Introduction to 'The Arts from New England: University Provision and Outreach 1928 to 1998'

Abstract

This survey volume on the evolution of the Faculty of Arts at New England's university was planned as a part of the anniversary year celebrations of 1998. To this end a representative committee determined several guidelines which were followed in large measure by the eventual contributors. These may be summarised thus: • a reasonably succinct chapter/ essay for each main area of the Faculty's teaching life; • a relative freedom from 'triumphalism' about senior academics and/ or very obvious prestige/ publicised achievements; • a hope that the resulting book would be interesting to all our living graduates and that it would give a reasonably sympathetic picture of what those engaged in the particular discipline were endeavouring to do; • a concern that there should be a number of women contributors, particularly in view of the general make-up of both our staff and student ranks; • the directive that, whenever the book should appear, the academic chapters' writers should seem to be reporting on the topic in hand from a perspective of somewhere about mid-1998, or before the new Schools' structure had wrought many inevitable changes; • that we would strive to avoid both the peculiar dryness that seems to be the lot of so many of the published histories of the sandstone universities, and the more recent widespread habit of personal 'disclosures' of the seemingly sensational, and to present some sort of balanced perspective on the outreach attempted and attained by the institution in teaching, research and community service. Very pleasingly most of these objectives have been attained and there is considerable general agreement from the contributors as to many significant activities and (individual) achievements where these are mentioned in more than one essay.