News from the Mudd

Current Exhibits

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.

Ok. If I Have To. I Guess.

Bloggers sometimes get a bad rap (‘But what do you DO?”) Finally an opportunity has come along which may get people off your back.

Tourism Queensland is looking to hire a caretaker for the Great Barrier Reef , a six-month job that pays US$100,000. But there’s a catch. You have to be “willing to walk white sandy beaches, sit under palm trees and swim with turtles as they soak up the sun.” You also must “keep a blog and photo diary in exchange for six months rent-free … in a three-bedroom home on Hamilton Island complete with plunge pool, views of the Whitsunday Islands and golf buggy.” Oh, and you get return airfares and travel insurance.

If you “have a communication that is arresting and interesting” and feel able to “go through a genuine recruitment process,” this reef’s for you. But first, read all about The Great Barrier Reef in the Mudd. You never know what kind of a hell-hole it may be.

Stanley Fish ’04, on the best American movies

In his New York Times blog for January 4, Stanley Fish (Lawrence class of 2004 honorary Doctor of Humane Letters) proposed his list of the 10 Best American Movies.

The Mudd has almost all of them:

What do you think? Are these the best American movies?

Holiday hours

Just a reminder that the Mudd library will be closed:

  • Wednesday, Dec. 24-Friday, Dec. 26
  • Thursday, Jan. 1-Friday, Jan. 2

in addition to being closed on the weekends.

Have a happy and restful holiday!

Snow, snow, snow! (snow, snow, snow, snow, etc.)

mudd snow bank

It’s fall in Appleton and you know what that means. Cool crisp days, rustling leaves, vibrant colors. Not so fast, grasshopper. Mother Nature is quite the trickster. The Wisconsin State Climatology Office reports that so far this autumn, Green Bay’s (close enough) cumulative snowfall is 2 feet. That’s two FEET, as in 12-inch increments, as in knee or thigh-depth, depending on your vertical orientation. Of course, this graph has not been update since Dec. 14, well before the dumping that occurred this morning. We can’t wait until winter!!

The Name Game

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.

Che Bella!

We’re cutting. We’re on the edge. We’re on the cutting edge. Sunday’s New York Times featured an article by Anthony Tommasini about bel canto: What is it really? Who does it? Why do we care?

Here at the Mudd we just happen to have a CD mentioned in this article as being one of the best in bel canto, whatever it is:

Maria Callas and Giuseppe di Stefano in Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor (M1500.D683 L8 1989,) a reissue of the 1953 recording. Tommasini calls this “a milestone in the discography of opera.”

We call it beautiful singing.