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Wilde, Richard (audio interview #1 of 4)
INTERVIEW DESCRIPTION - This first of four interviews was conducted in Wilde's CSULB office in the CSULB History Department. The audio quality is good, but there is some background noise as people talk as they pass by in the hall. 7/26/1978
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- 2021-08-31
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- Notes
- *** File: uhrwilde1.mp3 Audio Segments and Topics: (0:00-5:41)... Wilde's father immigrated to the United States from Pomerania, settling in Wisconsin in the 1840s. They had a self sufficient farm with a fieldstone house that he visited as a boy. His father did not finish high school. He left the family farm as a young man and took a job at the post office. He was drafted during WWI and when he returned from the military, he met and married Wilde's mother. (5:41-7:24)... Wilde's grandparents belonged to the Missouri Synod of the Lutheran Church. Wilde's father broke from this tradition and joined the United Lutheran Church of America. Membership in Masonic lodges was the major issue dividing the 2 Lutheran organizations. His grandfather was excommunicated from the church. (7:24-11:41)... Wilde's mother immigrated to the United States from Hanover, Germany and settled in Milwaukee, Wisconsin with her family. Her father was a self-taught musician, but made a living as a woodworker. Her mother was a very sick and Wilde's mother had to take care of her siblings. She pleaded with her parents to allow her to take secretarial courses in high school. They agreed and, after she finished the course, she found a job as a a bookkeeper. She kept the job until she got married. (11:41-15:25)... Wilde's grandparents were not wealthy but enjoyed a comfortable lifestyle. They had a large home with 2 apartments on the bottom floor, where Wilde lived with his parents as a young boy. His parents met at a band concert in Mitchell Park. After they married, they struggled financially because his father didn't earn much. Wilde was born a year and a half after his parents married. (15:25-17:42)... Wilde was born in 1920 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. His parents believed they had been deprived of an education and encouraged Wilde to do well in school. His parents read books to him, but he did not have many books in their home. They did have an early Victrola and his grandparents had an early radio. (17:42-20:36)... He was raised in a working-class neighborhood where most of the residents were German Americans. His parents primarily spoke English at home and Wilde didn't realize that his father spoke with a German accent until he returned home after serving in WWII. His mother didn't have an accent and his parents didn't teach German to their children. (20:36-25:35)... Wilde started school before his sisters were born. He was, in fact, surprised when his sisters actually grew up. He contracted scarlet fever while in kindergarten and missed several months of school. In 1930-31, his family moved to the outskirts of Milwaukee. There were more open spaces and they were not living with his grandparents. Soon after his parents signed the contract to buy their new house, his father's salary was cut and there was barely enough money to cover the family's expenses. They were not living in poverty and their economic status was much better than the other families in the neighborhood. When Wilde began thinking about going to college, it was clear that his parents would have to struggle to pay for his education. He decided to attend a teachers' college in Lafayette, Wisconsin because the tuition was low. (25:35-29:26)... While Wilde was in high school, his teachers encouraged him teachers to go to college. The high school he attended was predominantly Polish American and he was one of the few graduates to go on the college. Wilde's mother expected him to pursue a college education. The girls in his mother's family all received secretarial training and the boys finished high school. His uncle was a Lutheran minister and offered to take Wilde in and send him to a college in Madison. Wilde decided to attend a local teachers' college instead. (29:26-38:23)... In high school he wrote for the school paper, acted in a play and played sports. Two of his high school friends enrolled in the teachers' college with Wilde, but they left after the first year. He wanted to be an English teacher and began to read widely about things he hadn't heard about before. He remembers reading Henry Elmer Barnes basic humanities text and Gardner's Art Through the Ages. He also studied German and advanced math. Learning was pretty easy for him, but he was a poor speller and a clumsy writer. . (38:23-41:31)... Wilde graduated from high school in 1938 in the midst of the Depression. He decided to attend a local teachers college because he the cost was low and he could live at home. Neither he nor anyone in his family was aware of how to apply for scholarships. His parents paid all of his out-of-pocket expenses and the school paid for his books. The college was located across town and he spent an hour to an hour and a half on a bus to get to school. It was not easy to read on the bus. (41:31-45:13)... He decided to switch his major from English to history because he was tired of analyzing literature and history seemed more interesting. During his third year in college, he began working part-time at the post office and began saving money to go to graduate school and to get married. It was a struggle to work and attend college at the same time. As war spread in Europe, there were many arguments about what the US should do. His father supported Eugene V. Debs and Robert La Follette. He was a pacifist, bitter over the treatment of Germans during WWI and believed that was was a mistake. He and Wilde often discussed the merits of US entering the war in Europe. End of tape *** File: uhrwilde2.mp3 (0:00-3:36)... Interview begins with Wilde continuing a discussion on his father's political beliefs. Wilde's father was not directly active in politics except in church. He was interested in foreign affairs and Wilde was exposed to political issues at an early age. He believes this is what influenced his decision to pursue a degree in English or social science. Before WWII, the student body at the teachers college was active in anti-war demonstrations and many of the professors were involved in anti-fascist activities. Wilde was opposed to neutrality legislation. Wilde met his future wife during the second year of college and this relationship dominated most of his time. The war and the possibility of being drafted were major concerns during this time in Wilde's life. (3:36-7:04)... While working as a part-time postal clerk, Wilde decided to drop out of the secondary teaching program. The director of the teaching program was a difficult person to work with and Wilde felt it was a waste of time. He also decided to study math and science to prepare for military service in the Signal Corps. While in the service, he and his wife, whom he met in college, married at an Air Corps base in Georgia. Following WWII, he decided to go to graduate school on the GI Bill. (7:04-11:10)... Although he did not finish his undergraduate studies at the teachers college, the college granted degrees to all veterans with a minimum amount of units and a good academic record. Wilde entered the service in 1942 and was released in January 1946. Then he enrolled in the graduate history program at the University of Wisconsin. His wife earned her teaching credential and taught at a high school in Madison, Wisconsin. (11:10-14:48)... In graduate school, at the University of Wisconsin, most of his classmates were veterans on the GI Bill. There were about 25 or 30 history graduate students and about 12 history faculty members while he was a student. The atmosphere was informal and the students and faculty interacted on both a social and professional level. His wife also enrolled in graduate school, but dropped out of the program when Wilde decided to go to England to conduct research. (14:48-20:43)... While in graduate school, Wilde worked as a graduate assistant and his wife, who was studying economics, worked at the Bureau of Research. She quit her job and graduate school when they went to England. While they were there, he won a Fulbright fellowship and used it to study the Boer War. He chose Joseph Chamberlin as his dissertation topic because no one recently had been interested in him and his papers had recently been opened. Wilde was involved in a program at the University of London under the Institute of Historical Research that used a seminar style of graduate instruction. (20:43-22:51)... Wilde went to England in 1949 and returned to the United States in 1951 to complete his oral examinations. While in England, his wife attended the London School of Economics and also helped him with his research. She sacrificed many of her educational and professional interests to help him finish his studies. Ultimately, she tired of the field of economics and abandoned her studies. After 7 years of marriage, Wilde and his wife decided to have children and his wife was pregnant when they returned to the US. (22:51-26:55)... While searching for a faculty position, he often joked that he would be forced to work in either Texas or California. When he learned that P. Victor Peterson was in Wisconsin interviewing professors for a new college in California, he met with Peterson. Peterson asked Wilde personal questions about Wilde's background and religion. Peterson seemed more impressed that Wilde had traveled to the Far East and Europe than his scholarly training. Wilde was hired to teach at Long Beach, even though there were 2 other history professors whose specialty was England; one of them, Howard Kimball, was hired at the same time as Wilde. When he got to Long Beach, he discovered he was assigned to teach US history as well as European. End of tape
- SUBJECT BIO - Richard Wilde was an early faculty member who helped shape governance and curriculum on the campus as an administrator and faculty activist. He served as Associate Dean, Dean of the School of Letters and Science and Associate Academic Vice President. In these four interviews, he discusses his background and education and what he found when he arrived on the Long Beach State campus. He found a campus where the President made all of the decisions so he joined the fight to make the campus into a liberal arts and professional college in which governance was shared by the faculty and administration. After serving on faculty committees, then in the administration, he returned to teaching and scholarly research. This interview was conducted as part of a project to document the history of California State University, Long Beach TOPICS - family background; parents; childhood; education; economic status; WWII ; and college;father; WWII; college; graduate school; doctoral research; wife; P; Victor Peterson; curriculum; and teaching;
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