Roger Arvid Anderson oral history interview

The oral history interview of Roger Arvid Anderson is comprised of two WAV files and two transcripts of the recordings. The interviews were conducted by Mary Donin on February 5 and June 15, 2013. The cumulative interview time is approximately two hours and twenty-five minutes and covers his childhood as an undiagnosed dyslexic with parents who discouraged him from ever hoping to lead a normal life because he was "retarded," an early interest in visual arts, and how he used that talent along with his intellect to navigate through and successfully graduate from the public school system. He discusses how he was able to transfer to Dartmouth from the University of Minnesota after one year of undergraduate study and the members of this community that supported him. Among those mentioned are Karen and Herbert West, Betty and Richard Eberhart, Claire and Henry Ehrmann, and Betty Breyfogle. A resident of Cutter Hall during the Cutter North Experiment, he discusses instances of racism, homophobia, and bullying that he both witnessed and experienced. He goes on to describe the campus visits of George Wallace and W. H. Auden, among others, and mentions the prominent campus antiwar protester Jamie Newton '68. Also of note are his comments about the relationship between Dartmouth and its artist alumni, the AIDS Epidemic, the class and gender issues that kept him from entering the foreign service, and a covert trip to Prague during the Prague Spring.