CEAS Library displays supplies from a 1950’s Mechanical Engineering student

Are you interested in what a student brought to college over 70 years ago? The College of Engineering and Applied Science (CEAS) Library helps answer that question with their newest display. Featured at the library, is a sample of original supplies a Mechanical Engineering student used while enrolled at University of Cincinnati in 1950.

Display of supplies from a 1950's student.

For current students enrolled in Mechanical Engineering, their supply list might include a laptop, scientific calculator and access to CAD software. While the student from 1950 differs with supplies needed for hand drafting.

While visiting the CEAS Library at 850 Baldwin Hall, make sure to view the other displays, such as the tokens on display from the Cincinnati Industrial Exposition.

Additions to ARB's Greek Life Exhibit

By Janice Schulz

Additions and updates have been made to ARB’s exhibit Going Greek: Fraternity and Sorority Life at the University of Cincinnati.

Omega Psi Phi pledges From Clifton Magazine, Autumn, 1981

Pledging traditions of African-American fraternities are highlighted in an article from the Autumn, 1981, edition of Clifton Magazine, now available on the 1980 and Beyond history page. During the anti-hazing controversies of the early 1980s, long-time pledging rituals practiced by Black fraternities, such as marching and branding, were brought into focus and their legality was questioned. Members defended these activities while outsiders tended to view them with a more critical eye. Continue reading

Researching Student Life at the Archives & Rare Books Library

1955 Cincinnatian yearbook

From the 1955 Cincinnatian

By Janice Schulz

While students enter college with the goal of gaining a formal education, a good bit of learning also occurs outside of the classroom. A university campus is in many ways like a self-contained community, providing students a place to live, study, work and socialize. Much of this lifestyle is student-driven, allowing students to build leadership, organizational, social and even political skills for use in life after university. At the same time, students react to and are affected by the wider world outside of the university.

The Archives and Rare Books Library has compiled a guide to its holdings that can be used to research student life at the University of Cincinnati. Research ideas are endless, but can include topics such as: Continue reading

New University Archives Exhibit Highlights Fraternity and Sorority Life

By: Janice Schulz

In a continuing effort to showcase student life at the University of Cincinnati, the Archives and Rare Books Library has created an exhibit documenting the history of fraternities and sororities from 1882 to today. Going Greek: Fraternity and Sorority Life at the University of Cincinnati offers a historical view into the development of the Greek system at UC and its growth (and growing pains) as it became a social vehicle at the University and then settled into the comfortable position it enjoys today.

Started in 1882 with the establishment of the Sigma Chi fraternity, the Greek system grew steadily in the following decades to become the primary social force at UC in the 1940s, 1950s, and into the 1960s. Political and social unrest in the 1960s forced the Greeks to redefine themselves and their values, creating a system more like what we know now. Continue reading