Aug
2
In Memoriam: Bernard Sternsher (1925-2011)
August 2, 2011 | All, News, University Archives | Leave a Comment
Dr. Bernard Sternsher was noted for his teaching as well as his scholarship.
Dr. Bernard Sternsher, Distinguished University Professor Emeritus of History, died July 16, 2011. A graduate of the University of Alabama (1948), Sternsher held a master’s degree (1950) and a Ph.D. (1957) in history from Boston University. He taught at the Rochester Institute of Technology and at Seaton Hall University before coming to Bowling Green State University in 1969 to help establish a doctoral program in the Department of History. A central figure in that program, he was respected both for his teaching and his scholarship. Sternsher was named Distinguished University Professor of History by the BGSU Board of Trustees in 1989. The University Professorship is the highest honor given to BGSU faculty, awarded only to those who hold the rank of professor and whose creative and professional achievements have won national distinction beyond the limitations of a narrow field of interest. He was also a recipient of the Phi Alpha Theta Book Prize (1966) and the Distinguished Service Award from the Ohio Academy of History (1996).
Sternsher studied and wrote extensively on the Great Depression and the New Deal — the policies and politics of the era, but also the effects of the economic collapse and President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s response on urban dwellers, small-town residents and farmers, and African Americans.
Publications held by the BGSU Library:
Sternsher, Bernard. Rexford Tugwell and the New Deal. New Brunswick, N.J., Rutgers University Press [1964].
Sternsher, Bernard. The New Deal. Boston, Allyn and Bacon, 1966.
Sternsher, Bernard, editor. The Negro in depression and war; prelude to revolution, 1930-1945, edited with commentary by Bernard Sternsher. Chicago, Quadrangle Books [c1969].
Sternsher, Bernard, comp. Hitting home; the Great Depression in town and country. Chicago, Quadrangle Books, 1970.
Sternsher, Bernard. Consensus, conflict, and American historians. Bloomington, Indiana University Press [1975].
Sternsher, Bernard, editor. The New Deal : laissez faire to socialism / edited with an introd. by Bernard H. Sternsher. St. Louis : Forum Press, c1979.
Sternsher, Bernard. “Themes of the fifties : Truman, Eisenhower, and the Fonz”. University Professor Lecture Series. [Bowling Green, Ohio] : Bowling Green State University, 1980.
Sternsher, Bernard. The Harding and Bricker revolutions revisited : voter behavior in Northwest Ohio, 1970-1988. [Bowling Green, Ohio : s.n., 1988?].
Women of valor : the struggle against the great depression as told in their own life stories / edited with commentary by Bernard Sternsber and Judith Sealander. Chicago : I.R. Dee, 1990.
Sternsher, Bernard. The Scioto Marsh Onion Workers’ Strike, Hardin County, Ohio, 1934 [198-].
Sternsher, Bernard. The Harding and Bricker revolutions : party systems and voter behavior in Northwest Ohio, 1860-1982 1987. Article that was later published in Northwest Ohio Quarterly (vol. 19, no. 3).
May
26
HCGL contributes to National Geographic
May 26, 2011 | All, Local History, News | Leave a Comment
L. R. DOTY, lost in 1898
This image of the L. R. DOTY (lost 1898) was one of many from the Historical Collections of the Great Lakes which was used recently in the National Geographic documentary, “Explorer: Ghost Ships of the Great Lakes.”
To learn more about this television program, visit the National Geographic Channel website at:
http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/series/explorer/4840/Overview.
To learn more about the images in the Historical Collections of the Great Lakes, see HCGL Databases. There’s more than photographs! Explore for yourself the information to be found in the Vessels, Ports, and Maritime Personnel databases.
May
1
May Traditions
May 1, 2011 | All, Centennial, Local History, University Archives | Leave a Comment
Students celebrate the coming of spring
May is an exciting time on college campuses: classes are coming to an end, graduation is nigh, and the weather is getting warm. Many local colleges and universities have a standing tradition to have May Day celebrations. Bluffton College still celebrates annually with a musical, art exhibit, class reunion, a run/walk event, a luncheon, baseball game, and a Maypole Dance.
The University of Toledo also celebrates with a Songfest. This is a group of six fraternities singing old college songs on the lawn, a tradition which dates to 1937. The women joined in the festivities in 1940. Changes were made to the celebration in the 1970s, opening the event to non-Greek organizations. Currently, UT has a variety of campus organizations performing song and dance routines that are relevant to the theme selected.
BGSU at one time also had a very extensive May Day celebration, although it has faded away as an old fashioned tradition. Activities included a maypole event, followed by Alumni reunions, luncheons and so forth, as well as a dance. An additional honor for the pretty and popular women was being crowned May Queen. This honor was as high as that of Homecoming Queen. Famous alumna Eva Marie Saint was crowned May Queen in 1946.
The May Day festivities were begun in 1924, with an outdoor Royal procession, dancing on the green, a Maypole dance, and a dance following the festivities. These activities were a tradition for more than forty years.
It is in May when the Spring Fever really hits, and students on college campuses feel the desire for warm weather and outdoor activity. Unfortunately these past traditions have been abandoned, leaving students to celebrate the coming of spring on their own.
For more information on BGSU’s May Day festivities, check the BGNews Index