A virtual walk through IWU history

Posted on September 11, 2021 by Meg Miner

IWU ca. 1940

Curious about what changes have taken place to IWU’s campus over the years? Interested in exploring locations related to campus lore? The University Archives is pleased to offer a few insights on an interactive map.

Pandemics can’t keep us down! Visit this online walk through IWU history!

At the bottom of each entry’s description is a line that starts with “Permalink” and contains a link to that location’s “Pin.” When you open that page there’s a comment box. Leave a memory, post a selfie, or let me know if I got something wrong!

100 year old time capsule

Posted on September 2, 2021 by Meg Miner

(click to enlarge) The man in the light colored jacket who is facing the camera is famed local architect Arthur Pillsbury

This photo shows a large crowd gathered on November 5, 1921 to place the cornerstone in the Memorial Gymnasium. Look to the left of the man standing below the tip of the flag and you will see a small box resting on top of the stone. That time capsule will be opened Sept 30, 7PM on Kemp Commencement Plaza.*

Anyone who came to IWU after 2002 would know the building as the Hansen Student Center. The building was originally dedicated to the memory of IWU personnel who died in World War I, hence the name Memorial Gym.

This post is dedicated to honoring the efforts it took to locate that small box in a stone that’s 48″ wide x 25″ high and 17″ thick. The thickness of the cornerstone was unknown up until this week! There is a program for the event with a line that says E. Mark Evans would be “placing box in cornerstone” (pictured below).

The photo of the crowd (at top of this blog post) and another one from the same vantage point but without people are the only visual clues about the time capsule and stone in the University’s archives.

Director of Physical Plant Jim Blumberg assigned the work of pinpointing the time capsule’s location to John Zmia, a mason with Western Specialty Contractor. After testing the thickness by removing bricks at the top of the stone on the outside of the building, Zmia determined that extensive brick removal would be needed. In consultation with our Physical Plant personnel, they concluded that the best approach was to work from the back of the stone.

Blumberg said the effort to find the box’s location in the stone took about 12 hours over two days and then 3 hours of chiseling the cornerstone to get to it. Blumberg took this video of Zmia removing the time capsule from the stone on August 31, 2021.

This is the third time capsule we’ve recovered since 2011** and it is our tradition to pre-open the box for safety reasons and then hold a public event to remove the contents. This time the work of opening fell to Manager of Maintenance Kenton Frost (on the left) and Supervisor of Building Trades Matt Gentes.

Because the building is now a student-centered space, Student Senate is conducting the opening event. Stay tuned for an event announcement!

*Student Senate is hosting the event and we are hoping Tom Hansen will be on hand since the Gym-to-Hansen renovation is 20 years old. The event will be livestreamed as part of virtual Homecoming activities, so be sure to sign up!

**The other two were removed from Sheean Library and the Mark Evans Observatory, which was named for the person who placed the time capsule in the Memorial Gym!

The Legacy of R. Bedford Watkins

Posted on March 31, 2021 by Edward Donathan

The expansive collection of musical compositions by retired professor R. Bedford Watkins is now catalogued and available for use at IWU’s Archives & Special Collections.

R. Bedford Watkins, an exceptional keyboardist, composer, and educator, was a prominent faculty member of IWU’s School of Music from 1956 to 1988. He earned a bachelor of music degree from Rhodes College, a master of music degree from the University of Michigan, and a doctorate from the University of Iowa. He created an impressive portfolio of compositions throughout his decades as a musician, which he donated to the University in 2019.

Watkins was prolific: his collection contains dozens of compositions, ranging from fantasies for cello to large orchestral works. His modern writing style continually questions traditional harmonic practices by embracing atonal structures. In addition to the vast collection of handwritten and original copies of his compositions, Watkins writing, correspondence, and even poetry is included. Recordings of his works are digitally available from a link to his online archive catalog. Watkins even donated his own harpsichord to the university, which can now be found at the School of Music.

: R. Bedford Watkins

: Photo from a reception for Watkins. Includes the harpsicord he donated to the IWU School of Music

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!

1970s School of Drama productions

Posted on February 3, 2021 by Meg Miner

Winnie the Pooh and friends in “A Pooh Picnic,” Summer 1975

Even though thousands of photos have been taken of theatrical performances, due to issues surrounding intellectual property rights, very few of them have been recorded and saved. In fact, the University’s archives has only six known films of performances. They have recently been digitized and are now available to the IWU community at the links that follow. Each link leads to a file that contains clips from all of the productions that were on that reel of film. All are in color but only the first three have sound. We welcome any information people can provide to expand our knowledge of the time periods, performances and individual performers shown in the clips.

Carnival and Equuis(?), 1978-79 Season

unknown summer productions Summer productions not named but some songs are from Follies so may be 1977-78 season. They include Mrs. Worthington, Let’s Fall in Love, Waiting for the Girls Upstairs, Who’s That Woman. A drama and other musical theater clips follow.

Unlabeled but the first is Midsummer Night’s Dream so may be 1976-77 season

Summer Theatre 1974 The label reads “Prisoner of 2nd Ave. – Drama 1975” but clips include images of production programs. Titles shown are Dames at Sea, Arsenic and Old Lace, The House of Blue Leaves, and The House at Pooh Corner.

1974-75 The label reads “Equus; Drama 1974-75” but clips include images of production programs. Titles shown are The Boys from Syracuse, The Night of the Iguana, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, The Good Woman of Setzuan, She Stoops to Conquer. At the end of the footage there is about a minute of film with images of IWU School of Drama personnel and a sign-off note from Director John Ficca.

Summer 1976 and 1976-77 The label reads “IWU: Summer 1976: Where’s Chelsey; Forty Carats; Good Doctor. 1976/77: Pajama Game; Delicate Balance; Jacques Blvd.”

A timeline of changes in the program name and degree requirements was published in an earlier post.

New special collection

Posted on January 11, 2021 by Meg Miner

Buscando Mi Color (2017) by Lucero Sanchez

Bamboo Quay by Kyobashi Bridge (Kyobashi Takegashi) by Utagawa Hiroshige NOW ON EXHIBIT see http://localhost/multi/library/japanese-woodblock-prints/

There’s a new addition to the University’s special collections! It doesn’t all live in The Ames Library but we are going to be administering it in the same way that we handle all materials Tate Archives & Special Collections.

That means that everything in the IWU Campus Art Collection is available for classroom and research use! The online exhibit is the result of a four-year initiative* to locate, catalog, and photograph the variety of art on campus.

The collection contains more than 1,000 pieces of artwork which have been created or donated by Friends of the University, alumni, faculty, and students.

It contains paintings, prints, sculptures, pottery, and more by famed artists including Salvadore Dali, Arrah Lee Gaul, Frederick Hart, Utagawa Hiroshige, Leroy Neiman, and Rembrandt van Rijn. Notable faculty artists are Miles Bair, Fred Brian, and Rupert Kilgore. Items in the collection date from the 12th century to the present day.

We invite you to peruse the collection, and we emphasize that the collection is available for classroom use, individual students’ assignments, and research. To discuss specific needs, please contact the University Archivist, Meg Miner, at mminer@iwu.edu or phone at (309) 556-1538.

*Library Technology & Resources Director Suzanne Wilson led the project over the past four years with the assistance of library staff Tod Eagleton, Julie Wood and Elizabeth Jensen, spouse of former president Eric Jensen, who worked diligently to research and describe each work. The Jensens also supported the project with funds for flat-file storage. Photographers Jason Reblando, Trey Frank III, and Nick Helten ensured that our digital images reflect the beauty of the tangible artworks. Past University Librarians Karen Schmidt and Scott Walter lent their strong support of the project from its inception. Physical Plant crews moved much of the collection to a secured storage location that they also adapted for this purpose.

World War I and II primary sources

Posted on November 11, 2020 by Meg Miner

What we now know as Veterans Day was first celebrated as Armistice Day, the day that active hostilities during World War I ceased in 1918. President Dwight D. Eisenhower changed the focus of the day in 1954 “In order to insure proper and widespread observance of this anniversary, all veterans, all veterans’ organizations, and the entire citizenry will wish to join hands in the common purpose.” (see this Dept. of Veterans Affairs page for more).

This post offers an opportunity for promoting several unexplored collections in the University’s archives & special collections that contain perspectives on the experiences of veterans and their communities. The images in the gallery below (click to enlarge) highlight just the items currently on display across from the Library Services Desk in The Ames Library. These and other collections are available for exploration throughout the year on the library’s 4th floor.

Fred Brian, January 1945

Examples of these documents include service applications of the WWII-era Nurse’s Cadet Corps, alumni responses to a post-WWI and WWII survey of activities, correspondence from two brothers during WWI to their sister Ester Vissering, correspondence from several WWII soldiers to student Nell Carmichael, correspondence and sketches from alumnus and Professor of Art Fred Brain to his family during WWII, Nursing Superintendent Maude Essig’s WWI diary, and administrative meeting notes and student reporting on war-related activities on campus and abroad. And, of course, The Argus provided extensive reports on campus involvement in world events.

We have no primary sources related to veterans of the Cold War or the active U.S. wars in Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan or Iraq, but thanks to Pat Rosenbaum, administrative specialist in the Dean of Students Office, we have a list of all known alumni with military affiliations. Contact the archives to find out how you can contribute more to our knowledge of the effects these events had on your lives.

: Entry Level exhibit as a whole

: WWI S.A.T.C orders for IWU student enlistment

: post-WWII service record index cards

: post-WWI Correspondence from IWU alumni, students and surviving family

: Nell Carmichael Livingston WWII Correspondence

: Maude Essig WW I diary and nurse’s uniform

Timeline of visiting activists

Posted on October 2, 2020 by Meg Miner

For quite some time I have marveled at all the prominent human rights speakers who have visited campus. I’ve done physical exhibits in the library on this topic but have also wanted to be able to share this information online and, hopefully, reach a wider audience. This timeline contains a compilation of my research on the topic.

A good overview can be found on pp. 49-53 of Through the eyes of the Argus: 100 years of journalism at Illinois Wesleyan University by Barrell, Jennifer and Christopher Fusco, but coverage ends in the 1970s. The present work contains sources that take our understanding closer to the present.

This is only a start. Someday I hope we’ll have a comprehensive view of the amazing speakers who have come here. If you know of more I’d love to hear it!

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!

“How’s Crops, Dean?”

Posted on May 1, 2020 by Meg Miner

Film research project homepage

That’s the title for a Paramount Newsreel film describing IWU’s unique tuition exchange program that helped keep students enrolled during the Great Depression. In 2018 I submitted that work to a call for proposals to SourceLab, a digital humanities project at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign planning an Illinois Centennial Edition.

As part of their History 207: Publishing the Past course students reviewed all submissions and chose which projects to work on. One group chose the film of our tuition program and I met with students Virginia Campbell, Ryan Yoakum, and McKenzie Boes-Waddell online, and Virginia and Ryan made trips to our archives over the spring and summer of 2018. SourceLab published the work online as Vol. 1, No. 4 (2019). This link leads to a page with a complete description for the work.

This link leads to all issues published as part of volume 1.

Archives & Special Collections

Collection highlights and information about IWU's Tate Archives & Special Collections

Category Archives: Unexplored collections