A reminder that the annual Haunted Lawrence tour is this Sunday, October 25, starting at 7pm. We’ll meet at Memorial Hall (formerly Memorial Union) and go through buildings and tunnels as Lawrence archivist Julia Stringfellow and Security officer Dell Cook share stories about ghosts and other creepy events that have occurred at Lawrence throughout its history.
For questions regarding this tour, visit the Archives on Level B of the library or e-mail archives@lawrence.edu .
The annual Haunted Lawrence tour will take place Sunday, October 25, starting at 7pm. We’ll meet at Memorial Hall (formerly Memorial Union) and go through buildings and tunnels as Lawrence archivist Julia Stringfellow and Security officer Dell Cook share stories about ghosts and other creepy events that have occurred at Lawrence throughout its history.
For questions regarding this tour, visit the Archives on Level B of the library or e-mail archives@lawrence.edu .
The Summer/Fall 2009 issue of Voyageur magazine features an article on the founding of Lawrence, written by University Archivist Julia Stringfellow with assistance from LU history professor Jerald Podair. The article includes pictures of the first graduating class of 1857 and other early pictures of Lawrence. A copy of the magazine is available on Level A of the library and in the Archives on Level B.
The Buildings of the Past digital collection has been updated and includes photographs, correspondence, and programs of nine buildings that are no longer part of the Lawrence campus. Take a look at the link below. For questions or to see the originals of these items, visit the Archives on Level B of the library.
http://www.lawrence.edu/library/archives/buildingspast.shtml
The Midwest Trivia Contest
The exhibit contains materials from past Trivia Contests, including letters, newspaper articles, and photographs. The Trivia Contest, known by some as the “World’s Longest-Running Trivia Contest,” began in 1966. Sample questions from past contests are included in the exhibit, such as…
“What did Michel Lotito, Mr. Eat Everything, consume to gain his world record for the largest meal ever eaten?”
For the answer, visit the exhibit on the first floor of the library. The exhibit was created by Rebecca Hayes, Archives student worker.
From the Dec. 5-20, 1908 edition of the Lawrentian:
Alas! It is “L.U.” no longer – but “L.C.” This is the way it happened. The movement for changing the name of “University” to “College” was started years ago, but nothing definite was done until the annual banquet of the Lawrence Alumni Association at Milwaukee, Nov. 13. Such a meeting was the proper place for inaugurating a peculiar movement of this kind, and a motion made by Rev. Henry Coleman, a member of Lawrence’s first graduating class, to the effect of making the proposed change was unanimously carried by the members present – as noted in the last “Lawrentian.”
On Dec. 2, was held a meeting of the trustees, at which the recommendation of the alumni was brought up and formally passed. This is a unique case among American institutions of learning, so far as our observation goes, and has been the occasion of much comment, both frivolous and serious, all over the country. A large number of the Lawrence students do not favor the change, largely, perhaps, because of the strangeness of the new name; but we consider it one of the biggest things Lawrence has ever done.
The principal reason for the new name is the fact that Lawrence is not a university, nor does she pretend to be. To rank as a university would necessitate the establishment of colleges of medicine, law, etc., under a common head. This in turn would mean an endowment of eight or ten million dollars more than is in sight at the present time. It was simply the case of a small school sailing under the big name of university. Now we have the satisfaction to know we have one of the best “colleges” in the United States.”
In the “Nation” of Nov. 19, appeared the following interesting editorial pertinent to the subject in hand:
“Lawrence University at Appleton, Wisconsin, will henceforth be known as Lawrence College if the board of trustees acts favorably upon a petition presented by the alumni association. We chronicle this isolated phenomenon in the history of American higher education, because it is astonishing in itself, but, more than that, because it is not the act of some eccentric benefactor who has hit upon this condition for lending spice to his charity. In cool blood, or at least in a state of such coolness as is conceivable at an alumni banquet, Lawrence University’s graduates have decided that Alma Mater should no longer sail under false colors. Yet the institution has an attendance of nearly 600, and a faculty of thirty-three, which, as Western universities go, is doing well; and it is reported to maintain a college of liberal arts, supplemented by ‘schools of expression, commerce, music and correspondence.'”
Lawrence remained Lawrence College from 1908 until 1964 when, upon completion of the merger with Milwaukee-Downer College, the name changed back to Lawrence University.
The Artist Series at Lawrence, 1908-2008: A Look at 100 Years of History
This exhibit features programs, season announcements, and photographs documenting the past 100 years of the Artist Series program. The program was created by William Harper, Dean of the Conservatory of Music, to bring outside performers to Lawrence. The exhibit is located in the display cases on the first floor of the library and will be up through December.
A digital collection on the Artist Series is at the link below.
On Monday evening, November 2, 1908, the first performance of the Artist Series program at Lawrence took place. The performer was David Bispham, a baritone, and the concert took place in Appleton Theatre. According to the Lawrentian,
“Once did not listen to the voice or its production but rather to the vocal picture he was painting. Lawrence University students should be thankful that they have the opportunity of hearing these world renowned artists.”
The annual Haunted Lawrence tour is this Sunday, November 2 at 7:00 pm and starts at the Union Info Desk. Stories of Lawrence’s haunted and creepy past will be shared as we visit campus buildings, including the tunnels under the Union and library, the attic of Ormsby Hall, and the Main Hall cupola where everyone will have an opportunity to ring the bell. The tour will be given by Julia Stringfellow, university archivist, and security officer Dell Cook who has witnessed some creepy things in her time at Lawrence.
In celebration of Archives Month 2008, the Society of American Archivists Student Chapter at the University of Wisconsin-Madison is featuring a Wisconsin archival repository each day in October. The Lawrence Archives was the featured repository on Monday, October 20.
