We have been adding student theses to WesScholar, our online repository of Wesleyan scholarship. We have most of the 2009 and 2008 theses, a smaller number of 2007 theses, and we’re adding earlier theses as time allows. We just added one of our all time most popular theses, The “Quails”: the History of Wesleyan University’s [...]

In 1939, the Wesleyan Alumni Council started collecting alumni memories, which included those of Wesleyan professors, pranks, the burning of North College in 1906, and the arrival of women in 1872. This collection, the Alumni Council Collection of Recollections, has been a pleasure to read. Because of the nature of these anecdotes, in this post [...]

In the archives, there is a fascinating collection of examinations from 1868 to 1970. While going through this collection, I had to do some research on the curriculum during that time to see how these exams fit into the history of the development of academics at Wesleyan. In the mid- to late- 19th century, the [...]

In 1982 Wesleyan students protested the administrations elimination to their aid-blind financial aid policy. The students held a 150-hour protest on the second floor of North College (as shown in this picture), one hour for each year the university existed. The university responded to their protest by denying the students potty privileges and locking [...]

Once the US entered the First World War, the university became a military hub for training soldiers. Some of the skills that students worked on were combat firing, map-drawing, first aid/sanitation, trench construction (such as in this photo), and military history.
One of the questions that I encountered while processing the history of this collection, [...]

Steven St. Onge, a Quinnipiac University student and history major, is working in Special Collections & Archives this summer, describing some of our 19th century diaries. His discoveries have been fascinating, and I asked him to share some of his findings:
After a month of deciphering handwriting from the 1800s, I’ve finally produced two finding aids [...]

Congratulations to the class of 2008! The upcoming weekend will be a celebration of our newest graduates, as well as a gathering time for alumni of all ages. There will be two WESeminars–presentations open to all students, alumni, parents, and visitors–related to Wesleyan University history. One is “A History of Wesleyan Presidents,” a look back [...]

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 [...]

Wesleyan generally prides itself on its reputation for political activity. Recently, according to the November, 30th 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 [...]

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 [...]