ARB’s "50 Minutes" Talk for September

By:  Kevin Grace

Headstone The Archives & Rare Books monthly talk returns on Wednesday, September 24, at 12:00 noon with a special presentation on UC’s first female graduate.  Like nearly every other institution of its kind, documenting the “firsts” and the significant moments of our history lends context to our heritage, and, reveals some very interesting stories.  And for this 50 Minutes talk, we welcome back Greg Hand to campus and to Blegen Library.  Greg made some very interesting 50 Minutes talks in the past few years on Cincinnati’s Federal Writer’s project guide to the city; artist, poet, and mystic William Blake; and pioneering cartoonist Winsor McCay.  Now he comes with another…    

Drawing of Women

Winona Lee Hawthorne, daughter of a prominent Newport family, was the first woman to graduate from the University of Cincinnati (1878). She led an exciting life as she raised three daughters while following her husband, Col. William Langdon Buck, on military assignments in Indian Territory, Alaska and California. In researching her biography, the value of some less-common genealogical sources was revealed, among them neighborhood histories, college publications and the records of fraternal organizations and veterans associations.

Winona Buck's signature

Greg Hand recently retired as associate vice president for public relations at the University of Cincinnati. Before his employment by the University of Cincinnati, Hand was a reporter and editor for several weekly newspapers, including the Western Hills Press in Cincinnati. He is co-author, with Kevin Grace, of The University of Cincinnati, a pictorial history of the university, and Bearcats! The Story of Basketball at the University of Cincinnati.  Greg is also the person who first documented and wrote about the history of the Bearcat mascot as well as the first Ph.D. awarded at the University of Cincinnati, to astronomer Herbert Couper Wilson in 1886.

Please join us at noon on the 24th in the Archives & Rare Books Library, Room 814, Blegen Library.  Bring your lunch and discover another aspect of UC’s history.