Interview with Harold Sundelius

Approximately 2 hours and 30 minutes

These oral history interviews contain information about Dr. Sundelius’ experiences as a student and a faculty member at Augustana College, as well as his experience outside of the college. He discusses changes in the college, the strong commitment that Augustana has maintained to the liberal arts and some of the early history of the college. He also highlights the tendency of families to become permanent parts of the Augustan community.

Harold W. Sundelius is from the small town of Escanaba, Michigan. Harold was from a Lutheran and Swedish family creating ties to the Augustana community. Lorian, Harold's sister also attended Augustana. He entered Augustana in fall of 1948. While at Augustana, Harold was involved in many organizations on campus including Rho Nu Delta, Phi Beta Kappa, Udden Geology Club, Inter Fraternity Council, Students for political education and action and Sig...

[0:00:00-0:01:05] Introductions [0:01:01-0:02:25] Beginning of early life/Phone call interruption [0:02:25-0:05:25] Introductions with Mrs. Sundelius [0:05:25-0:11:30] Mrs. Sundelius’ family/time at Augustana [0:11:30-0:12:50] Lasting relationships from Augustana [0:12:50-0:14:45] Dr. Sundelius returns, discussion of family [0:14:45-0:15:20] Udden Club/Charlie Tranter [0:15:20-0:16:45] Early life, coming to Augustana [0:16:45-0:18:00] Choosing A...

The first interview took place on Friday, September 24th at Dr. Sundelius’ home in Moline. We began the interview on the back porch, but moved inside due the noise level, although some level of background noise persisted throughout the interview. Dr. Sundelius’ voice was often very faint in the interview, making transcription difficult in places, but every effort has been made to reproduce his words accurately. Shortly after the interview bega...

Yes

[00:00-02:20] Andrew Shaffer: Alright [long pause and shuffling noises] Margaret Lewis: Um I guess I’ll start out. Uh well I guess we should tell you a little bit about ourselves. Uh my name is Margaret. I am a Junior. I am a anthropology and history major, and I am from St. Louis, Missouri. Harold Sundelius: You are from what? ML: St. Louis, Missouri HS: St. Louis, Missouri ML: mmhmm AS: and I am Andrew I am a history major uh with a Latin Amer...