Table of Contents
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Archives and Special Collections Finding Aids
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Collection Overview
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| Name of Creator: | Ford Hall Forum (Boston, Mass.). |
| Title: | Ford Hall Forum audio tapes |
| Date: | 1961-1998 |
| Reference Code: | M71 |
| Location Code: | 57/2 |
| Extent: | 1.1 cubic ft. (11 boxes) |
| Scope and Content Abstract: | This collection consists of audio tape recordings of Ford Hall Forum programs, recorded between 1961 and 1998. The collection also contains one video tape. Researchers should note the date of the recording is often different from the date of the broadcast. The finding aid indicates the date of recording. The recordings were assigned catalog numbers (RCS-XXX) by the Northeastern University Libraries' Media Center. The collection includes descriptions of the programs, information about the speakers, and indices by speaker, call number and subject area compiled by the Media Center staff. Each recording has corresponding information sheets (folders 5-12, box 11), containing information regarding length, speaker, general subject, lecture topic, date recorded, date broadcasted, and date of acquisition. Audiocassette RCS-566 Janet Reno: Youth Violence is absent from the collection. |
| Historical Abstract: | The Ford Hall Forum is the nation's oldest free public lecture series. It provides a non-partisan platform for open discussion and debate on topics of public interest. The Ford Hall Forum was started in 1908 by George W. Coleman, a Boston business man and president of the Boston Baptist Social Union (BBSU), as a free series of public lectures designed to engage the public on a diverse range of issues. The model was an opening lecture, and then questions from the audience. Ford Hall Forum was immediately successful and inspired many similar series in cities across the country. In 1928, the Boston Baptist Social Union charged that Ford Hall Forum was anti-Christian and anti-American. The Daughters of the American Revolution also blacklisted Ford Hall Forum for radicalism. Nonetheless, the Ford Hall Forum, which had attracted many eminent supporters, separated from the BBSU to incorporate as a nonprofit educational organization on its own. Meetings were held in Ford Hall on Beacon Hill through 1940 when the hall was acquired by the City of Boston. Since that time, Ford Hall Forum has been held in various Boston locations, including Jordan Hall and Old John Hancock Hall. Currently, programs are held at Northeastern University, Faneuil Hall, Old South Church, and local venues. |
| System of Arrangement: | Arranged in one alphabetical sequence by speaker. |
| Subjects and Contributors: |
- Abzug, Bella S. 1920-1998
- Breyer, Stephen G., 1928-
- Brown, J. Larry (James Larry), 1941-
- Brudnoy, David, 1940-2004
- Carter, Stephen L., 1954-
- Chancellor, John, 1927 July 14-
- Cox, Archibald, 1912-2004
- Galbraith, John Kenneth, 1908-2006
- Gates, Robert Michael, 1943-
- Greenstein, Robert, 1946-
- Haig, Alexander Meigs, 1924-
- Hampton, Henry, 1940-1998
- Harrington, Michael, 1928-1989
- Hirsch, E.D. (Eric Donald), 1928-
- Jordan, Barbara, 1936-1996
- Kennedy, Edward Moore, 1932-
- Keohane, Nannerl O., 1940-
- King, Martin Luther, Jr., 1929-1968
- Koop, C. Everett (Charles Everett), 1916
- Levertov, Denise, 1923-1997
- McGovern, George S. (George Stanley), 1922-
- O'Connor, Sandra Day, 1930-
- Powers, David F. (David Francis), 1912
- Reese, Matthew A. (Matthew Anderson), 1927-
- Salisbury, Harrison E. (Harrison Evans), 1908-1993
- Schlesinger, Arthur Meier, 1917-2007
- Schroeder, Patricia, 1940-
- Stone, I. F. (Isidor Feinstein), 1907-1989
- Sullivan, Louis Wade, 1933-
- Tuchman, Barbara Wertheim
- Turner, Stansfield, 1923-
- Ford Hall Forum (Boston, Mass.)
- Lectures and lecturing -- Massachusetts -- Boston
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| Technical Access: | The lectures are recorded audiocassette tapes. |
| Immediate Source of Acquisition: | This collection was transferred to Northeastern University Libraries Archives and Special Collections Department from the Northeastern University Libraries Media Center in multiple installments. |
| Custodial History: | Audiocassettes in this collection were created by the Ford Hall Forum. The audiocassettes were given to the Northeastern University Libraries between 1991-1998. |
| Accruals: | |
| Conditions Governing Reproduction and Use: | The following tapes may not be reproduced: Terry Gross, Edward C. Johnson, III, Susan Love, and Robert Pinksy. |
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| Processor: |
Finding aid prepared by Molly Overholt, Eliana Wachs Cashman,
March 2002, 2008 |
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