Special Collections & Archives at Wesleyan University
A place for news and information about rare books, manuscripts and university archives.
In the fall of 1910, a young man from Oneonta, New York—a small town made important by the railroad earlier in the 19th century—stepped onto Wesleyan’s campus. He was only the second in his family to go to college, but he was not the first Cardinal; his older brother had recently graduated in 1907 and … Read more
When sophomore Arch Doty moved into room 23 of Clark Hall in September, 1939, he brought with him a radio transmitter he had built at home the previous summer. Using a turntable, 78 rpm records, a microphone, the transmitter, and an antenna wire hanging out of Arch’s window, student-run radio at Wesleyan hit the airwaves. … Read more
In the 1920s, Wesleyan students could use this helpful card to communicate quickly and easily with family and friends using 140 characters or less.
If you were a female high school senior in 1969, you might have encountered this flyer. In 1970, Wesleyan once again admitted women as freshmen (Wesleyan was a coeducational institution from 1872 to 1912), and 2014 marks the 40th anniversary of their graduation. You can read much more about the return to coeducation in … Read more
Regular readers of Pick of the Week (which has been on vacation for a while) will remember a post from October 2012 written by Abbey Francis about a Wesleyan sweater that belonged to Calvin Kuhl ’27. Mr. Kuhl was quite active while he was a student, and Abbey found him pictured wearing the sweater in … Read more
This post features photographs from Wesleyan’s 1958 junior prom. Here’s wishing you all the best during this holiday season and a Happy New Year!
We’re not exactly sure what’s going on in this unidentified photo from about the mid-1970s. We think it possibly could be a riff on a Last Supper motif, which wouldn’t be the only time Wesleyan students have done this. I’m a bit concerned about the gentleman with the bat. Maybe it relates to this painting, … Read more
Here’s a nice shot of an unidentified DJ in the studios of radio station WESU in the fall of 1969. At that time, the station was located on the lower level of Clark Hall. Check out those 45s!
Over the decades, hundreds of distinguished guest lecturers and visitors have shared their wisdom with Wesleyan. One of them was civil rights leader and U.S. Congressman John Lewis, who came to campus in April 1998. Rep. Lewis began his career at the height of the civil rights movement in 1963, and among his numerous activities, … Read more
A colleague provided this link to a post found on the Ask the Past: Advice from Old Books blog: Statute Forbidding Any One to Annoy or Unduly Injure the Freshmen. Each and every one attached to this university is forbidden to offend with insult, torment, harass, drench with water or urine, throw on or defile with … Read more
