Conklin Hall Takeover Commemorations compilation

Dates

1969 - 2019

Scope and Contents

This collection consists of materials which were created and compiled for periodic anniversaries of the The Conklin Hall Takeover, which took place at Rutgers Newark in February 1969.

Series 1 consists of transcriptions from fifty-nine interviews with Rutgers-Newark students, faculty, and staff who were present during the during the late 1960s and early 1970s. Series 2 contains original correspondence, event flyers, student declarations and demands, and administrative documents which resulted from the February 1969 student takeover of Conklin Hall. The materials in Series 2 were compiled to mark the 30th anniversary of the Conklin Hall Takeover. Series 3 contains event flyers and clippings from magazines and news sources which the staff of John Cotton Dana Library compiled for subsequent observations of anniversaries of the Conklin Hall Takeover. Series 4 consists of analog audio cassettes of interviews with Rutgers-Newark students, faculty, and staff who were present during the during the late 1960s and early 1970s.

Extent

4 Linear Feet

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Abstract

This collection consists of materials which were created and compiled by the staff of John Cotton Dana Library in observance of anniversaries of the The Conklin Hall Takeover, which took place at Rutgers Newark in February 1969.

Biographical / Historical

The Conklin Hall Takeover, also known as the Liberation of Conklin Hall, is a pivotal event in the history of Rutgers University. The Black Organization of Students (BOS) formed on the Rutgers-Newark campus in 1968, organized, and advocated for increased recruitment and retention of Black students, as well as undergraduate curricula in black history and black cultural studies, among other initiatives. After one year of correspondence with various Rutgers administrators the BOS did not see desired progress; they released a public list of their demands and staged what began as a sit-in at Conklin Hall, in the office of the Newark Provost, on February 24, 1969.

Over the subsequent decades, the staff of the John Cotton Dana Library (Dana Library) on the campus of Rutgers-Newark observed anniversaries of the Conklin Hall Takeover with exhibits, symposia, and oral histories as a means of preserving this unique history at Rutgers University.

Arrangement

Series 1: “The Conklin Hall Project: Transcripts from Gil Cohen’s 1991 interviews,” 2024

Series 2: “The Conklin Hall Project: Inside the 1969 Conklin Hall Takeover,” 1969-1970, 2008

Series 3: News clippings, photographs, posters, and programs, 2008, 2019

Series 4: Audiovisual files, 1990-1991

Related Materials

The Rutgers University Archives has the papers of the Black Organization of Students R-MC 142.

Rutgers-Newark in the 1960s and 1970s Oral History Collection, 1990-1992 This collection consists of cassette recordings of oral history interviews conducted by librarian emeritus Gilbert Cohen. These interviews were conducted between 1990 and 1992, and they document conditions in the city of Newark and on the Rutgers University-Newark campus in the 1960s and 1970s. People who were associated with the Rutgers-Newark campus, representing a wide spectrum of political beliefs and levels of activism, were interviewed including students, faculty, and staff. A finding aid for this oral history collection is accessible here.

Some of the interviewees in this oral history collection were members of the Black Organization of Students (BOS) who participated in the Conklin Hall Takeover. Digitized audio and respective interview transcriptions are accessible via the Rutgers University Libraries digital repository, RUCore. Here are direct links to the interviews and transcripts of BOS members.

“An Interview with Vicki Donaldson”

“An Interview with Joseph Browne”

“An Interview with Robert Curvin”

“An Interview with Vivian Sanks King”

“An Interview with Richard Roper”

“An Interview with Harrison Snell”

The Newark Experience is a special collection held at the John Cotton Dana Library on the Rutgers-Newark campus. The research guide for this collection features Newark History 1969: The Conklin Hall Takeover as a topical focus within the special collection.

Rutgers University Student Activism Collection, 1922-1987 This archival collection documents over 6 decades of organized protests and dissent by student activists at Rutgers. This collection is housed in Special Collections / University Archives, Alexander Library, on the New Brunswick campus.

Rutgers University Office of the President (Mason Welch Gross) Records, 1936, 1945-1971 Mason Gross was the President of Rutgers University during the time of the Conklin Hall Takeover in 1969 and its aftermath. This collection contains correspondence from students, faculty administrators and community members expressing their views on the Conklin Hall Takeover to President Gross. The collection is housed in Special Collections / University Archives, Alexander Library, on the New Brunswick campus.