Stanford Historical Society

Stanford University
  • 3.7 (6)
  • RELIGION & SPIRITUALITY

  1. 12/22/2017

    The Russian Revolution Comes to Stanford: Alexander Kerensky on Campus

    Alexander Kerensky was the charismatic leader of the Provisional Government that held a tenuous grip on power in Russia between the fall of the Romanovs in February 1917 and the storming to power of the Bolsheviks in the October Revolution. Kerensky first visited Stanford in 1955 and spent much of the next ten years on campus, conducting research in the Hoover Library & Archives, teaching seminars, giving guest lectures, and appearing on panel discussions devoted to the latest developments in the USSR. He left lasting impressions on Stanford students and faculty—and is even alleged to have carved his initials into a table at the Oasis. Dr. Patenaude, a Stanford History PhD, discussed Kerensky's sojourn on the Farm and attempted to separate fact from fiction.

    4 sec

  2. 12/22/2017

    The Forgotten History of Stanford University Press

    Through some simple archival detective work, the staff of Stanford University Press (SUP) unearthed the long and lesser-told history of the Press, from its humble origins in 1892 to its myriad transformations over the course of the 20th century. This history, studded with the stories of plucky pressmen, master craftspeople, and intellectual luminaries reveals a deep tradition of the Press’s pioneering spirit, its indelibly Californian character, and an unremitting commitment to plumbing even the most obscure corners of human inquiry. SUP Director Alan Harvey provided an update on this ongoing historical survey and presented some of the more intriguing, amusing, and even alarming events SUP staff have uncovered.

    2 sec

  3. 08/26/2017

    Stanford University’s Central Energy Facility: Celebrating 125 Years of Innovation in Energy Systems

    Laura Jones, Joseph Stagner and James Sweeney talked about the history, the transformation, and the current state of the energy system at Stanford.

    3 sec

  4. 02/14/2017

    Reassessing Herbert Hoover, the Stanford Techie

    Elena Danielson, Hoover Institution Archivist, Emerita, gave a talk on Herbert Hoover, a geology graduate at Stanford, and how he was the original Stanford techie.

    3 sec

  5. 12/07/2016

    Roble Rewind: A Look Back at Dance and Theater at Stanford

    With the re-opening of Roble Gym in the fall of 2016, the Department of Theater & Performance Studies reflected on the rich history of theater, dance, and performance at Stanford. In a conversation with TAPS Chair Branislav Jakovljevic, Professor Janice Ross and Professor Emeritus Bill Eddelman traced the evolution of the performing arts in the heart of Silicon Valley.

    4 sec

  6. 11/07/2016

    Cathedrals in the Wheatfields: Parables from Stanford's Founding

    Leland and Jane Stanford founded their university amidst the kinetic tumult of Gilded Age America. It was a time of swashbuckling capitalist ambition, let-‘er-rip financial finagling, and epic corruption. It was also a time of accelerating immigration, the rapid peopling and development of the great American West – and the golden age of American philanthropy, when so-called Robber Barons like Andrew Carnegie, John D. Rockefeller, and the Stanfords' lavished their millions on building lasting institutions to serve the common weal (well before the tax code conferred any advantage for doing so). James Campbell and David Kennedy revisited that founding moment, exploring the ways in which the circumstances of Stanford's birth might give guidance to the university in its second century and beyond.

    4 sec

  7. 03/07/2016

    Tracking a Lost Voice: The Chinese Workers on the Transcontinental Railroad

    Between 1865 and 1869, thousands of Chinese migrants toiled at a grueling pace and in perilous working conditions to help construct the railroad. The railroad, which could not have been completed without these Chinese workers, was the main source of the fortune with which Leland Stanford founded Stanford University. The history of these Chinese workers is a transnational story, told from both U.S. and Chinese perspectives, that the Chinese Railroad Workers Project tries to document and share. As co-directors of the project, Prof. Chang and Prof. Fishkin will talk about how the project gives a voice to these Chinese migrants.

    4 sec

  8. 01/29/2016

    Camp Fremont: Stanford’s World War I Battlefield

    "As America entered World War I in 1917, Stanford University leased three-fourths of its Palo Alto land to allow the creation of an Army training camp, Camp Fremont, headquartered in present-day Menlo Park. The camp brought the war and its controversies home. Stanford adapted to the proximity of 28,000 soldiers, and the foothills acquired a trench ground and artillery range where dugouts and unexploded ordnance occasionally still emerge decades later. Peace broke out before most Camp Fremont troops saw battle, but the skills they acquired helped transform the West. Barbara Wilcox, MLA ’15 and the author of World War I Army Training by San Francisco Bay: The Story of Camp Fremont (History Press, 2016), gave a presentation on Camp Fremont and its legacy."

    3 sec
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3.7
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