Northwestern University Archives

More Than Meets the Eye

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 14:34:01 -0600

Through the generosity of Eric and Marjorie Tobey Rudd, the University Archives recently acquired the above photograph, bringing us back to a time before electric lights, automobiles, and, apparently, leaves. If you're familiar with the Evanston campus, you'll probably recognize Northwestern's oldest building, University Hall, which was built in 1869. However, you might be hard-pressed to recognize that the thin dirt path is in actuality our beloved Sheridan Road. A closer look at this photograph will reveal a lot more interesting information, however. Immediately in front of the forest is an oddly cross-shaped tree; close investigation reveals it to be an early telephone pole (or just as possibly a telegraph pole.) Our resources suggest that telephone service arrived in Evanston in 1882. View image At the same time, in the far left of the picture, you can see the outline of a tiny building, possibly an outhouse. A basement toilet was an original feature of University Hall, so perhaps the outhouse was obsolete even to the photographer! View image Finally, on the far right of the picture, near where Fisk Hall is today, one can begin to see the side of a large building, exactly where Northwestern's first gymnasium used to stand. The gym opened on February 1, 1876, setting an earliest possible date for this photo. View image It's fun to wonder how much of the rest of Northwestern's history is hidden away in photographs like these. If you'd like to find out, feel free to stop by the Archives sometime and ask to browse our photograph collection!

Another memorable football victory, 1940

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 04:41:13 -0600

Northwestern defeated Illinois last Saturday (November 14, 2009) on the gridiron, by a final score of 21-16. If you missed the game, you can always read the recap and watch highlights on the NU Athletics site; but now you can watch another memorable NU win over Illinois from 1940 on the Football Films section of the University Archives web site! Yes, we're adding to our collection of digitized football films available online. Watch NU play Indiana, Minnesota, Great Lakes, Iowa State, and now Illinois in days gone by. In the 1940 game, Northwestern beat Illinois by the comfortable margin of 32-14, including a 73-yard touchdown run by Paul Soper. Here's the game preview as published in the Daily Northwestern:

Object Lesson: Whatsoever Things Are Furry

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 12:03:23 -0600

A monthly feature highlighting the artifact collection of the University Archives. Opening a large archival box in artifact storage we are met with a set of dagger-like teeth filling lips curled back in a snarl and yellow eyes that shine with anger. Thankfully, this ferocious beast was killed and stuffed sometime in the 1920s, so the danger is long past. You are looking at a taxidermy wildcat that has a long Northwestern history.

Clash of the Wildcats

Tue, 27 Oct 2009 15:29:17 -0600

Already boasting of Kenesaw Mountain Landis as an alumnus (Law 1891), it is, of course, no surprise that Northwestern is keenly interested in the upcoming Fall Classic. As we all know, the Yankees will be playing the Phillies in the World Series to decide who has best mastered America's national pastime, and, believe it or not, Northwestern actually has alumni on both sides of the match.

In Perpetual Care

Thu, 22 Oct 2009 09:11:56 -0600

Halloween is almost here…have you visited a graveyard lately? If not, why not try Rosehill Cemetery? It's just a few miles away, contains features such as abandoned staircases, and many notable characters in Chicago history are buried there--including Oscar Mayer, John G. Shedd, A. Montgomery Ward, and Richard Warren Sears. There are also a number of NU and Evanston founders and their affiliates buried at Rosehill—Frances Willard (social reformer and Dean of Women), Henry Noyes (former NU interim president), Henry Bannister, and Philo Judson, just to name a few (click on the names to see their monuments). Also present here are Grant Goodrich and Orrington Lunt (two NU founders), as well as Nathan Davis, who together (among their various accomplishments) just happened to convene as the Board of Trustees' first Library Committee in 1856. Charles Gates Dawes, Vice President of the U.S. under Calvin Coolidge, may not have been a founder of Evanston or NU, but he has contributed much to both, including his house. He also contributed his papers to the NU Library—they're in Special Collections. And if you're interested in the Leopold and Loeb case, you might be surprised to know where Bobby Franks is buried. He's here, in his father's mausoleum. Stop by the Archives on the first floor of Deering for a lesson on any of NU's founders and a map to find the location of their place of rest before heading out to meet them on your own. We hold and care for the papers of many of these local notables—in perpetuity.

Olympic Fever

Wed, 30 Sep 2009 16:37:54 -0600

With the International Olympic Committee (IOC) being just a few days from announcing the host of the 2016 Summer Olympic Games, this is not the only time that Chicago has been the scene of Olympic fever. Though Chicago has never held an Olympics before, it has – specifically Evanston -- played host to Track and Field qualifiers for the 1912, 1932 and 1948 Olympic Games at the former Northwestern University Field and at Dyche Stadium, or as we now know it, Ryan Field. That's right; Northwestern has played its own part in Olympic history. Before a sometimes packed stadium, hundreds of hopeful, young men and women came to Evanston with their dreams of competing in the Olympic Games. One young man in particular, William Porter, was a Northwestern University student who did go on to compete in the 1948 Olympic Games. Porter ended up winning the gold medal in the 110 meter hurdles. Now, with the IOC about to make its decision on which city will hold the 2016 Summer Olympics, Chicago makes its appearance on the international stage. And if Chicago does end up winning the bid, there has been talk that Northwestern could, once again, serve as the site for some events.

Northwestern offers city second "purple pumper"

Thu, 24 Sep 2009 11:32:05 -0600

You may have noticed in the news recently that Northwestern is purchasing a new fire truck for the City of Evanston. If you weren't aware, here's the article. Although this might seem like an odd gift, it was actually at the top of the city's list of needs for the upcoming year. It was also at the top of their list of needs 40 years ago, according to the October 10, 1968 edition of the Evanston Review. According to the article, the gift of this previous fire engine was "one of the conditions recommended for council approval...of the university's graduate student housing complex on Maple Ave". The building is Engelhart Hall, at 1915 Maple Avenue, which was dedicated in June, 1971. Also of note is the price of the fire truck in 1968: $30,000. That's about $186,000 in 2009 money. The new one is considerably more expensive, but includes first responder supplies and will serve as an Advance Life-Support Unit. If you'd like to read this article or investigate other fire truck-related events in Northwestern's history, stop by University Archives!

Influenza Changes, Stays Same

Tue, 22 Sep 2009 04:04:13 -0600

No, it's not the latest swine flu announcement. As a matter of fact, the article from which we derived this headline is actually from the October 30, 1918 issue of The Northwestern Weekly, and so is 91 years old. It refers to the Spanish Influenza epidemic of 1918-1920, where an estimated one-third of the world's population was infected. Evanston was no more spared from this flu than the rest of the region. Of course, as one can see from this article, Northwestern did implement strict policies to contain the contagion. Even the previously-untouchable football season was altered to accommodate the containment policies, with several games postponed or even canceled. So just because this article is so old doesn't mean that it's not relevant to Northwestern today! As a matter of fact, depending on how bad the swine flu (er, "H1N1 influenza") gets, this article might give us a good idea of what to expect. If the past is any guide, and the situation becomes truly dire, while classes shall mostly likely continue, student activities may come more or less to an end. Chapel services may be discontinued, and even "quiet and lady-like gatherings of co-eds in one room" might have to be postponed. Of course, there is no doubt that, in the event of an emergency, Northwestern will enforce whatever policies it institutes with the same strictness with which it enforced them 90 years ago: "Disobedience of these orders will be punished by measures which will insure obedience." You can read the full article below:

Object Lesson: A New View of an Old Friend

Mon, 31 Aug 2009 17:25:00 -0600

A monthly feature highlighting the artifact collection of the University Archives. You've seen The Rock many times while walking across the Evanston campus—usually with an ever-changing coat of paint or slogan. It first came to Northwestern in 1902, and was originally a drinking fountain placed between University Hall and Harris Hall. Over the years it became a landmark and meeting place, eventually becoming a canvas for enthusiastic, undergraduate artists. Here is a view of this monolith not many have seen: the actual rock inside The Rock.

Picture of the Week: Dentally Yours

Fri, 28 Aug 2009 13:11:05 -0600

For anyone wondering whether all those years of academic drudgery are worth it, here's proof. This alum, an attendee at an NU Dental School homecoming event in 1969, is clearly tickled at how things have worked out in his life. See, learning IS fun after all, and if you're tempted to forget that, haul out this guy's photo for a timely reminder!

Northwestern's Shakespeare Garden

Fri, 28 Aug 2009 09:00:00 -0600

In a spot of quiet seclusion, Northwestern’s Shakespeare Garden transports its visitors out of the modern, suburban campus into a peaceful Elizabethan retreat. The Archives has produced a short documentary on the garden. Watch and learn about this campus tribute to one of the language's greatest writers. Watch the video (Quicktime)

August Newsletter: Project Survival

Tue, 25 Aug 2009 09:00:00 -0600

In this month's newsletter:

Project Survival: The First Earth Day
A new exhibit at the library on Daniel Burnham
Civil War-era photographs
Northwestern's Opera Workshop

click to read the newsletter

NU During the Civil War

Tue, 18 Aug 2009 11:48:40 -0600

No, they're not early participants of Northwestern's Dance Marathon (that didn't start until 1975); they're photographic portraits of two Union officers discovered in a recently cataloged photograph album from Melvin Pingree, a short-lived member of the class of 1865. Elliott Warren Rice led a remarkable career during the Civil War, enlisting as a private and completing his service in 1865 as a brevetted major general. John T. Macauley fought with his brother in the 11th Regiment Indiana Infantry, having risen to the rank of colonel by the end of the war.

In 1861, an impressive majority of Northwestern's students—sixty-four percent—answered President Abraham Lincoln's call to arms to fight in the Civil War (only two students cancelled their studies to join the Confederacy). In total, twenty-one Northwestern students and faculty became commissioned officers during the war—not bad for a school that had only thirty-six students in 1860!

Feel free to stop by the University Archives and take a look at the album, if you happen to be in the area. Otherwise, its contents have been scanned and can be found on the Archives website. For further information on Northwestern's involvement in the Civil War, check out Arthur Wilde's Northwestern University: A History (1855-1905) online.

More information on the Melvin Pingree album can be found in its finding aid.

Northwestern's Opera Workshop

Mon, 17 Aug 2009 10:30:00 -0600

In 1946, Ruth Heiser founded the Northwestern Opera Workshop "to give vocal students the opportunity to learn and perform roles in the standard repertoire." Directed from 1954-57 by Eugene Dressler and from 1958-83 by Robert Gay, the workshop sought both to provide students with performance experience and to advance a more popularly accessible version of the art form. Works were usually sung in English translations, the objective being "to take the 'Grand' out of opera and reestablish this type of art-form as an expression of real and comprehensible ideas."

The Opera Workshop's repertoire ranged from canonical works by composers including Puccini, Stravinsky, and Poulenc to contemporary pieces by notables such as Ralph Vaughn Williams. The Workshop also hosted the world premieres of The Knot Garden by Michael Tippett, Walker-Trough-Walls by N.U. music professor Anthony Donato, and The Number of Fools by Robert Beadell, as well as the Chicago premieres of the complete version of Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht's The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny and Samuel Barber's Vanessa.

The strong reputation of the Workshop, fostered by Gay, facilitated these premieres, and also drew high-profile attention. In the 1957-58 season, composer Aaron Copland visited to conduct The Tender Land, his three-act opera first performed in 1954 by the New York City Opera. For a number of years, internationally renowned singer Lotte Lehmann spent weeks as a visiting vocal coach. Civic Opera star Edith Mason, who also performed at La Scala and Paris, donated trunks of her old costumes for the Workshop's use. Bringing the Workshop's productions to an even wider audience, WTTW, the Chicago public television station, filmed several performances as part of their educational arts programming, including a one-hour adaptation of Verdi's Falstaff in 1968 and Humperdinck's Hansel and Gretel in 1978.

In 1983, the same year Richard Alderson took over as director, the School of Music received a sizable endowment from William E. Ragland in honor of his wife, Edith Mason, and the Workshop became the Edith Mason and William E. Ragland Opera Theatre. Under these auspices the School of Music began presenting several mainstage productions each year, a tradition that still continues.

Notable alumni of the Workshop: Sherrill Milnes (Metropolitan Opera, Northwestern professor emeritus); Mary Beth Piel (The King and I with Yul Brynner, Dawson's Creek); Nancy Dussault (The Sound of Music, Do Re Mi, Into the Woods); Ron Holgate (A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, 1776); and Ronald Hussmann (Fiorello and Tenderloin, both with lyrics by N.U. alumnus Sheldon Harnick).

July Newsletter: Mapping Evanston

Tue, 04 Aug 2009 11:46:03 -0600

Though we're just now getting it up on the blog, the Archives' July newsletter went out last week. Features for July include an interactive historical map of Evanston (useful for reseraching the history of local properties), notes on the North Shore Music Festival, and an Object Lesson about Northwestern's tug-of-war team.

Click here to read the newsletter

Remember, if you don't receive the newsletter and want to subscribe, email us at archives@northwestern.edu.