Written in 1972, Louise “Lucy” Wilby Knight sent surveys to those female and male students who had been present for Wesleyan’s coeducation “experiment” (1872-1912). Elderly at the time, these alumni and alumna remembered their experiences at Wesleyan and provided an invaluable record of that first period of coeducation. Special Collections & Archives also has Knight’s original research notes and completed surveys.

Now that The Quails is available online, more readers will be able to learn about Wesleyan’s history–and see the incredible work completed by Wesleyan students!

We send our condolences to the family and friends of Johanna Justin-Jinich. Our campus mourns together.

This celebration is being held in conjunction with the opening of an exhibit of the same name in Olin Library, and coincides with the completion of the processing of the Manchester Papers. A finding aid will be available soon.

The Friends of the Wesleyan Library are sponsoring this event. Hope to see you there!

Statistical Account of the County of Middlesex, in Connecticut, by David Dudley Field (originally published in 1819) includes all manner of intriguing information about events major and mundane, from murders to mining to the mysterious Moodus noises.

The 1884 History of Middlesex County with Biographical Sketches of its Prominent Men, (published in 1884) includes detailed histories of each of the 16 towns in the county, highlighting religious, military, and industrial heritage along with interesting tidbits about fixtures of local life such as taverns, newspapers, and schools. It includes biographies of more than 150 notable individuals, and portraits of more than 50 of them.

The 1903 Commemorative Biographical Record of Middlesex County (published in 1903) features biographies of more than a thousand men – and a few women – that were prominent at the turn of the twentieth century, along with their family lineages, and hundreds of portraits. The majority of the biographies are of individuals with roots that extended back to the colonial era, some of whose names are still part of the landscape today, such as Russell, Wilcox, Pelton, Lyman, and Gildersleeve. However, among them are included biographies of a number of recently arrived immigrants from Ireland, Scotland, and Germany, with names like Dunn and Inglis and Kretzmer, who had prospered in their adopted homeland.

These resources are invaluable for historians and genealogical researchers, and we are delighted that the Godfrey Library and Middlesex County Community Foundation teamed up to make these scarce materials widely available.

As one of the earliest “town and gown” organizations at Wesleyan, the Middletown Scientific Association explored popular scientific topics from 1871 to 1968. Its membership was comprised of Wesleyan University faculty members as well as residents from Middletown and surrounding areas. At their frequent meetings, most often held in science lecture halls at Wesleyan, members presented papers on their own scientific interests or heard lectures from visiting scientists and educators. Occasional field meetings found members exploring hands-on scientific inquiry in the fields of botany, biology, astronomy and geology. As early as 1880, women were admitted into the association’s membership.

One notable visiting lecturer was Nobel Prize-winning physicist Enrico Fermi in 1940.

Even though membership swelled to over 300 members, attendance at meetings began to dwindle. In 1968, the association’s leaders polled the membership about meeting attendance and a consensus replied that while their interest remained high, they were just “too busy” to attend. The association directly disbanded.

The records of the Middletown Scientific Association, recently processed by Special Collections and Archives, contain the organization’s administrative records. Included are several books of minutes, printed meeting announcements, treasurers’ and presidents’ reports, clippings, correspondence, and other historical materials which document the organization’s operations.

On September 21, 1938, an extremely powerful hurricane, known as the New England Hurricane of 1938, ripped across Connecticut, Rhode Island, and New York. Over 680 people were killed in the storm, and many more were injured or left homeless. The storm travelled up the Connecticut River and caused a large amount of damage in Middletown and at Wesleyan.

Trees, including some beautiful elm trees, were felled all over campus. Russell House, depicted above, lost 88 trees in the storm. Many buildings had damage to their roofs, but the Chapel had by far the most dramatic destruction.

The steeple that is missing in the above picture collapsed onto the Chapel roof, where dozens of students waited after an address from President McConaughy. Luckily, no one was injured in the accident.

Special Collections & Archives has additional information and photos about the 1938 hurricane, and Suzy Taraba, Head of Special Collections and University Archivist, wrote about the event for the Wesleyan Alumnus magazine in 2005. It was a terrifying experience that changed the campus and the region for years to come.

Here are a few things to know about research in Special Collections & Archives:

1) Our hours are Monday-Friday, 1 to 5pm.

2) Most items need to be requested using one of our request slips, which can be found right outside our door on the first floor of Olin Library, or at our front desk. Don’t be shy–we’re here to help with any questions, and we’re always happy to talk with you about your research and our resources.

3) We have a few rules: pencils only (no pens), no food or drink, and you need to leave your coat and bags in a locker or the closet. These rules help protect our collections and prevent accidental damage. Ask if you have any questions.

4) We have a lot of finding aids now online. However, many collections are not yet fully described. If you have a research topic and are wondering if we have information, please check with us. We have other guides to collections that are not online and might be useful to you.

As we enter fall and start thinking about Wesleyan traditions, can anyone identify this item?

Leave your answer in the comments. First correct answer gets one of our fancy SC&A pencils!

After a month of deciphering handwriting from the 1800s, I’ve finally produced two finding aids for the diaries of Lorenzo Whiting Blood and Harriet Stewart Judd. Surprisingly both of these two figures had very complex lives, much different from what the current Wesleyan student goes through.

The first diary was from Lorenzo Whiting Blood who regales the reader with his adventures as a Wesleyan University student during the 1830s and some details on his later life. The diary begins when Blood is a freshman at Wesleyan who is struggling to become a Methodist minister. However, after completing a year at Wesleyan, Blood attempts to open his own school in Cheshire, which after a few months is forced to close. He then comes back to Wesleyan where he has to take twice the course load to catch up to his class. Somehow he is able to accomplish this, but then again Blood decides to leave Wesleyan, this time to teach at Amenia Seminary. Unfortunately while he is teaching there, he is diagnosed with the measles which leaves him on the verge of death for two months. Miraculously he recovers and returns once again to Wesleyan where, somehow, he goes on to graduate near the top of his class. The journal then describes the troubles Blood faces trying to find a job, marrying his hometown love, and ends with him becoming deacon of Mystic.

The second diary is from the wife of Orange Judd, a former Wesleyan student, by the name of Harriet Stewart Judd. This diary is from 1872-1873 and chronicles three trips taken by the Judd family across the Eastern coast of the United States and throughout Europe. Judd visits many tourist points of interest including Shakespeare’s grave and the Leaning Tower of Pisa, while giving great details on the architectural and historical background. Judd also writes about her traveling family’s dynamic, along with Orange Judd’s continual sicknesses.

If these sound interesting, come check them out at Special Collections & Archives or check my finding aids: you won’t be disappointed!

After the presentation, we’ll give our audience a fun “Presidents Quiz” to test their mastery of the history of Wesleyan presidents! This presentation will take place on Thursday, May 22 at 3pm in the Kerr Lecture Hall (Shanklin 107).

The second WESeminar is “The Guardians of the ‘92: The History of Second Stage.” Suzy Taraba and Jackie Chapman, class of 2008, will talk about the history of this unusual theatre group, now celebrating its 35th year. Jackie based her senior thesis on the Second Stage Records in the University Archives, and will talk about some of the fascinating information she uncovered. The talk will take place on Friday, May 23 at 1:30pm in the Patricelli ‘92 Theatre.

The whole weekend’s itinerary is available here. Hope to see you!

In March 1936, a severe flood struck Middletown. Especially hard hit were the low lying areas near the Connecticut River in Middletown’s North End. This is a photograph facing north with the river on the right-hand side.

Wesleyan students, although safe on the high ground of the campus, helped with flood relief. Some worked with the Red Cross, helping ferry residents to safety, while others operated radio communications to keep state officials and RedCross headquarters in Hartford apprised of the conditions in Middletown. The biology and chemistry department even pitched in to do chemical analysis of drinking water to determine its safety.

Wesleyan’s student newspaper, The Argus, noted in a March 28, 1936 article that “Time spent in moving people and personal belongings from houses in the affected districts should give a little better appreciation of the living conditions from which the undergraduate is accustomed to divorce himself completely, and a glimpse of character and personality of such times of those just past cannot but be of value. ” The 1936 flood is an early example of community service offered by Wesleyan students within the greater Middletown community.

More photos and other information about the 1936 flood can be found in Special Collections & Archives, Monday-Friday, 1-5pm. Also see Elizabeth A. Warner’s A Pictorial History of Middletown for more about the flood and Middletown history.