Goddard College celebrates 85 years since its charter on March 13th.

This slideshow, created using audio and photographs from the Goddard College Archives, documents some of the history of the College. The audio consists of excerpts from a talk Goddard’s long-time president, Royce “Tim” Pitkin, gave in 1973. The talk was called, “The Ideas Upon Which Goddard Was Founded.”

The Goddard College of today took shape in earnest in 1938, when a group of educators led by Royce “Tim” Pitkin proposed a Vermont “College for Living” to be located on a Plainfield sheep farm purchased from the Martin family. This new college would provide the environment for students and faculty together to build a democratic community featuring plenty of the “plain living and hard thinking” espoused in Goddard’s early mission. The aims were far-reaching, radical. These aims still influence and, with some change in nomenclature and practice, aptly describe Goddard to this day.

Today, Goddard College still centers the individual in their education in order to create leaders of a more just and equitable society. Goddard offers undergraduate and graduate programs with faculty members and students from across the United States and around the globe.