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Campus Unrest: Research conducted by Dean G. Pruitt and James Gahagan, Psychology Department

 Collection — Multiple Containers
Identifier: 3-5-897
Interviews, chronologies and surveys collected by social psychologists, Dean G. Pruitt and James Gahagan pertaining to the events on the South campus of the State University of New York at Buffalo mainly from February to April 1970.

Dates

  • 1967-1972, 1975

Creator

Language of Materials

Collection material in English.

Terms of Access and Use

The bulk of the Campus Unrest collection is open for research. According to the terms agreed upon at the time of each interview, Post-crisis interviews in Accession 2019-027 series are closed until after the death of the interviewee.

Copyright

Copyright of papers in the collection may be held by their authors, or the authors' heirs or assigns. Researchers must obtain the written permission of the holder(s) of copyright and University Archives before requesting photocopies and/or publishing quotations from materials in the collection. Once permission is obtained, most papers may be copied in accordance with the library's usual procedures unless otherwise specified.

Extent

4 Linear Feet (9 manuscript boxes)

Additional Description

Overview

Interviews, chronologies and surveys collected by social psychologists, Dean G. Pruitt and James Gahagan pertaining to the events on the South campus of the State University of New York at Buffalo mainly from February to April 1970.

Historical Note

This archive contains a record of a research project that started in 1969 and ended in 1973. Its main product was an intensive case study of the Buffalo Student Crisis in which the city police occupied the campus and 45 faculty members went to jail. The case study was directed by [Dean G. Pruitt] and staffed by Dr. James Gahagan, a postdoctoral fellow with a deep knowledge of the contemporary youth culture, and several graduate students in social psychology. The research was housed in the Department of Psychology which was then located on the Ridge Lea Campus.

[Pruitt's] main research interest was in social conflict, as was Dr. Gahagan's. Hence, when he joined [Pruitt] in 1969, [they] decided to observe the developing conflict between the university administration and the radical students on the UB campus. [They] wrote extensive notes on the mini-crisis of 1969 and were ready, with a team of trained observers, when the major student uprising hit the campus in February, 1970. [Their] intention was to write a theoretical book based on [the UB case as well as five other campus unrest cases], but this never materialized. All [they] published was a book chapter on the UB case and a Spectrum article and two conference presentations on [their] student surveys.

From "Archive of the UB Student Crisis of 1970" by Dean G. Pruitt, March 21, 2001.

Arrangement

This collection is divided into five series:
  1. Prepared chronologies and writings
  2. Gathered research
  3. Surveys Series
  4. Clippings
  5. 2019-027

Acquisition Information

The collection was originally gifted in March 21, 2001 as collection #01-001. Newspapers from the clipping series were integrated with collection #03-728. Series "Accession 2019-027" was gifted in April 2019.

Accruals and Additions

No further accruals are expected to this collection.

Processing Information

Processed by Jessica Tanny, 2004. Additions (series 2019-027) processed by Marie Elia.

Subjects

Record Groups

Related Names

Finding Aid & Administrative Information

Title
Finding Aid for the Campus Unrest: Research conducted by Dean G. Pruitt and James Gahagan, Psychology Department
Status
completed
Author
Finding aid prepared by Jessica Tanny.
Date
2005
Description rules
dacs
Language of description
eng

Revision Statements

  • December 2014: Finding aid migrated to ArchivesSpace by Gabrielle Carlo
  • 2019 November 11: Finding aid revised to include additions, series 2019-027, and container instances updated by Marie Elia

Physical Storage Information

Repository Details

Repository Details

Part of the University Archives Repository

http://library.buffalo.edu/archives/
Contact:
420 Capen Hall
Buffalo New York 14260-1674 US
716-645-2916
716-645-3714 (Fax)