#TBT in the Archives 4/30/15

Did you know that the famous beat poet Allen Ginsberg visited Ship's campus twice in the '80s? As today is the last day of National Poetry Month, we thought we would use this Throwback Thursday to highlight Ginsberg's visits and interviews with students. Allen Ginsberg (1926-1997) was a renowned American poet of the Beat Generation and counterculture of the 1950s and 60s. Hist most famous work, "Howl," is a critique of American capitalism, repression, and subjugation with the opening line: "I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness."

Ginsberg's first trip to Ship was in 1981. He gave an interview for the student literary magazine the Reflector. The Reflector's faculty advisor at the time was John Taggart, a professor of English and poet who was a contemporary of Ginsberg's. In the interview, Ginsberg told the students about his writing and editing process, specifically focusing on "Howl." As a practicing Buddhist, he also discussed meditation and how he incorporated this practice into his writing style. Ginsberg went on to talk about his friendship with Bob Dylan--when they met, how they worked together, and also how he loved Bob Dylan's music. Lastly, Ginsberg discussed his teaching position and relationship with students at Naropa University, a Buddhist-inspired private liberal arts college in Boulder, Colorado. Ginsberg returned to Ship again in the fall of 1989 and he gave another interview for the Reflector while on his way to campus from the Harrisburg airport. In this interview he went into more detail about Naropa University, the structure of "Howl," his influences--Jack Kerouac and T.S. Eliot-- and reflected on his past works.

Want to read Allen Ginsberg's Reflector interviews in full, or learn more about Ship's history? No need to wait for the next Throwback Thursday! Visit Archives & Special Collections during our open research hours, or contact us via e-mail: specialcollections@ship.edu or phone: 717-477-1516.


Sources:
"Ginsberg, Allen." Gale Contextual Encyclopedia of American Literature. Vol. 2. Detroit: Gale, 2009. 602-606. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 29 Apr. 2015.

Rosenthal, Bob. "Ginsberg, Allen (1926-1997). World Poets. Ed. Ron Padgett. Vol. 1. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2000. 381-391. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 29 Apr. 2015.

Cookies & Milk Night @ Lehman Library

Come join in for something sweet during finals' week!

Monday May 4, 2015 at 7:00 pm- 8:00 pm.
President Jody Harpster will be in Lehman Library with cookies and drinks for you!

#TBT in the Archives 4/23/15

Since yesterday was Earth Day, we decided to look back at the history of environmentalism on Ship's campus for this week's "Throwback Thursday." Concern for the environment in the United States dates back to the early 1900s, as seen in Theodore Roosevelt's focus on preserving national parks and landscapes. Environmental activism emerged in the 1960s alongside the civil and women's rights movements. Earth Day was declared a holiday on April 22, 1970, marking the anniversary of what many consider to be the birth of the modern environmental movement.

One way Ship students expressed environmental awareness in 1970 was through publications such as the underground newspaper the Shippensburg Free Press. Although this paper was only published for a limited time in the early 1970s, it focused on hot-button issues of the day such as the Vietnam War, abortion, race, drugs, alcohol, ecology, and pollution. The two images above are brochures from the time period, advocating for a call to action, specifically against air pollution. Ship's student newspaper the Slate also premiered a new column, "Up in the Air (and in the Streams)" in the April 8, 1970 issue that printed information and opinions concerning the environment. Pessimistic predictions of the future were even included, such as that in a decade people living in cities would have to wear gas masks because the air quality would be so bad! Today a heightened sense of environmental stewardship on campus remains with the single-stream recycling program and annual Earth Day celebration.

Want to learn more about Ship's history? No need to wait for the next Throwback Thursday! Visit Archives & Special Collections during our open research hours, or contact us via e-mail: specialcollections@ship.edu or phone: 717-477-1516.


Sources:
http://www.earthday.org/earth-day-history-movement

Program: Become Money Smart, 4.22.2015

Financial Literacy Program: Become Money Smart

Wednesday April 22nd Noon - 1:00 pm in Lehman Library room 205

Dr. James Benton, Associate Professor, Accounting/MIS department, will give a talk and workshop on financial planning.

Money Smart Week, April 19-25, 2015

Money Smart Week®, created by the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago in 2002, is a public awareness campaign designed to help consumers better manage their personal finances.

Lehman Library is hosting a "Become Money Smart" exhibit through April and sponsoring a financial planning program on Wednesday 4/22 at Noon

The Federal Government has also put together an informational web portal about financial planning:  MyMoney.gov's My Money Five

Happy National Haiku Day, 4.17.2015

Happy National Haiku Day!

“haiku are easy,
But sometimes they don't make sense,
Refrigerator.”
~ Rolf Nelson haiku

Feel free to leave a Library Related Haiku in the comments; here's one to start your creative juices flowing:

“can you help me please,
I need a specific book,
it is blue, with words.”
~ anonymous haiku,
on an Iredell County Public Library witeboard

#TBT in the Archives 4/16/15

Happy National Library Week! For this week's Throwback Thursday we are exploring Shippensburg's Book Walk of 1968. Declared a "college holiday," classes were cancelled on May 15, 1968 and many student and faculty volunteers helped transport books from the old library (today the Hubert Art Center) to the current building, the Ezra Lehman Memorial Library, which was named in honor of President Ezra Lehman who served from 1913-1932. During the 1960s Shippensburg State College was undergoing a major transformation to update campus facilities. College expansion and book walks were a trend among other Pennsylvania schools, as Dickinson, Millersville, and Juniata all had their own book walks around the same time.

National Library Week celebration in the old library, 1960

Administrators thoughtfully planned out the big move and student volunteers were instructed to meet at certain times throughout the day between 8am and 5pm. Here, students wait in line to pick up books from the old library.

The Book Walk was a pretty big event, as seen above, with a procession of students walking across campus to the new building. Students were supervised and instructed by faculty members and refreshments were provided for the helpful volunteers.

Here, students and faculty enter the new building. Over 75,000 books were transported in just one day. Today the library houses about 350,000 books--quite an upgrade!

Library guides directed volunteers to the proper shelves to maintain organization of books by call numbers. Each student carried about six books at a time, averaging six or seven trips. The administration's strategic planning allowed for a smooth transition and the new library was only closed for three days to prepare for student use.

In the photograph above, students are hard at work, studying in the new library. The building has gone through gradual changes and renovations over the years, but still maintains some of its original charm. For more information about Ship's library, or the Book Walk, visit Archives & Special Collections. Contact us via e-mail: specialcollections@ship.edu or phone: 717-477-1516.

National Bookmobile Day, 4.15.2015

#NBD2015: Why We Love Our Bookmobile Video Celebration

National Bookmobile Day (Wednesday, April 15, 2015) celebrates our nation’s bookmobiles and the dedicated library professionals who provide this valuable and essential service to their communities every day.

The "Why We Love Our Bookmobile" online celebration offers bookmobilers and libraries across America the opportunity to share what makes their bookmobile special by posting videos on the National Bookmobile Day YouTube channel.

Share your video today for a chance to win a ALA Graphics gift certificate in our random drawing on #NBD2015!
To be included in the drawing, please submit your video by 4:30pm CT on April 15, 2015!

National Library Workers Day, 4.14.2015

What is National Library Workers Day?

NLWD is a day for library staff, users, administrators and Friends groups to recognize the valuable contributions made by all library workers.

Did you know you can Submit a Star to honor a great library student worker, staff member, administrator, librarian, team, or department? Go ahead, it won't hurt a bit :)

#LibraryMade @ Your Library, April 13-17, 2015

Unlimited Possibilities @ Your Library

Help us demonstrate the unlimited possibilities available @ your library by sharing what the library has helped you to create.

Did you research or write a book, article, paper, speech, video, whatever? Maybe the Research Help Desk or Instant answers service made a difference in your grades?

#LibraryMade

Join the fun: the national #LibraryMade promotion begins Monday April 13 at noon (Central Time) and ends Friday, April 17 at noon  (Central Time)

Share a photo or link to your creation on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram using the hashtag #librarymade for the chance to win a $100 gift certificate to Maker Shed or Amazon. Photos can also be added to our Unlimited possibilities Flickr group. If 140 characters isn't enough, add your story to the collection here on the I Love Libraries website.

National Library Week, April 12-18, 2015

Unlimited Possibilities @ Your Library

First sponsored in 1958, National Library Week is a national observance sponsored by the American Library Association (ALA) and libraries across the country each April. It is a time to celebrate the contributions of our nation's libraries and librarians and to promote library use and support.

National Library Week History

In the mid-1950s, research showed that Americans were spending less on books and more on radios, televisions and musical instruments. Concerned that Americans were reading less, the American Library Association (ALA) and the American Book Publishers formed a nonprofit citizens organization called the National Book Committee in 1954. The committee's goals were ambitious. They ranged from "encouraging people to read in their increasing leisure time" to "improving incomes and health" and "developing strong and happy family life."

In 1957, the committee developed a plan for National Library Week based on the idea that once people were motivated to read, they would support and use libraries. With the cooperation of ALA and with help from the Advertising Council, the first National Library Week was observed in 1958 with the theme "Wake Up and Read!"

National Library Week was observed again annually and when the National Book Committee disbanded in 1974 the American Library Association assumed full sponsorship.

#TBT in the Archives 4/9/15

The rise of social media over the past decade may make it seem like everyone is their own digital curator by posting photos, favorite quotes, and daily musings on Facebook or Twitter. This week, we wanted to highlight a nostalgic medium that predates these personal online archives: the scrapbook. Archives & Special Collections has a collection of scrapbooks dating from 1891-1984, and we have selected a few to showcase for this edition of Throwback Thursday.

The origins of scrapbooking date back to the fifteenth century in Europe. Friendship books were popular between the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries, which were precursors to modern day yearbooks. In the scrapbooks of Shippensburg students, we can see that students put together photographs, programs, pamphlets, course curriculum documents, newspaper clippings, magazine cutouts, ticket stubs, letters, and other keepsakes of their college careers. The 1895 pages pictured above showcase a Cumberland Valley State Normal School (CVSNS) pin with the school colors of the time, programs from commencement and music performances, and a clipped article about the junior play, "Our Boys." The author of the scrapbook also includes some hand-written commentary. "Class yell hurra hurrah...for the class of XCV" expresses the enthusiasm for graduation. College scrapbooks reflect a sense of school spirit while documenting an individual student's college experience.

Scrapbook covers, from top left to bottom: 1895, 1943, and 1983

The pages from a 1983 scrapbook pictured above preserve the memories of the "Midnight Magic Jr.-Sr. Formal." A flyer for the dance is accompanied by ticket stubs and permit approval allowing the sale of tickets. A short news articles addressing the upcoming formal and the limited amount of tickets still for sale is also included. Student scrapbook creators filled the pages of these books not only to preserve their mementos from events, but to capture the ephemeral moments of college life that they wanted to remember.

University news clippings appeared frequently in later Ship scrapbooks, such as in these pages from 1983. Magazine cutouts and national newspaper headlines were a more modern scrapbook trend, pasted alongside university and local news.

Pressed flowers were another popular item preserved in scrapbooks, as seen in this scrapbook that was put together by Mary Kerr Hays Main in 1895. Mary may have created this scrapbook as a school project. She wrote the Latin and family names of the flowers next to each plant. This particular scrapbook represents Mary's love of flowers and gardening, an activity she enjoyed throughout her life, and also serves as a record of the local plant life in the Shippensburg area at the turn of the 20th century.

When it comes to scrapbooks, these items are truly unique primary sources and they provide an amazing amount of information, but we should remember that these personal perspectives are also very selective. Students chose to include photographs of certain friends and tickets from certain dances and exclude others. There was certainly a reason behind their choices, just as today we all make choices about what photos to share on Instagram and what news articles to retweet on Twitter. In the pre-Internet age, scrapbooks were one way for students to document and reinforce these social connections.

You might still be scrapbooking today! Scrapbooking remains a popular hobby. If you've created a scrapbook of your Shippensburg University experience that you would like to donate to Archives & Special Collections, contact us via e-mail: specialcollections@ship.edu or phone: 717-477-1516. We're here to to preserve your Ship history for future generations!


Sources consulted:
Good, Katie Day. "From Scrapbook to Facebook: A History of Personal Media Assemblage and Archives." New Media & Society 15, no. 4 (June 2013): 557-573.

#TBT in the Archives 4/1/15

Throwback Thursday comes early this week! We couldn't resist! Since today is April Fool's Day, we thought it would be fun to highlight past issues of the Slate that were published on April 1st. These four issues include some completely false, but totally hilarious reads that poke fun at Shippensburg, and reflect the time periods when they were written. This issue of Le Slaté from 2000 includes the headline "Beer taps to be installed in CUB," claiming that the taps will replace the soda fountains, available from noon to 11pm with a Friday "special" from 3-4pm. Other articles include "President Ceddia Missing," "SU senior fails out due to Instant Messenger mishap," and "Mad cows let loose in Shippensburg."
 

  

This issue of the Slant from 1986 proclaims that Ship has reverted back to its original name, the Cumberland Valley State Normal School. In reality, the school became Shippensburg State Teacher's School in 1931, Shippensburg State College in 1962, and has remained Shippensburg University since 1983. Other articles titled "CVSNS's Slant mascot missing" and "CVSNS squirrel-chasing team ready for season" play on this huge "announcement" and reflect college culture.

 

  

The 1975 issue has some rather interesting articles, such as the one above, "Superman Saves SSC; parts of S. America." It describes Superman flying over Ship's campus to save students from an intentionally misprinted academic calendar that scheduled classes to be in session during the spring break holiday. "Who printed this?" you may ask. The "notorious Grinch" of course! It's safe to say that the author of this piece has quite an imagination!

The first April Fool's special edition was printed in 1968. The article featured above states that until proposed separate sex buses are arranged, girls and boys "are asked to sit on opposite sides of the bus while traveling to and from their classes." This article plays on the social issues of the late 1960s including race relations and gender equality.

Now remember, the articles featured in today's Throwback Thursday post are entirely false! If you would like to read all of the articles in these April Fool's issues, stop by University Archives & Special Collections!

Want to learn more about Ship's history? No need to wait for the next Throwback Thursday! Visit Archives & Special Collections during our open research hours, or contact us via e-mail: specialcollections@ship.edu or phone: 717-477-1516.