Rutgers University Director of the Office of Radio and Television (Nathan W. Shoehalter) records
Dates
- 1954 - 1977
Scope and Contents
The Nathan W. Shoehalter Collection consists of 4 Paige record storage cartons (measuring approximately 5 linear feet), which span the years from 1954-1977. The bulk dates of the collection are 1959-1971. The bulk of the material consists of typewritten correspondence in the form of letters and memoranda, but there are also a small number of press releases, reports, meeting minutes, newspaper clippings, photographs, and other ephemera.
The types of records included here reflect many of the responsibilities and activities of the Office of Radio and Television, as well as Shoehalter's activity in the broader broadcasting profession. These include corresponding with university departments, faculty members, and administrators, as well as television and radio stations across the nation. Shoehalter also had frequent correspondence with government officials, particularly US Congressmen and Senators. Also documented is the production of educational radio and television programs for Rutgers, the introduction of instructional media technology in Rutgers classrooms, the management and oversight of Rutgers student-run radio station, WRSU, and Shoehalter's own involvement with committees and projects outside the university, such as the formation of the New Jersey Educational Television Network.
The collection contains some of Nat Shoehalter's personal correspondence with various institutions and individuals. They detail his personal beliefs on a number of subjects as well as illuminating some of the friendships he formed in his capacity as Director of the Office of Radio and Television. There is also some correspondence that reflects the social unrest of the time, specifically in regards to the government and the war in Vietnam. These include Rutgers University's response to the concerns of its students during those troubling times.
Extent
5 Linear Feet
Immediate Source of Acquisition
The collections was acquired by the University Archives and Special Collections by way of routine university administrative record transfer.
Language of Materials
English
Abstract
This collection consists of the correspondence of Nathan W. ("Nat") Shoehalter, who served as Director of the Office of Radio and Television at Rutgers University from 1953 to 1977. The materials in the collection document many of the responsibilities and activities of the Office of Radio and Television, as well as Shoehalter's activity in the broader broadcasting profession. These include corresponding with university departments, faculty members, and administrators, as well as television and radio stations across the nation. The bulk of the material in the collection consists of typewritten correspondence in the form of letters and memoranda, but there are also a small number of press releases, reports, meeting minutes, newspaper clippings, photographs, and other ephemera.
Biographical / Historical
Nathan "Nat" Shoehalter was born in 1923 in Newark, New Jersey, and raised in Irvington, NJ. In 1940, Shoehalter entered Rutgers University as a student with the class of 1944. In 1942, his education was put on hold when he enlisted in the United States Army. Shoehalter served in the European theater during World War II as a medic with the 3rd Infantry Division. During his term of service, Shoehalter was awarded the Purple Heart, the Combat Medic's Badge, and the Bronze Service Star. He was honorably discharged from the Army in January of 1946, after which he returned to Rutgers on the GI Bill and completed his undergraduate degree in the Spring of 1947.
Nat Shoehalter s broadcasting career began in 1945 aboard the Liberty ship Sheepshead Bay Victory, while en route back to the United States from the European theater. Shoehalter's interest in radio broadcasting had been piqued after having wandered into the local offices of the Armed Services Radio in Biarritz, France out of curiosity. While aboard the Sheepshead Bay Victory, he volunteered to transcribe and read the BBC news over the ship's public address system several times a day throughout the length of its journey. Upon returning to Rutgers in 1946, Shoehalter took a job as an announcer on WCTC Radio in New Brunswick, NJ when the station first went on the air in December of that year.
Shoehalter continued working as an announcer and disc jockey at WCTC until 1949, at which point he took a job in television broadcasting at Channel 13 in Newark, where he produced educational programs. In 1953, Shoehalter was hired by Rutgers as the Director of the Office of Radio and Television. He held this position until 1977. In this capacity, Shoehalter produced radio and television programs for the University, in addition to serving as the faculty advisor to WRSU, the student-run radio station at Rutgers.
During his tenure at Rutgers, Shoehalter produced radio and television programs on a variety of topics, including local and university-related issues, politics and current events, science, art and culture, health and fitness, etc. Shoehalter was also instrumental in advancing the cause of educational media both at Rutgers and in New Jersey, especially during the 1960s. He was partly responsible for the introduction of closed-circuit television technology in Rutgers classrooms in the early 1960s, and oversaw the transition of WRSU from a low-power AM station to its current home on the FM band in 1974.
He was also instrumental in the formation of New Jersey s Educational Television (i.e. Public Broadcasting) Network in the late 1960s. Shoehalter was very active in the broader broadcasting profession, having served on many committees outside the university, including the National University Educational Extension Association s Ad Hoc Committee on Educational Telecommunications, the Education Radio Network, the American Civil Liberties Union Radio and Television Committee, and the State of New Jersey Governor's Commission on Public Broadcasting.
Arrangement
The Nathan W. Shoehalter Collection is arranged in a single series. The folders in the collection are arranged alphabetically by correspondent and/or subject of correspondence, and the contents of most folders are arranged in descending chronological order. For the most part, the is arranged in the original order in which it was accessioned to the University Archives, and folders are labeled with the same titles given to them by Nat Shoehalter.
Bibliography
- Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey."WRSU", http://wrsu.rutgers.edu (accessed May 5, 2009).
- Shoehalter, Nathan, interview by Althea Miller and Sebastian Bernheim, Rutgers University. History Department. Oral History Archives of World War II, March 14, 1997.
- Shoehalter, Nathan, interview by G. Kurt Piehler and Linda Lasko, Rutgers University. History Department. Oral History Archives of World War II. October 16, 1995.
- Status
- Edited Full Draft
- Author
- Matthew Gorham
- Date
- October 2009
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description note
- Finding aid is written in English
Part of the Rutgers University Archives Repository
Rutgers University Libraries
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
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848-932-7510
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scua_ref@libraries.rutgers.edu