The Missouri Miner: Editors-in-Chief: H. Patrick Duvall

Research Project: 100 years of
The Missouri Miner 1915-2015

Est'd. 1915, Fred Grotts, Founder

H. Patrick Duvall
EIC 1961-1962

The following questions and responses were taken from a questionnaire mailed, completed, and returned in June 2007. -RB

RB: From when to when were you Editor-in-Chief of the Missouri Miner? Who proceeded and followed you in that position? Share your memories of these individuals.

HPD: August 1961 to May 1962 was my tenure as EIC. I was preceded by Dennis Camp and succeeded by Hugh Murray, both Phi Kappa Theta fraternity brothers of mine.

RB: What other positions did you hold on the Missouri Miner staff. How were elections held?

HPD: I remember that I held positions of Copy Editor for at least two years prior to becoming EIC. My involvement came from my affiliation with Phi Kappa Theta fraternity.

RB: What were the biggest challenges you faced as Editor-in-Chief of the Missouri Miner?

HPD: My biggest challenges were getting the early edition of the Miner published before the start of school in September and defending my editorials.

RB: What were your greatest accomplishments as Editor-in-Chief of the Missouri Miner?

HPD: My greatest accomplishments were the publishing of the St. Pat's and April Fools editions of the Miner in March and April 1962 in a magazine format. I have donated copies of these magazines to the MSM historical museum recently.

RB: What effect did major national events (i.e. wars, assassinations, etc.) have on the Missouri Miner's reporting? How did you handle these events?

HPD: I used the Algerian insurgency (Nationalist movement against the French occupation) against the French Foreign Legion as a theme for the April 1961 April Fools edition.

RB: How significant a role do you feel you and the Missouri Miner played in campus life during your tenure as Editor-in-Chief?

HPD: I felt that we were somewhat conservative and kept the focus of the Miner in a positive direction.

RB: How did your time as Editor-in-Chief of the Missouri Miner help prepare you for life after college? What lessons did you learn?

HPD: Previous to coming to MSM, I had worked in a newspaper office in Ste. Genevieve, MO (my home town) for about three years after school and during summer breaks. I continued to work for the Fair Play Printing Company during summers while at MSM. I learned to set type and proof read copy. I was also the Sports Editor for the Valle High School Spire. After college my career focused on engineering and aviation rather than journalism. However, the experience in writing and editing copy was a great asset in being able to express myself clearly in presentations and written text throughout my career.

RB: What was your staff like at the Miner?

HPD: The Miner staff during my tenure was made up principally of Phi Kappa Theta and Kappa Alpha fraternity members. We had a good relationship and worked well together.

RB: Who was the Missouri Miner's faculty advisor?

HPD: Karl Moulder (deceased), a history and German Professor at MSM was our faculty advisor. Karl was also the faculty advisor for Kappa Alpha Fraternity. He was a great asset to the Miner staff and we particularly enjoyed the annual trips to College Newspaper conventions. I had the opportunity to travel to Miami, Florida for one of the convention trips.

RB: Where was the Missouri Miner's office? What equipment did you use to produce the newspaper every week? If you published at the Rolla Daily News (the local city paper), what was your relationship with Ed/Steve Sowers? If not, where did you publish the paper?

HPD: Sorry, I do not remember the details to answer this question, except we laid out the paper in an offset format and it was printed locally.

RB: How would you describe your management style?

HPD: Maybe a little dictatorial!

RB: Describe your relationship with the administration at MSM/UMR.

HPD: We worked well with the administration and never had a conflict to my memory.

RB: Describe your relationship with Student Council at MSM/UMR.

HPD: I don't believe we had an active Student Council at that time.

RB: Did any group (Fraternity, Administration, Student Council, etc.) have what you felt to be undue influence over decisions affecting the newspaper? If so, which groups had this influence and what decisions did they affect?

HPD: Phi Kappa Theta and Kappa Alpha controlled the Miner during my years at MSM. However, I believe we published an unbiased newspaper and made an effort to represent the independents on campus as well as members of the IFC.

RB: Summarize your thoughts and feelings about your time as Editor-in-Chief of the Missouri Miner.

HPD: Great experience, wonderful staff, the only extracurricular activity I participated in at MSM. An additional note of interest, Richard Okenfuss, EIC 1956-58, sponsored me to join Phi Kappa Theta. He is from my home town of Ste. Genevieve, MO. His younger sister and I were classmates in Grade School and High School.