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An MIT Chronology

Learning about MIT: A Bibliography

A GOOD PLACE TO START:
History | MIT Culture | MIT Spaces | MIT Presidents' Views | Women and Minorities

MIT Libraries' catalog (Barton) call numbers follow the citations; a search by call number will give all MIT Libraries locations. Sources without call numbers are available in the Institute Archives reading room, if not otherwise noted.

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HISTORY Return to top

Stratton, Julius A., and Loretta H. Mannix. Mind and Hand: The Birth of MIT. Cambridge, MIT Press, 2005.
[An account of the origins, founding, and early years of MIT.]

Wylie, Francis E. M.I.T. in Perspective: A Pictorial History of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Boston, Mass.: Little, Brown, 1975.
T171.M422.W9
[The only general history of MIT. Though missing the last quarter of the 20th century, it gives a good overview of the Institute.]

Prescott, Samuel C. When M.I.T. Was "Boston Tech," 1861-1916. Cambridge, Mass.: Technology Press, 1954.
T171.M422.P933
[The story of MIT's early history, up to the move to Cambridge. A relatively easy read.]

MIT 125 Years. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT, 1986.
T171.M422.M35 1986
[A booklet produced by MIT’s Quasquicentennial Committee and the Alumni Association giving a brief history of MIT and a timeline.]

MIT CULTURE Return to top

Williams, Rosalind H. Retooling: A Historian Confronts Technological Change. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 2002.
T173.8.W55
[Current STS Department Head and former Dean of Undergraduates Williams reflects on the changing culture of MIT.]

White, Pepper, The Idea Factory: Learning to Think at MIT. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 2001.
TJ140.W45.A3
[An undergraduate's view of life at MIT.]

Hapgood, Fred. Up the Infinite Corridor: MIT and the Technical Imagination. Reading, Mass.: Addison-Wesley, 1993.
T171.M49.H37 1993
[A look into the creative mindset of MIT. The author uses some MIT research to follow the thinking of MIT faculty, staff and students.]

MIT SPACES Return to top

Joyce, Nancy E. Building Stata: The Design and Construction of Frank O. Gehry's Stata Center at MIT. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 2004.
T171.M4238.R395 2004

Simha, O. Robert. MIT Campus Planning, 1960-2000: An Annotated Chronology. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT, Office of the Executive Vice President, 2001.
T171.M423.S56 2001
[A chronicle of campus building in the latter half of the 20th century, written by long-time MIT planner Robert Simha.]

Art and Architecture at MIT: A Walking Tour of the Campus. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT, Committee on the Visual Arts, 1988.
N528.A77 1988

MIT PRESIDENTS' VIEWS Return to top

Hockfield, Susan. Speeches and essays
http://web.mit.edu/hockfield/speeches/index.html

Vest, Charles M. Pursuing the Endless Frontier: Essays on MIT and the Role of Research Universities. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press October 2004. [http://mitpress.mit.edu/0262220725]

Rosenblith, Walter A., ed. Jerry Wiesner: Scientist, Statesman, Humanist: Memories and Memoirs. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 2003.
TK140.W54.J47 2003
[Recently published book consisting of an unfinished memoir of MIT’s 13th president, and others’ reminiscences.]

Johnson, Howard Wesley. Holding the Center: Memoirs of a Life in Higher Education. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1999.
T171.M49.J62 1999
[Autobiography of MIT's 12th president with particular attention to his and MIT's coping with issues surrounding the Vietnam War. Book contains biographical index to MIT names.]

Killian, James Rhyne. The Education of a College President: A Memoir. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1985.
T171.M495.K543 1985
[Memoir of MIT's 10th president and his excursions into the public sector.]

WOMEN AND MINORITIES Return to top

Blacks at MIT

Williams, Clarence G. Technology and the Dream: Reflections on the Black Experience at MIT, 1941-1999. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 2001.
T171.M49.W55 2001
[Result of hundreds of oral history interviews. This large volume includes interviews with students, alumni/ae, faculty, and staff.]

Women at MIT

“A Study on the Status of Women Faculty in Science at MIT: how a committee on women faculty came to be established by the Dean of the School of Science, what the committee and the Dean learned and accomplished, and recommendations for the future.” Cambridge, Mass.: MIT, 1999.
T171.M4199.S78 1999