Special Collections & Archives

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.

Wesleyan generally prides itself on its reputation for political activity. Recently, according to the November, 30^th edition of the Argus, 50 student, faculty, and citizen protesters marched down to the Army recruitment office in Metro Square in protest of the war in Iraq.

Forty years ago, the University was in similar circumstances during the Vietnam War. On February 6, 1969, about 200 students gathered at North College and effectively blocked a Navy recruiter from meeting with students, and made it clear to the University that they objected to the war and military recruitment. The events, covered in several local newspapers, immediately became a decisive factor in how the administration chose to navigate its policy between appeasing students and faculty deeply opposed to the war and military recruitment on campus, and between a military establishment with the legal right to offer its career options to students. Both sides of the conflict used considerable leverage to pursue their aims. During the 1970-1971 school year, the University was accused by certain faculty members of recruiting students for espionage, holding government executive sessions behind closed doors at military request and violating academic freedom, and of concealing information of such proceedings from the community. However, during the same time, Wesleyan also found itself accused by the US Marines Corps, who then informed the Secretary of Defense, of barring military personnel from campus in violation of the NASA Act. The University seems to have been able to appease both sides, and the tensions waned as the war ended in 1973.

This collection is mostly comprised of correspondences amongst faculty members, and between the University and the military. It also contains a lot of interesting newspaper articles about the protests and changes in University policy, as well as some interesting personal documents and essays from specific faculty members that shed some personal light on what was going on at Wesleyan, behind closed doors, during this tumultuous time.

We are testing an online repository for the theses and dissertations of Wesleyan students. You can browse the uploaded theses here. Why are we putting these online?

-Students’ work will be available around the world 24/7, not only at Wesleyan. Currently, paper copies of honors theses are only available in Special Collections & Archives during reading room hours.

-It will allow Wesleyan’s great scholarship to be distributed more widely. We already know that Wesleyan students do amazing research in the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences and math. Let’s show the rest of the world, too!

-Students will easily be able to show their theses to future employers, graduate schools, etc. Online theses make it so easy to demonstrate the work done at Wesleyan.

As of now, it appears the project will go forward and become an additional way that theses and dissertations will be submitted. It’s an exciting time to be here!

Today is Spring Fling at Wesleyan, an annual event held after the end of regular classes. It appears to date back to 1975, when Brian Auger and the Oblivion Express and the John Payne Quartet played for crowds gathered on Foss Hill on a sunny day at the beginning of reading week. In the Argus on May 14, 1975, Mark Ellison wrote:

The experience of Monday afternoon’s concert on Foss Hill bears repeating at future dates. The music was of respectable quality, yet the source of the good time did not come from the stage. It emanated from the crowd itself, focussing on the absoluted contentedness of all those who lounged out on the Hill, taking advantage of the Sun King and music to partake in a lazy party like atmosphere with their friends.

Since at least 1977 this day of fun and sun has been called Spring Fling. Happy 30th birthday, Spring Fling!

Wesleyan has a terrific tradition of student activism and participation in campus groups. In Special Collections & Archives, we want to collect materials that document student activities so that future researchers can find out what Wesleyan was like back in 2007 (and 2006, 2005, etc.)! The only way for us to gather this material is for student groups to let us know they have items to donate. Contact us at any time for information, supplies (like boxes and folders), and advice. We will keep your materials safe and make sure your events and accomplishments are not forgotten.

Here are ten quick tips for leaders of student groups:

1. Document the activities of your group: keep minutes of meetings, save copies of publications and flyers.

2. Label your materials with full names, dates, and descriptions of events or circumstances.

3. Keep your records together in one central place.

4. Develop a straightforward filing system that works for you. There’s no one best way to do this.

5. Store your records away from dampness, dust, excessive heat, and sun.

6. Avoid using paper clips and rubber bands. If you have documents that need to be kept together, use stainless steel staples or plastic clips.

7. Develop a routine of transferring inactive records to the University Archives at the end of the semester, year, or leader’s term of office.

8. Consider the fate of your non-paper documents. Electronic records can pose software and hardware access problems. Save cds, memorabilia, photographs, posters, and tapes, as well as traditional paper documents.

9. Get to know the staff of the Wesleyan University Archives: Suzy Taraba, University Archivist (x3375); Valerie Gillispie, Assistant University Archivist (x3863); and Linda Hurteau, Archives Assistant (x3859).

10. WHEN IN DOUBT, DON’T THROW IT OUT!

In the 19th century, many students at Wesleyan made class albums. These were like yearbooks, but entirely comprised of photographs. Each student would choose the images of classmates, faculty, campus buildings, and Middletown scenes of their liking.

This image of the class of 1886 is only one image of thousands in our over 150 album collection. Recently, a person cleaning out a relative’s home found a beautiful album from 1882, with winter scenes of Middletown and photographs from the inside of the original library (now the Patricelli ‘92 Theatre). The generous donation of this class album to Wesleyan gives us a glimpse back in time to a campus at once familiar and foreign.