BardCorps -- Alumni Oral Histories

Printing is not supported at the primary Gallery Thumbnail page. Please first navigate to a specific Image before printing.

Switch View to Grid View Slideshow

Susan (Wender) Lowenstein-Kitchell '48 (BardCorps)

Susan (Wender) Lowenstein-Kitchell '48
Alumni/ae/x

“One springtime, they were not going to give us a spring break, but they had a very–there was a real water problem, they were only on one pump, and they said if you take a shower, make it quick. And there was one young woman who really wanted spring break, and she went in and turned the showers on and the pump broke and they sent us home, but they expelled her. And I don’t know if I should mention her name, but … she flew her plane over Commencement and buzzed the group, and I’ve never forgotten that.”
Francis Whitcomb, '47 (BardCorps)

Francis "Whit" Whitcomb
Alumni/ae/x

"[Tony Garvin] was my adviser in American History, and advised me on my senior project about my great grandfather...He must have been high in social circles...and my senior year he was having a garden party in Rhinebeck, and he comes up to me and he says, 'Frank I want you to meet Mrs. Roosevelt.'"
Michael Bell, '82 (BardCorps)

Michael Bell
Alumni/ae/x

"We are ... what I lovingly refer to as 'Nat's Children.' Natalie [Lunn] was a wonderful person."
Ellen Rogovin Hart, '66 (BardCorps)

Ellen Rogovin Hart
Alumni/ae/x

"Well, I remember Bob Dylan coming up a couple of weekends and trying to hit on the young ladies here...also we had...Reverend Gary Davis...I remember going to a concert next to Doc Watson; he was blind and he said 'will you please hold my guitar for me?' And I was so thrilled."
Adam Janos, '06 (BardCorps)

Adam Janos '06
Alumni/ae/x

"I got here and I remember immediately thinking that I was amongst my people."
Roderick Michael, '80 (BardCorps)

Roderick D. Michael
Alumni/ae/x

"My next term paper was titled 'Socrates and the Bronx.'"
David Schechter, '76 (BardCorps)

David Schechter
Alumni/ae/x

"I remember standing in the ruins [of the Coach House Theater] in this self important way, saying 'the establishment has burned down, but we shall continue; our theater can exist in the ashes. We need no theater to present our drama!"
Johanna Shafer, '67 (BardCorps)

Johanna Shafer
Alumni/ae/x

"I think in some ways I missed a lot of what should be a normal college experience because I didn't have the time to goof around or spend a lot of hours at Adolph's or anything like that."
Michael Shafer, '66 (BardCorps)

Michael Shafer
Alumni/ae/x

Reamer Kline had to make a speech at one point to a little demonstration about 'the woods.' "Those of you who want to do what you do at Bard, there's a facility: it's the woods. Go do it in the woods." He had a great sense of humor.
Shelley Weinstock, '76, Lisa Pence, '75, and Deborah Bornstein-Gichan, '76 (BardCorps)

Shelley Weinstock '76, Lisa Pence '75, and Deborah Bornstein-Gichan '76
Alumni/ae/x

"I loved how we used to sit around the Dining Commons and all of us would be so excited about our different studies....It gave us the opportunity at that time to go, 'You know what? I've never taken that type of class. I think I want to.' And we could."
Emanuel Wolff, '56 (BardCorps)

Emanuel Wolff
Alumni/ae/x

"So I had this wonderful true liberal arts education that went beyond organic chemistry and physical chemistry and calculus and all of that stuff."
Lydia Anderson, '03 (BardCorps)

Lydia Anderson
Alumni/ae/x

“We called [the Ravine houses] an ewok village-- these odd little stilt-houses.”
Robert Bassler, '57 (BardCorps)

Robert Bassler
Alumni/ae/x

“I got a C. I had never gotten a C in art, ever. I was a straight A student, I mean I wasn’t a straight A student in everything but I was a straight A student in art to the point of getting a scholarship to art school... then I come to Bard and I get a C. I was totally mystified.”
Lisa DeTora, '89 (BardCorps)

Lisa DeTora
Alumni/ae/x

"I used to wear really short fluffy pink things, which was totally not Bard at the time, and I had pink glasses. And I used to giggle all the time."
Justin Gallanter, '34 (BardCorps)

Justin Gallanter
Alumni/ae/x

“Anybody, practically, could get in; but then they were weeded out. And they were weeded out pretty mercilessly… maybe half the class left at next semester. I mean, they were just unqualified. “
Richard F. Koch, '40 (BardCorps)

Richard F. Koch
Alumni/ae/x

"There were very very few Jews at Bard--and we were not welcome in the fraternities, of which there were three then."
Henry Kritzler, '38 (BardCorps)

Henry Kritzler
Alumni/ae/x

"I have often advised young people in times of economic upheaval--go back to school, sweat it out, and improve yourself until it's over."
Eve Odiorne Sullivan, '62 (BardCorps)

Eve Odiorne Sullivan
Alumni/ae/x

"I was intending to major in math, and I guess I got either a very high mark or the very highest mark on the math midterm. And Professor Tremblay, god rest his soul, wrote on my math mid-term, I can see it now in my mind’s eye—he wrote, 'Today you are a man.'"
Wayne Berman, '87 (BardCorps)

Wayne Berman
Alumni/ae/x

"Now I eagerly read everything on everything. I would have been intimidated, before I came to Bard. I wouldn't have read certain kinds of things because I would have felt like 'that's out of my world.'"
Jennifer Dewsnap '88 (BardCorps)

Jennifer Dewsnap '88
Alumni/ae/x

“My first year, I lived in Tewksbury and it was very loud and there were a lot of people practicing various instruments. And there was a girl next door who kept lighting candles and putting things on fire and I would get really upset about it.”
David "Dave" Gracer '88 (BardCorps)

David "Dave" Gracer '88
Alumni/ae/x

“I was a reasonably successful student ─ learned a lot, but not all that much of it in class.”
John Juhl '72 (BardCorps)

John Juhl '72
Alumni/ae/x

“At nineteen, I basically moved in to Eva’s house and I helped with different kinds of work around the house, and at the time, there was a saying: ‘Don’t trust anybody over thirty.’ And after a summer of meeting different people that, you know, came through Eva’s house from all over the world I realized that that was complete bunk.”
Helaine Kushner, '53 (BardCorps)

Helaine Kushner and John Kushner
Alumni/ae/x

"The only thing I knew was the Orient Theater...When I went into the Fisher [Performing Art Center] I thought of this: we did some great work...I'm sure it's lovely for theater majors to have that beautiful theater but it's not the theater; it was the teachers. We produced some wonderful plays and work."
Al Varady '88 (BardCorps)

Al Varady '88
Alumni/ae/x

“It’s like, once you see someone from Bard … you get it. I get it. You know... it’s that kind of bond, that I don’t think you get from other places, or in the same way, or as strong.”
Bob Amsterdam, '53 (BardCorps)

Bob Amsterdam
Alumni/ae/x

“Bard gave me a major scholarship, and I'm grateful to Bard in a number of respects. It’s a beautiful campus, I made good friendships here. In opening horizons for me, it was very, very important for me in my life.”