In conjunction with the University of Illinois Sesquicentennial celebrations in 2017 and 2018, the University of Illinois Archives launched the “Voices Now” initiative to conduct new oral history interviews with students, alumni, faculty, and administrators. These recordings cover a wide variety of topics including University housing, student activism, student publications, the Champaign-Urbana community, and more. We are continually adding new interviews to this portal collection.
Wendy Mathewson (BA '96) and Beth Watkins (BA '96) met in a freshman honors course, "The History that Music Made." They became roommates and lifelong friends. Both graduates of the Department of History, both women are employed by the university today. Mathewson is the undergraduate advisor for the Department of History and Watkins is the Education and Publications Coordinator at the Spurlock Museum. In this interview, they reflect on their time as undergraduates, campus life, the lasting impact UIUC has had on their lives.
Winton Solberg, professor emeritus in the Department of History, wrote numerous articles and published multiple books on the University of Illinois's history. Born in 1922, Solberg grew up during the Great Depression and served in World War II, and after the war decided to pursue a PhD in history. He came to the University of Illinois in 1961, when university president David Dodds Henry approached Solberg to write a volume on the university's history. He taught American Intellectual and Cultural History as well as an occasional survey course until his retirement from teaching in 1992. In the spring of 2018, he had two manuscripts pending publication in addition to the recently released <i>Creating the Big Ten: Courage, Corruption, and Commercialization</i>.
