World Debating Championships at Glasgow, Scotland, 1990

Beginning in 1908 with a debate against Queen's College of Ontario, Bates debaters have a long and illustrious heritage of international debate. In 1921, a team from Bates traveled to Oxford University for the first ever intercollegiate transatlantic debate, and Bates' celebrated World Tour in 1928 included over 20 debates in New Zealand, Australia, South Africa, Hawaii, and Great Britain. Since that time, Bates debaters have continued to distinguish themselves with an impressive record of international competition. Administrative material includes lists of international debaters and debates, as well as some federally-published information on foreign travel, and articles ranging from informal histories of international debating at Bates to published press releases are also included. Several articles compare and contrast British and American styles of debate. The series contains correspondence dating from 1923 through 1954, including several congratulatory telegrams from President Warren G. Harding, Vice-President Calvin Coolidge, Governor Percival Baxter of Maine, and Bates President Clifton Gray. A significant percentage of the series is comprised of material relating to specific international debates, ranging from the Bates-Oxford debates of the early 1920's through the annual Bates-Japan debates in the late 1980s. Material includes articles, tickets, programs, itineraries, correspondence, announcements, and lists of debates, topics and debaters. Newspaper clippings on specific debates as well as international debate at Bates more generally, are also included.