The Berkeley Blog » Samuel Redman

From the classroom to the stacks: UC Berkeley’s Library Prize for Undergraduate Research

Samuel Redman — Tue, 27 Nov 2012 06:59:07 +0000

In October of 1948, Life Magazine featured a photographic essay on the University of California. The subtitle of the essay suggests the grandiose aims of the university system at mid-century: “The Biggest University in the World is a Show Place for Mass Education.”

The aspirational language fit well within the sentiment of the magazine’s founding publisher, Henry Luce, who coined the phrase “The American Century” in an effort to project the ideal of post-war US prosperity and global influence.Prominent in the 1948 photo essay on UC is a shot of a crowded north reading room in Doe Library.

The photo ... More >

Would Rick Santorum call Rosie the Riveter a snob?

Samuel Redman — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 16:11:40 +0000

Rick Santorum’s recent criticism of President Obama’s call to make it possible for all Americans to advance their education or training as elitist snobbery makes me wonder what the GOP candidate would say to Nancy Deanda.

Before taking her married name, Nancy Miramontes was born in Scotts Bluff, Nebraska in 1925 to immigrant parents from Mexico. She recently recounted her story to me as a part of the Regional Oral History Office’s World War II / American Homefront Oral History Project—a collaboration with the National Park Service. Miramontes’ family worked in agriculture in Nebraska until the Great Depression became so severe ... More >

Our last chance to record the voices of New Deal workers through oral history

Samuel Redman — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 15:00:31 +0000

In a recent post for The Berkeley Blog, Professor Robert Reich proposes that the federal government respond to our ongoing recession by initiating a new Works Progress Administration (WPA). Almost seventy years having passed since the closing of the original New Deal “alphabet agencies,” recent oral history interviews can help us better comprehend the ongoing impact of these programs. A major aspect of the New Deal was the creation of over 100 federally-sponsored offices, so nicknamed “alphabet agencies” due to their near-obsessive propensity for acronyms. As a historian of museums and anthropology I have studied the extensive impact of alphabet ... More >

Norman Rockwell’s Rosie the Riveter and World War II in American memory

Samuel Redman — Sun, 29 May 2011 15:00:23 +0000

Sixty-eight years ago today, The Saturday Evening Post published an iconic cover featuring Norman Rockwell’s now famous image of Rosie the Riveter. Rockwell built upon other notions of a fictionalized woman called “Rosie the Riveter” – a figure representing the women stepping into traditionally male factory jobs and assisting the war effort on the assembly line. Rockwell depicted Rosie as confident, strong, and of noticeably muscular physique. Contrasting with the “We Can Do It!” image featuring a more traditionally feminine model, Rockwell’s Rosie holds a heavy riveting “gun” on her lap, with oil staining her hands and forearms.

Norman Rockwell's ... More >

Preserving mummies, preserving heritage: Our responsibility to protect antiquities from destruction

Samuel Redman — Tue, 01 Feb 2011 20:16:09 +0000

Following the 2003 invasion of Iraq, widespread looting occurred across archaeological sites and museums in the region. Most notably, the National Museum of Iraq was heavily pillaged and dozens of irreplaceable artifacts went missing.

Although many of the artifacts were eventually recovered, some were permanently lost or destroyed. Scores of other archaeological sites were damaged in the wake of the conflict and, eventually, the United States military and other international agencies such as the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) made a series of special attempts to protect archaeological sites and prevent further looting from museums. And in the ... More >