In recognition of their outstanding field work, Drs. John Mitrano (on right in photo at right) and Bruce Day (left) of the Central Connecticut State University Department of Sociology have been awarded a grant from the U.S. National Park Service Route 66 Preservation Program.

The sociologists, who have led four CCSU student trips along Route 66 in the past five years, are leading scholars and teachers of Route 66—that quintessential highway of American culture.

Under the grant, CCSU will administer the development of a Route 66 Curriculum and Activity Educator’s Resource Guide. The state-by-state curriculum for Route 66 can be used in a variety of disciplines (i.e., history, sociology, archeology, geography, community studies, urban development, etc.). In addition, this curriculum will be designed for use in the classroom and in the field while traveling on Route 66.

“Each year we conduct this field study trip, we visit a combination of intriguing new sites and our old favorites,” states Dr. Mitrano. “We are constantly meeting new Route 66 enthusiasts, business proprietors, artists, preservationists, musicians, and authors along the way.”

As part of the course, students conduct oral histories and interviews with such Route 66 individuals. To date, they have approximately 75 interviews tape recorded and are in the process of transcribing and indexing them. They will be made available for accessing by scholars and historians throughout the world.

“A memorable moment is when we bring the students to spend the night in La Posada in Winslow, Arizona,” says Day. “This restored hotel was built to serve the earliest rail service into the American southwest and is a fascinating example of American history. Stepping into this building gives you the sense of turning back time.”

Exclaims Mitrano, “I’ll never forget the time nationally-acclaimed artist Bob Waldmire spontaneously stopped by one evening when we were staying at the Blue Swallow Motel in Tucumcari, NM, and spent several magical hours talking to our students about his life and work along Route 66. The students seemed mesmerized by his accounts of traveling up and down the route in his yellow VW bus for most of his adult life.”

U.S. Highway 66, popularly known as “Route 66,” was the first national artery linking Chicago to Los Angeles, and its heyday was from 1926 to 1970. After the road was decommissioned in 1985, federal and state agencies, private organizations, and numerous members of the public undertook a preservation effort. With enactment of Public Law 106-45, the Route 66 Corridor Preservation Program was created.