This gallery brings together diverse stories, images, and documents shared by the Hopkins community. It includes oral histories as well as materials submitted by the community through this website.
What’s your Hopkins story? Submit the Contribute Your Story form below to share it with us.
I said, “Just walk through.” I said, “This is part of you. You’re the president of the university. Go through there. Let them know.”
– Minnie Hargrow
The main reason to go to college is to learn how to deal in this world with others, learn that others have feelings and need help. Those skills are so much more important. And those are the ones that really do take four years to learn.
– Michael Bloomberg
So one of the reasons I wanted to try to diversify this place was because I was absolutely convinced that when the community walks in and see themselves in all of the positions, that would help with tension.
– Levi Watkins, Jr.
If you look at some of the early writings about what this collection was supposed to do, it was supposed to be a way of connecting with the ancient past on a daily basis and here, it’s really fulfilling that mission. We have regular visitors that come through the same corridors every day and might stop to look at their favorite objects. I think that’s a very, very different way of thinking about how this collection can be useful and inspiring.
– Sanchita Balachandran
I had no place, I had no idea where I was going to be. Mother didn’t either. Why, she thought she could just take me down there and I’d be able to be there, but there was a notice on one of the boards in the room that said they wanted someone to be able to take care of young kids after school…they said they would have board and I could have a piano I could practice on down there, and my mother took me out to the school and they said “yes” they’d be glad to hire me, just like that.
– Sylvia Betts Dodd
I have that feeling almost metaphorically of taking their hand, you see, saying, “How about this image instead of that image? Why not put this character back here instead of over here?” Or, as Joe Heller used to say, “You got too many guys on the payroll.” Let’s see if we can’t cut down the budget, combine these two characters for efficiency’s sake. We don’t think the union will object.
– John Barth
We brought Simon and Garfunkel, Frank Zappa and the Mothers of lnvention, the Mamas and the Papas, and we had a lot of others. As I said, there wasn’t anything going on in the city, with integrated things.
– Chester Wickwire
By Curtis Chubb
Without the honor of attending Hopkins and being awarded a Ph.D. from the School of Hygiene and Public Health in 1978, my life would not have been as full as it has been.
I owe Hopkins.
I will never forget the 1978 commencement ceremonies. Dr. Steven Muller was President. Reverend Chester Wickwire was there (he was the chaplain for my marriage ceremony the year before). Dr. Larry Ewing was there (he was my Mentor and Best Friend ever). All great humans – all are missed.
The speaker for the ceremonies was Dr. John R. Evans.
Usually I remember little about what commencement speakers say – but one thing that Dr. Evans said struck me as important at the time – and the concept he expressed has stuck in my mind ever since that day over 37 years ago.
He said that what you took away from Hopkins could be compared to being on a Lufthansa jet that was preparing to crash and the flight attendant announcing, “If you listened to the instructions given at the beginning of the flight, the nearest land is due east. If you did not listen to the instructions, thank you for flying Lufthansa.”
I listened to what I learned at Hopkins.
For many years, the Steinwald Alumni House at 3211 North Charles Street housed the Office of Alumni Relations and Annual Fund. There was an attic that no staff member had ventured up to see, until I did. I went up there and found old posters, old Homecoming signs, pennants and reunion regalia. And then I found this. An old lacrosse game program in tact and in great condition. Got it framed.
-Patrick Russell ’89, Men’s Lacrosse Player
Story and image contributed in 2015.
WJHU was a student run radio station broadcasting at an amazing 0.25 watts, 830 on the AM dial, across the Residence Halls. As the only person from Oklahoma enrolled at Hopkins (I referred to myself as “the token Okie”), I joined the WJHU student staff as Cousin Okie. Both semesters, I broadcast at 5:30am MWF an hour and a half show before heading off to freshman chemistry. During second semester, I also picked up a 4pm hour long show immediately before Mr. T (Baird Thompson). My show was an eclectic mix of music – one could hear Ferlin Husky, followed by the Iron Butterfly, followed by Johnny Cash, etc.
I also served as the WJHU record librarian that year. The attached flyer was posted across campus in October 1969. I am now in contact with three other former WJHU DJs who are mentioned on that poster – Russ Jones (Charlie Brown), Lang Sturgeon (Fish), and Baird Thompson (Mr. T).
Story and image contributed in 2014.
