Tag Archives: uc history

African American History Month and the Archives & Rare Books Library

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By:  Kevin Grace

It is February again, a month notable for honoring presidents and for looking forward to spring. February is also a time when we reflect on the heritage of African Americans in the United States and take time to acknowledge that part of our nation’s history.

Basketball Team 1934 including first African American player, Chester Smith

UC’s 1934 Basketball team including first African American player, Chester Smith

Depending on the media, we also term February as Black History Month, and it had its beginnings in 1926 when “Negro History Week” was created by historian Carter G. Woodson. Woodson’s intent was to celebrate it in February because both Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass had their birthdays in this month., and as he stated, “If a race has no history, it has no worthwhile tradition, it becomes a negligible factor in the thought of the world, and it stands in danger of being exterminated.” Continue reading →

UC Celebrates Its Library’s Founding Collection as It Celebrates Shakespeare 400

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Shakespeare Celebration BookmarkEvents around the world will mark the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death in April. University of Cincinnati Libraries are showcasing UC’s rare Shakespeare collections and highlights of the UC Shakespeare Tercentenary a century ago.

Cultural, creative and educational organizations around the world will kick off celebrations honoring the legacy of William Shakespeare as the world observes the 400th anniversary of his death, which was on April 23, 1616. Here at the University of Cincinnati, the Archives & Rare Books Library’s Shakespeare collection is one of the university’s original library collections, purchased for the university back in the 1890s.

The Enoch T. Carson collection holds more than 250 volumes. The collection has illustrations from editions of Shakespeare’s works along with pamphlets, clippings, excerpts, criticism, almanacs and various souvenirs that were collected by Carson. Over the past century, dozens of additional volumes have augmented that original collection, including rare editions illustrated by Edmund Dulac, Arthur Rackham, and W. Heath Robinson. Continue reading →

What’s For Lunch?

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Could you imagine being on campus today and not having a place to go for lunch or even more shocking – not being a short walk from a Starbucks?   From burgers to burritos to caramel Frappuccinos, there are plenty of options for breakfast, lunch, dinner, or even a quick coffee break on or near UC’s West (Main) campus. With all of us so used to so many food options, we were stumped when the University’s Architect’s office asked us “Where was the university’s first dining hall and when did it open?”

We do not always have the answers in our heads, but we can always come up places to start looking. The Cincinnatian (UC’s yearbook) is a great place to start especially for questions that have anything to do with UC’s students. What makes this resource even better is that UC’s yearbooks have been digitized and are freely available online through the Libraries’ website: http://digitalprojects.libraries.uc.edu/cincinnatian/ Lucky for us, the 1914 Cincinnatian provided the clue that we needed. An announcement in this yearbook stated, “Varsity’s New Lunch-Room, opened February 9th 1914.” The article also included a menu with interesting options like pineapple and lettuce salad with egg dressing and cold ham and a pickle. The most expensive item on the menu was only 12 cents. Continue reading →

48 Years in the Making

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This post was originally published on the UC Magazine website.

UC Graduate Samuel Ochiel Obura is greeting on campus by Richard Harknett, head of UC's political science department, 48 years after Mr. Obura finished his degree requirements. photos/Joseph Fuqua II.

UC Graduate Samuel Ochiel Obura is greeted on campus by Richard Harknett, head of UC’s political science department, 48 years after Mr. Obura finished his degree requirements. photo/Joseph Fuqua II.

UC graduate waited nearly a half century to walk in his commencement and finally receive his lost thesis.

By:  John Bach

Samuel Obura

Samuel Obura Stands during the ceremony when recognized by UC President Santa Ono. photo/Joseph Fuqua II

Samuel Ochiel Obura’s journey to today’s commencement ceremony at the University of Cincinnati took him nearly 8,000 miles and 48 years.

A native of Kenya, Obura finished his master’s degree requirements in political science at UC in 1967. But due to an upheaval at the African Students Association, which helped sponsor his education, he had to cut short his pursuit of a doctorate degree to leave campus and return to Africa or risk losing his return ticket to his wife and children in east Africa.

Obura, then 34, had already spent several years away from his young family back home to pursue his bachelor’s degree in Canada followed by his master’s at UC.

Though he would go on to a long and successful career as a government official in Kenya, Obura left Cincinnati in such a rush that he never even took his trunk full of books, or —even more disheartening — the  dissertation he had written on the “Constitutional Development in Kenya.” His thesis had been sent away for binding when he departed, so he was forced to leave it behind and would spend the next half century longing for the important document.

Continue reading →

The Very Personal Side of a World Famous UC Archaeologist

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By:  Dawn Fuller
Photos Courtesy of UC Classics
Reposted from UC Magazine

Carl Blegen with UC Archaeologist Marion Rawson in the Land Rover at Pylos, July 1961

Carl Blegen with UC Archaeologist Marion Rawson in the Land Rover at Pylos, July 1961

Researchers mine through a ‘treasure trove’ of resources in Cincinnati and Greece to reveal the character, patriotism and unconventional lifestyle of famed American archaeologist Carl William Blegen.

From the 1930s to the 1960s, the discoveries of archaeologist Carl William Blegen made headlines around the world as well as here in the Queen City, where he was on the faculty at the University of Cincinnati. But the personal side of Blegen, publicly revealed for the first time, is the stuff that could be splashed across the celebrity tabloids.
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Next Up for the "50 Minutes" Talk – Rod Serling

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By:  Kevin Grace

This 50 Minute Talk has been cancelled and will be rescheduled for Fall 2015.

There is a fifth dimension beyond that which is known to man. It is a dimension as vast as space and as timeless as infinity. It is the middle ground between light and shadow, between science and superstition, and it lies between the pit of man’s fears, and the summit of his knowledge. This is the dimension of imagination. It is an area which we call … The Twilight Zone.

Burgess Meredith in The Twilight ZoneIt is one of the most famous television intros in history, Rod Serling’s doorway into fantasy and science fiction that opened each episode of his iconic series.  Born in Syracuse, New York, educated at Antioch College, and beginning his writing career in Cincinnati first at WLW and then at WKRC, Serling’s sober demeanor and bizarre imagination later gave rise to a generation of twisting tales and thought-provoking storylines in The Twilight Zone and Night Gallery.

Please join us on Wednesday, March 11, at noon in 814 Blegen as we look at Serling’s Cincinnati years and his close connection to the College of Music (pre-merger with the Conservatory of Music and later addition to the University of Cincinnati as CCM).  We will also view one of Serling’s classic episodes, Time Enough at Last, featuring Burgess Meredith as a book-loving man who finally realizes his dream of being able to read as much as and whenever he wants, only to fall victim to a tragic twist of fate.

50 Minutes March 2015

 

Checking Out the Neil Armstrong Website

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websiteHave you visited the Neil Armstrong Website? The site pays tribute to Armstrong’s professional life from his early career as a test pilot to his monumental first steps on the moon and concluding with his time as a professor and researcher at the University of Cincinnati?

Check out what others are saying about it:

From CHOICE Reviews Online

Anyone curious about the career of the first man to walk on the moon should begin with this site.  The rich content exposes users to highlights as well as little-known but important, interesting aspects of Neil Armstrong’s life.

From Air@Space Smithsonian

The University [of Cincinnati] has a nice online archive commemorating Armstrong’s time on the faculty.  The collection includes some items from the astronaut’s early life, like his pilot’s log book from the Navy, but mostly it covers in pictures and documents his career in academia.

Emma Lucy Braun: Pioneer Plant Ecologist

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By:  Iman Said, ARB Intern, 2014-2015

The University of Cincinnati has had many incredible individuals pass through its doors. There have been outstanding athletes, such as Oscar Robertson and Ron Bonham, and incredible researchers such as Albert Sabin. One such researcher was E. Lucy Braun, who created a research program in vascular plant floristics focusing on deciduous forests.

Lucy BraunE. Lucy Braun was born in Cincinnati in 1889. She graduated from the University of Cincinnati in 1914 with a Ph.D in botany and went on to found the Wildflower Preservation Society of North America in 1917. The Society is still well and thriving today and hosts several different events including an annual Hardy Souls’ Hike at Mt. Airy Forest and lectures on various fungal infections and wild orchids. That same year, she began teaching botany at her alma mater, growing through the University to become a professor of plant ecology in 1946. In addition, she became the first female president of the Ohio Academy of Science. Continue reading →

An Early View of the Stands

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By:  Janice Schulz, Former ARB Library staff member

The University of Cincinnati is in the midst of a major renovation of Nippert Stadium that will turn it into a state-of-the-art athletic complex, but at one time our gridiron heroes played on what were simply a field and a chain of stands. According to the 1904 Cincinnatian the “much-needed and long-looked for” athletic field was completed in that academic year. The field was later named after UC alum, medical school faculty member, and UC director Archibald I. Carson. As a medical school student (Class of ’89) Carson organized the first UC football team. The stands were first erected in 1912 at a cost of $50,000 and then added to in 1920 and again in 1924, when the stadium was dedicated in memory of Jimmy Nippert. In 1935 the Works Progress Administration sponsored a $135,000 project to add the press box. Shank Pavilion was added in 1954 and a major renovation came in 1991 at a cost of $13,500,000.

The stands at Carson Field

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Growth of Student Government

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By:  Iman Said, ARB Intern, 2014-2015

Just about every college campus, and now almost every high school, has some form of a student government. It’s a coalition of students who put on events, work on projects, and speak to administrators and members of the community on issues related to the students.

Student Government Posters

Today, the UC Undergraduate Student Government is made up of a Senate, a Cabinet, Boards, and College Tribunals. This makes for an organization that is involved in just about every aspect of student life. Elections are held every year, usually in February, and candidates select a President and Vice President, as well as eight At-Large Senators. After those positions have been chosen, Cabinet positions are filled using an application process. Any student can apply to a cabinet position, no matter their age or year in school. Each of the Tribunals then holds their own internal elections to select their executive board and their representative to Senate. Continue reading →