From Institution to Independence is the 2012 Local History Publication Award winner in the Academic Scholar Division

The Center for Archival Collections has revealed the winners of their 2012 Local History Publication Award. From Institutions to Independence: A History of People with Disabilities in Northwest Ohio, edited by Barbara L. Floyd, won in the Academic Scholar Division, and Calamity and Courage: Tiffin’s Battle During Ohio’s Deadly 1913 Flood, written by Lisa Swickard, won in the Independent Scholar Division. Receiving Honorable Mention were Arab Americans in Toledo, by Samir Abu-Absi, in the Academic Scholar Division, and Searching for Lawrence Emmitt, by James Baker, in the Independent Scholar Division. Other nominated works included Thus Fell Tecumseh by Frank Kuron, Henry County During the Great War: German-Americans, Patriots, and Loyalty by Michael McMaster, and The Boy Who Changed the World: Ohio and the Crippled Children’s Movement by Barbara L. Floyd.

The Local History Publication Award was established to encourage and recognize authors for outstanding publications in the field of northwest Ohio history. Eligible works are judged on literary merit, overall significance and contribution to explaining and understanding the history of the northwest Ohio region. Consideration is also given for style, content, accuracy, illustration, and indexes. Two divisions are recognized. The Academic Scholar Division includes works prepared and submitted by authors who are professional writers and academicians, and the Independent Scholar Division includes works prepared by independent or local researchers, amateurs, and other creative writers who do not claim history as a profession. Each Division winner receives a $300.00 cash award and plaque.

The Department of Popular Culture had called this house their home since the 1970s.

Certainly, as students of a modern university, there are things that we expect and accept—for one, that the university’s landscape will be constantly changing. Just as each new generation of students changes, so must the university. The demands of students today are vastly different from those of even ten years ago. The campus structures that served students of the past may not be adequate for students of the future. Those who have been around BGSU for the past few years can attest to how much has changed in just a short time. Unfortunately, the Popular Culture Building fell victim to this kind of progress shortly before the beginning of this school year.

As a current BGSU student, majoring in both history and popular culture, I was among the many current students, alumni, and faculty who were saddened by the decision to demolish the Popular Culture Building at the corner of Wooster and South College. I had traipsed through the building on many occasions, but never really contemplated what it meant, beyond housing the offices of one of my departments. It was a really neat building, though–I could easily recognize that. It was all brick and stone on the outside, with a stylized metal “S” decorating the chimney. Some of the leaded glass windows featured small stained glass pieces, placed seemingly at random. Inside, faculty offices occupied areas that had once made up a small family home. Walking into what had been the basement rumpus room during the tenure of President McDonald was like walking into the past.

Since the 1970s, the house had served as a home to the internationally recognized department of Popular Culture, so the decision was not without controversy. Though this decision was part of the master plan, Popular Culture faculty maintained that they did not know of the impending demolition until they were asked to move their offices in late July. At the time of the move, the house did not appear on the map of proposed changes to campus. The news of the decision first reached the rest of the BGSU community through an article in the Bowling Green Sentinel-Tribune on July 21, 2012, which detailed the university’s decision.

I honestly did not know what the little brick house meant to me until the day that I found out that it would be razed. As a student of history, I hate to see the destruction of things of potential historical import. Thinking about the destruction of the Library of Alexandria upsets me, and that occurred during the reign of Julius Caesar. (Depending on which historian you ask, at least.) The demolition of the Popular Culture Building hit a bit closer to home. As a student of Popular Culture, the house was the physical embodiment of a discipline that opened an entirely new world to me. BGSU is literally the birthplace of popular culture as a field of study, and it was born within those brick walls. For me, and for so many others, the house was much more than just bricks and mortar.
In 2009, several buildings on campus were evaluated by an engineering team and recommendations were made about the future of those buildings. Some buildings, such as University Hall—one of the oldest at BGSU—were recommended for renovation. The house at 838 East Wooster Street, however, was recommended for demolition. The fifteen year master plan also included plans to renovate, replace, or demolish other buildings throughout campus. The demolition of the Popular Culture building will join the lot to its neighbors, creating a potential site for a new health center, to be built and operated in conjunction with Wood County Hospital by the start of the 2013 – 2014 school year.

Even as explanations began to roll in from the administration in the following days, a groundswell of protest grew. Faculty, alumni, and current students rushed to try to save the house. An online petition at signon.org quickly gathered over two thousand signatures from all over the world. The local media covered news of events, including a protest rally on the lawn of the house on July 31, 2012. I was one of roughly fifty people to attend the rally, holding a neon pink sign which read “Honk if You Love Pop Culture.” Other signs held by participants included, “We are BGSU,” “Pop Culture Lives Here,” and “Save This House,” a refrain which was periodically chanted.

Though our protest garnered attention within the community and from outside it—it was the lead story on Toledo’s ABC affiliate that night—the university concluded that the demolition of the building was integral to the master plan and followed through with their decision. The building was cleared by early August and several artifacts including leaded glass windows, solid wood banisters, crystal doorknobs, and original cabinetry were removed in preparation. Demolition was completed ahead of schedule on the morning of August 10, 2012.

How could one small building create such an outpouring of protest? Much of the motivation behind the campaign to save the building was not tied to its emotional significance, but to its historical significance. The Popular Culture Building was a landmark of the university and the Bowling Green community for several decades. It served as home to three university presidents and housed one of the most unique departments that the university has to offer. Even before it was purchased by the university, the house had an interesting history.

Originally built in 1932 by Bowling Green resident Virgil Taylor, the home had been ordered through the local Montgomery Ward department store. Catalog homes were a popular housing option in the early 20th century. Consumers could select from a catalog of designs and have all the necessary building materials delivered directly to them. Kit homes began to lose popularity with the onset of the Great Depress in the 1930s and fewer survive with each passing year. Though there are other examples of kit homes in Bowling Green, none can boast the unique origins of the one built by Mr. Taylor.

The building baffled researchers for many years. The Board of Trustees minutes discussing its purchase refer to it as a “Montgomery Ward home,” as do several articles and other official university documents. Yet the design of the house did not seem to fit any that appeared in the Montgomery Ward catalogs. In an article probably published in the BG Monitor during the 1970s or 1980s, this confusion was discussed by Pat Browne, the wife of Popular Culture department founder Ray Browne. A pioneer in the discipline in her own right, Mrs. Browne said that it was believed that the house was ordered from Sears, since Sears offered such a neo-Tudor style home called the “Lewiston.”

In 1985, a student gathered information to submit the house to the National Register of Historic Places, but did little to quell the confusion. One source of information was a letter written by the last tenant of the home before it was purchased by the university in 1937. The woman indicated that she and her husband, a manager for the local Montgomery Ward department store, had made a deal to rent the home from the company. In January of 1936, Montgomery Ward had taken possession of the home, Mr. Taylor apparently having defaulted on a mortgage that was financed through them. Though Montgomery Ward did not intend to lease the property, the insurance required that it be occupied and little progress had been made toward selling it. This letter reinforced the conclusion that the house was purchased through Montgomery Ward.

Not until very recently did the true story behind 838 East Wooster Street come to light. Thanks to the research and assistance of kit home experts Rosemary Thornton and Rachel Shoemaker, we were able to solve the mystery of the house’s origins. The kit was certainly purchased through Montgomery Ward. Evidence of that could be found in the fixtures within. It was also most certainly identical to the Sears “Lewiston” model; Montgomery Ward had never featured anything similar. The debate over whether the home was a Montgomery Ward or a Sears kit was finally solved. Amazingly, it was both.

The university purchased the building in 1937 to serve as the home of the new president, Dr. Roy Offenhauer. Eventually, Presidents Frank Prout (1939-1951) and Ralph McDonald (1951-1961) made their homes there. President Ralph Harshman (1961-1963) did not live there during his short tenure. He and his wife already had a private residence in the city and chose not to relocate.

During President McDonald’s tenure, the house was the site of one of several large protests that took place in March 1961. Though no pictures of the event exist, newspaper articles describe the protesting students who blocked traffic in front of the property, set a bonfire alight in the middle of the street and burned an effigy of the president, directly in view of the house. Contemporary news articles blamed non-students who had joined the fray, but the message was clear. President McDonald stepped down within a few months of the protest, which had largely been spurred by his strict social policies.

When President William Jerome (1963-1970) arrived, it was clear that the house no longer suited the needs of a university president. In response, the University purchased the third presidential residence on Hillcrest Drive, and the house on Wooster became, in turn, the home of the Alumni Center, the Graduate College, and eventually the Popular Culture Department in the late 1970s.

Under the careful tutelage of Dr. Ray Browne, the discipline of Popular Culture was born and nurtured at the university. The brick house at the corner of Wooster and College Street was a perfect home for the new department, which will celebrate its fortieth anniversary in 2013. The house itself was truly a piece of popular culture. Certainly faculty, alumni, and current students held emotional attachments to the building. After all, BGSU was the first university in North America to offer a degree in Popular Culture, and even today it remains the only university to boast a department devoted to the discipline.

That small brick house will certainly be missed. Those of us who saw it as more than just a building at the corner of a busy intersection will always be saddened by its loss, even though we expect and accept that the university will be perpetually changing. Though the house is gone, it continues to live on in the history of the university. The Popular Culture Building joins others like the Natatorium, Alice Prout Hall, the Falcon’s Nest, and Saddlemire Student Services Building. While these buildings no longer have a physical presence on campus, they continue to be remembered. When the plans to build the new health center come to fruition, the intersection of Wooster and South College will continue to be a reminder of the unique building that once occupied the corner lot.

–Rebecca Denes

Sources:

pUA 1936 838 East Wooster Street, Bowling Green, Ohio. Background materials, 1901-2012. Includes all known history of the building and all available information about the campaign to save it.)

“Homes of the Presidents” (Centennial Memories) http://memories.bgsu.edu/exhibits/show/prezhomes

“Sears Modern Homes” (Rosemary Thornton) http://www.searshomes.org/

Ray Bradbury with a small part of the Rare Books Collection of his works.

The BGSU library “represents all the libraries of the world to me. I’m a child of libraries. I never went to college, but I graduated from the downtown Los Angeles Library at the age of 27.”

In 1982, Ray Bradbury visited the BGSU campus for the formal presentation of a collection of his books and manuscripts to Rare Books and Special Collections. First gathered together by his friend and bibliographer William F. Nolan and added to over the years at BGSU, the collection offers a unique look at the life and work of a writer of truly international stature.

Best-known for such books as Fahrenheit 451 (1953) and The Martian Chronicles (1950), Bradbury was a prolific author of short stories, poetry, screenplays and dramas from the 1940s until his death this year. It was Bradbury’s work which raised the critical opinion of science fiction, taking it from space opera to mainstream literature. While his stories are quintessentially American, he found a world-wide audience as well–his work was translated into 36 languages.

Bradbury continued to produce new work well into his seventies and eighties including: Green Shadows, White Whale (1992) and Farewell Summer (2006).

His stories were about more than flash-and-gadgets–they were about people, about love and the imagination, about death and immortality. Throughout his life and work Bradbury maintained a wide-eyed wonder about the world which spoke to young readers and to the youth in all of us.

For more information about the Ray Bradbury Collection (MS 379), see the finding aid on our website.

Navy V-12's raised the flag during World War II

This year in honor of National Library Week (April 8 – 14), Jerome Library held a special activity each day of the week. On Thursday, the Center for Archival Collections celebrated by bringing history to life through pictures using the Prince Principle.

Administrators take over the lawns for a day. WW II

The general idea of the Prince Principle is to superimpose a historical photo into the present day setting. This can be done in many ways, most simply by physically holding and lining up the historical photo with its present-day landscape.

Jerome Library Deck

In this way, the CAC was able to make our very own Prince Principle photos here on BGSU’s campus. The Prince Principle has become a popular trend on photo sharing sites like flickr.

School of Art, then and now

One group, Looking Into the Past, has gained over 4,000 members, bringing history alive all over the world.

A student addresses the campus from the steps of Williams Hall, ca. 1970

Another website entitled Dear Photograph is dedicated to the concept as well, allowing people to attach reminisces to their personal photos with nearly 100,000 followers between Facebook and twitter.

A more advanced method of the Prince Principle can be done by digitally superimposing the historic photo onto the contemporary scene, allowing for a more professional look. Russian photographer Sergey Larenkov provides an excellent example of just how profound an impact the Prince Principle can have, by imposing photos of World War II on their modern-day locations. In the picture below, Larenkov took a picture of victims of a shelling from 1941 in Leningrad to contrast with St. Petersburg in 2012. His collection is truly haunting and helps to realize and make relevant the devastation from the war.

To learn more about the Dear Photograph project, visit: http://dearphotograph.com/
To View Sergey Larenkov’s complete WWII gallery, visit: http://digg.com/newsbar/topnews/world_war_ii_photos_superimposed_over_recent_photos
At Historypin.com, users can post historic or more recent photographs, linking them to maps. See: http://www.historypin.com/

–Sarah Gluckin

March is internationally recognized as Women’s History Month and International Women’s Day has been celebrated on the 8th for over 100 years. The central theme of this year’s celebration was “Connecting Girls, Inspiring Futures” and worldwide thousands of events will be held this month to support this concept as well as the over-all economic, political and social achievements of women. In this field, few organizations can boast the progress and achievements as the American Association of University Women (MS 89). The purpose of the organization is “to enable college women to continue their own intellectual growth, further the advancement of women, and discharge their responsibility to society.” Indeed, these women have worked tirelessly for over a century at the local, national, and international levels to demonstrate the change, and the good, that the educated voice of women can bring to society. The organization has 5 key areas of interest: education, international relations, community, cultural interests, and of course, women.

In regard to education, the AAUW has worked to ensure greater equality of opportunity for women and minorities on college campuses by increasing representation at all levels, from student body to faculty to administration. Additionally, they have worked to educate women about career opportunities and allow women into previously un-entered areas of the workforce. Internationally the AAUW works with the UN and the International Federation of University Women in non-governmental activities. One of the most popular and crucial programs sponsored is the African Educators Program which began in 1963 and allows “women from various African nations to visit communities in the US and to study local educational institutions.” Culturally, the AAUW has sponsored arts festivals, competitions, museums, book fairs, among many other things. One notable accomplishment was the preservation of the Antelope Valley Indian Museum through a grueling publicity and lobbying campaign for the state to purchase and continue the museum. They also worked to secure funding for educational television and ‘suitable’ prime-time television programming. Within the community the AAUW has worked to improve race relations, like civil rights legislation in the early ’60s, as well as reform in the court system and jails. In 1968 the organization released an official Call To Action pledging “the best efforts of its own members…toward constructive change to facilitate the full and equal participation of all people in the American social, economic, and political system.” They have also worked to combat poverty through legislation such as job and housing bills and school lunch and breakfast programs. Finally, they have worked to help women be elected and hold public office at every level, along with equal pay, and opportunity.

Locally, the Bowling Green chapter of the AAUW has had a number of notable accomplishments since its founding in 1938. In line with the national goals, a number of members hold public office. They’ve also brought countless speakers to help educate and inform the public on the countless issues facing women and minorities. They’ve also held book fairs and helped sponsor countless community events. Finally, they perform the thankless task of keeping women and minority issues in public discussions helping to ensure that our voices will always continue to be heard. The Bowling Green chapter has even gained national recognition for their educational projects such as an Elder Care and Abuse study which won the Public Information Awards Competition in 1980. Other projects since include Assault on Women Prevention and AIDS Prevention in Adolescents.

Ultimately, the organization stands as an epitome for the need of women’s voices in the public sphere. Given equal opportunities and education, women work endlessly to not only better their own lives, and promote pertinent issues, but will work for the general welfare and true equality. As stated in 1953, we all must seek to, “widen your horizons, help build a better community, contribute toward the intelligent solution of national and international problems.”

For more information and history of the Bowling Green chapter of the AAUW come to the Center for Archival Collections to view our holdings:

http://www.bgsu.edu/colleges/library/cac/ms/page43792.html

For more information on International Women’s Day:

http://www.internationalwomensday.com/

Of special interest is an original wood block of an illustration by Marcus Stone produced for the first edition of Our Mutual Friend.

Can you identify this school group? This photograph was found in a collection recently donated to the CAC. The only information on the photo tells us that it was a Bowling Green school. It may be the old Church Street School. The children’s clothing suggests that the date was in the late 1950s or early 1960s.

If you have any information about this photograph or the teacher or children pictured, please contact the CAC at (419) 372-2411 or email us at Ask an Archivist.

CENTER FOR ARCHIVAL COLLECTIONS

LOCAL HISTORY PUBLICATION AWARDS

The Center for Archival Collections seeks to encourage and recognize authors for outstanding publications in the field of Local History.  For this award Local History is geographically defined as the nineteen counties within the Center’s collecting scope (Allen, Crawford, Defiance, Erie, Fulton, Hancock, Hardin, Henry, Huron, Lucas, Ottawa, Paulding, Putnam, Sandusky, Seneca, Van Wert, Williams, Wood and Wyandot) The Firelands, and Maumee Valley Region.

DIVISIONS

The Awards Committee will recognize authors for outstanding publications in two divisions.  The Academic Scholar Division will include works prepared and submitted by authors who are professional writers or academicians.  The Independent Scholar Division will include works prepared and submitted by independent or local researchers, amateurs, and other creative writers who do not claim “history” as a profession.  Each Division winner will receive a $300.00 cash award and plaque.

QUALIFICATIONS

1. The awards will be given for works of either general or specific subject interests (i.e. Native American history, prehistoric, territorial and early statehood, War of 1812, Civil War, business history, women’s history, labor history, family history, historic preservation, rural agricultural history, Great lakes Maritime (Ohio ) history, or biography).
2. Any work submitted for the awards must have been copyrighted or published in the two years preceding the year in which the award is given.
3. Works shall be judged by the Awards Committee on: literary merit, overall significance and contribution to explaining and understanding the history of the above described region.  Consideration also will be given for style and content.  Other considerations will include grammar, accuracy, illustrations, layout, indexes, and distribution.
4. The Awards Committee and the Center for Archival Collections reserves the right not to present the awards during any given year.

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES

1. Authors should send two copies of each work to The Center for Archival Collections, Fifth Floor, Jerome Library, Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, Ohio 43403-0175. The two copies become the property of The Center. Submissions are due by January 31, 2012.
2. Works are identified as either published monographs or articles and must be under one cover.
3. Textbooks, guidebooks, manuals, craft books, works of fiction, newspaper articles, and genealogies composed principally of genealogical charts are NOT eligible for consideration.

A complete list of past winners is available on our website.

A classroom proudly shows off its new textbooks.

Bowling Green State University was founded in response to a public demand for more professionally-trained teachers. A century of change in society and in the workplace had made a “basic” education one which went beyond the simple rudiments of “Readin’, Writin’, and ‘Rithmetic.” By the beginning of the twentieth century, school attendance was compulsory through the eighth grade.

The classroom pictured at left shows over forty children under the direction of a single teacher. Thick textbooks are prominently displayed. Teachers no longer needed to rely on books haphazardly provided by the child’s family. A good education was the community’s investment in its own future. The profession of teaching had become highly respected by this time, if not always well-paid. Read the article on our website.

Gallery Feature: Teaching 1870-1930 provides a glimpse of the schools provided during the early years of the twentieth century as well as mementos of school life for students and teachers throughout this transitional time period.

A Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens is featured in the December CAC exhibit

Holiday-themed books are the subject of the December 2011 exhibit at the CAC.

Featured are a variety of editions of Dickens’ A Christmas Carol produced by several publishers since the late 19th century. The most contemporary, published in 2009, is a facsimile of the prompt book used by Dickens himself to guide his public readings of the popular story.  Brief notes describe each edition, the press that produced it, and its illustrators.

Also on exhibit are a number of holiday or winter-themed books from the Rare Books and Special Collections and the Historical Collections of the Great Lakes.  Featured authors include Ray Bradbury, Jan Wahl, Dylan Thomas, and Washington Irving.  Famed illustrators such as Maxfield Parrish and Randolph Caldecott (for whom the Caldecott Medal is named) decorate these offerings.