In May of 1970 in the heat of the campus protests over the events at Kent State, Professor Glenn Harnden, from AU’s Department of Communications, pulled all the 16mm film on hand and sent several students off with cameras to shoot activities both on and off campus. The footage was reviewed, compiled and edited into one master film with accompanying soundtrack. Both the master film and some of the raw footage were re-discovered two years ago. We hope we will eventually find the soundtrack. We conserved and digitized the film and put snippets on AU Library’s YouTube Channel.

We recently added the full film and some of the raw footage to American University’s Digital Research Archive. Viewers can watch the events as they unfolded on campus including AU students washing windshields and distributing flyers to cars stopped at Ward Circle. The films document the interaction between the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Police Department and students including an arrest and the use of tear gas. They follow the students as they head downtown for a large rally and concert on the National Mall. Special events like a concert in the amphitheater and a meeting with AU President George Williams and other campus administrators are also featured.

Some intrepid students hung a sheet on the Artemas Ward statue that read “How Many More?”