Category Archives: Departmental histories

Research files: Acquisition/construction dates

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Guest posted by Melissa Mariotti

As students and faculty, we are constantly on the move across campus, but while walking have you ever wondered about all the different buildings that are around us? Though Illinois Wesleyan is not a large campus, the number of buildings and their individual histories make up for its small size. The dates of acquisition and construction of each building range over time, creating a blend of older and newer buildings on campus.

The most recent building, State Farm Hall, was finished in 2013 and replaced the Sheean library, constructed in 1968. Before the Sheean and State Farm Hall, the first building on IWU’s campus, Old North Hall, was built to the east, in roughly the same area as the current sidewalk leading to CLA, and lasted from 1856 until 1966.

The Alumni Relations Office was created in 1991 on January 15th alongside the later dedication of well-used Baseball Field in honor of Jack Horenberger on April 11, 1999. Only a year later, on April 14, 2000 the Softball Field also held its inauguration when the Titans hosted North Park.

Dialing the clock only a little farther back, the records of the Physical Plant also reveal the creation of buildings such as Publications, Printing, and Mailing Services on January 3, 1996; Information Technology on August 4, 1983; and the well-known Multicultural Center on November 20, 1980.

Some of the more common and well-loved buildings of campus also have long histories. The E. Melba Johnson Kirkpatrick Laboratory, or better known by theatre goers as the Lab Theatre, is actually part of the Alice Millar Center for Fine Arts which received its dedication on March 18, 1973. It was not until the autumn of 1993 that the Lab Theatre received its name in dedication. The Memorial Center has been home to many offices, rooms, and places of events. For instance, the Bertholf Commons, the campus’s largest dining hall, can be found there. The commons was dedicated to President Bertholf, who held office between the years of 1958 and 1968. Even the International Office, which is currently located in the Center for Liberal Arts (CLA), used to be housed in the Memorial Center. Some of the oldest buildings on campus are some of the least known. The English House was built in 1911, but was not acquired by Wesleyan until 1947. The Security office that we know today was a coach house for what is now called Blackstock Hall (acquired in 1937). The coach house has also been an art studio and the English House was once the Gallery Building. Look through the changes to our campus at the collection of historical maps online at http://collections.carli.illinois.edu/u?/iwu_histph,1185.

For many of the students on campus, after a day of classes, work study jobs, extracurricular activities, and studying, we all enjoy being able to return to our various residence halls for a bit of relaxation and rest, not to mention a place to live during the school year. The first residence hall was built in 1878 and was known as Henrietta Hall, a residence hall for women only. It was run by a group expressly created for that purpose: the Women’s Education Association of IWU. It was also originally known as the Young Ladies’ Boarding Hall. The second residence hall was Kemp Hall. It was formerly known as the DeMange Mansion and was renamed in honor of President Kemp after it was acquired in 1912 and was also an all-women residence hall. Until 1987, it also was home to a dining hall and offices for faculty members. Dolan Hall – formerly Franklin Hall for Men – was built in 1955 and was one of the first dormitories established for men. Prior to this time, men either lived in fraternities or resided off campus. A new Women’s Residence Hall is opened on the corner of East and University Streets in October of 1956. We know it today as Anna Gulick Hall. At the time of opening, it was also home to “The Sarepta Bane Whipp Department of Home Economics.” See front page story in the 1956 IWU Bulletin.

Until 1998, IWU’s Publications, Printing, and Mailing services resided in Holmes Hall. It was decided that the space was too small for the services and was moved to its current location, a small building off of Franklin Avenue nearby the TKE fraternity house. Before that, the building was actually a dentist’s office until it was acquired by Wesleyan at an unknown date. The space was vacant for sometime, and it was supposedly meant to be used as a child care facility. See the full article in the February 6,1998 IWU Argus.

Publishing, Printing, and Mailing services

Publishing, Printing, and Mailing services. From the IWU website.

Architectural history is alive and well on our campus, but this is only a short list of the buildings that cover the grounds. You will find photographs of these and other IWU landmarks in our online collection.

To learn more about other buildings new or old you can also visit Tate Archives and Special Collections in the Ames Library, or contact the Archives at archives@iwu.edu!

 

Photo project complete!

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In 2011 the archives acquired a group of photographic material from the Office of Communications. Since then a succession* of diligent archives student assistants have worked steadily to place the contact sheets and negatives together in high quality sleeves, transfer information from the old filing sleeves, and then to store them in hanging file drawers for ease of access. Actually, many people** at IWU deserve the thanks of all future IWU photo seekers.

Below are a few then-and-now pictures to give a sense of this effort. The years spanned in these image files are 1966-2002, though the bulk of the negatives are from 1970s-1990s. A rough estimate of the total comes to about 40,000 images. Some information is searchable in a database (available in the archives) created by a couple of generations of photographers, but most images are at least in chronological order and correspond with activities that occur regularly each academic year. This order itself, even without complete descriptions, is significant for the work of the archives in satisfying the many research inquiries we receive each year.

* Students (now alumni!) assisting in this project were Kaylee, Kenny, Kirsten, Melissa, Rachel, Shirley, and Tia.

**Special thanks to the photographers who took the images and saved their log books, Physical Plant for moving everything so carefully, and University Librarian Karen Schmidt for making it possible to purchase the supplies that will help keep our history safe and in order for future use! Karen also alerted me to the policies of State Farm that allow non-profits to acquire used furniture from their surplus warehouse. We wouldn’t have all the vertical file cabinets without them!

 

 

Departmental History: French

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This post summarizes changes noted in the French Department by examining the Catalogue of Courses. Course catalogs from 1851-1954 are available online; the rest are available in print in the University Archives.

  • There is no evidence of any French courses until 1871 but then it was not offered as part of the main courses of study. In the 1871-72 course catalog, it is stated that “classes will be organized whenever desired in either of all of them,” which includes French, Italian, and Spanish. This course was offered by a Professor Merriman. However, this only lasted for two school years and ended in 1873.
  • French was offered again in the 1879-80 academic year during student’s sophomore year. Students could take French, German, Greek, or Latin. Taught by Professor Reymond.
  • In 1881, French is offered as a post-graduate area of study, or could replace Greek, German, or Latin courses. No instructor was listed.
  • The 1889-90 academic year French was offered again and then was consecutively offered until present day, with an exception of the 1922-23 academic year where no French was offered.
  • Often French was accompanied by/interchangeable with German, but there was a much heavier emphasis placed on German. For instance, in the course descriptions, the German department would receive almost a full page of description whereas French would receive 2-3 sentences. Also, German would have 5+ courses offered whereas French would only have 2 courses.
  • The February 1, 1889 Elite Journal (p. 12) notes students interests in having French courses offered.

Titles of French Departments:
1889-1895: French (courses)
1895-1899: French and German
1899-1910: Modern Languages (included both French and German, with subheadings for
both)
1910-1918: Department of French
1918-1921: Romance Languages (French and Spanish)
1922: No French offered
1923-1939: Modern Languages (French, German, and Spanish)
1939-1995: Foreign Language Department (Classical and Modern languages subheadings)
1995-2005: French Department
2005-Present: French and Francophone studies

Department Chairs/Heads:
1871-1873: Professor Merriman
1879-1880: Professor Reymond
1889-1891: Professor Wait
1891-1892: Professor Steele (head of Modern Languages and Latin)
1892-1895: Professor Heidel
1895-1896: Professor Snyder
1896-1899: Madame de Blumenthal (listed as instructor)
1899-1900: Ms. Shephard
1900-1905: Ms. Smith
1905-1908: Ms. Mitchell
1908-1909: Professor Graham
1909-1911: Professor Eggert
1911-1913: Professor Corstvet
1913-1914: Parlin (listed as instructor)
1914-1916: Professor W. Ferguson
1916-1918: Laitem (listed as instructor)
1918-1921: Professor Norton
1923-1934: Professor W. Ferguson
1934-1944: Professor C. Ferguson and Professor W. Ferguson
1944-1951: Professor C. Ferguson
1951-1952: Professor Norwood and Professor Bettger
1952-1955: Professor Norwood
1955-1957: Professor Labarthe (Professor Norwood on leave)
1957-1959: Professor Deitz
1959-1966: Professor Bettger
1966-1971: Professor Holm
1971-1976: Professor Troyanovich
1976-1979: Professor Moretto
1979-1984: Professor Huseman
1984-1988: Professor McDonald
1988-1990: Professor Fajardo
1990-1993: Professor Klingenberg
1993-1999: Professor Matthews
1999-2002: Professor Callahan
2002-2013: Professor Sheridan
2013-Present: Professor Matthews

Departmental History: Religion

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This timeline tracks changes listed in the Catalogue of Courses for the Department of Religion and Religious course offerings at Illinois Wesleyan University from 1851-2000. Course catalogs from 1851-1954 are available online; the rest are available in print in the University Archives.

1850s

  • In the very first catalog, from 1851, there were only a few courses that were taken that were related to religion; Evidences of Christianity, taken during the first quarter of a student’s senior year, Natural Theology, taken during their junior year, and a few Greek and Mythology classes taken freshman year, and a Greek Testament course taken fourth quarter senior year. There were no mentions of any departments or course descriptions.
  • No records of catalogs from 1852-1856
  • From 1857 until 1859 there were only Natural Theology courses

1860s

  • 1860 and 1861 there were no religious courses in the scientific course study, but a course called Natural Theology for those in the classical course study.
  • From 1862 until 1865, there was only a Greek Testament course being offered
  • From 1866 till 1869, students in the scientific course study were required to take Evidences of Christianity, listed as an Ethical Sciences, and all students were required to attend a lecture called Relation of Natural to Revealed Religion, under the ethics category, where the lecture eventually disappeared towards the end of the decade.
    • It is noted in the Course of Study description that the Scientific course had been rearranged so that it was more similar to that of the Classical course, in order to make them more well-rounded.

1870s

  • Throughout the 1870s, the courses offered remained the same as they were in the previous decade
  • In 1874, the University offered to make special arrangements for those aspiring to join the Christian ministry, and offering to arrange a special theological course if needed.

1880s

  • Until 1883, there was only one class related to religion: Christian Evidences,
  • In 1884 students were still required to take Christian Evidences, but there was also the first appearance of the Department of Ethics and Metaphysics
    • In the description it reads that: “This department embraces a course of instruction in the external, internal and experimental evidences of Christianity”
  • In 1888 the department description changed. Instead of the previous statement, there is a description of the Evidences of Christianity
  • 1889 the description changed again to a professor giving instruction in Christian Evidences

1890s

  • From 1890 until 1893, the description and classes remained the same as it was from 1889
  • In 1894 there were sections under the Department of Ethics and Metaphysics called Philosophy of Theism and Christian Evidences
  • From 1895 until 1897,there was the Department of Ethics and Metaphysics (for philosophy majors), where there were sections called Theism and Philosophy of Theism
  • In 1898 Department of Ethics and Metaphysics included one section called Theism and Christian Ethics

1900s

  • From 1899 until 1907, there was the first sighting of a religion department, although it was grouped together with philosophy to make the Philosophy and Religion Department. Under the philosophy department, students still took a course on religion, Theism and Christian Evidences. Students were still required to take religion courses that varied depending on the year of the student, whether or not they majored in Philosophy and Religion. The number of courses offered under the department started out with very small and increased over the years.
  • In 1908 the Philosophy and Religion Department was combined with the education department, split into two parts
  1. Philosophy and Education
  2. Religion
  • In 1909 the department separated philosophy, education, and religion into three categories under one department.

1910s

  • The departments remained the same until 1914, where a new department was added called The Department of English Bible and Religion
  • In 1915, under the section, Graduation Requirements, students were required to complete four semester hours in the department of English Bible and Religion
  • In 1919 the four course hours of English Bible and Religion was changed to “four hours of biblical literature.” The Department of English Bible and Religion disappeared, and was replaced with two new departments: The Department of Biblical Literature and The Department of Religious education, where they shared the same courses. In the course descriptions, it states that there are classes in other departments that are related to this department, and that students would be required to take.

1920s

  • In 1920, the department changed to the Department of Religion
  • In 1923, this department was replaced with the department of Bible and Christian Missions, although the department of Education and Religious Education was still there
  • In 1929, the department returned to being called the Department of Religion, with the two subtopics being English Bible and Christian Missions.

1930s

  • These departments remained the same until 1931, where the two subgroups under the department of religion disappeared.
  • In 1932 the departments were broken up into divisions, where religion was grouped together with philosophy and psychology. The latter were grouped together under a subheading and religion was by itself. Under religion was also the subgroup religious education.
  • In 1933 the religion requirement for graduation was reduced from four hours to three hours
  • In 1935, religion was grouped under the division of the humanities, along with art, languages, English, music, philosophy and psychology, and speech.
  • In 1939, religion was still under the division of the humanities, but grouped together with philosophy.

1940s

  • The departments and divisions remained the same until 1946, where religion remained under the division of humanities but was separated from philosophy.
  • In 1944, a concentration is offered under religion that prepares young women for the church.

1950s

  • No changes

1960s

  • Churchmanship Training Program introduced; a program that trains students to become members of the church, gone by 1964.
  • No other changes
  • Pre-ministerial training is offered in 1963, a more detailed version of concentrating in religion and includes a half-tuition grant.

1970s

  • The departments and divisions remained the same until 1972, where there were no more divisions and the department of religion was an individual department

1980s-2000

  • No change

Departmental History: Psychology

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Psychology's first chair, Roger Ulrich, ca. 1960

Psychology’s first chair, Roger Ulrich, ca. 1960

Psychology has been part of IWU’s curriculum since the 1880s, but it was not until the late 1940s that it appeared in the catalog as a department, paired with Philosophy.

The Communications Office wrote an in-depth news story of Psychology Department and its evolution for the 2011 Homecoming.

Departmental History: German

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The evolution of the German Department as seen in the Catalogue of Courses. Course catalogs from 1851-1954 are available online; the rest are available in print in the University Archives.

Tutoring in German was available on request in IWU’s first course catalog of 1851-52 and then show a dedicated faculty member starting in the second catalog which was published five years later.

1857-65: German and French listed as electives in the “Classical” degree track (the only other track available was “Scientific”) for Junior year.

1892-1893: German and French languages taught together, but a more in-depth time and practice are spent on German even briefly letting students “in which the instructor uses the German language in order the better to familiarize the pupils with ordinary idioms, not necessarily met with in their reading” (16). Also includes an advanced class that studies the works like Goethe’s Hermann und Dorothea and Sesenheim; Freytag’s Journalisten, and Scheffel’s Ekkehard (30).

Focus still on ancient languages of Greek and Latin

1895: First year as a major. Separate listing of German as Course C of language after Greek and Latin. It is also described as adding a third year compared to the previous two year policy and a detailed description of this third year of study consists of reading of historical prose and the study of German Literature. The catalogue says that “German will be largely the language of the classroom throughout the year, and the student will be encouraged to continue in private the study of a most valuable language, which these three years of training ought to make easy and attractive” (28).

1900: Classified as a Modern Language (rather than Ancient language) and has 12 classes of study listed.

1910: Still offered as a three year program, but is more specifically divided into three sections of work. First Year: Mastery of the essentials of grammar, composition, conversation and pronunciation, and 150 pages of easy prose.

Second Year: Advanced grammar and syntax when writing German. Reading of more difficult authors covering 250 to 300 pages.

Third Year: Reading of selected poetical and historical prose works.

1920: German classes increase from general study of the language to more specific categorical classes such as The German Novel of the Nineteenth Century, The Drama of the Nineteenth Century, Goethe and Schiller, History of the German Language, Scientific German.

1930: Direct Listing of Major and Minor Status-Major 24 semester hours and Minor 12 semester hours-Same listing of classes.

German Club Present in 1930 catalogue-Described as “The German Club meets the needs of students of this language in providing extra-curricular opportunity for personal contacts and for attaining proficiency in conversation”(112). Club helped by Professor Ferguson-see next page

1940: Additional classes of Survey of German Literature and German Conference added to German course of classes and it is also in this catalog that Spanish appears as an additional modern language of study.

1950: Only listing of German as a foreign language and only First and Second Year German taught-So only 4 sections of basic language study and small compared to French and Spanish department.

1960: Return of 100 to 400 level German Language classes-Additions of German Composition and Conversation, Goethe’s Faust, Senior Review, and History of German Literature. Ferguson not listed-Emeritus- died on May 9, 1944.

1970: German interestingly is now placed before either Greek or Latin in the catalogue listing. Also a few more classes included such as Survey of German Literature Before 1700, Survey of German Literature After 1700, Contemporary German Literature, Independent Study in German Literature, The German Novelle, German Classicism, German Romanticism-obviously close ties to English department studies

1980: German major alongside the other languages of French and Spanish are divided into three major tracks of major sequence in Applied Modern Language, Modern Literature, and Foreign Language Education. With these divisions the courses expand to carter to these areas, but what is interesting is for the first time the mentions of Travel/Study Abroad classes and internships are listed in the catalogue.

1990: Relatively the same set-up of classes, but looks like there is an increase in studying the effect of translation to language studies, etc.

2000: German Department listing and courses offered officially takes up two full pages of content in the 2000 catalogue showing its serious growth and number of classes for students. The same format is still carried in the modern day, 2014.

Further research of the descriptions and images of the German study/club in the past Wesleyana yearbooks and past Argus issues might also be of interest.

Wesleyana digital collection homepage http://collections.carli.illinois.edu/cdm4/index_iwu_yearb.php?CISOROOT=/iwu_yearb

Argus and earlier digitized news sources homepage http://collections.carli.illinois.edu/cdm4/index_iwu_argus.php?CISOROOT=/iwu_argus

Here are a few interesting facts: According to Argus perusals, etc. enrollment in the German Programs nationwide definitely decreased during the years of World War II, but also most likely during the years of World War I as well. This is due to obvious reasons of conflict, but at least after the official end of WWII, German departments everywhere, including at IWU, did begin to resurface and, even, flourish only 3 or so years after the war ended (see March 10, 1948 Argus article, p4, on German Professor expressing these thoughts).

Another interesting focus was looking at the progression of the professorship of Wilbert Ferguson. He is listed as Professor of Greek, but also began teaching German on campus in 1895. He continued teaching both but isn’t listed with the title of Instructor of German until the 1907/08 catalogue. Ferguson eventually became the head of the German program and remained so until his death in 1944. The University Archives holds a large scrapbook of Professor Ferguson, but I have also featured here a 1941 Wesleyana picture (picture present in earlier editions as well) of Ferguson.

Departmental History: Political Science

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The short answer is during the 1950-1951 school year and Assistant Professor Robert O. Gibbon.
The question is  “When did the department begin and who was the first chair?”

This blog will be used to record our research on departmental histories as they are received. A backlog currently exists in this type of research and I will catch it up in a post as soon as possible. For now, here are some added details in the development of PoliSci at IWU:
The 1921 school year shows the earliest mention of a political science branch within a division of the Department of Economics and Sociology. It was headed by Professor Carl W. Strow.

The 1922-23 school year lists political science as part of the Department of History and Political Science, marking the first time it was in the title of a department. This department was headed by Professor William Wallis and this structure/alignment and chair remained the same until 1950. At that point Wallis remained History’s Chair and Gibbon (who had been on the faculty in the combined department since 1947) became chair of the new, separate department.

Other chairs:
1955-1958 Robert O. Byrd
1958-1963 A. Glenn Mower, Jr.
1963-1967 Bunyan H. Andrew (dept shows combined with History again during this time)
1967-1972 Donald P. Brown (who had been teaching in Hist/PoliSci during the recombined period)
1972 John Wenum begins

Named places: The Ames Library

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The Ames Library opened on January 9, 2002 and is named for lead donors B. Charles Ames (Class of 1950) and Joyce Eichhorn Ames (Class of 1949). They challenged their fellow alumni that if others contributed $1 million each for three years they would match it. Literally hundreds of alumni responded to that call. The Ames family has also made major gifts in Joyce Ames’ name for the School of Art and for a scholarship to support students in the fine arts.

JoyceChuckAmes

Joyce and Chuck Ames on the day of the School of Art’s new entrance, May 23, 2012

Political Science

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Special Collections has two manuscript collections related to state and national politics: The Leslie Arends Congressional Collection and the 1970 Illinois Constitutional Convention papers of IWU PoliSci professor and Con-Con delegate John Wenum. The 1970 Con Con resulted in a first-ever state Constitution that explicitly guaranteed citizens the right to a healthy environment.

The Arends Collection is well organized and largely unused. The Wenum Collection has not been examined since acquired and awaits some eager researcher’s eyes to tell us what treasures it may hold!