“War, Revolution, and Peace: The View from Hoover Tower” is the first-ever course designed to introduce Stanford students to the history, collections, and operations of the Hoover Institution Library & Archives. Inaugurated in Winter Quarter 2024 and sponsored by the International Relations Program, the class had an enrollment of 44 students, almost entirely undergraduates. Hoover Research Fellow Bert Patenaude, the Instruction & Outreach Archivist at the Library & Archives, served as course coordinator. L&A staff members from the Engagement, Research Services, Preservation, Digital Services, and Exhibitions teams introduced students to ongoing activities at the Library & Archives.
Patenaude opened the course with a presentation about the history of the institution. North American Collections Curator Jean McElwee Cannon introduced students to the Poster Collection, with a focus on posters of the First World War. Students were given a tour of the L&A facilities, including the exhibition galleries in the Tower. The final session featured Hoover Senior Fellow Stephen Kotkin talking about researching his monumental biography of Joseph Stalin.
Samira Bozorgi, Head of Enagement at L&A, speaks with the class in the Annenberg Conference Room.
North American Collections Curator Jean McElwee Cannon speaks with the sudents about the Poster Collection at L&A.
Chris Marino, Research Services Manager at L&A, speaks with the class about accessing collections in the reading room.
Laurent Cruveillier, Book & Paper Conservator at L&A, speaks with the class about preservation of the collections.
Kiera Peacock, Exhibitions Operations Manager, and Marissa Rhee, Exhibition Curation & Design Manager, discuss the exhibitions program at L&A.
Students visit the L&A Preservation Lab where Laurent Cruveillier and Emma Ross Reuther share some of their work.
Amanda Robb, Archivist, Emma Stanford, Digital Services Manager, and Doug Emery, Digital Imaging Manager, share insights to the archival processing and imaging lifecycle at L&A.
Hoover senior fellow Stephen Kotkin discusses what it's like being a researcher at L&A and the process of creating his biographies on Joseph Stalin.
Bertrand M. Patenaude
Research Fellow
Bertrand M. Patenaude is a research fellow at the Hoover Institution. He is also a lecturer in history and international relations at Stanford University. His most recent book is Defining…
