Animal Advocates Oral History Collection, 1999-2004

Biographical Note

The Animal Advocates Oral History Project was conducted between 1999 and 2004 to document the activities of individuals and organizations that had fought for the protection of animals in the preceding decades. The 1970s and 1980s saw the publication of groundbreaking books, new articulations of ethical frameworks, and increased national publicity for animal rights and protection. The project was undertaken by the non-profit organization Recording Animal Advocacy as the movement entered a more introspective phase in the 1990s, and members began asking questions about their past that traditional archival sources did not readily address. The project sought to examine the genesis and development of ethical frameworks, the trajectories of different collective actions, how the movements of the 1970s and 1980s continued or differed from earlier movements for the treatment of animals, and the role that individuals played in shaping the movement.

Scope and Contents

The Animal Advocates Oral History Collection contains fourteen interviews conducted between 1999 and 2004 with individuals who were involved in different areas of the movement to protect animals. The project sought to examine the genesis and development of ethical frameworks regarding the treatment of animals, the trajectories of different collective actions, how the movements of the 1970s and 1980s continued or differed from earlier movements for the treatment of animals, and the role that individuals played in shaping the movement. Aspects of animal protection discussed in the interviews include animal shelters, opposition to vivisection and scientific testing on animals, treatment of agricultural animals, and environmentalism. Common themes addressed include connections between violence towards animals and violence towards humans, connections with other social justice movements, vegetarianism and veganism, interactions between different organizations, and the religious and ethical backgrounds of narrators. The Animal Advocates Oral History Collection contains fourteen interviews with individuals who were involved in different areas of the movement to protect animals. The interviews largely focus on activities during the 1970s and 1980s, but there is also significant analysis of connections with earlier advocacy for animals and commentary on issues at the time of the interviews. Aspects of animal protection discussed include animal shelters, opposition to vivisection and scientific testing on animals, vegetarianism and veganism, treatment of agricultural animals, and environmentalism. Common themes addressed include connections between violence towards animals and violence towards humans, connections with other social justice movements, interactions between different organizations, and the religious and ethical backgrounds of narrators. There is a particular focus on activities of people and organizations in New England. Many interviews include photographs and supplemental material, such as books, publications from animal rights organizations, writings by narrators, and other ephemera. In 2015-2016, digital audio was created from all interview cassettes. Interviewees in the collection are Willard Anderson, Theadora Capaldo, Robert Cummings, Ann Cottrell Free, Walter Kilroy, John F. Kullberg, Carter Luke, Sandra Rae Larson, Jim Mason, F. Barbara Orlans, Tom Regan, Margaret "Peggy" Moreland Stathos, Ethel Thurston, and Peter Singer.

Subjects

• American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals
• Animal industry--Moral and ethical aspects
• Animal rights
• Animal rights activists--Interviews
• Animal rights movement
• Animal shelters
• Animal welfare
• Interviews
• Laboratory animals
• Oral histories (literary works)
• Veganism--Moral and ethical aspects
• Vegetarianism--Moral and ethical aspects
• Vivisection

Access Conditions

Copyright by Trustees of Columbia University in the City of New York, 2016.