George J. Mitchell Department of Special Collections & Archives

The George J. Mitchell Oral History Project is creating a collection of recorded spoken memories from individuals connected with George Mitchell in a variety of ways. The three-year project is based at Hawthorne-Longfellow Library, Bowdoin College, Brunswick, Maine.

Interviews are being conducted by Director Andrea L’Hommedieu, an oral historian and librarian, and several field interviewers. College students provide additional support to the project through research and editing.

Interviewees include Senator Mitchell's childhood friends and acquaintances, family members, college contemporaries, Maine legislators, political associates and competitors, campaign supporters, Senate office staff, Senate colleagues and committee staff members, public agency officials, foreign policy specialists, law practice associates, public policy advocates, board members of various affiliations, and friends.

Topics vary broadly and cover the Senator’s childhood years, education, and legal career; Maine politics and campaigns; U.S. Senate years; the Northern Ireland Peace Accord; the Mitchell Institute; his involvement with the Boston Red Sox, the Walt Disney Corporation, Major League Baseball; and the 9/11 Liberty Fund, among others. Collectively, documenting these facets of his life will provide a comprehensive mosaic of Senator Mitchell's contributions to Maine, to the United States, and to the world.

Interviewees are encouraged to tell their stories, in settings that are conducive to thoughtful and candid remembrances, providing a context for other recollections and the extensive documentary record found in the George J. Mitchell Papers at Bowdoin College. That context includes a sense of the time and of the interactions between people associated with Sen. Mitchell that are otherwise poorly documented in the historical record.

Each interview is transcribed and edited. The final transcript is an accurate written reflection of the oral record, with references and corrections to assist later readers. The interviewee is provided with an opportunity to review and correct their transcript, before signing a release to make the interview accessible.

Ultimately, the Project will make the recordings and the transcripts freely accessible on the World Wide Web.