Program Recordings
Many of the Society's past programs are now available on Apple podcasts, the SHS YouTube Channel, and the Stanford Digital Repository. They address important topics including Stanford’s relationship with the Silicon Valley, the Stanford peace movement, the Stanford Prison Experiment, and the history of women at Stanford. Program recordings will be made available continuously. Our programs are mainly funded by membership dues. As you enjoy the recordings, we hope you would consider becoming a member or making a donation to support our programming.
September 8, 2022 | Video
September 8, 2022
Presenters: Jacob Wang, ’72; Gloria Saito, ’73; Lee Salisbury, ’73; Edwin Carlos, ’20
Moderator: Leslie Kim, ’98
Additional resources
Asian and Asian American students have been a part of Stanford history since the inaugural class in 1891. The Japanese Students Association and the Chinese Students Association were founded in the early 1900s as the first Asian and Asian American voluntary student organizations on campus. Despite this early history, racial tensions and marginalization were experienced by many of these students, resulting in the establishment of the Japanese...
Presenters: Jacob Wang, ’72; Gloria Saito, ’73; Lee Salisbury, ’73; Edwin Carlos, ’20
Moderator: Leslie Kim, ’98
Additional resources
Asian and Asian American students have been a part of Stanford history since the inaugural class in 1891. The Japanese Students Association and the Chinese Students Association were founded in the early 1900s as the first Asian and Asian American voluntary student organizations on campus. Despite this early history, racial tensions and marginalization were experienced by many of these students, resulting in the establishment of the Japanese...
May 17, 2022 | Video
Jane Stanford, the wife of Leland Stanford and one of the richest women in California, was the co-founder of Leland Stanford Jr. University, which was a monument to their dead son. In 1905 she ingested strychnine twice within six weeks. The second dose at the Moana Hotel in Hawaii, where she had gone to flee her attacker, killed her.
In his talk, Richard White, author and the Margaret Byrne Professor of American History, Emeritus, discusses the reasons why so many people had a reason to kill Jane Stanford, how Gilded Age Stanford and San Francisco allowed the investigation of the murder to be...
In his talk, Richard White, author and the Margaret Byrne Professor of American History, Emeritus, discusses the reasons why so many people had a reason to kill Jane Stanford, how Gilded Age Stanford and San Francisco allowed the investigation of the murder to be...
April 27, 2022 | Video
Stanford’s Heritage Services staff are researching the land use and social history of the Searsville area in preparation for the upcoming major watershed restoration project. Their research will provide the framework for understanding archaeological deposits that may be discovered during project construction under the area of the Searsville Reservoir. The major focus of the research is on creating a richer view of settlement in the area: what evidence can be found about the environmental setting and population demographics at Searsville? How did this change over time? How did the community’s...
March 24, 2022 | Video
A Zoom Presentation by Elena Danielson, Ph.D. 1975, Archivist Emerita, Hoover Institution, Stanford University.
While music played a large role in life at Stanford dating back to the University's beginnings in 1891, it got a huge boost from Lou Henry Hoover, class of 1898, when she returned from Washington, D.C., to her campus home in 1933. While serving as First Lady, she had expanded the musical offerings at the White House with help from her friend Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge, the generous music patron known for commissioning Aaron Copland's Appalachian Spring. In the middle of the Great...
While music played a large role in life at Stanford dating back to the University's beginnings in 1891, it got a huge boost from Lou Henry Hoover, class of 1898, when she returned from Washington, D.C., to her campus home in 1933. While serving as First Lady, she had expanded the musical offerings at the White House with help from her friend Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge, the generous music patron known for commissioning Aaron Copland's Appalachian Spring. In the middle of the Great...
February 16, 2022 | Video
Fifty years ago on January 1, 1972, Coach John Ralston, Stanford head football coach from 1963-1971, led the football team to their second Rose Bowl win against the fourth-ranked Michigan Wolverines. This followed the extraordinary 1970 season which included a Pac-8 championship and a Rose Bowl victory over the first-ranked Ohio State Buckeyes on January 1, 1971. Much has been made of Ralston’s legendary leadership abilities which gave him the confidence to recruit, hire and mentor people who could become more successful than he was. Indeed his positive approach to life and empathetic...
January 20, 2022
Presenter: Al Camarillo, the Leon Sloss Jr. Memorial Professor and Professor of American History, Emeritus, Stanford University
The establishment of the Center for Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity (CCSRE) at Stanford in 1996 ushered in what our presenter Professor Al Camarillo refers to as “Ethnic Studies 2.0.” As the founding director of CCSRE and one of the founding scholars of Mexican American history and Chicano studies, Professor Camarillo shares a series of “origin stories” about the formation of CCSRE and the history of ethnic studies at Stanford and beyond. These origin...
The establishment of the Center for Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity (CCSRE) at Stanford in 1996 ushered in what our presenter Professor Al Camarillo refers to as “Ethnic Studies 2.0.” As the founding director of CCSRE and one of the founding scholars of Mexican American history and Chicano studies, Professor Camarillo shares a series of “origin stories” about the formation of CCSRE and the history of ethnic studies at Stanford and beyond. These origin...
November 10, 2021 | Video
Presenter: David Lenox, Stanford University Architect
Stanford University was one of the few fortunate universities to have a master plan conceived by Frederick Law Olmsted prior to any building development. That brilliant framework plan continues to serve as the foundation for planning the Stanford campus in a cohesive and orderly manner. In this presentation, David "Dave" Lenox highlights the key precepts of the original campus plan, leads us on a journey to demonstrate how projects built in the recent decade uphold the original planning tenets, and also illustrates the guiding principles...
Stanford University was one of the few fortunate universities to have a master plan conceived by Frederick Law Olmsted prior to any building development. That brilliant framework plan continues to serve as the foundation for planning the Stanford campus in a cohesive and orderly manner. In this presentation, David "Dave" Lenox highlights the key precepts of the original campus plan, leads us on a journey to demonstrate how projects built in the recent decade uphold the original planning tenets, and also illustrates the guiding principles...
October 5, 2021 | Video
Presenter: Katherine Wright, Interpretive Specialist, San Mateo County Parks
The legendary Emanuel B. “Sam” McDonald (1884–1957), a grandson of formerly enslaved persons, joined the Stanford Farm in 1903 as a teamster hauling gravel. Through hard work and abundant leadership and interpersonal skills, he was hired in 1908 as custodian—later superintendent—of the university’s athletic buildings and grounds. During 46 years at the helm, he gained special recognition for his skill building running tracks. Sam befriended countless athletes and other students during his long career, financially...
The legendary Emanuel B. “Sam” McDonald (1884–1957), a grandson of formerly enslaved persons, joined the Stanford Farm in 1903 as a teamster hauling gravel. Through hard work and abundant leadership and interpersonal skills, he was hired in 1908 as custodian—later superintendent—of the university’s athletic buildings and grounds. During 46 years at the helm, he gained special recognition for his skill building running tracks. Sam befriended countless athletes and other students during his long career, financially...
June 23, 2021 | Video
On June 20, 1941, in conjunction with the fiftieth anniversary of Stanford University, Hoover Tower was dedicated as the new home for the expansive special collections of the Hoover Library. Organized by the Hoover Institution Library & Archives, the Stanford Historical Society sponsors this online discussion of Hoover Tower and its continuing significance. In the conversation, Stanford University director of architecture Sapna Marfatia, University of Cincinnati architecture professor Jeffrey Tilman and Hoover Institution Library & Archives director Eric Wakin discuss Hoover Tower’s...
May 25, 2021 | Video
This is an interview of Leslie Kim, a 2021 recipient of the Karen Bartholomew Award for Exceptional Service to the Stanford Historical Society, conducted by Charles Junkerman.
May 14, 2021 | Video
An interview with the 2021 recipient Stanford Historical Society's Susan W. Schofield Oral History Award.
May 13, 2021 | Video
At the Stanford Historical Society's 45th Annual Members' Meeting, President Geoff Cox presents an annual report, board member Jennifer Cauble shares new logo designs, and Vice President Charles Junkerman announces the recipients of the Karen Bartholomew Award for Exceptional Service and the Susan W. Schofield Oral History Award, two of the awards given by the society annually.
