. We did anyway and just used it as a slide, because you can go up there and there was a little platform at the top and you could sit and kind of hide from people if you wanted to. Just slide down it. You got filthy because the inside of that thing was metal and so, everything you wore up there got covered in metal dust. NN: So, do you recall sliding down feet-first or head-first or both? TF: Both, mostly feet-first, though, because there was quite a drop at the end. NN: Oh, yeah? TF: Yeah. It wasn't very close to the ground. [All laugh]. NN: So. All right, so tell us. You said you were here from kindergarten through second grade. Which teachers did you have while you were? TF: I just had Mrs. Stroud. Mrs. Stroud. She was the only one I had. The only other teachers that I remember were Mrs. Haddaway. She had the room right next door, would have been right next on the ground floor. But, I don't remember the name of the teacher that was up on top with the upper grades. Can't remember her. Didn't have nothing to do with it. So, I don't remember. But, Mrs. Haddaway stayed with the school system all the way till we consolidated with Saugatuck because Douglas was an independent and when the kids… � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Summers in Saugatuck-Douglas Collection Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. Kutsche Office of Local History Description An account of the resource Collection contains images and documents digitized and collected through the project "Stories of Summer," supported by a National Endowment for the Humanities Common Heritage Grant. The collection aims to document the twin lakeshore communities of Saugatuck and Douglas, Michigan, as they transformed through the state's bustling tourism industry and acceptance of minorities. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1910s-2010s Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Various Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/UND/1.0/">Copyright Undetermined</a> Subject The topic of the resource Michigan Saugatuck (Mich.) Douglas (Mich.) Michigan, Lake Allegan County (Mich.) Beaches Sand dunes Outdoor recreation Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University Libraries. Allendale, Michigan Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Saugatuck-Douglas History Center Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Stories of Summer (Common Heritage project) Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpeg application/pdf Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Text Language A language of the resource English Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2018 Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context DC-07_SD-FosdickT_01_2018-06-02 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Fosdick, Charles Thomas Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2018-06-02 Title A name given to the resource Tom Fosdick, part 1 (audio interview and transcript) 2018 Description An account of the resource The first part of a longer interview, Tom Fosdick discusses early memories about the Saugatuck-Douglas area. He describes his time at the Old Schoolhouse and playing with his friends on the school properties. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Nietering, Nathan (interviewer) Gollanek, Eric (interviewer) Subject The topic of the resource Michigan Saugatuck (Mich.) Douglas (Mich.) Allegan County (Mich.) Outdoor recreation Oral history Audio recordings Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Stories of Summer project, Kutsche Office of Local History. Grand Valley State University Relation A related resource Stories of Summer (Common Heritage project) Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 application/pdf Language A language of the resource eng Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/7cd25623c8799b02d7ca6a26c2d915ad.mp3 d0bcbe758d3b279d8925e1cd3919dfda https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/8bc61e0899185a6771a7992d8d9bc30a.pdf bf59b1f90831e13949b0b58123120150 PDF Text Text Tom Fosdick interviewed by Nathan Nietering and Eric Gollanek June 2, 2018 NN: This is Nathan Neetering, and I’m here today with Eric Golloneck, and we are both interviewing Charles Thomas Fosdick. This is part two of an interview that got cut off at the beginning. Tom, can you state your full name and the one you go by for me one more time? TF: Okay. Full name, Charles Thomas Fosdick. Go by Tom. NN: All right. And we are recording today at the Old Schoolhouse in Douglas, Michigan. It's June 2nd, 2018. And we're going to pick up where we left off as best as we can. EG: We were in the break. We were talking a little bit about time in school and playing sports. You were saying that you played quite a few sports. TF: Yep. EG: in Saugatuck. TF: Well, we were talking about Ms. Haddoway, and how she was with the school all the way until it consolidated with Saugatuck and that... I was the last eighth grade class to graduate from the Douglas School after that. And seventh and eighth grade went over to Saugatuck and there was that's where I went to high school for four years and I played sports. The four sports that I played were football for a couple of years, basketball a couple of years, and then golf and baseball mostly the rest of the time. So. But we played ball. Innocent. This has nothing to do with the school but growing up in Douglas, that was what we did, us boys. We played baseball. We played something, but baseball was the thing that we played the most. TF: Friend of mine lived right across from where the school is now, and there was a vacant lot right next door. And once actually there were two vacant lots, one on one side they owned. The other one was for sale. And we played baseball in the one that was for sale and we played football in the one that they owned. [Chuckles] TF: But we would play a lot of baseball just down at the park downtown because that's been there forever, as far as I know. NN: Today, that's Barry Fields, right? TF: Yeah. NN: Yeah. Do you recall any specific coaches that you had when you were at the high school who made any impressionable memories on you? TF: The coaches that I had started out with, Mr. Winter and Jerry Kelly was another one of the coaches. And Joe Domitrz. �NN: Can you spell... Do you remember how to spell his name? TF: Well, that's not spelled the way… NN: That's why I ask. TF: I remember the first year he taught there. He wrote his name on the board and he told us all, “Don't even try to pronounce it just. This is how you say it. Just say it like this.” TF: But it was DOM I T R Z. NN: That's not how I would have expected it either. [Laugh] TF: Anyway, that was... And let's see who else did I have? Yeah, that was... Those were the main ones. Mr. Handford was the golf coach until my senior year, and then Mr. Morris was. But Jerry Kelly coached basketball and baseball. So, I had him for baseball the whole time. NN: Do you recall were there any championship years in any of those sports? TF: Well, it's... NN: How'd the team do? TF: Some well, but it's not the same as what it is not. They didn't have playoffs at the end of the season, other than basketball. But the football when you were season was done, that was it. You were done. In golf, we had some pretty good teams and we would play in the state, the regional things and stuff like that. But as far as baseball went, you when your season was done, that was done. There was no playoffs like what they've got going on now. So… TF: We had one really good pitcher when I was playing, and his name was Frank Kelly. I think he's still around here somewhere. I don't know. I see him occasionally, but just it was fun. We just played ball. That was what we did. Now all kids are on video games instead of outside playing. EG: I'm interested in maybe just step back a second. Your family's history here, were they from… longtime residents? 5:05 TF: My, mother. Her family house was just across Bluestar. I don't even know what that... there used to be a Standard Gas Station or the Shell. There's a Shell, and then across to the south, there was a Standard Gas Station, and their house was the next block behind that. And they pretty much the family all pretty much owned that entire block. Mostly because there was the house and then the whole section to the north of the house was a garden. So, we got a lot of vegetables out of that garden, strawberries. Yeah. She grew up there and my dad grew up in Fennville. EG: Okay. �TF: And where he grew up is still in the family there. It's a Centennial Farm on 58th Street. So, and I've got a cousin that lives there now. NN: So, what was your mother's maiden name? TF: Monique. NN: Monique. TF: M O N I Q U E. EG: Do you remember stories of how they ended up here in this region there or in Michigan? TF: I don't know... The Monique family, I don't know that much about, but the Fosdick family, I've got cousins that have done research on heritage and stuff, and they've traced it all the way back to the origin of the name. NN: Okay. TF: So, they started out in Massachusetts, they were part of the pilgrims that came over and then they worked their way west. And after the Civil War, then my great grandfather moved to Fennville, moved, got to Fennville, and they've been there ever since. EG: Centennial Farm. NN: That's fascinating. NN: You mentioned the Douglas Athletic Club across the street from the Douglas Union School Building. Were there any other places or institutions that you remember that may, you know, were important when you were growing up in the Saugatuck Douglas area? TF: Well, nothing that we were part of. The Masonic Hall which was pretty much next door. Three houses, three buildings down. That was about it wasn't much of anything, really. Just a small town, grocery store down by the river close to the river there. It burned a few years ago. But it wasn't a grocery store then anymore, I don't think. Not after they built what used to be Taft's. NN: There are a lot of people who still call a Taft's. TF: Probably, probably. Yes. But the grocery store that you're recalling was down Center Street towards Wayne's Bayou. NN: Right. Van Sickels. TF: Yeah. �EG: Down that river, one question we had about art schools in Saugatuck, Douglas. Remember anything about Greeson family and their school building that was down there, the art artists group? TF: Not a whole lot, wasn't really much in the arts. [Laughs] Oxbow has been out there forever. So, everybody knew about that. But as far as any other arts place, the town of Douglas has changed a lot from when I grew up. There wasn't any of the arts and crafts stores that are down there now. There was a hardware store that isn't there. Yeah. TF: The Catholic school used to be down there... Tyler's drug store was down there. And that's where the bus stopped, Greyhound. And The Tara was where the condos are now. NN: On the Bluestar Highway, correct? TF: Yep. NN: What did you do when you were growing up in the summer when school was not in session? 10:01 TF: We played ball. NN: You played all the time? TF: [Laugh] Just about every day. NN: OK. TF: We played ball. NN: Did you have any summer jobs as you were getting older? TF: We used to pick cherries in the summer. My dad had a friend that had a cherry orchard, sour cherries, and we'd go pick there. Other than that, not really. I pretty much played ball and my dad didn't tell me, make me have to go do something that would take away from that. It didn't. It never really amounted to anything. TF: But because it was like I say, things are a little different back in those days. When I got out of high school and Vietnam was going on, so college, you'd better have a specific well-intentioned major, otherwise you were getting drafted and you were going. And so, there wasn't… And he told me I would not like the Army. So, I went to Navy. [Laughs] EG: Had he served? He served in the Army? �TF: My dad? Yeah. He was in the South Pacific in World War II. EG: Okay. TF: And. They've written books about his outfit, Ghosts Among Boys. So it's... Yeah. Some of the stories that he told about that. He told me I wouldn't like it. [All Laugh] NN: So, you grew up in Douglas, you went to school in Douglas until you went to Saugatuck to go to high school. TF: High school. NN: As someone growing up in Douglas, did you go to Saugatuck for any other reason besides high school? Did you have a reason to go to that side of the bridge? TF: Uh, just for summer sports when I got older, that was all. We didn't... Again, things were a little different in those days. When people would say, you would say you were traveling somewhere and people would ask, "Well, where do you live?" TF: And we'd say, Douglas. "Oh, where's that?" TF: And we'd tell them and they'd say, "Oh, right next to Saugatuck." TF: That's on the other side of the river. And we're not the same. So, and I and I remember when I was I think I was in high school and they were talking about consolidating Saugatuck schools with the Fennville School system. And everybody knew that that was never gonna happen because the rivalry between the two town, it just wasn't going to... You weren't going to get enough votes to get that to pass. [Chuckles] Everybody one had their identity, which now, you know, they consolidated the fire stations and stuff, then the police, and now that's gone. But. Back when I was growing up, there was never even an option. You had your own identity. You were Douglas and they were Saugatuck. NN: OK. So, was there anything specific about Douglass's identity that made it especially unique, different? The best at something, the you know home of something? TF: You know, it was quieter. Saugatuck was the party town in those days. TF: When I was a senior in high school, we took a senior class trip to Mackinac Island, we went took the bus over to Detroit and got on to South American. Heard about that ship? NN: The steamship, yep. TF: And took the South America up to Mackinac Island, spent the day there and then took the ship back to Detroit and came back. And we happened to come back on Memorial Weekend. At first, they weren't even allow the busses into town because there was no place. The streets were so packed with �cars and people that they didn't think there would even be able to get to the school. And the school wasn't where it is now. So what they finally figured out a way to get them in and then they said, well, no cell phones or anything. “Your parents aren't going to be able to pick you up. You're going to have to walk to the edge of town if you don't live in the city, in Saugatuck.” TF: And that's what happened. Nobody could get in because it was just packed with people. 14:58 NN: Do you have a feel for who those people were, where they were coming from? TF: Chicago, mainly, Detroit, St. Louis, the two main places that people would come from when I was growing up here, St. Louis and Chicago. There was a place out on the Lake Shore. There was all St. Louis people. They had their own little community out there. But they are those are the two main places. NN: And everybody was in town for Memorial Day weekend. [Chuckles] TF: Yep, there was there was big party. Yeah. Just different things have changed over the years. It's more of a family friendly type of place now than what it was then. But they used to have used to the state police used to bring in a trailer and park it next to the Standard Oil Gas Station and they would run a special unit out of there on all the big weekends, Memorial Day, Fourth of July, Labor Day, because it would get very... riotous, I guess you could say. NN: Did any of the locals ever really participate in those sort of activities or was it...? TF: Yeah. Oh yeah. [Laughs] NN: Were you one of those participants, or did you…? TF: No, I tried to stay out of there. Okay. Maybe, you know, you walk through or try to drive through, if you could. I used to go to the fireworks on Venetian night. But we could see them from our backyard. So, it didn't really matter a whole lot. NN: All right. So, keeping in mind that this recording that we're doing today will be saved for a long time. There may be someone here listening to this in 50 years from now, what would you want them to know about your life in the community even right now? TF: Well, I'm not part of the community anymore, other than just coming back down to see how things are going. One of the things that I guess I've always kind of wondered about is why things... some of the stuff that they've allowed to do, have been allowed to do. Knowing what I know about some of the things, that kind of surprises me. There are houses built and a ball field behind the school now was built on a toxic runoff from a plating company. There's houses right on the top of this little runoff stream. That I don't I just don't understand how that was allowed, because... But, nobody thought about it when we went to school there, we used to walk right through the thing. [Chuckles] �NN: So that's behind the current Douglas Elementary School? TF: Yeah. Yeah. And that used to drain down into the gully is what we called it, into a creek that fed into the Kalamazoo River. But other than that, and we come. My wife and I come down every now and then and drive through the towns and stop and just look at the shops and stuff. NN: Do you have any favorite restaurants or current destinations down here? TF: Oh, the restaurants that are here now, I haven't been in. The restaurant that is on the corner right across from the ballpark. I don't know the name of it now. NN: In Douglas? TF: Yeah. It was just the Douglas Dinette when I grew up. NN: I think it's called the Everyday People Cafe now, but it had a different name then. TF: Yeah. Yeah. It was just the Douglas Dinette. And there was one another one that was out by where that little strip mall is. Was it... I don't even know the name of that. But that was Tiffany's Restaurant. That's not there anymore. And we used to when I was... My dad was a janitor, and every Saturday morning when he would get ready to go do something at the school and he'd come and wake me up, and I would be helping him do stuff at the school. And we'd always take a break at some point in the morning and we'd go to one of those two places and he'd get coffee and a donut and I'd get some milk or pop or something and a donut. 20:17 TF: And that was a standard operating procedure type of thing every Saturday morning. So. Yes. Now, the ones that we go to are in Saugatuck. It's the… we go to The Corner Bar, Wally's, Pumpernickel's. Those three places are the main ones that we go to. NN: So just circling back real quick to your father, then become the custodian at the new school and that opened? TF: Yes, he did. NN: Okay. TF: Him and my uncle. Because my mom didn't drive. So, she would have had to walk up there. So, then my uncle, Lawrence Monique, and my dad. Because my dad still worked second shift. So, he was there during the day doing stuff. And then my uncle was there at night. So, it was the same type of thing. He took care of everything during the day, then he cleaned up at night and on weekends on Saturday. Then they did the major projects if they needed to strip a floor and re-wax it or something because it was all tile. And that was done on Saturday. So, and then when they consolidated, then my �dad was a for a time a part-time custodian over at the Saugatuck School. But then that was just for a couple of years, and then it stopped. NN: Do you remember when they opened the new school? You were a student, you were in third grade, I think. TF: Yes. Mrs. Lineman. NN: Okay. Do you have any... I mean, that building is very different from the now the old school. How did that feel as a student? Was there anything particularly different that you recall from going to old new building? TF: We had a gym that we could play on when it was raining and you went into the gym and played basketball, or... Usually, we would divide it up in half, then the boys were on one half and the girls were on the other half. So that we didn't have to do. The girls that have to do what we wanted to do and we didn't have to do what they wanted to do. [Laugh] TF: But there were different things that happened at that school that were. I don't know if you'd call them unique, but they were fun at the time. Bill Allen was a newscaster for a TV station in Grand Rapids and he lived out on the lakeshore. And about one day a week, he would come in at noon. And we would arrange because the desks weren't permanent in place, they were movable, so we would form them in the shape of a U. And he would sit he would get the teacher's chair because it was on wheels and he would we would play chess and he would just play everybody. And he'd just go from board to board to board to board and just play chess all noon. So that was different. NN: Were you any good at chess? TF: No, not particularly, but it was fun. I yeah, I never I didn't really study it or anything. I played it, but it was. It didn't it wasn't one of those things where I was super competitive and had to win or anything like that. It was just fun, fun to do. NN: Sure. Okay. I think we're getting close to wrapping up here. Would you have any advice for a younger person who might be listening to this interview? Any thoughts? TF: Well, I just from my childhood and stuff, if it's anything growing up here like it was, then this is a great place to grow up, it's small. Like I said back when I grew up, just about everybody knew everybody, and you kind of looked out for each other. I hope that it's the same way now, but I don't know that for sure. But that would be nice if it would be. So other than that. Yeah. That was... It was a nice place to grow up. 25:01 NN: Good. Anything else, any other stories or anything that you'd like to share that I got to ask? �TF: That's the thing. I'll probably think of some on my way home. [Laugh] Yeah, that's there's always stuff that pops into my head that I talk to people about. Now there's a thing that we do. A bunch of us guys that graduated from high school in the same general time frame, we get together once a month for breakfast down here. And, that's always interesting, we rehash all our old memories and old stuff that we used to do. TF: One of the things that I do miss that I used to do, you used to spend a lot of time growing up after school and after sports things. There used to be a place in Saugatuck called the Soda Lounge. And we used to hang out there a lot. That was... that's not there anymore. NN: No, but I think we have a portion of the old malt machine has come to us, and it's in our collection. TF: Really? NN: Here at the History Center. TF: People, people always you know, people talk about the difference in terms from one area of the country to another where pop or soda. Well, when I was growing up, we'd go to the Soda Lounge, you got a soda, which was different than pop. So, if you wanted like a Coke or something, that was pop. But if you wanted a soda, that could be any flavor you wanted it, so... And that they would mix it right there? They would make it with one of those handle things that looked like a swan's neck, and you made a soda. So that to me, when people said soda, how are you making a soda? TF: There's just all this stuff growing up here. There is a softball team that was sponsored by the Douglas Athletic Club who used to play downtown. Used to go down, watch them, played Little League Baseball down there. And Ev Thomas used to broadcast. There was a building behind home plate that they used to put big speakers up on the roof, and he would announce the Little League Bay games or the softball games. There was always Ev Thomas. NN: Was he a local? TF: Yeah, he was a kind of a unique person. He was a real estate salesman. He's been dead for a long time and he was born on February 29th, so he was one of them guys. It was only four years old or whatever. [All laugh] NN: Yep, a leap year baby, huh? TF: Yeah. So, he always used to say he was one of the youngest captains in the army in World War II. [Laughs] He wasn't a few number of birthdays. He wasn't very old. NN: Right. All right. Well, if you think of additional stories, you know where to find us. OK. And at this moment, Tom, I will thank you so much for sharing your thoughts and your memories with us and for sharing your time today. This will conclude the interview. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Summers in Saugatuck-Douglas Collection Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. Kutsche Office of Local History Description An account of the resource Collection contains images and documents digitized and collected through the project "Stories of Summer," supported by a National Endowment for the Humanities Common Heritage Grant. The collection aims to document the twin lakeshore communities of Saugatuck and Douglas, Michigan, as they transformed through the state's bustling tourism industry and acceptance of minorities. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1910s-2010s Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Various Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/UND/1.0/">Copyright Undetermined</a> Subject The topic of the resource Michigan Saugatuck (Mich.) Douglas (Mich.) Michigan, Lake Allegan County (Mich.) Beaches Sand dunes Outdoor recreation Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University Libraries. Allendale, Michigan Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Saugatuck-Douglas History Center Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Stories of Summer (Common Heritage project) Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpeg application/pdf Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Text Language A language of the resource English Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2018 Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context DC-07_SD-FosdickT_02_2018-06-02 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Fosdick, Charles Thomas Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2018-06-02 Title A name given to the resource Tom Fosdick, part 2 (audio interview and transcript) 2018 Description An account of the resource The second part of his interview, Tom Fosdick describes his experiences with the school system and playing sports. He also discusses summer jobs, cross-state school trips, and his family and their role as school janitors. He also explores changes to the region. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Nietering, Nathan (interviewer) Gollanek, Eric (interviewer) Subject The topic of the resource Michigan Saugatuck (Mich.) Douglas (Mich.) Allegan County (Mich.) Outdoor recreation Oral history Audio recordings Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Stories of Summer project, Kutsche Office of Local History. Grand Valley State University Relation A related resource Stories of Summer (Common Heritage project) Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 application/pdf Language A language of the resource eng Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/5babbe2a3f22da4b1f105c7b7c2cfc2f.mp4 69db2c20acf6e76f06521bd567a8bc9b https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/f814d527f47259f9230520cb52a3a489.pdf 3daf04fb5734351148a390a3a72f83b8 PDF Text Text Living with PFAS Interviewee: Tom Konecsni Interviewer: Dani DeVasto Date: May 18, 2023 DD (00:02): All right. Uh, I'm Dani DeVasto and today, May 18th, 2023. I have the pleasure of chatting with Tom, an individual who has been impacted by PFAS. Can you tell me about where you're from and where you currently live? TK (00:26): Yes. I, I currently live in, in the west Wolven area of Rockford, and I've been here, um, going on 16 years. DD (00:37): Great. TK (00:38): Prior to that, um, different states, uh, 23 years in Southern California. Um, couple years in Dallas, Fort Worth in Austin, Philadelphia, four years, and then, uh, Cleveland, Ohio, eight years. DD (00:58): Oh, you've really been in a lot of different places. TK (01:02): <laugh>. Yes. It was driven from, you know, childhood moves to, uh, young adult adulthood in southern California. DD (01:14): Awesome. Thank you. Can you tell me a story about your experience with PFAS or with PFAS in your community? TK (01:24): Yeah, and I'll, I'll start with, um, how, how I even came upon, you know, PFAS and that was, uh, in the, oh, I think the summertime of, uh, or the spring summertime of, um, 2010. I was driving my kids to school one day and I noticed a cloud of dust and particulate coming from the, uh, the tannery. And I looked over and they have a, a security fence around the property. And, uh, I noticed, uh, Pitch and Rockford were demoing the buildings. Pitch, being the demo, and Rockford doing the, the, the, the construction work. So there was a general, and I believe a sub on that job site. And while I was looking, um, I, I noticed that the buildings that were being knocked down were very old, and the dust being emitted and the cloud that was being generated from all the demolition activities was being blown into the neighborhoods and, uh, the local school. TK (02:40): 1 �So I, um, um, was concerned about that because I, I, at the time with my background, I believed that the buildings contained, you know, asbestos and lead and other chemicals, and I didn't like the fact that it was going beyond the, the property line. So I went to a public hearing at, at the high school, uh, a couple weeks later just to try to understand what was going on. And, uh, uh, a lot of the parties were present from, uh, Wolverine executives to the law, you know, the, the law law firm that was, um, um, that was hired basically to help them out through any legal matters. And then, uh, which was Rose & Westra, and then I believe GZA was there, and then city council, Mayor Michael Young and, and some other staff. And the presentation was basically trying to, um, soothe or, um, calm, calm people's concerns and fears of what was happening at the site, um, stating, um, situations or their facts of the contaminants that are, are there, aren't harmful. TK (04:08): And, you know, you'd have to drink a, an Olympic sized pool, you know, every day for 10 years to be affected by it. And with my environmental safety health background, when it became, um, question and answer period, I raised my hand and I, you know, I said, well, you know, that's not totally accurate because, you know, 23 of my career years, uh, or my career was in Southern Cal, and they have the toughest environmental regs in the country. And I said, you know, especially with lead, if you're six years or younger or 65 and older, you want zero in your blood. So, you know, there is no such thing as drinking an Olympic size pool and not be affected by, you know, lead and, uh, with the Flint problem, and, you know, this and that going on. Uh, that was just one of my concerns. TK (05:00): So when I stated that, um, the, uh, concerned Citizens Group at the time that was formed approached me and wondered if I could help them out, you know, with, with, um, their research into what's going on with, with that activity at the tannery and, um, the companies I worked for and me being in, in the, uh, Rockford school system and the stories that I was told with, um, certain intimidations going on with, uh, individuals in the, um, concerned Citizens Group and, and, and other people, uh, I wanted to be anonymous. And, uh, I chose to be that way for quite some time, um, until now. And, uh, uh, after some research and FOI-ng information, we were getting, um, a lot of, oh, excuses that it's a hardship to find this paperwork. Uh, you know, we don't have safety data sheets 'cause the building's been knocked down and, you know, it's required by regulation. TK (06:13): You have to have 'em for 30 years and or, you know, um, or even if you, you transfer ownership, that new ownership should need to, has to have them. Same with has waste manifest. And because we were getting, um, just a lot of, uh, no's from them or basically, um, obstacles in our way to get this information, uh, you know, more and more research was being done until we did get information that we needed so that we could present our findings to E uh, DEQ at the time, which is now Eagle, um, and presented to a Cadillac, which is the enforcement branch of it. Um, a few years went by where they were interested, but nothing was being done. And then we ended up, uh, going to Chicago and, uh, getting the interest of EPA Region five involved in 2017/18, where, um, the hand was forced, you know, to clean up the tannery and the House Street, um, sites where samples were taken and obviously high levels were found at House Street, a, a as well as the Rogue River in, in Rum Creek. And since then, I've been part of the monthly, um, community awareness group, Wolverine CAG, and, um, continue to, you know, just make sure things are being done right, you know, for the community and, and, uh, you know, all affected parties that come to Rockford, whether it's for entertainment or business or they're just living here. 2 �DD (08:00): Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>, just for folks who might not be familiar, can you explain what a haz waste manifest is? TK (08:11): Yeah. Um, with anytime you have a, they call it a RCRA waste, which is a Resource Conservation Recovery Act, um, that was put together many, many decades ago, um, in the eighties, if you're on this list or if you have any of the characteristics of a hazardous waste, like if it's ignitable toxic, corrosive reactive, uh, there's definitions for that, then, um, it's, it's considered a RCRA waste and then it has to go to an approved treatment storage disposal facility where they either treat it, store it, or dispose of it. It could be just a landfill. And, um, you know, a lot of the toxic chemicals, reactive chemicals, ignitable, you know, those are, um, uh, you know, high risk, uh, that could cause immediately dangers to life and health situations if it's not, uh, monitored and, uh, handled properly. DD (09:16): Thank you. So you, you mentioned that when you, um, were first noticing the building being demolished, you were concerned about other hazardous, potentially hazardous substances like asbestos. Um, did, were you aware of PFAS at that time or when, like when did, when did PFAS kind of enter your, your world? TK (09:38): When, um, safety data sheets were, um, um, were looked at and reviewed, that's when the compound came up with Scotch Guard. So at the time, you know, and that was several years, um, after, um, getting Wolverine to try to do the right thing to clean up the site. So that was, uh, when I first got involved was the immediate aspects of, um, asbestos, you know, uh, particulate or, or dust, and then, um, you know, lead, lead as well. So that's what initiated, uh, my interest in, you know, trying to figure out, Hey, what, what, what's happening? There's contamination in the river, in the land, in the air, just from those two substances alone, hazardous substances. Mm-Hmm, DD (10:37): <affirmative> TK (10:39): Or materials or waste, but that they're called different, um, you know, different names based on the regulation that follows 'em. So you have OSHA that regulates asbestos, EPA, DOT, same with lead. DD (11:02): All right. It sounds like it was, um, a good thing that they, that they were able to get you in on the Concerned Citizens Group. <laugh> sounds like your your knowledge of, of environmental safety regulations and policies would be particularly useful. TK (11:22): Yes. Yes. And, uh, you know, it, it helped, you know, steer the path of, you know, where things are at currently to try to remediate, you know, the both sites, the tannery site as well as House Street. 3 �DD (11:38): And when you started seeing PFAS showing up on those, um, safety sheets, were you familiar with that concept or with that, with the class of chemicals? TK (11:49): I, I, I, I knew about it, but I had to do research on it. Um, I've heard it, but I didn't really know the toxicity of it, you know, until, until I did some research on it. I, I knew it was, you know, a water repellent that's, that they have for, you know, Teflon pans. It's a, it's a, it's a great, you know, chemical, so is asbestos, you know, a mineral. It's got a high tensile strength. It's was used in a lot of things, and it's still used in some brake pads today. So, um, you know, things could be chemicals, hazardous substance materials can be handled, but they need to be handled safely, you know, write PPE disposed of properly. You know, you could, you could do things, but you need to have procedures in place, you know, and, and follow them and enforce them. That's why they're there, you know? Mm-Hmm. DD (12:47): <affirmative>, yeah. What concerns do you have about PFAS contamination moving forward, if any? TK (12:56): Um, just that, uh, it's the forever chemical and, uh, you know, the concentrations that are, you know, currently in the Rogue, um, that, that goes to the Grand River, the Grand River goes to Lake Michigan and so on, so forth. Um, will it ever get to be a, a level that's safe, you know, for not only drinking, but you know, the general public, just recreational activities, boating, kayaking. So, um, I, you know, that's, that's a concern. You know what, since the science is somewhat new, and since health studies are new, considering studies on other chemicals that have been around for decades, um, it's evolving. And, you know, we don't know the exact, um, effects 10, 20, 30 years from now from, you know, PFAS in your blood, you know, at high levels. So, um, you know, will it lead to more cancers or, you know, other illnesses, you know, uh, for, for being in your body, you know, for a duration of time. DD (14:14): Yeah. So some of those really long, the unknown of the long term. TK (14:19): Yep. Yeah. The acute effects would be short term, you know, are are there acute effects, you know, possibly, you know, possibly if you consider getting cancer, you know, in a short period of time. Uh, but it's the long term that I, I think isn't, um, the science isn't out for that yet. But, you know, I'm not a toxicologist, so I can't, you know, verify that. DD (14:49): Fair enough. Uh, is there anything that you would want to add that we haven't touched on today, or anything that you want to go back to in what you've already said that you'd like to say more about? TK (15:05): Um, lemme think. No, other than, you know, it's been a long, long journey, you know, to see where things first started, to where everything has ended. I mean, there's, uh, you know, details on how information was, uh, received and gathered and, and put together and, and, uh, you know, that those 4 �aspects, um, I may come back to in a, in a future time. But, um, for the purpose of this, this recording, um, I'm just given a high, high level, high look down, um, summary of my, uh, um, my experience through, you know, living here and being part of the community and being part of the CAG, um, to actually having these sites mediated. So, uh, it's, it's, you know, it didn't happen overnight and it's continuously evolving. Again, it's not a destiny, but it's gonna be this, you know, this long journey to see how this, this ends up, if we ever do, you know, DD (16:32): Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>, TK (16:34): Maybe not in my lifetime, but, um, my, my gen, you know, not my kids generation and so on and so forth. DD (16:45): Yeah. PFAS is the, the situation both in Rockford area as well as kind of, I think globally. Yeah. Around PFAS. It's all still emerging and unfolding. And, and that's part of the, I think the challenge, TK (17:03): The tough part is, you know, it's, they're even finding it in rainwater. So when it rains, you know, there's <laugh>, you have PFAS and pretty much everybody has it in their, in their body throughout the world, and, you know, at different levels, depending on their exposure, their dose, the duration, that's what really determines, you know, what your health effects will be, DD (17:30): Right. Yeah. It's, uh, like you said, it's still an evolving, unfolding situation and TK (17:39): You be cautious, right? It's everywhere, right? DD (17:42): Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. Yeah, TK (17:45): Exactly. And, uh, you know, I just, uh, just want people to do, do the right thing. I've always been, um, on the defense side of, of corporations, you know, from a OSHA, EPA, uh, standpoint, um, DOT standpoint, and, you know, having this opportunity in front of me to, Hey, let's just, you know, have corporate America do the right thing. Um, kids live here, go to school here. It's a good, good community. You know, I enjoy, you know, the, the environment and, you know, I'd like to stay here. So if I'm gonna do that, um, you know, do what we can to clean, clean up, uh, you know, the contaminated areas. DD (18:35): Yeah. It sounds like you are doing that -- what you can, TK (18:39): 5 �Right? DD (18:41): It does sound like TK (18:42): With the power invest invested in me, right? You grant me that, right Dani? DD (18:48): <Laugh> If I could, I would. <laugh>. Oh, well thank you so much for taking the time to share your story today, even at a high level. I understand that, like I said, the situation is evolving and, um, I really appreciate that you're willing to talk and share the parts of your story today that you did. TK (19:14): Yeah, no problem. Dani, remember when you put this into a book or a movie, I want to be the one of the actors. Don't ask for Tom Cruise. I wanna be able to be the main character and pick, you know, my, uh, my partner like Michelle Pfeiffer, Julie Roberts has had too many roles like that <laugh> with Erin Brockovich. So as long as that happens, Dani, you'll get all the details from me. All right, DD (19:40): <laugh> Sounds good, Tom. 6 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Living with PFAS Interviews Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Devasto, Danielle Description An account of the resource Beginning in 2021, the Living with PFAS interviews were recorded to gather the personal stories of individuals impacted by PFAS contamination. PFAS, or per- and polyflourinated substances, are a large group of human-made chemicals used widely since the 1940s to make coatings and products resistant to heat, oil, stains, grease, and water. They can be found in countless household items, including food packaging, non-stick cookware, stain-resistant furniture, and water-resistant clothing. These chemicals are often called “forever chemicals” because they do not break down easily, can move through soils and contaminate drinking water sources, and build up in animals, plants, and people. PFAS have been linked to increased incidences of various cancers, increased cholesterol, decreased fertility, birth defects, kidney and liver disease, and immune system suppression, and thyroid dysfunction. It is estimated that PFAS are in the drinking water of more than 200 million Americans (Andrews & Naidenko, 2020). In Michigan alone, over 280 sites have PFAS contamination exceeding maximum contamination levels for groundwater (MPART, 2024). Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2021 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Living with PFAS (project) Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource In copyright Subject The topic of the resource Oral history Personal narrative PFAs (Perfluorinated chemicals) Groundwater--Pollution Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context DC-11 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource video/mp4 application/pdf audio/mp3 Type The nature or genre of the resource Motion Picture Text Sound Language A language of the resource eng Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context PFAS0038 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Konecsni, Tom Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2023-05-18 Title A name given to the resource Tom Konecsni, 2023 (Interview video and transcript) Description An account of the resource Tom Konecsni is a resident of Rockford, Michigan. After observing a building demolition in 2010, Tom became concerned about the environmental impacts of industry and chemicals in the area. He joined the Concerned Citizens Group. In the interview, he shares his observations about PFAS from various corporations that impact the area around Rockford, Grand Rapids, and the Grand River. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource DeVasto, Danielle (interviewer) Subject The topic of the resource Oral history Personal narrative PFAs (Perfluorinated chemicals) Groundwater--Pollution Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Living with PFAS (project) Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Moving Image Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource video/mp4 application/pdf Language A language of the resource eng https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/b40c239e437e675b6583b1cf04ac05da.pdf 74e0d5e5d7ce3fab7f1efce7005146a8 PDF Text Text Living with PFAS Interviewer: Danielle DeVasto Interviewee: Tom Sapkowski Date of Interview: 9/2/2021 Danielle DeVasto: I'm Dani DeVasto, and today, September 2, 2021, I have the pleasure of chatting with Tom Sapkowski. Hi, Tom. Tom Sapkowski: Hello. Danielle DeVasto: Tom, can you tell me about where you're from and where you currently live? Tom Sapkowski: Rapids, Michigan. I grew up on the west side of Grand Rapids, but I currently live in Belmont, and that's been for the past 27, 28 years, uh, I've lived in this area at this location. Danielle DeVasto: All right. Tom, can you tell me a story about your experience with PFAS or with PFAS in your community? Tom Sapkowski: Sure. Um, I believe my family came here __________ 00:00:44 back in __________ 00:00:46 probably late in the summer. I know there was some, uh, media coverage regarding, um, contamination of water in our area. Um, __________ 00:01:00 made the executive __________ 00:01:02 our well tested, um, but __________ 00:01:06 it was in October of 2017. And it's odd that—I ordered the tests from a-a place called Accurate Environmental, and, uh, because there's only, uh, maybe like a dozen, um, labs in the country that were able to test for PFAS down to a-a very, uh, __________ 00:01:27 or why I decided to expand the test area so we were going to be tested by a place called Rose & Westra. That's the test facility that they used. So, um, I was actually, I was a day early on the testing, but the good news about that is, um, our test results were matched against Rose & Westra's test results, you know, for accuracy by two different labs so we were basically checking the checker. Um, it did cost me __________ 00:02:03 which I think it was just over $600 to have it done. So that didn't make me very happy, but, um, I realized it was something that, uh, that certainly needed to be done and, um, the results were similar. Our long story short is our well, uh, which was put in in 1985, um, before, we were not the original owners of the house. But, uh, our well tested, uh, at a non-detect level. A level below, uh, five parts per trillion. Um, __________ 00:02:42 a neighbor's, just across the street, and, um, their well tested __________ 00:02:50, and I think then again __________ 00:02:54 not ridiculously though, so __________ 00:03:00 we remain on the edge of __________ 00:03:04 and, uh— Danielle DeVasto: Whoop, Tom, you cut out there for a second. Tom Sapkowski: Oh, I'm sorry. Sorry about that. Um, we had a third test done just recently by the Department of Health and Human Services. And once again, our water and the __________ 00:03:25 for PFAS, um, but there are like, I don't know, there's probably 18 different types of PFAS, uh, compounds, um, so, um, like I said, our-our well has tested __________ 00:03:45, but it didn't test, uh, positive for PFAS, even though we're very, very close to the, uh, the area that is contaminated. Um, um, I'm, my house is roughly a mile-and-a-quarter, a mile-and-a-half from the House Street dump where Wolverine, um, put the lion's share of their, uh, leather scraps that are contaminated with, uh, with Scotchgard, which was the 3M, um, name for, uh, their water repellent. So, um, I hope, I'm sorry, I hope that answers your question. Danielle DeVasto: Yeah, um— Page 1 �Tom Sapkowski: Oh, it does? Danielle DeVasto: —it does. So, I mean it, so it sounds like you've-you've had extensive testing done, um, with relatively good results. Tom Sapkowski: Yeah, and I don't know, I mean extensive as far as how accurately they're able to detect, um, __________ 00:04:43, but, um, __________ 00:04:47 our third test is only 21 so it's been a lot of __________ 00:04:55 I've been __________ 00:04:57 bringing to continue to test because when I was, when you're that close to contaminated well, you never know, and maybe no, it may test positive or negative today, and positive tomorrow. So, you just don't know what's going on in the aquifer. Um, we can make various assumptions about what's going on, uh, geologically under-under our home. Uh, our well and our neighbor's well are roughly on the same plane. They're around a hundred-and-twenty feet deep. Um, so you would think that we would be drinking the same water, but, uh, according to some geologists that I've spoke with, uh, they think we might be on something called a perch aquifer. So, um, and there's a lot of clay in our area, which, um, is not, uh, you know, it is impervious to-to the water so that may be why our well tests clean at this point. Danielle DeVasto: Sounds like you've, um, become quite an expert on aquifers and all manner of things. [LAUGHTER] Tom Sapkowski: A little bit, a little bit. I mean, uh, geology was my science in college, which, uh, a lot of people don't, they-they-they call it rocks for jocks. Have you ever heard that? Danielle DeVasto: Yes. [LAUGHTER] Tom Sapkowski: That's what the ath—that's where the athletes go because they don't want to do physics and chemistry. But, um, I really like geology so that was my science. Danielle DeVasto: So-so what is next for you guys? Tom Sapkowski: Well, we're obviously concerned __________ 00:06:38, and, um, we're involved in two different, uh, health studies where three of us in-in my family have had, um, blood taken, and, uh, we've gotten results back. Um, my wife and I test low in variou—in certain, uh, compounds of PFAS and __________ 00:06:59, but we're very, very high in, in a, in a select few. Um, __________ 00:07:07 were, uh, able, uh, to __________ 00:07:09 health outcomes because, uh, people around House Street, the-the actual dump __________ 00:07:15, um, there's is what we __________ 00:07:19 around there that they've been, it must've been pretty high level, um, for the past however many years that they've been dumping. I think back in the early 1950s, um, you know, you have been trying to __________ 00:07:36 to figure out how-how long it took that compound to get into the aquifer so. Um, but, yeah, there's, uh, there's been a number of deaths that have been linked to the contamination. And, um, and, you know, and people who are alive that, uh, have health concerns, um, because of this. So, our main, our main concern in the family is that, you know, are there, are there gonna be any negative health problems, kidney problems, pancreas problems, can—um, and so far there haven't so we've been very fortunate. I have two children. Um, currently, my daughter is 20, and my son is 27. They've been drinking, um, our well water __________ 00:08:19 for their entire lives. So, even when my wife was pregnant with, uh, with Page 2 �them, too. So, if, um, if anything, they-they should be, uh, good test subjects for the __________ 00:08:37, so. But, um, like I said, things, so far, things, um, we're in relatively good health. Um, I have some kidney issues, but they may or may not __________ 00:08:52. Um, you know, it's very, it's-it's, it would be difficult to-to prove that at this point. Um, I've been a mechanic my whole life so I've been around a lot of, uh, industrial solvents and things like that, so that may have something to do with it as well. But, uh, but that's our main concern and basically concern for others. And, uh, it's a unique situation in that the simple part is Wolverine has, uh, you know, openly admitted to dumping what they dumped at House Street. And, um, it's, you know, it's sort of a smoking gun as far as what's been, what's been done. Um, you think they-they knew it was, uh, a hazardous chemical, uh, even early on 'cause of its nature. Um, it's a synthetic compound and it really doesn't break down, uh, very easily. That's-that's probably why it's effective as a water repellent. But, um, you know, when they make, uh, conscious decisions to keep dumping, and keep __________ 00:10:12 them, um, I believe they're very culpable. And, um, I don't, uh, I'm not a litigious person by nature, but, uh, I really feel like, uh, they need to be held responsible. Andand they have stepped up and done various things. Like, right now we're getting municipal water, but oddly enough, um, the Plainfield Township municipal water, um, has like eight to 12 parts per trillion of PFAS in it because their wells are in this area. They pump, they pump, uh, you know, the big, their big wells that are supply-supply wells are-are around here. Uh, they've been searching for cleaner wells and haven't been able to find any. Um, there's a whole group of people that would like, uh, the township to start using Grand Rapids' city water, which is from Lake Michigan, um, and the township hasn't-hasn't done that yet. Uh, but they have purchased a very expensive carbon filtration system, which does filter the PFAS out of the water, but it's, um, it's expensive to have and expensive to maintain, um, and it just makes me wonder how long they're going to, uh, they're gonna, you know, try to, um, you know, make lemonade out of lemons, so to speak. [LAUGHTER] Um, so it's-it's very, and, you know, it's just very concerning. Um, the-the township used to not have a lot of, uh, say over what happened with your, with a person's well water in our area, um, it was up to the health department. If you wanted to get a well permit, you went to the health department and they—but now all of a sudden there's some type of unholy relationship between the health department and the, uh, and the township. And the township is now, uh, they're, the township is saying that because we're getting municipal water, which is a blessing and a curse, um, like I said, it's-it's dirtier water than what I'm actually drinking, um, even though it's filtered, um, but now I have a water bill obviously, or will have a water bill. [LAUGHTER] So, and-and I was pumping, you know, free water for the longest time. Um, what I was getting at before is that the township is requiring households to give up their wells or they're gonna to have to cap your well so that you may not use it. Uh, apparently they don't want the possibility of pumping the PFAS out of the ground, and then into the, you know, um, you know, the-the __________ 00:12:58, uh, that live in the area and people. So they just don't want anybody drinking it, even though I've tested clean, um, which-which proposes a problem for me. I, we-we have a-a property we'd like to be able to __________ 00:13:13 the lot, and I'd hate to have to pay for municipal water just to irrigate. And then I have a 30,000-gallon swimming pool, so, I don't Page 3 �wanna have to fill my pool with, uh, water that I have to pay for either. So that proposes a, um, a problem, as well. So, I'm trying to get the township, I'm actively trying to get the township to give me a-a-a waiver to, uh, keep my well. And I'm aware of people, two houses on Belmont Road, uh, were able to keep their well, but I don't know the reasons why. Um, one of my neighbor's was able to keep his well because he has a geothermal heat, so they pump the water out of the ground and then back into the ground, type thing. I-I'm sure you know how that-that works. But, uh, he'll be able to keep his well also. So, um, this is a, this is a-a battle that I'm not looking forward to, but, uh, but I think, I think it'll have a good outcome. I don't know. Danielle DeVasto: Yeah. Well, you might have touched on this a little bit, but, uh, maybe you can expand. Um, what concerns do you have, if any, about PFAS contamination moving forward? Tom Sapkowski: Um, well my concerns are generally health-related, um, maybe not so much about myself and my wife, but certainly my kids, you know. You would hate to think that you fed your kids poison for the past 20 years. Do you know what I mean? So, um, and I don't know if our well had been contaminated previously and has since, um, you know, the aquifer's moving all the time so you don't know if it was really high at one point in our lives and then got better. Um, but it's-it's doubtful, but I guess it's in the realm of possibility. So, so health concerns are my, our major, our major concern. Um, I don't know. Going forward, I would hope that Wolverine is held accountable for people whose-whose deaths have been caused by-by PFAS or health problems. I'd like to see, um, more of that take place. Um, I don't want to be one of those people that think that they should be sued into oblivion. You know what I mean? Because once they quit making shoes and making money, the, you know, the-the well will have long run dry [LAUGHTER], uh, to use a poor metaphor. Um, they may as well continue to stay in business and sell shoes. But in-in my view, um, to really be fair and equitable, __________ 00:16:05 they should be, um, like a for profit company, I think the money they make should be, uh, put in to trying to make up, you know, pay restitution to people who've suffered from their, uh, contamination. And probably, um, the people that is closest to the dump site are the ones who really, um, got the most, have had the most problems. So, um, I don't, I don't worry every day that I'm going to die of something that's related to PFAS, but, um, you know, as time goes on we are, we are involved in, like I said, uh, several different health studies, and I just got a letter in the mail to be involved in a third health study, which I will probably sign up for. But, um, as time goes on, we just seem to learn more and more and more about the effects. So, um, I guess knowledge is power type thing. Um, Wolverine has paid restitution to, um, at least one family that I'm aware of. But, um, again, there's like a nondisclosure agreement, so they don't talk about it very much. But it's good to know that, uh, um, they do assume some culpability. Um, there are various neighborhoods around here, like Boulder Creek, where they like to use, they-they meaning being, uh, Wolverine, they wanna use the excuse, "Well, we weren't the only ones who dumped." You know? And I, and I sort of get that. In the Boulder Creek area, they weren't the only ones who dumped. I believe there was a brass manufacturing firm that also dumped contaminants in that area. But, um, I'm-I'm, like I said before, House Street dump is pretty much a smoking gun. It's all their, all their contamination so. Um, on Page 4 �my, when it comes to my, another concern is that this continues as far as, uh, the public interest. I know they're, um, they're, you know, they're, we're learning more and more and more about PFAS and, uh, you know, firefighting chemicals around military bases and things like that that have contaminated, uh, various areas, so, um, you know, we're finding out more all the time, and, uh, I don't know, hopefully this can be rectified. But, you know, once the contamination's in the aquifer, uh, it'll require another Ice Age [LAUGHTER] because peo—I have been to public meetings where people say, "Well, what's it gonna take to remove the contaminants?" And it's like, really? You, it's, you know, in your, you can't imagine what, you know, what it would require to try and get, uh, that level of contamination out of the aquifer. One the genie's out of the bottle, there's, you know, there's no putting it back in so. Danielle DeVasto: Yeah, it does seem like the more we learn, the bigger the problem gets, the more complicated. Tom Sapkowski: Yeah, I'm very disheartened to-to realize that, uh, Wolverine at the House Street dump, in particular because that's the one of the most affects us, um, they as-as their-their Band-Aid to put on that problem was to, uh, use, um—what do they call it? Uh, some type of environmental remediation where, uh, they-they wanted the trees to soak up the contamination, and then, um, you know, that it would, it would lessen, it would lessen the contaminants in the soil. Where, um, to me, you know, from a geologic __________ 00:19:47 it's-it's sort of like a, it's sort of like a coffee filter where the-the most highest concentrations of the contamination are at surface level, and I don't believe they've done enough to remove the super, um, concentrated areas —do you know what I mean?—by lining it and burning it, handling it, then they dump it. It is lined with clay or something. But, so the, so the, what, the percolation effect is going on today, you know, and it's been going on and been going on, so, that's ongoing. And, um, their solutions for the, they, who they really, they-they wanna take a very, uh, minimalistic approach to repairing that, uh, or remediating that contamination. That's-that's really sad. I-I would've hoped they would have really, um, taken the ball and run with it, and used this as kind of, uh, an example of how, uh, environmentally conscious they could be. I think they would get the public on their side if they said, "Hey, we screwed up, but we're really gonna fix it," instead of these really minor Band-Aid solutions that they've come up with. And we still haven't even begun. Um, so Wolverine would currently like to just leave these, um, and put some caps in place so that it minimizes the percolation effect from rain and whatnot, but, um, again, it's just a, it's just a metaphoric Band-Aid. You know? Danielle DeVasto: Yeah, and you'd like to see them do something different? Tom Sapkowski: Well, yeah, really do something more. There are, there are ways to, uh, remediate this contamination, um, and I know I believe—[CLEARS THROAT] excuse me—Michigan State University is working on various ways to, um, break the PFAS bonds, um, but I believe it requires temperatures as high as like 2800 degrees before it, uh, before it breaks down. So, to me that would mean, um, dredging up the soil, running it, uh, through some type of, uh, an incineration, and then, uh, putting it back. Uh, I envisioned something on site, you know, where they could have, um, a dredge that would pull it up, run it through, uh, a big incinerator. I know they-they use these huge incinerators to make, um, cement. They've Page 5 �been using them for-for years and years and years, so I know that they're there. This technology exists, they just don't want to, uh, go that route. Um, I was involved quite a number of years ago in, um, a gentleman who made a portable tire grinder, and it was to grind up, um, used tires. And it was portable, it could be moved from tire pile to tire pile. And, uh, it was a pretty complex piece of machinery because of what they had to do to separate the, uh, rubber from the steel cords. But, um, I know if they can do that, they can certainly, um, you know, dredge up these really high areas of concentration. But it's-it has fallen on deaf ears for the past, you know, uh, four years that I've been involved. They don't wanna hear it. It's funny, you know, people on the, on the CAG, the Community Advisory Group, they don't want to hear it either, and it's, it's, and I don't really think it's that complicated. Um, it certainly seems more cost efficient to me to do that than, uh, truck it out of state, which is what they did with a lot of the material from the, uh, the tannery downtown-downtown Rockford. They just trucked it out of state. Um, so I don't know. Danielle DeVasto: Yeah, yeah. Well, before we wrap up, is there anything that you want to go back to and touch on more, or anything that you didn't, um, get to bring up that you'd like to make sure you bring up? Tom Sapkowski: Probably not. I think I hit all the bases, but I'm sure after we're done with this phone call I will have thought [LAUGHTER] of something. But, um, you know, mainly it's, uh, the-the health issues and, um, the lack of, uh, concern by Wolverine when it comes to removing the contamination, um, I-I'd just like to see more done. And, like I said, we're learning more and more about the health effects every day so, um, you know, my heart goes out to people who've, uh, who've, uh, drank heavily contaminated water. So, I'm going at it from a lot of different angles, uh, as far, you know, including, um, essentially being forced to go onto municipal water, which I'm not against. Of course I'm against having a dumb water bill, but, uh, [LAUGHTER] it does not include sewer obviously either, so you have to keep your, um, you know, your septic. But, um, I'm really hoping right now that what I'm fighting is to keep my well just for irrigation, and just to fill my pool. So, that would be very, very helpful if I could have those things. So— Danielle DeVasto: Well, I wish— Tom Sapkowski: I hope my— Danielle DeVasto: —I wish you luck in those upcoming battles. [LAUGHTER] Tom Sapkowski: —I hope my-my, uh, issues aren't too trivial, but, um, I know there's people that have real concerns, so I'll continue to be a member of the Community Advisory Group as long as they'll have me. And, um, I have mixed feelings about being on that because if you talk with some people on the CAG, they think that we've been very instrumental in all of these things that have been done, um, by Wolverine and others, um, but I really don't see it. I'm sort of a hands on guy, so, um, I would just like to be able to see more done rather than just a, they-they tend to pat themselves on the back for things that, um, that, uh, we have not really been directly involved in. So, you know, it-it is sad because, uh, we have monthly meetings and, um, you know, to try to keep the community, um, aware of what's going on, and it, and it's been sad because there's just often little participation, um, just by a select few. And the select few who, uh, who participate are often, uh, really, um, sort of how I feel, they, um, they're concerned about Page 6 �contamination, but, um, they go off on-on crazy, um, you know, basic rabbit holes. They go down these rabbit holes that, uh, they're just, uh, __________ 00:06:58, and, um, I don't know. It's it, I would like to think, you know, work towards at least improving our situation. Um, I know it can probably never be rectified save for the next Ice Age, but, uh, [LAUGHTER] but, um, I think, you know, I try, I'm trying to be positive and, um, hope that, you know, make incremental improvements so that's about it. Danielle DeVasto: Okay, all right, well, thank you, Tom, for taking the time to share your story today. Tom Sapkowski: You're welcome. Thank you for-for, uh, for doing this. Danielle DeVasto Tid: 537-2 Page 7 � https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/d9586034ef687a8f4542d4e5066e3440.MP3 fc479f20720fee5873f2b2ec0abdbbc2 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Living with PFAS Interviews Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Devasto, Danielle Description An account of the resource Beginning in 2021, the Living with PFAS interviews were recorded to gather the personal stories of individuals impacted by PFAS contamination. PFAS, or per- and polyflourinated substances, are a large group of human-made chemicals used widely since the 1940s to make coatings and products resistant to heat, oil, stains, grease, and water. They can be found in countless household items, including food packaging, non-stick cookware, stain-resistant furniture, and water-resistant clothing. These chemicals are often called “forever chemicals” because they do not break down easily, can move through soils and contaminate drinking water sources, and build up in animals, plants, and people. PFAS have been linked to increased incidences of various cancers, increased cholesterol, decreased fertility, birth defects, kidney and liver disease, and immune system suppression, and thyroid dysfunction. It is estimated that PFAS are in the drinking water of more than 200 million Americans (Andrews & Naidenko, 2020). In Michigan alone, over 280 sites have PFAS contamination exceeding maximum contamination levels for groundwater (MPART, 2024). Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2021 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Living with PFAS (project) Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource In copyright Subject The topic of the resource Oral history Personal narrative PFAs (Perfluorinated chemicals) Groundwater--Pollution Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context DC-11 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource video/mp4 application/pdf audio/mp3 Type The nature or genre of the resource Motion Picture Text Sound Language A language of the resource eng Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context PFAS0026 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Sapkowski, Tom Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2021-09-02 Title A name given to the resource Tom Sapkowski, 2021 (Interview audio and transcript) Description An account of the resource Tom Sapkowski grew up on the west side of Grand Rapids, Michigan and currently lives in nearby Belmont. After learning of PFAS contamination through the media, Tom paid to have his well water tested. It was found to have low levels. However, his municipality is requiring households to give up their wells and he is actively trying to keep his. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource DeVasto, Danielle (interviewer) Subject The topic of the resource Oral history Personal narrative PFAs (Perfluorinated chemicals) Groundwater--Pollution Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Living with PFAS (project) Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 application/pdf Language A language of the resource eng Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/662f4034d55920e81f7bbb3e41d4b629.jpg c71458505ba9f92c1e9d5d2dec59abb0 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Grand Valley State University Photographs Subject The topic of the resource Aerial photographs Universities and colleges Michigan Grand Rapids (Mich.) Allendale (Mich.) Building Facilities Dormitories Students Events 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s Description An account of the resource People, places, and events of Grand Valley State University from its founding in 1960 as a 4-year college in western Michigan. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource News & Information Services. University Communications Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/41">News &amp; Information Services. University Photographs. (GV012-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2017-03-03 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC-NC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright - Non-Commercial Use Permitted</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpg Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource image Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context GV012-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1960s-2000s Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Local Subject Subject headings specific to a particular image collection 1990s Source <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/41">University photographs, GV012-01</a> Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context GV012-01_UAPhotos_001054 Title A name given to the resource Tom Villemeure Description An account of the resource Tom Villemeure, basketball coach 1970s Subject The topic of the resource Grand Valley State University Michigan Allendale (Mich.) Universities and colleges Sports Language A language of the resource eng Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC-NC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright - Non-Commercial Use Permitted</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpeg Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives black and white photo https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/d4be2e8f08e599c7554d5da14046d451.jpg 9d0fff0405205389f04f57048564ba13 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Decorated Publishers' Bindings Subject The topic of the resource Book covers Covers (Illustration) Graphic arts Publishers and publishing Pictorial bindings Description An account of the resource From the early 1870s to roughly 1930, many publishers issued their commercial book covers with a remarkable variety of graphic designs and illustrations. This sixty-year period saw many artists and designers contributing to this art form. While some can be identified from their style or initials, others remain unknown. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Seidman Rare Books Collection Michigan Novels Collection Regional Historical Collection Lincoln and the Civil War Collection Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2017-08-30 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a>, <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/NoC-US/1.0/?language=en">No Copyright - United States</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpg Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context DC-01 Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Source Michigan Novels Collection. PS3515.A67 T6 1900 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context DC-01_Bindings0237 Title A name given to the resource Tomahawk and Cross Description An account of the resource Binding of Tomahawk and Cross, by William Harley, published by The Book Concern, c.1925. Subject The topic of the resource Book covers Covers (Illustration) Graphic arts Publishers and publishing Pictorial bindings Language A language of the resource eng Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpeg Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1925 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/ee3802294540b872a473d166a7df8a51.pdf 78c704e004acd148a1da5d5549686ab0 PDF Text Text ���� Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Summers in Saugatuck-Douglas Collection Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. Kutsche Office of Local History Description An account of the resource Collection contains images and documents digitized and collected through the project "Stories of Summer," supported by a National Endowment for the Humanities Common Heritage Grant. The collection aims to document the twin lakeshore communities of Saugatuck and Douglas, Michigan, as they transformed through the state's bustling tourism industry and acceptance of minorities. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1910s-2010s Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Various Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/UND/1.0/">Copyright Undetermined</a> Subject The topic of the resource Michigan Saugatuck (Mich.) Douglas (Mich.) Michigan, Lake Allegan County (Mich.) Beaches Sand dunes Outdoor recreation Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University Libraries. Allendale, Michigan Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Saugatuck-Douglas History Center Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Stories of Summer (Common Heritage project) Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpeg application/pdf Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Text Language A language of the resource English Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2018 Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context DC-07_SD-Tomahawk_19690926 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Saugatuck High School Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1969-09-26 Title A name given to the resource Tomahawk, Vol. 1 No. 1 Description An account of the resource Tomahawk was the student newspaper of Sagutuck High School. It contains editorials, stories, poems, and information about extracurricular clubs and events. Subject The topic of the resource Michigan Saugatuck (Mich.) Student newspapers and periodicals Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Digital file collected by the Kutsche Office of Local History from the Saugatuck Douglas History Center for the Stories of Summer project. Relation A related resource Stories of Summer (project) Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Language A language of the resource eng Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/c177e6133b234ee525bf02ccad6d10f9.pdf 0abb026428ac5e2aac35546732bfdf63 PDF Text Text �� Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Summers in Saugatuck-Douglas Collection Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. Kutsche Office of Local History Description An account of the resource Collection contains images and documents digitized and collected through the project "Stories of Summer," supported by a National Endowment for the Humanities Common Heritage Grant. The collection aims to document the twin lakeshore communities of Saugatuck and Douglas, Michigan, as they transformed through the state's bustling tourism industry and acceptance of minorities. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1910s-2010s Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Various Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/UND/1.0/">Copyright Undetermined</a> Subject The topic of the resource Michigan Saugatuck (Mich.) Douglas (Mich.) Michigan, Lake Allegan County (Mich.) Beaches Sand dunes Outdoor recreation Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University Libraries. Allendale, Michigan Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Saugatuck-Douglas History Center Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Stories of Summer (Common Heritage project) Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpeg application/pdf Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Text Language A language of the resource English Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2018 Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context DC-07_SD-Tomahawk_19700220 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Saugatuck High School Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1970-02-20 Title A name given to the resource Tomahawk, Vol. 1 No. 10 Description An account of the resource Tomahawk was the student newspaper of Sagutuck High School. It contains editorials, stories, poems, and information about extracurricular clubs and events. Subject The topic of the resource Michigan Saugatuck (Mich.) Student newspapers and periodicals Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Digital file collected by the Kutsche Office of Local History from the Saugatuck Douglas History Center for the Stories of Summer project. Relation A related resource Stories of Summer (project) Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Language A language of the resource eng Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/2acd923f9593e75f29d5e17e02090b02.pdf d7133357f33fc38e83f9cd9996277f62 PDF Text Text �� Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Summers in Saugatuck-Douglas Collection Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. Kutsche Office of Local History Description An account of the resource Collection contains images and documents digitized and collected through the project "Stories of Summer," supported by a National Endowment for the Humanities Common Heritage Grant. The collection aims to document the twin lakeshore communities of Saugatuck and Douglas, Michigan, as they transformed through the state's bustling tourism industry and acceptance of minorities. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1910s-2010s Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Various Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/UND/1.0/">Copyright Undetermined</a> Subject The topic of the resource Michigan Saugatuck (Mich.) Douglas (Mich.) Michigan, Lake Allegan County (Mich.) Beaches Sand dunes Outdoor recreation Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University Libraries. Allendale, Michigan Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Saugatuck-Douglas History Center Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Stories of Summer (Common Heritage project) Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpeg application/pdf Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Text Language A language of the resource English Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2018 Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context DC-07_SD-Tomahawk_19700313 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Saugatuck High School Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1970-03-13 Title A name given to the resource Tomahawk, Vol. 1 No. 11 Description An account of the resource Tomahawk was the student newspaper of Sagutuck High School. It contains editorials, stories, poems, and information about extracurricular clubs and events. Subject The topic of the resource Michigan Saugatuck (Mich.) Student newspapers and periodicals Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Digital file collected by the Kutsche Office of Local History from the Saugatuck Douglas History Center for the Stories of Summer project. Relation A related resource Stories of Summer (project) Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Language A language of the resource eng Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/0fc5a5bf44138013e060d538159011a7.pdf f010b02fdca008e40193a3f56bc2eec8 PDF Text Text �� Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Summers in Saugatuck-Douglas Collection Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. Kutsche Office of Local History Description An account of the resource Collection contains images and documents digitized and collected through the project "Stories of Summer," supported by a National Endowment for the Humanities Common Heritage Grant. The collection aims to document the twin lakeshore communities of Saugatuck and Douglas, Michigan, as they transformed through the state's bustling tourism industry and acceptance of minorities. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1910s-2010s Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Various Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/UND/1.0/">Copyright Undetermined</a> Subject The topic of the resource Michigan Saugatuck (Mich.) Douglas (Mich.) Michigan, Lake Allegan County (Mich.) Beaches Sand dunes Outdoor recreation Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University Libraries. Allendale, Michigan Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Saugatuck-Douglas History Center Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Stories of Summer (Common Heritage project) Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpeg application/pdf Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Text Language A language of the resource English Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2018 Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context DC-07_SD-Tomahawk_19700403 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Saugatuck High School Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1970-04-03 Title A name given to the resource Tomahawk, Vol. 1 No. 12 Description An account of the resource Tomahawk was the student newspaper of Sagutuck High School. It contains editorials, stories, poems, and information about extracurricular clubs and events. Subject The topic of the resource Michigan Saugatuck (Mich.) Student newspapers and periodicals Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Digital file collected by the Kutsche Office of Local History from the Saugatuck Douglas History Center for the Stories of Summer project. Relation A related resource Stories of Summer (project) Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Language A language of the resource eng Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/76a4919723f7ad0b14b97bbd40b6c53f.pdf eb6bf86f9153e8e6b28a7c3813fc47bf PDF Text Text �� Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Summers in Saugatuck-Douglas Collection Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. Kutsche Office of Local History Description An account of the resource Collection contains images and documents digitized and collected through the project "Stories of Summer," supported by a National Endowment for the Humanities Common Heritage Grant. The collection aims to document the twin lakeshore communities of Saugatuck and Douglas, Michigan, as they transformed through the state's bustling tourism industry and acceptance of minorities. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1910s-2010s Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Various Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/UND/1.0/">Copyright Undetermined</a> Subject The topic of the resource Michigan Saugatuck (Mich.) Douglas (Mich.) Michigan, Lake Allegan County (Mich.) Beaches Sand dunes Outdoor recreation Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University Libraries. Allendale, Michigan Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Saugatuck-Douglas History Center Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Stories of Summer (Common Heritage project) Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpeg application/pdf Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Text Language A language of the resource English Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2018 Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context DC-07_SD-Tomahawk_19700424 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Saugatuck High School Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1970-04-24 Title A name given to the resource Tomahawk, Vol. 1 No. 13 Description An account of the resource Tomahawk was the student newspaper of Sagutuck High School. It contains editorials, stories, poems, and information about extracurricular clubs and events. Subject The topic of the resource Michigan Saugatuck (Mich.) Student newspapers and periodicals Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Digital file collected by the Kutsche Office of Local History from the Saugatuck Douglas History Center for the Stories of Summer project. Relation A related resource Stories of Summer (project) Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Language A language of the resource eng Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives