"The primary value of oral history testimony is its usefulness in social history, for reconstructing the fabric of daily life since the turn of the century, and for documenting the mundane details of family and community life for which written evidence is often scarce."
The
theme of this oral history program is to document the history of the development
of computing at University of Waterloo and will focus, in its first stage,
on the work and influence of Professor J. Wesley Graham. Graham, who died
in 1999 at the age of 67, spearheaded many key contributions in both the
academic setting as well the development of both computer software and
hardware that have had a major impact on the computing industry, particularly
on several of the University's most successful spin-off companies. This
particular project complements several oral history programs which have
been active at University of Waterloo during the University's 47-year history.
These include interviews which were conducted by students, by senior administrators,
by University Historian Dr Kenneth McLaughlin and by a program undertaken
by the University of Waterloo's Retirees Association from 1997 to 2003.
Largest of these programs was that funded by the Office of then University
President Dr James Downey and conducted by Dr Kenneth McLaughlin and two
co-op students in 1997 at the time of the Special Early Retirement Program.
Directed by an Advisory Committee made up of the University Historian,Dr Kenneth McLaughlin; two colleagues of Professor Graham's, Dr Donald Cowan and Mr. Ian McPhee; Ms Marlene Kipfer representing the Graham family as well as Library staff , the project will be administered by University of Waterloo Archives in the Doris Lewis Rare Book Room, Porter Library.
At Ms Kipfer's request, the first interviewee in the program was Dr Ralph Stanton.
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