Exhibit of Commonplace Books

Posted on December 15, 2023 by ebloodwo

Students in Joanne Diaz’s Survey of English Poetry class visited the archives multiple times this semester to create an exhibit that showcases both material from IWU collections as well as commonplace books created by their classmates throughout the semester. The students explored commonplace books, scrapbooks, diaries, and notebooks donated by IWU faculty and alumni. They made connections between archival material and their own commonplace books and selected items to feature in their exhibit. Items selected include a Civil War diary kept by early IWU President William H. H. Adams and a scrapbook assembled by IWU alumna Florence Kasiske (Class of 1933).

Students arrange archival material in exhibit cases.

English 243 students install an exhibit of commonplace books in entry level rotunda cases.

Once selected, the students wrote exhibit labels and created flyers and promotional images for social media. On Wednesday, December 6, the students installed the exhibit in the rotunda cases on the entry level of the Ames Library. Through this exercise, students had the opportunity to interact with archival material, while learning about exhibit curation and IWU history.

Students seated at table in archives make selections of archival material for exhibit.

English 243 students curate an exhibit using archival material and student-created commonplace books.

The exhibit will remain on display through January 31, 2024. Thank you for sharing your work with us, English 243!

Gulick time capsule

Posted on May 13, 2023 by Meg Miner

poster showing the original house donated by Anna Gulick that served as a "small hall" and construction of the current building.

(click to enlarge)

There’s been a plan to demolish Gulick Hall for the last few years to make way for the Petrick Idea Center. One of these times, in the fall of 2022, I prepared a poster for the current students of Gulick to learn about the building’s origins and namesake. I compiled these photos and many more at the request of the Petrick planners and made sure they knew there was a time capsule in the building.

Demolition was scheduled again for the end of May 2023, so I contacted Physical Plant personnel to begin arranging for the removal of the time capsule. They verified that a box was behind the date stone on the north east corner of the entrance side of the building, and on March 24th a small group of Residential Life staff and a few students met to witness the removal.

: (L to R) An unidentified mason shows the time capsule to Malik Whitfield, Area Director for Gulick and other halls and John Schmidt, a Gulick RA.

: Malik Whitfield receives the time capsule.

: Malik Whitfield; Alexis Aranda-Hernandez, Harriett RA; and Johnathan Shaw, Area Director for other halls.

: John Schmidt and Malik Whitfield.

Malik took the box back to ORL for an opening event at a later date, and then we found out that Gulick gets another reprieve! On May 12th campus was notified that the building would remain for the happy reason of a larger than expected incoming class.

This post serves as a record of the removal and a reminder that other time capsules exist. Between 2011-2023, three other time capsules have been removed and opened: Sheean Library, Mark Evans Observatory, and the Memorial Gym/Hansen. One other was placed in a building (State Farm Hall, placed in 2013) and one other was dedicated in the Spring of 2021 to commemorate the pandemic year for the Class of 2024. It does not have a permanent place in a building yet; contact Deborah Halperin for further information.

Chinese works translated!

Posted on January 26, 2022 by Meg Miner

In the last post, I announced that our work making a collection of Chinese art available was complete. I am pleased to announce that due primarily to efforts by current students we now have more information to share about these works! This post contains individual images of the works, their translations, and details the students found on some of the artists. I will also add information to the works in the descriptions in the online Campus Art Collection.

Special thanks for providing English translations of these works go to
Dawn Mengheng Wang, Class of 2022;
Esther Siqi Yang, Class of 2023;
and Amber Ruofei Shuang, Class of 2025.

Dawn’s father, Yuhua Wang, who is a Professor of Chinese History, identified the traditional Chinese characters on the paintings.

Thanks also to Dr. Tom Lutze, IWU Professor of History, for finalizing the translations of the poetry. Dr. Lutze notes that, as with any attempt to translate poetry from one language to another, more improvements would be possible.

What follows is a gallery of six images that contain brief text about the works. Two pieces with poetry are shown individually below the gallery.
[Click on any image to enlarge.]

: Pine Trees and Clouds of Yellow Mountain. QIN Guoying, painted in Beijing

: Qin Ying Yao Feng (Wind Shakes the Bamboo Shadow). Mr. [XIE] Tianmao asked HE Tiefan to paint [this piece]. (Note: The donor, Mark Sheldon’s, Chinese name is XIE Tianmao.)

: [Painted in] Autumn, 1987, [when LI] Wenxin was in Beijing

: TAN Zan painted [this piece] in the Ziyun Studio.

: Central China Normal University sent this painting to Mr. XIE Tianmao. September, 1991. (Note: The donor, Mark Sheldon’s, Chinese name is XIE Tianmao.)

: LU Sheng painted [this piece].

Artist: XU Shi
Date: Winter, 1987
Location: Suzhou

The waterfall cascades down from the rock,
the timbre of pine needles blends with the tenor of water–a chorus of nature
(万壑涛声巌下瀑)
The mountain rain gathers into clouds,
the billows envelop the house where the hermit lives
(千峰雨气屋头云)

For this last work, our students offer two possible translations.

Title: Bamboo and Orchids Original ink wash artist: ZHENG Xie (commonly known as ZHENG Banqiao). The Rongbaozhai workshop, located in Beijing, created this print.

Translation (#1) (written as the artist completed the painting):

Every day, I drink with my friend on the red bridge.
(日日红桥斗.酒)
Everywhere, peaches and plums present their beauty.
(家家桃李艳芳)
Yet only orchids and bamboo adorn my home
(闭门只是栽兰竹)
They mark my independence–I follow no trend to change my lifestyle.
(留得春光过四时)

Translation (#2):

Day after day, in the beauty of spring, I go to Hongqiao to drink with friends.
(日日红桥斗.酒卮),
House after house, everywhere I look, peach and plum trees blossom in beauty.
(家家桃李艳芳姿).
Yet in my yard I prefer to grow elegant orchids and bamboo.
(闭门只是栽兰竹).
I thereby stay true to myself, refusing to conform to the ways of the mainstream.
(留得春光过四时).

Our students also provided these additional details about the original artist and the printer of this work:

ZHENG was a significant figure in Chinese art history. Born in 1693 (Qing Dynasty), he was known for his love of bamboo, a central feature in many of his paintings. He also drew attention for his non-conformist anti-conservatism and was identified as one of the “Eight Eccentrics of Yangzhou.”

This painting is an original piece of Rongbaozhai’s woodblock watermark art. Woodblock watermark art is a centuries-old copying technique that itself is a skilled art form, involving painting, carving, and printing to create extremely high-quality reproductions of traditional Chinese paintings and calligraphy, both vivid and colorful. Rongbaozhai is an art workshop with a long history in Beijing, one of whose specialties is the preservation from generation to generation of the skills of producing woodblock watermark art.

“HOURS” was a codeword for WOMEN’S Curfew

Posted on August 28, 2021 by Meg Miner

Editor’s note: This story was published in the June 2021 Class of 1971 newsletter “Remembering our College Days” and is reprinted here with the permission of the author.

Guest post by Judith Schulz, Class of 1971

In our 1967-68 student handbook they were called CLOSING HOURS. That is when the dorm entrance doors were closed, and Locked. Hours really meant “curfew.” It was a form of in loco parentis.

I didn’t think anything about these rules when I arrived at IWU as a freshman in Sept 1967 at age 18. Those were the rules, so those were the rules. Both the 1967 and 1968 IWU student handbooks had the same closing hours listed for Women (but not for men students!) (Men had NO closing hours.)

excerpt from1968-69 IWU student handbook

(click any image in this post to enlarge)

WOMEN STUDENTS HAD TO BE INSIDE BY 10:30 pm
On weeknights we had to be inside our residence hall/dorm by 10:30 pm, Friday & Saturday by 1 am, Sunday night by 11 pm. It didn’t matter to me anyhow during my first semester as I was tired, had homework or was working late hours in the Dug Out as a short order cook/ order taker. Men did not have any of these rules, just we women. (hmmm.) Obvious double standard. HOURS were an issue at many colleges around the USA at the time.

DORM BED CHECK?
I lived in Pfeiffer Hall, second floor East wing and right after 10:30 there was a “bed check” where an assigned student living in the dorm came around and checked your name against the list to make sure you were in your room.… we didn’t actually to have to be “in bed.” Just writing this on paper, I mean on the computer, makes we wonder why we didn’t question this.

AFTER 10:30 pm
Sometimes after the bed check there would be a “house” meeting, party, holiday activity or gathering in the first-floor lounge. (I see they called it a “parlor” in the handbook, but we called it “the Lounge.”) These after- hours gatherings helped us to make friends and become part of the residence hall “family,” but it also functioned to distract you from the fact that we were under a strict curfew, even though we were of adult age.

IF YOU WERE LATE: LATE MINUTES!
And if you were late coming into your residence hall, after hours, “late minutes” resulted in punishment.

One Saturday night I signed out for a 2 o’clock, but was late just 2 minutes getting back inside Pfeiffer Hall. This was considered very serious. (And whoever was working the desk had to wait up until you came in.)

– Pfeiffer’s House Council voted to restrict me to the dorm for the entire next weekend, only being allowed to go for a short visit to the commons to eat meals. It was called “dorm pro” for probation. I was also required to contact the house mother regularly, proving I was in the dorm. I thought this restriction was extreme and absurd, so I called the house mother every hour throughout the weekend and even late into the night to report in, hoping frequent calls would make a point. (They did.)

IN THE SPRING of 1968, the idea of changing or getting rid of “hours” was a topic of discussion everywhere. Was the university really supposed to be in the role of parenting, and supervising students who were of age? Student Senate made motions, there were “university studies” and a growing frustration among students.

May 15, 1968 handout, Q&A about hours & a protest

POSTERS were hung up around campus and talk of having an after-hours protest was everywhere. The protest was to be at 10 pm Thursday, May 17, 1968 and last until 11:30 pm—AFTER HOURS!— We would definitely be breaking the rules! And think of it: more than 60 LATE MINUTES?

While I agreed 100% with the cause and the protest, it made me nervous. I knew what late minutes meant, and we would all be more than 60 minutes late if we attended the protest.

Note: I have this original handout (above) and poster (next image) 8.5×11” paper. Copies were made on an old fashion ditto duplicator machine in purple lettering. (not old fashion at the time.)

May 17, 1968 Original poster, 8.5×11” ditto

That night I heard many students encouraging others to attend saying “they can’t make the late minutes stick” which matched the posters that were also all over campus.

It was a time to think for yourself, and support what you believed in. I was still very nervous walking over, even with so many others, to the outdoor stage of McPherson. I recall Wenona Whitfield encouraging everyone in the group I was with while walking over to the protest.

IWU ARGUS newspaper story May 17, 1968 – note both stories

May 17, 1968 Hours Protest, after hours- IWU Archives

Women students and men students attended the hours protest, even a few IWU staff. There was a band, and 4 students spoke: Vicki Wentrcek, Marcelle Wilkins, Brian Spears and Connie Husson.

WERE YOU THERE? Did you stay out 1 hour past “Hours” and get any “late minutes?” Please share your stories and memories about hours in the reply box below.

~ Watch for the stories of what happened next…..
what changed and what didn’t.

~ SEE you at our 50^th Class of 1971 reunion in October 2021!

The actual posters shown here, MORE artifacts and photographs from this time will be on display at our 50th IWU Class of 1971 reunion October 2021.

~author Judith Schulz, Pfeiffer Hall resident, IWU class of 1971(and in the crowd in the photo above) written June 2021 for the Class of 1971 Alumni newsletter

Research info from Judi Kasper Ballard, Mark Sheldon, IWU archivist Meg Miner, Vicki Wenger Warren, and Judith Schulz

Images from Judith Schulz’s collection and IWU Archives

IWU Women’s History via JeopardyLabs

Posted on March 5, 2021 by Meg Miner

Several years ago I co-presented on IWU women’s history during a Council for IWU Women Summit with Claudia Brogan (’77), Stephanie Davis-Kahl. I gamified my findings on the topic up to that point by using PowerPoint. Recently I updated it and now it can be played three ways, all at a safe distance in these pandemic times, of course 😉 Test your IWU-quotient today!

1) The version pictured here is as it was originally presented: IWU Women’s History (2021 update) in ppt format. This version has photos and behind-the-scenes details, not just the facts!

3) And here is the same JeopardyLabs edition but in an embedded format.

Note: numbers 2 & 3 due not have photos since I used their free version 😉

Make Your Own Jeopardy Game with JeopardyLabs!

New story collection initiative: Racism, COVID-19 & the IWU curriculum

Posted on August 25, 2020 by Meg Miner

In March, I sent out an open call to the IWU community, inviting reflections on their lives in this pandemic era and in May I created a collection of the responses to that call. I set a deadline for those initial collections as the time when IWU’s campus started in-person classes again. That date was August 17th. This post announces the beginning of a second story-seeking initiative that expands on that call.

On May 25, 2020, George Floyd was killed by a Minneapolis police officer. At the time, this latest incidence of anti-Black racism brought a global response that continues. More anti-Black violence has taken place and just last night a police officer in Kenosha, WI shot Jacob Blake multiple times. He is in the hospital as of this writing on August 25, 2020.

Protests in response to Floyd’s killing have increased public attention on anti-Black violence and other forms of racism. Throughout the summer and into our early times of gathering as a campus this fall, the issues of racism and white supremacy are being called out and named in our community. The pandemic has also unevenly affected communities of color and people who had fewer personal resources to begin with.

Protests have also taken place virtually and physically at IWU regarding recent announcements of program closures and termination letters that are being sent to faculty. Issues of power and privilege are evident in the responses from alumni, administrators, faculty (current and retired), and in the local press.

IWU community members (alumni, students, staff, faculty and administrators) are invited to share their experiences of these events or other, similar periods in history they have been involved in.

CURRENT IWU students may complete this brief form and/or submit reflections by the methods below. (Note that the form allows you to request a copy of your responses.)

Everyone in our community is invited to share reflections on these events:
Have you observed or experienced racism or other forms of social injustice on our campus and/or in your home community? In what ways has the pandemic affected your life? How is distance learning affecting your perspectives on your classes? What are your views on IWU’s responses to the pandemic and/or incidents of racism? How are you reacting to the recently announced program/curricular changes? If you have you participated in any activities related to these events as a volunteer or activist, please describe them. Anything else you’d care to share?

Other ideas are welcome and physical items may be accepted at a later date, but here are a few ideas on how you can make contributions now:

recollections–in text, audio or video (for video, please limit submissions to <5 minutes);
photographic images of physical art you create; and/or
copies of digital art or performances.

You may only submit material created entirely by you and not copied from or based, in whole or in part, upon any other photographic, literary, or other material, except to the extent that such material is in the public domain, or you have permission of the copyright owner, or its use is allowed by “Fair Use” as prescribed by the terms of United States copyright law.

Please include a signed/e-signed copy of this form with your submission to archives@iwu.edu. IWU’s archives is not obligated to include your content in this project or preserve it in perpetuity. Decisions to decline submissions will adhere to the guidelines of our collecting policy.

If you would like to refer or nominate material which you do not own, please contact Meg Miner at mminer@iwu.edu.

Interactive view of IWU’s multicultural history

Posted on July 19, 2020 by Meg Miner

Check out this compilation of sources in a timeline of the currently known events in IWU’s multicultural history.*

*Note: Records by and about student groups and events are sparse after the 2010s. If you have information to share, contact archives@iwu.edu!

COVID 19 exhibit

Posted on May 9, 2020 by Meg Miner

Back in March, as life across the world and at IWU’s campus changed dramatically, I sent out an open call to the IWU community, inviting reflections on their lives in this pandemic era.

An exhibit with contributions from 15 students is now available. I also added content from IWU’s webpages and made a personal contribution to the exhibit as a way of breaking the ice.

Students were given an option to answer as many of a set of pre-determined questions (see below) as they wanted to. They were also given the option of remaining anonymous online with the understanding that their identity would be associated with their remarks in the archives’ offline files.

Additions to this collection are welcome, and anyone who wants to keep their reflections offline may still participate. Participants may use the questions below if they’d like some ideas on how to start, but truly any way that people are comfortable expressing themselves for sharing their experiences is fine. Visit the project description for details or contact me (mminer@iwu.edu) if you have questions.

[Questions on student submission form]

Name (indicate if anonymity online is desired)
Class year
Major(s)/Minors(s)
Where are you living during the Pandemic of 2020?
How did you feel when you were informed the remainder of the semester would be held online?
What has been your experience with moving classes online?
If applicable, tell us a little about your thoughts and reactions to moving off campus or out of town.
How are you staying connected to your friends and wider community, through IWU or elsewhere?
How has the virus or the precautions taken to prevent it spreading impacted your daily life?
What is giving you hope and/or strength right now?
Is there anything else you’d like to tell us about what you’re feeling or experiencing right now?
Share a photo of yourself, or any photos, videos, or audio recordings you’d like to add to this historical record!

Happy Preservation Week!

Posted on April 26, 2020 by Meg Miner

Cultural heritage preservation may not seem like an important topic in the midst of a global pandemic but bear with me! The purpose of this post is to inform you about some positive, low- to no-cost actions you can take during your stay-at-home time. You can preserve your heritage while staying out of the way for the benefit of all levels of workers who are directly involved in this healthcare crisis.

This is the week the American Library Association (ALA) promotes activities and shares advice to help individuals preserve the things that are important to them. In short, you can learn how to make decisions and take steps to Save Your Stuff and Pass It On!

The easiest way to approach preservation at any time is to remember that only YOU can decide what’s important to your legacy. Taking that first step is the most important part of a preservation. The basic factors to consider are temperature, relative humidity, light, pests, mold, water leaks and risk of flooding, and handling. ALA makes these factors easy to understand on this Quick Tips handout.

This year’s theme is “Preserving Oral History” and the honorary chair is author, activist and cultural critic Roxane Gay. You are invited to attend these free Preservation Week 2020 webinars

ALA also maintains a page with links to webinars from previous years and a page for how-to videos on working with different materials.

Worried about COVID-19 on being transmitted on paper-based materials? We DO NOT recommend cleaning agents of any kind! As we hear so often, our knowledge about this virus is still evolving, but check out this page for recent developments.

This isn’t all about material culture; an important element in your responsibility to the future is acting now so that objects from your digital life last, too.

Did you know that digital materials can be more difficult to preserve than physical ones? Take this quiz to test your digital preservation know-how.

Digital objects are not durable–threats to them include losing account access (third party providers can disappear at any time) and losing the ability to read file formats and media due to obsolescence. Anybody remember Gold CDs?

Check out the handy tips in the poster below and remember, I’m always up for a conversation about preservation so feel free to contact me if you have questions!

Click to enlarge or download as a pdf at http://digitalpreservation.gov/personalarchiving/documents/NDIIP_PA_poster.pdf

Share your thoughts and experiences with the future!

Posted on March 23, 2020 by Meg Miner

[August 25, 2020 Update: The forms used to collect stories prior to today’s date are now inactive. See the new call for stories at https://blogs.iwu.edu/asc/2020/08/25/new-story-initiative/.]

Illinois Wesleyan University’s archives is creating a digital record of IWU community members’ (students, staff, faculty, alumni and trustees) experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic beginning with the first campus communication on February 3, 2020 (or earlier, for Titans who are further afield!) and extending through the time that in-person activities resume on campus.

CURRENT IWU students may complete this brief form [link removed] and/or submit reflections by the methods below. (Note that the form allows you to request a copy of your responses.)

Everyone in our community is invited to share reflections on this global public health emergency:
What are you doing during your time away from campus? How are you staying connected with people you care about? Where are you getting information from about IWU, your extended community and the larger world? How is distance learning affecting your perspectives on your classes? How is telecommuting affecting the way you view your work? Anything else you’d care to share?