In 1961, Richard Hofstadter and Wilson Smith edited "American Higher Education: A Documentary History," a two-volume classic and an essential part of the tool kit of educators and historians. The author was invited by Smith to collaborate on the recently published "American Higher Education Transformed, 1940-2005: Documenting the National Discourse," which takes up where the earlier volumes leave off. In this article, the author describes how they reframed the issues from the earlier volumes to the new edition.