Dr. David Cohen is currently Emeritus Professor of History and Anthropology at the University of Michigan. While completing his Ph.D. in African history at the University of London, he joined the Johns Hopkins History Department in 1968. Along with Jack Greene, Cohen helped to establish the Atlantic Program in History and Culture, which combined historical and anthropological approaches to the study of the Americas, Europe, and Africa. Cohen describes borrowing from Philip Curtin's tropical history program at the University of Wisconsin, working with Greene, Sidney Mintz, and Richard Price, the influence of Clifford Geertz, and the Atlantic Program as an institutional and intellectual model for similar programs adopted at other universities. This oral history is part of the Hopkins Retrospective oral histories series.

Samuel Hopkins was a Baltimore businessman, and advocate for preservation of Maryland historic sites. Hopkins was born and raised in Howard County and graduated from Johns Hopkins University in 1934. He was the great grand nephew of Johns Hopkins. Hopkins was active in politics and philanthropy in Maryland, and served as president of the Maryland Historical Society from 1970 to 1976. In this oral history, Hopkins describes his family's history and impact on the city of Baltimore, describing Johns Hopkins career and relationships with contemporaries such as Enoch Pratt, Moses Sheppard, and George Peabody. Hopkins also discusses life on campus during his time as a student during the Great Depression, describing his relationships with prominent faculty members such as Dr. Frederic Chapin Lane and Dr. Broadus Mitchell, as well as student organizations and activities. This oral history is a part of the Mame Warren oral histories series.