Why Sampsonville?

We noticed how many people walk past the Samponville memorial everyday in its central location near Lake Andrews. However, we were unsure what Sampsonville actually was. The memorial shows a description of Charles Sampson, but we decided to ask the archivist what Sampsonville was all about. 

We realized that the the majority of Bates students have no knowledge of the army barracks that existed on campus. We thought it would be interesting to learn about an aspect of Bates that we knew nothing about. 

Sociological View

Due to the individuals and groups of people that pass by the Sampsonville memorial, or choose to study there, Sampsonville can be seen through a sociological lens. Since many students are unaware of the army barracks, the collective behavior of students passing by the memorial is dismissive or at least, unanalytical. 

While the army barracks were in place on campus, the families living in the barracks had a seperate social life than the other students on campus. They tended to be older, married with children. Bates no longer just had students who primarily were from the ages of 18-22. 

This completely reorganized Bates socially and academically through the types of people that were on campus. 

Marxist View

The individuals living in the barracks represented a different economic group on campus. They received an allowance of $120 from the government monthly, which helped with their housing and academic costs. In addition to this allowance, the veterans earned wages while working in the military. While at Bates, the men in the family would take the classes while the women in the barracks often found jobs in Lewiston. Despite this money, times in the barracks were still scarce due to the support they had to provide for their families. While we cannot generalize about the other students at Bates, they had their food and living costs all into one tuition bill. The veterans had to seek food outside Bates dining hall. This shows a potential class difference between these students. 

Anthropological View

As we learned through the historical narrative, the culture was very different in the barracks than on campus. The barracks had thin walls giving no privacy and were constantly infected with roaches and rats. These conditions created a different culture for the families in the barracks that might not have been as frequent for the other students in the dorms at Bates. This, in junction to the economic hardship, lead to a differed living experience. This change in culture could suggest a different view that the veterans had of the academic and social experience than that of the other students; their perspective was missing from the research.