The following post was written by our intern Annie Benefiel, a library science student in the Simmons College library program.

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.

As we watch the many dangerous hurricanes striking the Caribbean, Gulf Coast, and southern Atlantic Coast of the U.S. in recent weeks, those of us in New England might feel lucky to be so far out of harm’s way.  You might be surprised to learn that Wesleyan–and New England as a whole– faced a major hurricane in 1938, seventy years ago this month.

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.

We started a new school year this week. The weather has been hot but the leaves are starting to turn, which always reminds me of research! Fall is the time when our senior thesis writers conduct most of their archival research, and we always have a number of other students who research Wesleyan and local history, or use our rare book collections.

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!

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- 19^th century, the curriculum was very different from what we know it as today. The curriculum we know today wasn’t set until after World War II with few changes since then, with the exception of the addition of a few departments. The curriculum at the beginning of the collection, however, was made up of only two options: the general course of study and the scientific course of study. There were four required entrance exams for Wesleyan: Latin, Greek, English, and Mathematics, although if you were planning on pursuing the science, you were not required to take the Latin and Greek entrance exams. However, Greek and Roman history were still part of your required classes, as well as other languages. The exams, especially the language exams (Latin, Greek, and German particularly) had pretty demanding expectations, even of the entrance exams. There was often a long paragraph that just said “translate,” and this was just to be allowed to continue studying that language! Every student had their schedule planned out for them all four years based on what they were studying and what year they were, with, initially, no choice in electives. It wasn’t until the beginning of the 20^th century that departments were established and students were allowed to choose among them and various classes within them. Since then, the exams don’t look too different than what most are today. The exams in the collection from post-World War II are mostly mid-term and final exams and therefore comprehensive exams for courses. It is interesting to see what department’s material has changed over the years and which have not changed at all.

(This is an image of the course schedule by class year from the 1890-1891 course catalogue. Click image to enlarge.)

The course catalogues themselves are pretty interesting as well, although they are not part of the examinations collection. They were pretty elaborate when the student body was much smaller, with a list of every student by class, where they were from, and where they lived on campus, and a list of all the professors and their addresses too. There was also a list of the graduates of the spring before and the degrees they had earned. There were campus maps, some years more detailed than others. Like the current course catalogues, there was a brief history of Wesleyan, a short explanation of all the academic prizes, a list of the members of the board of trustees, a list of building on campus and their purpose, available scholarships, and rules and regulations.

If you want to see specific exams to see if what your’re learning has changed at all over the past 150 years, come check out the Examinations Collection, made up of over 800 exams!

Tags: academic requirements, courses, Exams

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 the bathroom facilities in North College. If the students wanted to pee they would have to leave the building and get locked out. In response the students used a bag in the corner one of the administrators’ office (where they were sleeping) and periodically lowered the bag of refuse out the window. Public Safety caught the students in the act and the administration reported them to Student Judicial Board (SJB) and tried to shut the sit-in down. The SJB decided that the bathrooms should be unlocked, the students should be allowed support runners, and the students should move to more public office.

Earlier in the spring 1982 semester, over 600 Wesleyan students attended a rally in Washington D.C. to protest President Reagan’s higher education cuts. It was well publicized that Wesleyan students were the largest single group in attendance. Later 1,284 students signed a petition for the university to bring back the aid-blind admissions policy. When that didn’t work they resorted to the 150-hour sit-in which was during reading week and spring fling. Many of the students inside North College had plenty of time to study for their final exams! They commented that spring fling made more noise and disturbances than they were during their entire sit-in.

More information about this protest can be found in the April 29th Coalition Records.

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, World War I Service Records, was what the difference was between a Reserve Officers Training Corps (R.O.T.C.) and a Student Army Training Corp (S.A.T.C.)? It turns out that the university originally had the R.O.T.C. program as well as a Certificate of military training. However once the drafting age dropped from 21 to 18 they established the new S.A.T.C. program to allow students to continue with their education and still be prepared to go off to war. However neither of these programs lasted more than a semester. Once the armistice with Germany was signed the university went back to being a civilian institute.

The World War I Service Records are comprised of a form sent to Wesleyan Men involved in the War. On the back of the form was a questionnaire that asked the men to describe their experience with the war, how well Wesleyan prepared them, and their views on universal military training. Interestingly enough many of the men never fought abroad and spent the majority of their time on an Army base or a fort. The most honest response was by George Raymond Larkin, class of 1918, who wrote ” The army made me lazy physically, mentally and spiritually. Encouraged careless ethical living. Developed chronic restlessness.” Joseph Francis, class of 1914, says of his experience while on the front that “the ability to sympathise with the man in the ranks [is] learned perhaps from playing a losing football game.” My favorite story that I came across was transcribed by the widow of Joseph Hubbard Hefflon, class of 1894. She sent in a journal about her husband’s experience in the YMCA of immediately being torpedoed once shipped out, the way he served as a father figure and the respect that he developed with the other men, and then finally of his dying of pneumonia.

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 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!

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 at Wesleyan’s leaders from Fisk to Roth, presented by Suzy Taraba and Valerie Gillispie. We’ll be sharing biographical information as well as some little-known facts. Did you know that not one but two Wesleyan presidents have been ousted by student petition? And did you know that President Shanklin’s inauguration in 1909 was attended by U.S. President Taft? The photo below shows the extent of the celebration on that exciting day.

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!

This is a collection containing documents from the planning and construction of what is now Exley Science Center, between 1963 and 1971. This collection is about Phase II of the Science Center. Phase I was the construction of Hall-Atwater Laboratory, which was completed in 1967, preceding the rest of the center. In the mid 1960s, the student population of the University was augmented by 510, approaching the population we have today. Wesleyan had to meet the need to accommodate more students than the previous Hall Laboratory was capable of, a well as meet competitive standards in the fields of science. These two factors justified the cost of the new Science Center, which in the end was approximately 18 million dollars. Phase II was completed in 1970.

This collection is of particular interest to students and faculty at the present moment due to the pending construction of the new Molecular and Life Sciences building. This enormous project that the University is about to undertake has become controversial for a number of reasons, but perhaps the most talked about controversy is the demolition of the historic Shanklin Laboratory. Hall-Atwater, which has only been around since 1967, will also be demolished, although this seems to have not raised much protest. The February 22 issue of the Argus described the complaints issued by the “Shanklinistas:” the faculty of Shanklin who have protested its demolition, and have been supported by many students. Despite this, in the same Argus article, Professor of Neuroscience and Behavior Stephen Devoto was quoted as saying “It’s going to be the most expensive thing Wesleyan has done, perhaps ever. The next step is to get the campus behind this plan, and agree that this is the best way forward.” Indeed, the project will cost an estimated $160 million dollars, which is expected to significantly contribute to a projected $2 million dollar annual deficit by the 2012-2013 school year (according to the Argus, April 4). Devoto contrasts the new building from the existing Science Center, which he calls the “ugliest thing on campus” (Argus, Oct 5).

It will be interesting to see if the building is perceived as aesthetically pleasing, or if it ends up being a functional project that ignores questions of aesthetics (as many perceive Exley). According to the Campus Master plan, the goal is to “create a stronger sense of community among students and faculty in different areas of science by increased opportunities for informal interaction, to address how classrooms and modes of teaching may change as we enter an era in which technology will become more important in the acquisition and transmittal of knowledge.” You can also access the images of what the building should look like here. It should provide an interesting comparison with the original construction of the Science Center.

Tags: Buildings, construction, science center

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.