AMITA Oral History Project
The Margaret MacVicar Memorial AMITA Oral History Project is one way in which AMITA seeks to preserve the rich and diverse experiences of MIT alumnae. Documenting the lives of women who attended MIT is tremendously important. Through the auspices of UROP, undergraduate students conduct background research on the lives of their subjects and then interview them to learn about their experiences in detail. The project was originally conceived as a way to provide a history of experiences of women who often pursued careers untraditional for women.
The Oral History Project is named in memory of Margaret MacVicar '64.
Margaret was the founder of UROP and was personally very supportive of
the project.
The project is directed by Margery Resnick, Associate Professor of Hispanic Studies. By depositing transcripts of the interviews in the MIT Archives, this information is available for researchers.
[Digitized Interviews] The physical archives are housed in the Institute Archives and Special Collections of the MIT Library.
[AMITA Archive Inventory]
Fund raising for the Oral History Project began in 1991 with the goal of raising $100,000 as an endowment. Money from the endowment is used to purchase equipment to record interviews, cover the costs of preparing transcripts for the MIT Archives, to provide modest travel funds as needed and to provide UROP salary money for the students. Thanks to the generosity of many alumnae, and some alumni, this goal was reached in 1996.
We continue to welcome suggestions for living alumnae to be interviewed. Please keep in mind that only a few interviews can take place each year, so we cannot get to all suggestions immediately. However we will keep track of all who have been suggested. It is most helpful if each suggestion can be accompanied by a brief paragraph about the woman to help in matching the alumna with a student who shares some common interests. Please send your suggestions to AMITA using our "Contact Us" form.