This Issue:   Home   Arts   Forum   News   QQ   Sports External Links:   Bates.edu   Dining Services   Garnet Gateway   Bates Catalog   Bates Daily   Bates Facebook   Bates Handbook   Bates Search   Bates Webmail   TheFacebook.com   Weather	NEWS: •  Nyu Psychologist Speaks On Stereotype Threat •  As Snow Falls, Students Hit the Slopes •  From Bates to Glass Blowing: Alumni Provides Hope for Confused Seniors •  New Progressive Think Tank to Be Brought to Campus •  School Finished Oral History of Senator Edmund Muskie •  Thesis Talk: Bringing the Nanny Diaries to Life On the Vineyard With Emily Parr •  Third Annual Unity Conference Focuses On Critical Issues Facing Black Community •  Women's Basketball Wins First Ncaa Tournament Game School Finished Oral History of Senator Edmund Muskie By Louis Dennig News Section Editor Last Updated: 03/08/05 (4:25 pm) The Edmund S. Muskie Oral History Project, which began compilation in 1997, has been completed. The project consists of approximately 440 interviews in which Muskie's friends and associates discussed his life as a politician, statesmen and friend. Over the course of his career, Muskie served as the governor of Maine, U.S. Senator, Secretary of State and ran for Vice President. The materials consist of both audio recordings and written transcripts, which are held in the Edmund S. Muskie Archive and Special Collections Library. Don Nicoll, a friend of Muskie's, was the director of the project. Andrea L'Hommedieu, the Assistant Project Director, conducted most of the interviews that comprise the oral history. Bates students, faculty and anyone studying Muskie's life have access to the archived history. The oral history contains interviews with people from all the different walks of Muskie's life, including college friends, fellow politicians from both Maine and the U.S. Congress, journalists, gubernatorial and senatorial staffers, fellow senators and foreign policy specialists from both the state department and the private sector. Nicoll has known Muskie since 1954 when he acted as the Executive Secretary to the Maine Democratic Party. Nicoll worked on both of Muskie's campaigns for the governorship of Maine and his race for a Senate seat. Nicoll describes the Muskie oral history project as "a gold mine for anyone studying a wide range of political, legislative and international issues affected by the man who was one of the most versatile and formidable legislators in the history of our country." The project has been intended to be an accurate depiction of Muskie, not an exaggerated one. Some of the interviews are done with Muskie's competitors in political campaigns. "They [the interviews] give insights into Muskie's personality and character that might otherwise elude us… We've worked hard to be sure the record contains favorable, neutral and unfavorable views of Senator Muskie. We aimed to illuminate his life, not glorify it," said Nicoll. "Muskie was so extraordinary and so very human at the same time, that you couldn't help not only to admire him, but to strive to be more like him in his civic-mindedness," said L'Hommedieu. Since working on the project L'Hommedieu says she has been contributing more to the community and has become active in volunteer organizations. Nicoll and Muskie were good friends even up until Muskie's death in 1996. L'Hommedieu has begun work on an oral history of Bates College as a whole. The Muskie project cost a total of $225,000 and was funded by the Edmund S. Muskie Foundation.
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