#TBT in the Archives 9/3/15

Casually dressed Ship students walk across campus, circa 1970s

On Tuesday we posed a question on our Facebook page about when American college students began to dress more casually on campus, and what sparked this big change. Casual dress evolved out of athletic wear worn in gym classes in the early 1900s and was essentially a product of practicality--students wanted low-heeled oxford shoes to walk long distances across campus and cardigan sweaters to keep warm in drafty dorms. By the 1950s, young men began to ditch their suits for sport coats and young women began to wear slacks. Many historical milestones triggered this shift. Can you think of any?

Ship gym class, circa early 1900s. Casual wear was inspired by early 20th century athletic wear worn in gym class and by athletes.

The transition from conservative to casual did not hit our campus until the mid-1960s. Yes, some women could be found sporting slacks and shorts and men refused to cut their long hair, but these trends did not become the norm at Ship until the mid-1970s, years after the hippie subculture movement began to sweep the country.

The Raider Club photo from the 1969 yearbook provides some insight into individual choices of dress. Although women did wear pants on campus, the majority continued to wear dresses and skirts, maintaining their conservatism. The gentleman in the back row in the letterman jacket, however, was not shy to sport his casual style.

It was not until the mid-1970s that it became the norm to see everyone in blue jeans and slacks, depicted in this 1976 Math Club yearbook photo. This reveals that Ship adopted the casual wear trend later than many other campuses across the country.

One thing to consider is that gender differences in clothing regulations existed on campuses nationwide long into the 1960s. To read about women's clothing regulations and how Ship's dress code was abolished, check out this previous post: http://shiplibrary.blogspot.com/2015/03/tbt-in-archives-31915.html.

American casual style was a marker of liberation and individuality and varied by campus, decade, and individual. What factors do you think contributed to casual dress arriving at Ship later that the rest of the nation? Let us know in the comments!

To read more about how casual style evolved on college campuses and contributed to American identity, check out Deirdre Clemente's Dress Casual: How College Students Redefined American Style, available in the library!

Want to learn more about Ship's history? No need to wait for the next Throwback Thursday! Contact Archives & Special Collections via e-mail: specialcollections@ship.edu or phone: 717-477-1516.


Secondary Sources Consulted:
Clemente, Deirdre. Dress Casual: How College Students Redefined American Style. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 2014.

Did You Know? Facts about Labor Day

The first observance of Labor Day was likely on Sept. 5, 1882, when some 10,000 workers assembled in New York City for a parade. That celebration inspired similar events across the country, and by 1894 more than half the states were observing a “workingmen’s holiday” on one day or another. Later that year, with Congress passing legislation and President Grover Cleveland signing the bill on June 29, the first Monday in September was designated “Labor Day.” This national holiday is a creation of the labor movement in the late 19th century — and pays tribute to the social and economic achievements of American workers. 


Labor Day is celebrated by most Americans as the symbolic end of the summer and the start of the back-to-school season.
Credit: United States Census Bureau, Facts for Features

Who Are We Celebrating?

157 million

Number of people 16 and over in the nation’s labor force in June 2015.
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Table A-1
<http://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/empsit.pdf>

Fastest Growing Jobs

53%

Projected percentage growth from 2012 to 2022 in the number of industrial-organizational psychologists (1,600 jobs in 2012), the projected fastest-growing occupation. Meanwhile, the occupation expected to add the greatest number of positions over this period is personal care aides (580,800).
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
<http://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/ecopro.pdf>

Summer Undergraduate Research Experience 2015

Some of the posters from 2015 Summer Undergraduate Research Experience (SURE) are on display in the library main gallery from September 4th - 23rd. 

Shippensburg University offer the SURE program was as a way for students to work with faculty on research over the summer. The purpose of the SURE program is to support faculty/student research pairs during the summer. The goals are twofold: to nurture student researchers and to provide faculty members with paid student research assistants. Students selected for the program will receive a summer stipend for research tasks assigned by a faculty supervisor. By assisting faculty members in their research, students selected for the program will learn the knowledge and skills necessary for conducting advanced research in their field. For more details about SURE please visit Student Research page: http://www.ship.edu/Student_Research/SURE/SURE/

#TBT in the Archives 8/27/15

Have you ever wondered what college was like 100 years ago? It was a very different experience for students arriving on campus in 1915. The culture of the Cumberland Valley State Normal School (CVSNS) was much stricter and focused on maintaining a "high tone of morality." CVSNS prided itself on not having a saloon close to campus and students were required to attend church services every week. 

Academic coursework was geared toward the training of teachers, so students were expected to learn a variety of subjects. Think of it as being similar to the general education classes offered today to first year students. Here's an example of the classes students in their first and second years would be enrolled in, taken from the 1915 course catalog. It wasn't until much later in the school's history that the diversity of majors we see offered today developed. All students took the same classes.

Want to learn more about Ship's history? No need to wait for the next Throwback Thursday! Contact Archives & Special Collections via e-mail: specialcollections@ship.edu or phone: 717-477-1516.

Welcome Back, Students!

Welcome back, students! We know you're relaxed from your sumer and working hard to get ready for the fall semester. Below are several services the library can offer to you and your students.

Research Consultations
Librarians are available to meet with you individually for one-on-one research consultation appointments. If you want help broadening or narrowing a topic, finding appropriate sources, or citing sources correctly, please set up an appointment with a librarian. This service has been heavily used by your fellow students in upper level courses in previous semesters.

Course Reserves
Your professor(s) may make supplemental reading materials available to you through the course reserves system, Ares. If you have questions about library reserves, or have issues with Ares, use the Ask Us Anything service to get research help.

We hope you have a great semester, and we look forward to working with you!

We highlighted several other services in our welcome note to new students, if we missed one fo your faves, please tweet us @shiplibrary or tweet it yourself and tag #shiplibrary so we can connect!

Welcome New Students!

Wondering what the library can offer you this year? Check these out for starters!

Welcome Back, Faculty!

Welcome back, faculty members! We know you're working hard to get ready for the fall semester. Below are several services the library can offer to you and your students.

Instruction
If you'll be assigning a research project to your students, consider scheduling an instruction session with a librarian. Librarians can meet with your classes to discuss the research process, explain how to effectively use library databases and resources, review how to properly cite sources, and more. Christy Fic will be coordinating the scheduling of library instruction sessions for the 2015-2016 academic year. To set up a library instruction session, contact Christy (cmfic@ship.edu / 717-477-1516). Or click here to find the library liaison to your department, and reach out to her/him directly.

Research Consultations
Librarians are available to meet with your students individually for one-on-one research consultation appointments. If students need help broadening or narrowing a topic, finding appropriate sources, or citing sources correctly, you may encourage them to set up an appointment with a librarian. This service has been heavily used by students in upper level courses in previous semesters.

Course Reserves
You may want to make reading materials available to your students through our course reserves system, Ares. Click here to learn more about Ares. If you have questions about reserves, or experience issues with Ares, the Circulation staff will be able to assist you (libcirc@ship.edu / 717-477-1461).

Book Orders
To request materials for the library collection, use GOBI. The GOBI ordering process is outlined in the GOBI quick start guide. If you have a question regarding GOBI orders, contact Nicole Zinn (ndzinn@ship.edu) in Collection Management.

We hope you have a great semester, and we look forward to working with you!