When RU-tv painstakingly restored 63-year-old video footage of Rutgers, they went to the most authoritative person to add vital perspective on the film - University Archivist Tom Frusciano.

In the restored film Rutgers History Professor Dr. Richard P. McCormick, father of current Rutgers President Richard L. McCormick, interviews former Rutgers President William Demarest in 1947 about the history of the Cook and Douglass campuses. Dr. Demarest served as president of Rutgers from 1906-1924.

Later in the film McCormick walks around the College Ave. campus with Demarest and asks the president about the origins and then-current uses of Kirkpatrick Chapel, Old Queen's building, Portraits Hall (located within Kirkpatrick Chapel), the William the Silent statue, and Voorhees Mall. The film concludes with Demarest presiding over convocation with new Rutgers students and a rendition by a choir of the Rutgers school song, On the Banks of the Old Raritan.

Interspersed throughout the restored film segments are discussions between Frusciano and RU-tv reporter Marianne De Padua, which add further historical details and contemporary facts about the places, people, and events discussed on-screen.

The RU-tv episode, Rutgers Retrospective: Demarest Reminds Us, aired in June. It can be viewed online here: http://ur.rutgers.edu/video/rutv/sp/sp-rutgersretrospective.wmv

The Rutgers University Libraries commend RU-tv on completing the four-year project to restore this rare film and working with the University Archivist to add valuable perspective.