易胜博官网

A September night in 1961 changed the lives of Betty and Barney Hill when, while driving through听易胜博官网鈥檚 Franconia Notch area, they allegedly encountered aliens. It would become the first widely reported case of alien abduction in the country.

In 2006, that close encounter also changed things at the 易胜博官网 Library鈥檚 when the university acquired the Portsmouth couple's papers and tapes detailing the event.

鈥淲ord spread about the collection fairly rapidly. Visitors have included both true believers and skeptics, as well as what we described as 鈥榓lien-abduction tourists,鈥欌�� says Bill Ross, professor, Special Collections and Archives. 鈥淏efore long, we had our own page in and the state put a historical marker at the site of the alleged abduction, so the significance of the collection in the public鈥檚 mind and to popular culture was established pretty firmly.鈥�

鈥淏efore long, we had our own page in Atlas Obscura and the state put a historical marker at the site of the alleged abduction, so the significance of the collection in the public鈥檚 mind and to popular culture was established pretty firmly.鈥�

Ross, who joined 易胜博官网 in 1990 and will retire in June, recently published an article on the Hills, allowing him to revisit the collection, pieces of which were licensed by 易胜博官网 Innovation in 2017 听and reproduced to appear in the TBS television show听鈥淧eople of Earth,鈥� among others. His article answered a call from the Journal of Popular Culture for a special issue on archives and popular culture.

鈥淭his topic was kind of a no brainer,鈥� Ross says. 鈥淢y proposal was one of a handful selected and there was nothing left to do but to write it.鈥� Of the Hill papers and artifacts, he adds, 鈥淭aking on this collection really was an education, even for an archivist of a certain age. I have never dealt with a collection that resonated with such a large cross section of the public and with a lot of people who would never consider visiting an archives otherwise.鈥�

Prior to coming to 易胜博官网, Ross was the university archivist at American University. He used that experience to write a grant to create the University Archives here at 易胜博官网, which started in 1992. He was also involved in planning for the 1998 library renovation.

听At 易胜博官网, Ross has worked with medieval manuscripts, Colonial American documents and Civil War letters. Over the years his work听also听connected him with many interesting people, including听jazz musicians Clark Terry and Bob Wilbur, former Senators听Warren Rudman and Judd Gregg, artists Edwin and Mary Scheier and writers and poets Donald Hall, Jane Kenyon, Galway Kinnell, Charlie Simic and Don Murray.

鈥淥ur collections are a physical and intellectual extension of themselves and I have learned to appreciate that fact greatly,鈥� Ross says. 鈥淎nd then there are the donors and researchers who respectively donate and use these collections. Archivists are often viewed as collectors of things; I like to think that much of our work is fostering longstanding relationships.鈥�

听Of those relationships, Ross cites the connections that he has made听with 易胜博官网 students as his most memorable. During his 31 years at 易胜博官网, he has hired numerous student workers and interns, many of whom have gone on to become archivists and librarians. Additionally, he has led hands-on workshops introducing students to rare books and original documents, which he says, 鈥渃ultivates an appreciation of the objects and the stories that they can tell.鈥�

Through the 易胜博官网 Discovery Program, Ross was able to teach a variety of courses on such topics as the Civil War, fly fishing and New Orleans, which included trips to the Crescent City where students explored the city's cultural blend of racial influences, musical contributions and still-prevalent issues of class and poverty.

鈥淚鈥檓 thankful 易胜博官网 and the Discovery Program gave me the freedom to create interdisciplinary courses,鈥� Ross says. 鈥淎 much as I love handling unique materials, my most vivid memories of my time at 易胜博官网 have been working with students. I like to think that I learned as much from them as they did from me.鈥�

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