After considering several ways that we could structure the Research Phase, the Steering Committee decided that in place of one large report prepared by one vendor (as we had decided previously), we would break the research down into multiple small reports, each to be done by an individual historian. This would give us access to the many professional and semi-professional historians in the Annapolis area who have a strong foundational knowledge of the time period and locality. We also divided the research topics into three categories: Archive Dependent, Non-Archive Dependent, and Oral History (see Appendix A). This would allow work to begin immediately on topics not requiring access to the college archives, which are still closed due to COVID. We discussed this with the leadership of the Annapolis History Consortium, a group of local historians, and at their suggestion modified the SOW that we had drafted and prepared an RFP to be posted.

In parallel with the above work, the Steering Committee also spent considerable time discussing ways to involve students in the Research Phase. We spoke to three alumni who are professionally involved in history to see if they had any insight on this question. They were Frederick Bohrer (A78), who recently retired as Professor of Art History at Hood College—much of his work focused on historic monuments; Barbara Hahn (A88), Professor of History at Texas Tech University—in addition to her other work, she has published a book on the history of the tobacco industry from colonial times to the present; and Allen Mikaelian (SF91), a best-selling historical author and independent historian. Our thanks to them for taking the time to talk to us and share their informed opinions.

Although we spoke with them individually, they were unanimous in telling us that conducting historic research, especially using historic institutional archives, requires training and oversight, and the structure of The New Program does not provide a way to do that. Seeking a way around this, we discussed various other options with them. They thought that Preceptorials in the Junior and Senior years might be a way to provide some of the training and background, but would not allow enough time to do any meaningful research. The best way to involve students in research, they thought, would be as a summer internship. Of course, with the college archives inaccessible due to the closure of the Maryland State Archives, it is difficult to see how this might be organized right now.

In view of the numerous (ca. 20) Non-Archive Dependent research reports, each prepared by a separate historian, the Steering Committee decided to set up a Review Panel to provide quality control to the finished product. Professors Bohrer and Hahn will be joined by Ina Dixon (A10), a history PhD student defending her dissertation, and Boyd Pratt (SF75), an architectural historian and former President of the Vernacular Architecture Forum, to represent SJC; the Annapolis History Consortium will provide members as well. Each report will be reviewed by two Johnnie alumni and two AHC members (as well as the Steering Committee) to ensure it is of the desired quality. With an eye toward the Recommendation Phase, the RFP specifies that the historians be prepared to present their work to the college community, including a question and answer session.

In addition to looking at ways to include students in the research, we also considered additional activities that would involve students, and identified three. As mentioned in the previous report, we moved forward with hiring work-study students to digitize and transcribe the college archives. Under the leadership of the two college staff members of the Steering Committee, Jordan Klein and Jennifer Sprague, we prepared a job description, posted it, had the student applicants do a transcription exercise (see Appendix B), interviewed applicants via Zoom, and hired students. At our request, the Deans made funds available for an additional student on each campus, bringing the total to six. As we waited for the Annapolis campus to open up and the COVID status to improve enough for the Annapolis students to be trained on using the scanner, Ms. Sprague and Mr. Klein had all the work-study students review the websites of the Universities Studying Slavery to identify, among other topics, how their processes were organized and how they had chosen to recognize their history.

A second activity, suggested by the two student members of the Steering Committee, Salomon Cordova and Zion Peart, is an online discussion forum, to be managed by students, with faculty advisors. They intend to start with documents surrounding the beginning of The New Program, both writings of Barr and Buchanan and general works looking at the state of higher education in the early 1930s which caused Barr and Buchanan to feel there was a need for a new approach. One initial question they hope to highlight is “What is the objective of The New Program?” In the future, as the research reports become available, we believe we can use this forum as the vehicle for their dissemination. As they work on setting this up, Messrs. Peart and Cordova have been working with college faculty and staff in order understand and resolve technical and organizational aspects.

The third activity, suggested by the two faculty members of the Steering Committee, tutors Steve Crockett and Howard Fisher, is the possibility of involving Graduate Institute students, either in a GI preceptorial or in informally convened study groups. They have talked to the two GI Associate Deans, and are working on other organizational details.

As described in the Finance Committee meeting, efforts of college leadership, in particular President Pano Kanelos, Santa Fe Treasurer and College-wide Financial Officer Michael Duran, and Annapolis Treasurer Ally Gontang-Highfield, enabled the college to emerge from an extremely dangerous financial period with only a $500,000 deficit. However, this leaves no funds for the College History Task Force. Consequently, we have been working with the college’s fundraising staff to identify potential donors or grants that could finance this project. This work is ongoing.

Going forward, in addition to the activities described above, the Steering Committee will be monitoring the vaccination status in Maryland closely, in the hope that the Maryland State Archives will reopen, allowing us to commission some Archive Dependent research (with student support). We are also investigating Oral History, in the hope of finding alumni with professional experience in the field. Lastly, we are beginning to consider the process that we will use for the Recommendation Phase, beginning with an examination of processes other institutions and cities have used.

Archive-dependent Research Topics

• King William School/St. John’s College ownership of slaves
• Slavery in construction of College buildings

Non Archive-dependent Research Topics

Non Biographic Topics

• Original inhabitants of Santa Fe campus land
• Original inhabitants of Annapolis campus land
• Slavery and the Economy in Maryland, 1696-1784
• Slavery and the Economy in Maryland, 1784-1830
• Slavery and the Economy in Maryland, 1830-1865
• SJC’s role in the 1906 Annapolis lynching [may require access to archives]
• History of the academic development of SJC (prep school → early college → military academy → Great Books School) [may require access to archives]

Biographic Topics (named buildings)

• Slavery and John McDowell
• Slavery and Samuel Chase
• Slavery and Thomas Stone
• Slavery and William Pinkney
• Slavery and Hector Humphreys
• Slavery and William Paca
• Slavery and Charles Carroll of Carrollton
• Slavery and J. Wirt Randall
• Slavery and Levin Hicks Campbell
• Slavery and John Johnson, Jr., Chancellor
• Slavery and Charles Carroll the Barrister
• Slavery and Francis Scott Key
• Slavery and Henry William Woodward
• Slavery and E. Berkeley Iglehart
• Slavery and Paul Mellon

Oral Histories

• SJC students and the desegregation of Annapolis
• SJC students and the desegregation of Santa Fe (or similar)?
• First black students
• First women students

See the sample documents student applicants were asked to transcribe as an exercise.

Download Appendix B

The St. John’s College History Task Force will research the college’s past with a focus on understanding its relationship to indigenous and enslaved people, and to make recommendations to the board on how that history should be acknowledged. This is not the history of one campus or the other, but the history of the college. Reflecting this, the Steering Committee of the Task Force (see below) has representation of all the roles that make up the college community.

The Steering Committee has divided the work of the Task Force into three phases. In the first phase (preparation) we are 1) studying how other colleges and universities have researched and acknowledged their histories, 2) speaking with local historians to learn what materials are currently available outside of the college, and 3) identifying what historic materials exist inside the college. Having learned that the college archives have never been digitized, we are hiring four work-study students (two per campus) to scan and transcribe them.

Based on what we have learned, we are also considering various methods for conducting the Research Phase that will do a thorough job in a timely fashion at a moderate cost while involving students as much as possible. One factor that complicates this process is that The Program does not allow for research to be conducted by students as classwork, as has been done in other institutions (preceptorials are too short). Due to the size and complexity of this effort, the original deadline of June 2021 has been removed.

We have not yet devoted substantial effort to discussing potential processes for the Recommendations Phase.

St. John’s College has a long, rich history—324 years’ worth—longer than any college in the United States except for Harvard and William and Mary. Researching and reporting on it accurately will not happen easily or quickly, but is essential if we are to have an informed discussion on how we should acknowledge it. The diagram below provides a schematic of the historic topics that we have identified so far. No doubt others will appear once the research begins.