News from the Mudd

Citations for awards given to faculty members at Commencement each June are now available on the Archives website. Citations for honorary degrees awarded to retiring faculty are located at

http://www.lawrence.edu/library/archives/honfac.shtml

Citations for the Excellence in Teaching Award are located at

http://www.lawrence.edu/library/archives/univaward.shtml

And citations for the Young Teacher Award can be found at

http://www.lawrence.edu/library/archives/youngteacher.shtml

Citations go from 1978 to the present year, and additional years will be added in the future. For questions or information, visit or e-mail the University Archives.

This year marks the 100th anniversary of the Conservatory of Music Artist Series. The program was started in 1908 by William Harper, Dean of the Conservatory at the time. The series consists of outside performers of national and international acclaim coming to campus and giving concerts.

In honor of the centennial, a list of the performers from the last 100 years is now on the Archives' website at

http://www.lawrence.edu/library/archives/artistseries.shtml

Throughout 2008, a digital collection and exhibit will also be done on the history of the Artist Series. For further information on the history of the Series, visit or e-mail the University Archives.

Treasured objects and artifacts held by the Lawrence Archives will be preserved for future generations with help from the IMLS Connecting to Collections Bookshelf, a core set of conservation books, DVDs, and online resources donated by the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), the primary source of federal funding of the nation's museums and libraries. IMLS and its cooperator, the American Association for State and Local History (AASLH), will award a total of 2,000 free sets of the IMLS Bookshelf by the end of 2008.

The Lawrence Archives is among the first to receive this essential set of resources based on an application describing the needs and plans for care of its collections. The IMLS Bookshelf focuses on collections typically found in art or history museums and in libraries' special collections, with an added selection of texts for zoos, aquaria, public gardens, and nature centers. It addresses such topics as the philosophy and ethics of collecting, collections management and planning, emergency preparedness, and culturally specific conservation issues.

Dateline, Appleton, Wis., January 28, 1908.

A "daily news special" reported out of Milwaukee stated that "at the close of the present semester this week" Lawrence University students "will have to sign an agreement not to frequent billiard or pool rooms or they will not be allowed to re-enter."

President Plantz got the names of a number of boys "who for some time have visited local billiard rooms." These boys received letters "advising them to desist from the practice or take expulsion from the college as a penalty." He then went on to say any student who refused to abide by this rule and wished to attend a college with less stringent rules would receive a letter of recommendation from him. Don't let the door hit you on the way out.

You can find out a lot more about LU and Samuel Plantz in the University Archives.

Photographs, programs, and other items of holiday traditions at Lawrence and Milwaukee-Downer College are on display in Riverview Lounge in Memorial Union. Traditions shown in the display include the different Christmas cards sent by Lawrence presidents. Traditions celebrated at Milwaukee-Downer College include lantern night and plays put on during the Christmas season. Come and learn about how the song "The Twelve Days of Christmas" was brought to the United States by a Milwaukee-Downer professor, and why one year it was reported there were no virgins at Milwaukee-Downer College.

The exhibit is up through the month of December.

A finals week stress relief event will take place Monday, December 10 from 7-9 pm in Riverview Lounge in the Union. The event will include snacks, chair massages, a fire, games, and puzzles. The event is sponsored by the Celebrations and Traditions Team and the Wellness Committee.

Fox Cities Magazine has named Alexander Gymnasium this year's "Great Spaces Great Places" award recipient for "Best Historic Landmark Building." In honor of this award, the current exhibit on the first floor of the library features photographs and other items documenting the history of the first Alexander Gym, located where Youngchild Hall now is, and the current Alexander Gym located across the Fox River.

The most interesting Archives question of the week is, "Is it true that Lawrence University was featured in Playboy magazine as one of the nation's ugliest college campuses (in terms of female looks)? The answer is no. A search through the magazine's index and a call to Playboy Enterprises resulted in finding nothing on Lawrence in the magazine.

Good information to have if you're ever asked about it, especially at a trivia contest!

Ever wonder if there are any haunted places on campus? Given that Lawrence has been around for 160 years, there certainly is! Come and learn more about the haunted and creepy places on campus on Sunday, October 28 at 7 pm. We'll meet at the Information Deck in the Union and tour the campus, including Cloak Theater, Memorial Chapel, and Main Hall. The tour will end in Riverview Lounge in the Union where a Midterm Stress Relief Social will take place. This even is sponsored by the Dean of Students Office, the Wellness Committee, and the University Archives.

Have a question about Lawrence ghosts and just can't wait until Sunday to ask? Stop by the Archives, call or e-mail. And in case you're wondering, sorry, no ghosts in the Archives have been spotted!

A tour of the spooky and haunted places on campus will take place in late October. In preparation for this, I am looking for people who may have experienced ghosts or other creepy things at Lawrence, or know of others who have. If you have any knowledge you would like to share, stop by the Archives, call or send an e-mail. Anonymity will be respected upon request.

A book and article on Elizabeth Richardson, a graduate of Milwaukee-Downer College who served in World War II and died in a plane crash in France in 1945, are both out this month. The book on Liz by James Madison, "Slinging doughnuts for the boys: an American woman in World War II," will be available to view at the library in the next few weeks. An article by James in the Autumn issue of the Wisconsin Magazine of History on Liz is titled, "Hey Milwaukee: A Wisconsin Girl Goes to War, 1944-1945." Materials from the Lawrence Archives were used for both publications.

To learn more about Liz, visit this online exhibit about her life:

http://www.lawrence.edu/library/archives/richardson/index.htm

To view additional materials on Liz or if you have questions, visit the University Archives.

Ever have a question about the history of Lawrence or Milwaukee-Downer College but was too busy during the school year to ask? The University Archives will be open throughout the summer. Stop by anytime the library is open, 8-4 Monday through Friday. Reference questions welcome, tours of the Archives provided spontaneously, and random thoughts greatly appreciated.

Check out the Archives digital collection that includes materials from the Trivia Contest and Henry Wriston collections, as well as the founding of Lawrence. Items can be searched by keywords and select fields. Different formats of materials are included. Check back often to see what new digital collections have been added.

http://www.lawrence.edu/library/contentdm/archives/

Questions about the digital collections of the Archives? Come to the Mudd Coffeehouse Wednesday, July 11, to learn more about that and the oral history program being done by the Archives. Any questions, comments, or random thoughts about the digital collection can also be sent to archives@lawrence.edu. In person visits to the Archives with your comments are also welcome.

In honor of the 150th anniversary of the incorporation of Appleton, Wisconsin, this online collection contains correspondence and photographs documenting the creation of Lawrence University. With the founding of Lawrence University in 1847, the area around the college grew into the community of Appleton. In other words, Lawrence was here first! The city of Appleton is named in honor of Sarah Appleton Lawrence, the wife of Amos Lawrence, the founder of Lawrence University.

The physical formats of these items are available in the University Archives, located on Level B of the library.

Click here to view the collection

Wondering what types of events are taking place to celebrate Appleton's Sesquicentennial? Go here for a list of events and other useful information about Appleton.

http://www.postcrescent.com/includes/newspaper/marketing/celebrate/index.shtml