T. Harry Williams Center for Oral History Collection

 

ABSTRACT

 

INTERVIEWEE NAME:      Fred Kniffen                                                          # 4700.0069

 

IDENTIFICATION: [1900 - 1993] Boyd Professor of Geography

 

INTERVIEWER: Sally Kuzenski

 

PROJECT: LSU History

 

DATES:   Summer 1990; 2/1/91                                                          FOCUS DATES:   1920s - 1991

 

ABSTRACT:

 

T77

Being hired by LSU; organization of LSU's Geology Department and the formation of the Department of Geography and Anthropology; definition of Yankee; adjustment to Louisiana cuisine; composition of LSU faculty; describes LSU campus in the late 1920s; additions to present-day Howe-Russell; James Monroe Smith as president of LSU; Smith's support for the faculty; Chancellor Paul Murrill; President Harold Stoke's inability to work with the state legislature; teaching large survey courses; cultural geography; definition of “culture”; staying active after retirement;

 

T78

Formation of Department of Geography and Anthropology; Geology Dept.'s ties to the petroleum industry; Henry Howe head of the Geology Department; New Englanders in Upstate New York; Howe's role in hiring geologists/geographer Richard Russell to teach at LSU; petroleum engineering professor Benny Craft;; Kniffen's shift in focus from geology to geography and anthropology; friendships with professors during the 1930s; Howe's sense of humor; size of classes; Professor Dana Russell creating displays for mineral and rocks; discusses strengths of early professors in Geology; discusses writing Culture Worlds with Russell; social life of faculty in the 1930s; Huey Long and LSU; describes research trip to Europe in 1937; impact of his publications on the profession

 

 

 

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