Interview with Karl W. Helicher, April 1, 2022
Project: West Chester University: Vietnam Era Oral History Project
Interview Summary
Karl Helicher (b. 1950) grew up in the suburbs of Philadelphia and went to West Chester State College between 1968 and 1972 to study history. After graduate school, he worked as the director of Upper Merion Public Library in King of Prussia for nearly forty years. In his 2022 interview, Helicher talks about growing up during the political turmoil of the 1960s. He describes the racial tension and limited antiwar movement on West Chester’s more conservative campus. Helicher then discusses hindsight after graduating and witnessing the end of the Vietnam War.Interview Accession
Interviewee Name
Interviewer Name
Interview Date
Interview Keyword
Philadelphia Suburbs Abington Township Larry Kane Dentist World War II Army Specialized Training Program JFK Assassination Conservative movement Vietnam War Gulf of Tonkin Draft Bordentown Military Institute West Chester West Chester State College Patricia Ann Conway Self-Immolation Deferment Hair Length Fraternity Philip Beidler Paperback Books Radio Kurt Vonnegut Hermann Hesse Thomas Wolfe Richard Brautigan African American Memoir Claude Brown Louise Meriwether Eldridge Cleaver Angela Davis Soul Music Bruce Springsteen The Guess Who The Chambers Brothers The Platters Patti LaBelle African American Students Ku Klux Klan Hate Speech Anthony Wayne Society Protest Student Activism Counterculture Dr. Michael Kay Civil Rights Movement Antiwar Movement Bomb threat Cheyney University Kent State Shootings Jackson State Shootings African American History Cross Burning Muhammad Ali Generational Gap Drugs Woodstock Richard Nixon Escalation News My Lai Massacre Music Marvin Gaye Ecology Movement Vietnam Veterans Pop Culture Public Memory Watergate Gerald Ford King of Prussia College Upper Merion Township Upper Merion Public Library Librarian Ingrid Croce Jim Croce Motorcycle GangInterview Rights
All rights to the interviews, including but not restricted to legal title, copyrights and literary property rights, have been transferred to the University of Kentucky Libraries.Interview Usage
Interviews may only be reproduced with permission from Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History, University of Kentucky Libraries.Restriction
Interviews may only be reproduced with permission from Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History, University of Kentucky Libraries.
All rights to the interviews, including but not restricted to legal title, copyrights and literary property rights, have been transferred to the University of Kentucky Libraries.
Add this interview to your cart in order to begin the process of requesting access to a copy of and/or permission to reproduce interview(s).
Helicher, Karl W. Interview by Devin Brown. 01 Apr. 2022. Lexington, KY: Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History, University of Kentucky Libraries.
Helicher, K.W. (2022, April 01). Interview by D. Brown. West Chester University: Vietnam Era Oral History Project. Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History, University of Kentucky Libraries, Lexington.
Helicher, Karl W., interview by Devin Brown. April 01, 2022, West Chester University: Vietnam Era Oral History Project, Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History, University of Kentucky Libraries.
You may come across language in UK Libraries Special Collections Research Center collections and online resources that you find harmful or offensive. SCRC collects materials from different cultures and time periods to preserve and make available the historical record. These materials document the time period when they were created and the view of their creator. As a result, some may demonstrate racist and offensive views that do not reflect the values of UK Libraries.
If you find description with problematic language that you think SCRC should review, please contact us at SCRC@uky.edu.
Persistent Link for this Record: https://kentuckyoralhistory.org/ark:/16417/xt7s47d5k1bxq