Unionizing Faculty – the AAUP at Wesleyan

Recently I had the opportunity to explore some of the papers of the Wesleyan chapter of the American Association of University Professors. During the 1970’s and 80’s, the AAUP worked to unionize college and university faculty and professional librarians, and to coach them in collective bargaining with administrations. This collection is a fascinating one, tracing … Read more

A Roman coin inspires a 15th-century Venetian printer

Wesleyan’s Special Collections & Archives owns two Roman coins from the 1st century CE. The first of these coins, a silver denarius minted in 80 CE by Emperor Titus, is connected to the early history of printing.  According to the Renaissance humanist Erasumus, an exemplar of this coin was given to the famous Venetian printer … Read more

How graham crackers shaped Wesleyan student culture: 1839-2010

Though Wesleyan has outgrown many of its former “hippy” associations such as being the token “naked” campus, the school still definitely maintains an earthy and involved atmosphere that manifests itself everywhere from its activist groups to the vegan food scene. Outsiders and Wesleyan students alike often see the school’s personality as a remnant of the … Read more