Russell Baker, born August 14, 1925 in Morrisonville, Virginia, a small town across the state line from Harper's Ferry, West Virginia and not far from Frederick, Maryland, is a notable American author and Hopkins alumnus. An essayist and journalist for many years, Baker won his first of two Pulitzer Prizes in 1979 for his writing for The New York Times. He is notably one of the longest-running columnists in the history of the New York Times and The Baltimore Sun. Three years later, his first autobiography, Growing Up, won Baker his second Pulitzer. The primary subject of this first autobiography, his most well-known work, was his childhood in Virginia during the Great Depression, while the focus of his second autobiography, Good Times, was his extensive and varied half-century career in journalism, including a close look at his time with The Baltimore Sun. In this oral history, Russell Baker describes his childhood, World War II, and his student days at Hopkins (1942-1947), specifically his courses in English, his work with the News-Letter, and his general impressions of Hopkins. This oral history is a part of the Mame Warren oral histories series.

Sidney Offit was born in 1928 in Baltimore, Maryland. He graduated from Johns Hopkins with a B.A. in English literature in 1950 and went on to have a robust and successful career as an author. He is best known for his work as a children's author, including works such as The Adventures of Homer Fink and Soupbone. He is also known for his work on televised debates with Martin Abend on WNEW-TV. In this history, Offit discusses his time at Hopkins as well as his writing. This oral history is a part of the Mame Warren oral histories series.

Neil Grauer, born in 1947, is a journalist and editorial cartoonist who grew up in Great Neck, New York. Grauer received his B.A. from Johns Hopkins University in 1969 and a masters degree in journalism from Northwestern University in 1970. Grauer was a reporter and cartoonist for the Baltimore News- American from 1970 until 1980, after which he served as the public affairs officer in the Consumer Protection Division of the Maryland Attorney General's Office. In 1984, he published Wits and Sages which profiles twelve contemporary newspaper columnists. In 1988 his Drugs and the Law appeared as part of the Encyclopedia of Psychoactive Drugs. In this oral history, Grauer discusses his student days at Hopkins in the 1960s, including the political unrest of the time, his activities with the student body, and his work cartooning for the News-Letter. This oral history is part of the Mame Warren oral histories series. Due to a technical error with one of the audio cassettes, Grauer's oral history is only partially transcribed, with approximately one-fifth of the content missing from the transcript. The audio file contains the full recording.