We have not been able to locate the four statistical charts Included in the exhibit, but fortunately Principal Sill reproduced one of these charts in his 1893 report to the State Board of Education. This chart from Sill’s report, “prepared for the Columbian Exposition with laborious care by Professor Austin George,” shows attendance and number of graduates from 1854 to 1893. This chart demonstrates the tremendous growth in attendance and number of graduates during Sill’s administration (1886-1893).
This image depicts Physics class being led by the head of the Physical Sciences department, Edwin Atson Strong (seated at the back right corner of the table). Strong’s father was an abolitionist, which allowed Edwin to meet important Black historical figures, including Frederick Douglass, and become familiar with the operations of the Underground Railroad. After working as both a Principal and Superintendent in Grand Rapids, MI, Strong joined the Physical Science faculty at the MSNS in 1885. Strong prioritized his humanitarian efforts over his work in the science department, and worked hard to ensure that his students would live their lives with “profound conviction” (Putnam, p.186).
This image depicts a class called The History of Education being taught by Daniel Putnam, who taught the Theory of Art and Teaching courses in addition to psychology courses. This class only took half of one semester to complete and focused on the history of schools, school systems, and education in general. To help students understand how the field of education had progressed, Putnam taught about great educational leaders of both the past and the present.
This image depicts a psychology or “Mental and Moral Sciences” class being led by the man seen standing in the photograph, Perry Trowbridge. Psychology courses were required for all students, and were considered to be a part of the Pedagogy curriculum. The two courses were Elements of Psychology, which explored the basic principles of the field, and General Application of Psychology, which taught students how to apply basic psychological principles to the art of teaching. Students who wanted to receive their Bachelor of Pedagogics were also required to take an Advanced Psychology course, which also included lessons focused on philosophy.
This image depicts a class being led by the head of the “Mental and Moral Sciences” department and vice principal, Daniel Putnam. Putnam served as a professor of Pedagogy at the MSNS between 1868 and 1906 and was the acting Principal of the Normal 1881-83 and 1885-86. Putnam was also the President of the Michigan State Teachers Association, President and Treasurer of the Baptist Convention of Michigan, and served as the Mayor of Ypsilanti between 1889-91. Putnam is also responsible for writing the first comprehensive history of EMU, A History Of The Michigan State Normal School (Now Normal College) at Ypsilanti, Michigan 1849-1899 (published 1899).
This image depicts a Classical Languages class being taught by Benjamin D’Ooge, the head of the Latin and Greek Languages Department. In the second row, to the far left, a young Black woman can be seen looking directly into the camera. While the identity of the woman is not confirmed, she may be the granddaughter of H.P. Jacobs, a man who escaped from slavery and worked as a janitor at the Normal school before returning to the newly-free South and becoming one of the most influential Black Baptist preachers of the late 19th century. Jacobs’ children were the first Black students to attend the Michigan State Normal School, and when this photo was taken Jacobs’ granddaughter, Allie Louise DeHazen, was a student at the school.
This image depicts a Literature class being led by the woman standing at the front of the room, who is likely Lois McMahon. On the chalkboard, there is a quote by British essayist Thomas Carlyle that reads, “Literature is the thought of thinking souls.” The full literature course extends through four semesters, each semester being devoted to one subject. The four subjects that are covered in the Literature course are: English Literature, American Literature, Old and Middle English, and Masterpiece Study.
This image depicts a history class being taught by Florence Shultes, an instructor in the History and Civil Government department. One of the conditions of admission into the Normal school was that students were required to have knowledge of the significant elements of American history and be able to express critical thinking skills. This is made evident in the 1893-94 Normal register when it states, “History furnishes material for judgements, and unless the pupil has learned to see the relations between the facts, to compare, to judge, that is to think, to use the facts, he is not ready for any such study as Political History.” (p.56)
This image depicts a meeting in the office of the Director of the Training School, Professor Austin George (pictured sitting in the middle on the left side of the table). During the summer of 1863, the same year George graduated from the MSNS, he organized Company E of the 17th Michigan Infantry in the Civil War. After graduating, George moved to Kalamazoo where he worked several positions within the Kalamazoo Public School system, and established a Training School. George returned to the MSNS in 1881, the same year he proposed and started The Normal News, and a year later accepted his role as the Director of the Training School. After significantly expanding and strengthening the Training School curriculum, George left the Normal in 1896 to accept a position as the Superintendent of the Ypsilanti Public Schools.
This image depicts a class being taught in the Conservatory under the direction of instructor Oscar Gareissen. The Conservatory provided a regular four-year course leading to a teaching certificate, and also offered advanced instruction in either vocal or instrumental music. The three instruments available for students to choose from were the piano, violin, and organ. Students who proved to be competent with their instruments were given opportunities to accompany the vocal students and play their own recitals.
This image depicts a large group of students attending a Geography lecture, as evidenced by the 9 students who are practicing drawing various continents, as well as the state of Michigan on the chalkboard. Professor Austin George can be seen standing in the back of the lecture room watching over the students. Three additions were made to the Old Main Building, front addition in 1874, rear addition in 1881, and third addition in 1883, to expand the schools available facilities, such as the creation of large lecture rooms to accommodate the Normal’s fast-growing student population. The original lecture rooms on campus only had enough space to house about 60 students.
This image depicts an Elementary Physics class being taught by Professor Fred Gorton. The Physical Sciences occupied the majority of Gorton’s free time, which is evident in the fact that, in addition to serving as a part of the Physical Sciences Department, Gorton was a member of the Sociétéde Physique (Physical Society) and the American Academy for the Advancement of Science (Aurora, 1912, p. 49). Fred remained a part of the Michigan State Normal College’s faculty for 50 years, retiring only a few years before his passing.
This image depicts another angle of Abbie Pearce’s Literature class (see 4-8). Abbie Pearce was one of 3 founding advisors of the Alpha Sigma Tau sorority that still has chapters at EMU and around the US today. Pearce, alongside Ada Norton (in the Mathematics department), came up with the cultural and ritual aspects of the sorority.
This image depicts a literature class being taught by Abbie Pearce. On the chalkboard lining the side wall is the quote: "Genius is universal, genius is an immense capacity for taking pains" which was a common proverbial saying in the 19th century, and may have originated from English reformer Jane Hopkins. There is another quote left reading: "A good book is the spiritual life blood of a master spirit,” by English poet John Milton. Due to both quotations having a connection to English individuals, this image may depict the last term in the Literary Course that focused on the study of English masterpieces.
This image depicts a Modern Languages class being taught by Annie Patton, who was Dr. Lodeman’s assistant, and the only other German and French language faculty member. There were eight terms for the German course, and six terms for the French course. Students who took all eight terms of the German course were required to teach a German lesson to Training School students to prove their proficiency in the language.
This image depicts a Modern Languages course being taught by the head of the German and French Languages Department, Dr. August Lodeman. Lodeman was a German immigrant who came to the US in 1867 and he joined the Michigan State Normal School faculty in 1872 after having obtained American citizenship. Regarding his comprehension of languages, Lodeman was noted to have few equals and was considered to be at the front of the ranks in his profession.
This image depicts the same drawing class depicted in 4-4 from a different perspective. The class in the photograph is likely an elementary level drawing class as there was a focus on geometrical shapes. The elementary class was a modified version of the Drawing curriculum given to Training School students, and was designed to prepare students to teach basic art lessons at the Elementary level. Subsequent Drawing courses built upon the principles taught in the elementary coursework, and senior students would teach lessons to the Training School students under the supervision of the department head for practice.
This image depicts a Drawing class, likely being taught by Charles T. McFarlane before he officially joined the Drawing department. The sole faculty member of the Drawing department listed in the 1892-93 register, John Goodison, passed away sometime around October 1892, a few months before this picture would have been taken. Goodison had been a part of the Normal faculty since 1861, and was highly regarded by both staff and students alike. He was described as being patient no matter the circ*mstance, and he always had words of encouragement for his students regardless of their talent level.
This image depicts a class being led by Mathematics instructor Emma Ackerman, who joined the Normal faculty in the 1892-93 school year. In addition to being an instructor, Miss. Ackerman acted as the assistant to the head of the Mathematics department, David Smith between 1892-98. She left the Normal in 1898 after receiving her Bachelor's degree in Pedagogics.
This image depicts one of the Physical Sciences classes being led by the man who is standing at the back of the classroom appears to be Frederick R. Gorton. Gorton graduated from the Michigan State Normal School in 1892 at the age of 21, and immediately joined the Physical Sciences department faculty. Starting his career at the Normal as an instructor, Gorton eventually went on to receive a Ph.D. from the University of Berlin, Germany, and then worked as a professor at the Normal until his retirement in 1941.
This image depicts an English class being taught by the head of the English Language and Literature Department, Florus Barbour. Instruction in English Language and Literature focused on three sections: Grammar, Rhetoric, and Literature.
This image depicts a class being taught in the Conservatory Recitation and Lecture room by the Director of the Conservatory Frederic Pease. Music was a required course for graduation. While the Music course offered by the Normal was free, students who wished to receive advanced voice or instrument training had to pay to take courses in the Conservatory. Students who wanted to join the Normal Choir were required to have passed the music course, in which they were taught how to read music and cultivate their voices.
This image depicts a Literature class being taught by the head of the English Language and Literature department, Florus Barbour. When Barbour began his teaching career, he viewed teaching only as a stepping stone to his desired career path of preaching from behind the pulpit. Eventually, however, Barbour grew to understand the importance of public school work and the teaching profession, and grew deeply loyal to the Michigan State Normal School. The English Department head never fully departed from his theological interests, as he impressed upon his students the “value and importance of moral and religious character in teachers” (Putnam).
This image depicts a History class being taught by Mary Putnam, who is sitting behind the desk at the head of the room. The History curriculum at the Normal school focused heavily on the history of the Western world, with American and English history being prioritized. The Normal’s General History coursework focused heavily on Greek and Roman history, and the extent to which the history of non-Western cultures were covered is not discussed in the course description. Much of the discussion relating to non-Western societies appears to have been relegated to the Geography department.
This image depicts a Literature class. There is a prominent quote on the chalkboard that reads, “Truth is the highest thing a man may keep.” Literature played a prominent role in the lives of many students at the Normal, as the four largest clubs at the Normal were literary societies. Additionally the English Language and Literature Department was one of the largest departments at the Normal in 1893 which, along with the Mathematics Department, had four staff members (some departments only had one staff member at the time).
This image depicts a 9th grade class, and despite the caption reading “Training School 9th grade”, this grade was not technically part of the training school, but was created to ease the transition between the Training School and Normal School coursework. As such, there was no specific instructor for 9th grade and students were taught by the same instructors as Normal School students. Additionally, ninth grade students were required to choose either the Classical or the English and Scientific Course in order to determine what classes they would be taking, and when. The main difference between the two courses was that Classical students took Latin or German throughout the year, and English and Science students took English classes.
This image depicts a Physiology Lecture being given by the head of the Natural Sciences (Systematic Botany and Physiology) department, Lucy Osband. One of the main things that this academic department hoped to achieve was instilling a love for scientific truth within Normal students through the help of lessons that focused on utilizing logical reasoning and implementation of the scientific method. Physiology was considered to be an advanced course for senior study, with students having been expected to have learned the basics of the subject in high school. The chalkboard contains evidence that students are being taught about nerves, which indicates that this class is occurring early in the semester when the Physiology curriculum focused on rapid review of the subject with an emphasis on nutrition and the nervous system.
This image depicts a math class being taught by the head of the Mathematics department, David E. Smith, with Principal Sill (the man seated) observing. The academic work in the Mathematics course included all the standard math courses one would have generally taken in high school, with more advanced courses such as Trigonometry, Calculus, Analytical Geometry, etc. generally being offered as electives. Students entering the Normal were only required to have completed Arithmetic and have some familiarity with simple algebraic equations. The reason for the Normal heavily focusing on arithmetic and elementary-level mathematics was due to the fact that the school existed to teach future educators who would likely end up teaching in the elementary - high school levels.
Anna W. Field taught in the Michigan Normal College Training School from 1915 until 1928, when she joined the Department of History at MSNC as a professor. Retiring in 1946 from the History Department, Field was selected to attend the dedication of the new Pierce Hall in 1949, and to give her remembrances of the original Pierce Hall. In this address, Field speaks of how the original building was the cultural center of Michigan Normal College, and how its growth and expansion mirrored the growth of MSNC itself.
Eastern Michigan University Speech professor John Sattler eulogizes slain president John F. Kennedy. Recalling his professional achievements in this emotional address, and detailing the difficulties of the office of President of the United States, Sattler remarks upon how well suited Kennedy was to the highest office in the world.
Zolton Ferency was a lawyer, political activist, and professor at Central Michigan University. Ferency ran unsuccessfully for governor of the State of Michigan in 1966. In this brief speech from the steps of Pease Auditorium in 1966, Ferency introduces his running mate, G. Mennen Williams, and warms the crowd up for primary speaker, Robert Kennedy.
Calvin A. Vanderwerf (1917-1988) was President of Hope College in Holland, Michigan, and former University of Florida chemistry professor. Invited to speak at the 20th Annual Honors Convocation ceremony at Eastern Michigan University, Vanderwerf speaks of his 25 years in academia, and shares his observations of the changing national attitude toward college education and the development of the American intellect.
Egbert Isbell served as professor of history, and administrator at Eastern MichiganUniversity from 1937-1967. Presiding over the lunch portion of the First Annual Conference on College and University Archives, Isbell welcomes all participants, and pays tribute to President Harold Sponberg for not only looking forward to the future of EMU, but also to the institution’s past.
Robert Solow is an American economist particularly known for his work on the theory of economic growth that culminated in the exogenous growth model named after him. He is currently Emeritus Institute Professor of Economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology where he has been a professor since 1949. He was awarded the John Bates Clark Award in 1961, the Nobel Memorial Award in Economic Sciences in 1981, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2014. In this address to the graduates of the Eastern Michigan Honors College, Solow attempts to answer the question of how to pay forward our debt to the future, and how to ensure a stable and peaceful world for future generations. Following the address, Bruce Nelson presents students with outstanding academic records at EMU.
Soon after graduating from Eastern Michigan University (then Michigan State Normal College) with honors in 1942 and lettering in track, he joined the faculty as associate professor in industrial education at Roosevelt Laboratory School, with time out to instruct with the United States Army Specialized Training Corps. Spending his entire 44 year career at EMU, he was the man known as “Dean Gilden”, dean of admissions and financial aid. He worked in 16 offices on campus and in many capacities, including associate registrar, director of Admissions, dean of Student Activities, dean of Admissions and Student Activities, dean of Admissions and Financial Aids, interim vice-president for Student Affairs, and he was one of the handful of men in the history of the University to serve as president. He served as interim president in 1974 during the University’s critical search for a new top administrator. In this address to new and old faculty at EMU, Gilden covers the gamut of institutional concerns, from declining enrollment to projected budgetary issues and physical structures. Gilden also stresses the need for transparency in administration, and suggests strategies to keep low-income students in school.
In his will, longtime Michigan State Normal College music professor left $85,000 to Eastern Michigan University for the purpose of installing a pipe organ in Pease Auditorium. This recording captures the inaugural recital of that organ after its completion. Also in his will, Alexander requested specific musicians and pieces of music to be performed at this recital. All of his wishes were honored, and here several pieces of music are performed by former Alexander student Russell Gee of Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. Pieces of music performed include: Basse et Dessus de Trompette by Louis-Nicolas Clerambault; Prelude, Fugue and Chaconne by Detrich Buxtehude; Chorale Preludes by Johannes Brahams; and Ronde Francaise by Leon Boellman.
Erich Goldschmidt was a professor of music at Eastern Michigan University, and consultant ex-officio for the Frederick Alexander Memorial Organ in Pease Auditorium. Goldschmidt also served as organ builder in residence at University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. In this memorial service for slain president John F Kennedy, Goldschmidt plays a selection of sacred music on the Alexander Memorial Organ.
Erich Goldschmidt was a professor of music at Eastern Michigan University, and consultant ex-officio for the Frederick Alexander Memorial Organ in Pease Auditorium. Goldschmidt also served as organ builder in residence at University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. Here, Goldschmidt performs "Lord Jesus Christ, Be Present Now" by J.S. Bach on the Frederick Alexander Memorial Organ in Pease Auditorium.
Having received her Masters at Eastern Michigan University in Voice Performance in 1971, Glenda Kirkland then joined the faculty of EMU in 1973 as professor of Applied Music. Joseph Gurt, having received his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from the Julliard School of Music, served as Professor of Music at Eastern Michigan from 1967 until his retirement in 2000. Included in this recording are two pieces, Giacomo Puccini’s “Senza Mamma,” and Mozart’s “Non Mi Dir,” from his opera, Don Giovanni. These pieces were included in a larger event, the 1974 Fall Faculty Luncheon, the primary focus of which being an address by Ralph Gilden, who was then acting as interim president of the university.
Having received her Masters at Eastern Michigan University in Voice Performance in 1971, Glenda Kirkland then joined the faculty of EMU in 1973 as professor of Applied Music. Joseph Gurt, having received his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from the Julliard School of Music, served as Professor of Music at Eastern Michigan from 1967 until his retirement in 2000. Included in this recording are two pieces, Giacomo Puccini’s “Senza Mamma,” and Mozart’s “Non Mi Dir,” from his opera, Don Giovanni. These pieces were included in a larger event, the 1974 Fall Faculty Luncheon, the primary focus of which being an address by Ralph Gilden, who was then acting as interim president of the university.
Dr. Jeffery Duncan was professor of English Language and Literature at EMU from 1971 until his retirement in 2012. Awarded the Ronald Collins Distinguished Faculty Award in 2002, Duncan was regarded as one of the most beloved faculty members at the University for his rough and tumble Tulsa upbringing and inventive, innovative teaching methods.
Dr. Joseph Gurt was a professor of music at Eastern Michigan University from 1967 until his retirement in 2000. During his time at EMU, Gurt was renowned as a teacher with students coming from all over the world to study under him and also as a concert pianist performing in the U.S, Israel, Australia, Taiwan, Hong Kong and on stages from Carnegie Hall to Lincoln Center.
Dr. Quirico Samonte served as professor of education at Eastern Michigan University from 1963 until his retirement in 2001. Aside from teaching, Samonte served as University Coordinator for the National Council of Accreditation for Teacher Education, Chief of Party to the Basic Education Development Project in Yemen, and Advisor to the Ministry of Education for the Primary Curriculum Development Project in Swaziland. Born and raised in the Philippines, Samonte was a boyhood acquaintance of future-President of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos.
Dr. Bette Warren served as professor with the Eastern Michigan University Department of Mathematics from 1984 until her retirement in 2012. Aside from her teaching duties Warren served as President of the Faculty Council, Chair of the Intercollegiate Athletics Advisory Committee, Chair of the Faculty Council’s Budget and Resource Committee, wrote the math section of the Presidential Scholarship Examination, and served on the undergraduate symposium planning committee at the initiation of that event. Warren was also a bargaining council representative from the EMU chapter of the American Association of University Professors. The reason behind Warren's commitment to education is summed up in her own words: "To have a sound academic program we need a well-educated and informed front line. That front line is faculty.”
Photograph of a boat indentifed as the S.S. Dollar steam ship docked in San Francisco. It is noted that the ropes that tie the ship to the dock have rat guards. A small tug boat can be seen in the foreground a multi-deck paddle boat can be seen to the left. A warehouse building is constructed on the docks to the right.
Photograph of the S.S. Dollar steam ship docked in San Francisco, 1912. It is noted that the ropes that tie the ship to the dock have rat guards . A small tug boat can be seen in the foreground. A multi-deck paddle boat can be seen to the left. A warehouse building is constructed on the docks to the right.
Jennie Pease D’Ooge’s eleventh journal begins in late June 1903, as her family departs for their summer cottage in Charlevoix, and follows their daily lives through the beginning of May 1904. In Charlevoix the D’Ooges visit with family and friends, play games (such as flinch, pedro, charades, euchre, and whist), and sail the Amy. Jennie’s husband, Michigan State Normal College classics professor Benjamin L. D’Ooge, continues to serve as a trustee of the Charlevoix Summer Home Association. Their daughters Ida and Helen get up to “great antics” with other teens and are eager to attend hops at the resort hotel. Their elder son Len also enjoys hops, as well as fishing, and their younger son Stanton stays closer to home, playing with other children, reading, and spending time with his parents. The family plans to remodel their cottage at the end of the season. Jennie’s sister, Ida Pease, rents out her Ann Arbor house for part of the summer and stays in her own cottage in Charlevoix.In Ypsilanti, the D’Ooges continue to rent 602 Congress Street. Edith Hoyle, a Normal College student, lives with them and assists with housework. The family regularly takes dinners at a boarding house, cafe, or hotel, rather than cooking at home, or they purchase dishes from the Women’s Exchange to round out a home-cooked “luncheon.” Jennie bemoans how much food her four growing children consume: “It seems as if the capacity of my family for good things to eat is absolutely unlimited. I have to buy just twice as much of everything as I used to.” She has a new gas range, which she says is “fine,” although she worries that the gas will cost too much and complains that the water heater ran up the November gas bill to $6.20.Ida and Helen are given more responsibilities at home, including meal planning, baking, and sewing, to varying degrees of success. “The girls try to help but their interest is apt to wane when they have company or a book to read. I suppose it is because they know I am here, and weak-minded enough to spring to the front whenever they hold back.” Jennie laments that she is “getting so inexcusably, inconceivably homely” and says, “I tell the children if I only did not have to push so much and do all their thinking for them I wouldn't get so tired.” A humorous example of this occurs in March 1904, when Ida and Helen travel by train to stay with Jennie’s longtime friend Kittie Castle Hattstaedt in Chicago. Soon after their departure the girls send a telegram home saying that they cannot find the trunk key, and Jennie promptly telegraphs back: “Trunk key in Ida’s pocket. What next?”Mrs. Crosby and other women are often hired to do the laborious chores of washing and ironing. Jennie spends much of her time sewing, either by hand or with her new lockstitch machine, but when she needs to produce a lot of clothing in a hurry, she pays Agnes Fike (or Fyke) $5 a week plus lodging for two weeks to help her sew about twenty garments. She also has an underskirt made for herself and a new spring suit made for Helen at Ypsilanti’s W.H. Sweet & Son, arguing that the quality and durability compared with ready-made clothes justify the expense.Jennie continues to serve as co-patroness of the Harmonious Mystics, a Michigan State Normal College sorority, with fellow faculty wife Abbie Hunter Pease. They are pleased to pledge MSNC president Lewis Henry Jones’s daughter Edith, to the chagrin of librarian Genevieve Walton, who had spent more than a year rushing Edith for the Zeta Phis. Mrs. Pease’s moods can change quickly, she acts “real cat-y” to Jennie during a sorority event, and Jennie describes her as “so cold and indifferent and bored,” highlighting some tension between the two. Jennie is also a chaperone of the Halcyon Club, alongside Eva Green Hoyt.Jennie is elected president of the Women’s Union of Ypsilanti’s Congregational Church, and she remains active with the Congregational Ladies’ Aid Society. She is also elected Corresponding Secretary of the Ladies’ Literary Club and serves as chairman of the press committee. She attends thimble parties, church fundraiser socials, and “swell” luncheons. When she has time, she enjoys decorative woodcarving and burning, and she reads several books, including contemporary novels and historical fiction. Jennie maintains contact with numerous friends from different stages of her life, including the D’Ooges’ two years in Germany. In December 1903, she attends the funeral of family friend Sarah Swope Caswell Angell, wife of University of Michigan president James B. Angell.In addition to teaching at the Normal College, Ben presents at the National Education Association conference in Boston in July 1903. He also speaks to local groups, including giving a talk about Holland in Wayne, Michigan, where “he had a most appreciative audience of Podunkers from Podunk.” As club president, he organizes a meeting of the Michigan Schoolmasters’ Club and the Classical Conference in Ypsilanti in March 1904. He is also elected president of the newly-created Ypsilanti Choral Society, a town-and-gown chorus directed by Prof. Frederic Pease. He enjoys playing golf in good weather. Ben and Jennie take the train into Detroit several times on various errands, including meetings about their investment in the Black Diamond Mine (which Jennie regrets), sailing on the Detroit River with friends Louis C. and Jane Mahon Stanley, and attending a performance of Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice starring Henry Irving as Shylock.Especially during the winter, there seems to be an endless rotation of illnesses in the D’Ooge family: toothache, earache, headache, sore throat, “malarial symptoms,” lingering coughs, “Cuban itch,” fears of diphtheria. Nevertheless, the children are busy with concerts, sporting events, and social gatherings. Ida is appointed to participate in an oratorical contest and the Junior Exhibition. Helen attends Junior Endeavor at the Congregational Church and is described as a “dear, faithful little Christian.” Len sings with the Episcopal Church boys’ choir and plays football. Stanton struggles with arithmetic. In February 1904, the boys go, perhaps for the first time, “to see some Moving Pictures at the opera-house.”During a visit to her sister Ida’s house in Ann Arbor, Jennie looks through family papers: “[I] read the diaries of Grandma Deuel, Father & Mother, written about the time they were married, and on through the next eight years, until mother’s death. It seems strange to think she was only 28 yrs. old when she died. (She was born in 1832.)” At least some of these documents are today in the Eastern Michigan University Archives.
Jennie Pease D’Ooge’s tenth diary spans from March 1902 to June 1903. She, her husband, Benjamin L. D’Ooge, and their four children continue to live at 602 Congress Street in Ypsilanti, Michigan, and spend summers up north in Charlevoix. In May 1902, Jennie accompanies Ben when he travels to give a lecture in Chicago. She writes: “I hesitated at first on account of the cost – but as I told Ben, it will be all the same in a hundred years, and we shouldn’t deny ourselves everything.” During their trip, Jennie meets with cousin and old friends, lunches at Marshall Field’s, attends musical and theatrical performances, and visits two major Progressive educational institutions: Jane Addams’s Hull House and John Dewey’s Laboratory Schools. Jennie has a full calendar of social, religious, and charitable activities, and she laments being so busy (“I am in too deep – cannot see daylight”). She serves as president of the Ladies’ Aid Society at Ypsilanti’s First Congregational Church. In April 1903 she joins Abbie Hunter Pease, wife of Michigan State Normal College music professor Frederic H. Pease, as a “patroness” to the Harmonious Mystics, a sorority established in 1900. Jennie is also recruited into the local Whist Club. In her spare time she practices pyrography, burning decorative designs into wooden objects, including her new ping-pong paddles, and begins teaching classes on the art. She reads widely. Among other books, she comments on The Leopard's Spots: A Romance of the White Man's Burden—1865–1900 by Thomas Dixon and quotes extensively from Confessions of a Wife by Mary Adams, both published in 1902.Ben is also active both professionally and personally. In addition to teaching classics at Michigan State Normal College, he gives lectures on Greek and Roman topics and works to revise Allen and Greenough’s New Latin Grammar. According to Jennie, “Ben has some glimmer of hope of a change – to Oberlin or Stanford University or somewhere away from Ypsi!” He becomes a second degree Mason. The Normal College has a new president in fall 1902, Lewis Henry Jones. Privately, Jennie thinks he looks “queer” and “dissipated” after first meeting him. Two MSNC colleagues and good friends die suddenly: August Lodeman, professor of modern languages, and Austin George, former director of the college’s Training School and later superintendent of Ypsilanti Public Schools. Jennie notes “a growing re-action against co-education in Universities,” as some, herself included, do not believe it is producing the “best results.” The children are becoming more mature and independent, although Jennie at times worries about how they “seem to utterly lack any idea of care for themselves,” as well as how much food they consume. All have active social lives, spend weekends in Ann Arbor with their Aunt Ida Pease, and take part in music recitals and theatrical performances. They suffer from various ailments, which Jennie diligently treats with homeopathic remedies and visits to the doctor. Mumps sweeps through the family in April and May 1902. In March 1903, an outbreak of smallpox sends a neighbor girl “to the pest-house in Detroit” and pushes Jennie to have her children vaccinated.Ida is initiated into the Beta Nu Society, wants to dance with partners at the Charlevoix hop, suffers from acne, and receives sixteen lumps of sugar from a friend when she turns “sweet sixteen.” Helen, nicknamed “Arlie,” finishes grammar school and “graduates into the troubles of High School.” Both girls “have reached the shirt-waist age.” Len struggles to pay attention in class, but he helps out with chores, leads a Junior Christian Endeavor meeting, and enjoys playing with friends and his toy steam engine. Stanton is good natured and earnest. For his seventh birthday, his Aunt Ida gives him a pair of guinea pigs, which quickly multiply. A neighbor gives the boys a puppy, Skele, “the dearest, softest, naughtiest little rascal,” but he dies from distemper before his first birthday, “a sore trial” to the whole family. Shortly thereafter, Stanton brings home a large gray and white cat. For much of this period, the D’Ooges take their dinners out and, until June 1903, pay Mabel Love to help with cooking and washing. The family has difficulty obtaining coal to heat their house in the winter due to the anthracite coal strike of 1902, and Jennie worries that “[t]here will be immense suffering in the poor classes.” There is much confusion in Ypsilanti as the town attempts to switch to Standard Time in early 1903.In this volume, Jennie celebrates her “—rd” and “forty __th” birthdays, remarking, “Time flies, these years.” In the very last entry of the diary, she writes: “Our eighteenth wedding-anniversary. We ought to celebrate, but doubt if we have time to even remind Ben.”
The diary of Jennie Pease D’Ooge dated from January 1901 to March 1902 chronicles the final months of her family’s two-year stay in Germany and their return to the United States. Her husband, Benjamin L. D’Ooge, on sabbatical from his teaching position at the Michigan State Normal College, completes his doctoral Arbeit (dissertation) and oral exam and earns a Ph.D. from the University of Bonn. Their four children – Ida, Helen, Len, and Stanton – attend school and befriend local children. The family, accompanied by Jennie’s older sister, Ida Pease, continues to rent rooms from Frau Taxer and Fräulein Cornetius at Luisenstrasse 38 in Poppelsdorf, a district of Bonn. The suit filed against the D’Ooges by their former landlords, the Meningens (or Menningens, Menningers), is settled in February 1901.This volume is peppered with German words and phrases, as Jennie practices the language and describes local customs. Sewing and mending still demand a lot of her time, but she finds great pleasure in learning Schnitzen, or woodcarving, writing: “I am so interested in my Schnitzing that I can hardly stop long enough to attend to my family’s most pressing needs. It is the most fun I have had in many a day.” She also helps Ben correct his proof of Cicero: Select Orations for Ginn and Company, as well as his dissertation.In April 1901, while Ben travels to Milan, Florence, and Rome, Jennie takes a 17-day solo trip by train to Berlin and Dresden, returning via Meissen and Leipzig. This is the longest she has been away from her husband and children, and she writes: “Such a luxury not to think of anything about work or anything but selfish pleasure. I wish that every mother could ‘run away from school’ this way, once in a while.” She visits numerous landmarks, enjoys long hours in art museums, attends several opera performances, and proudly economizes wherever possible. In Berlin, Jennie also spends time with Maude Jerome Sherzer, wife of MSNC geology professor William H. Sherzer. “She [Mrs. Sherzer] has had a hard time over here; and seems to be almost bitter against all married life in general. Thinks it is a ‘slave’s life’ and so it often is. But would we be as happy under any other conditions? I say No, a thousand times No.”In June 1901, the D’Ooges leave Bonn, traveling by steamer down the Rhine River to Rotterdam, where they board the Holland America Line’s SS Statendam bound for New York. Once they recover from their seasickness, the travelers enjoy playing cards and shuffleboard, spotting whales and porpoises, reading, and resting. Jennie and Ben celebrate their sixteenth wedding anniversary at sea. The D’Ooges reach New York City in the midst of a heat wave, so, after just a brief visit, they take the train to Detroit and then on to Ypsilanti.Jennie records the assassination of President William McKinley in September 1901. “In every city the day [of his funeral] was observed by stoppage of work & special memorial church services.” Otherwise, the normal rhythms of life resume: summer in Charlevoix full of sailing, swimming, dancing, German lessons, and socializing; setting up a new rented home in Ypsilanti, canning pineapple sent from cousins in Florida, and playing golf in the fall; and clubs, entertaining, church fundraisers, doctoring illnesses, and “the grind of house-work & mending” in the winter.Jennie joins the Whist Club, is elected president of the Ladies’ Aid Society of Ypsilanti’s First Congregational Church, and participates in the Sketching Club at MSNC art instructor Hilda Lodeman’s studio. Ida and Helen formally join the Congregational Church in January 1902. “What a busy, rushing life!” Jennie writes, “The girls have no time to do anything.” The D’Ooges again employ young women as live-in domestic servants, including Harriet Biery, Bertha Thompson, Mabel Love, and Jennie de Boer.Ben returns to summer school and his regular teaching duties, finishes his Cicero proof, gives lectures on topics such as Athens, Rome, and Pompeii, and travels on business to New York, New Haven, and Boston. He hopes for a position at Yale or Teachers College, Columbia University. Jennie agrees with a friend who says: “We have our heads up looking for a bigger town.”
The seventh volume of Jennie Pease D’Ooge’s diary documents December 1896 through mid-July 1899. It is a period of personal and professional growth for Jennie and her husband, Benjamin L. D’Ooge, as they prepare for a sabbatical in Bonn, Germany. She meticulously keeps track of transactions to and from her personal cash account, as well as social calls to be paid, in the back of her diary. Also in the back of this volume, Ben has written ten sets of questions on Marcus Tullius Cicero’s Third and Fourth Catilinarian Orations.The D’Ooges continue to rent 423 Ballard Street in Ypsilanti and have dinner out of the house. After domestic servant Rose Sauture becomes ill, Minnie Ellenbush Brummel returns to work for the D’Ooges. Mrs. Ruth Vroman and Mrs. Wilson at times do the family’s laundry; Miss Leonard, Miss Hess, and Minnie variously help with mending and sewing; and Mrs. Reinl and Miss Smith are hired as dressmakers. In July 1898 a newspaper obituary announces the death of “Rab D’Ooge, one of the most intelligent and best dogs in the city.”The D’Ooges experience a range of minor illnesses, which Jennie tends to diligently. She suffers from a troublesome ear ailment and goes to the dentist to have a nerve in a tooth killed. Measles sweeps through the family. Ida is only able to attend classes in the morning, as she struggles with headaches, backaches, dizziness, and worries about school. She gets new glasses for her farsightedness, and Helen is instructed to rest her eyes more to avoid glasses for the same condition.Now that the children are older and even the youngest is (eventually) potty-trained, Jennie is able to devote more time to long-neglected pursuits. She enrolls in a Latin class taught by Ben’s assistant, Miss Alice M. Eddy, and takes German conversation lessons. “My brain cells are expanding too rapidly, I’m sure, from so much German and Latin and things, after having been unused for more than twenty years.” Jennie also goes out sketching and, while in Charlevoix for the summer, takes swimming lessons.The nationwide bicycle craze of the late nineteenth century reaches the D’Ooge household. After Ben and Jennie successfully ride a tandem bike, in October 1897 he orders her a Rambler bicycle “at a great bargain” for $50. “I have the same jumping, squealing happiness inside that one of the children would show at such a prospect.” Ben is an avid cyclist and in October 1898 is involved in a legal dispute with the city of Ypsilanti over an ordinance banning cycling on sidewalks.After four years as pastor of Ypsilanti’s First Congregational Church, Rev. Bastian Smits leaves for Charlotte, Michigan. He is replaced by Rev. B. F. Aldrich in May 1897. Ben pledges $150 and Jennie $50 toward a major remodel of the church, anticipated to cost more than $6000. The cornerstone is laid in September 1898.Jennie serves as chairman of the Sappho Club’s nominating committee and sits on the finance and entertainment committees of the local Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA) chapter. She is also active with the Young People’s Society for Christian Endeavor (YPSCE) and the Ladies’ Literary Club, and she teaches the Congregational Sunday school infant class. Among the papers she presents at various club meetings are: “Rights of a Child” (“Expect to stir up a hornet’s nest by some of my views,” she comments), “Sanitation in the home – Physiology in the Schools,” and “The Domestic Problem.”Much of the extended D’Ooge family makes an appearance during this volume, as Ben and his siblings travel to visit their aging mother. On February 23, 1899, Johanna Quintus D’Ooge dies at the age of 81 in Grand Rapids. In the following weeks, Ben and his brother Martin L. D’Ooge divide up their parents’ estate among the heirs, Ben taking a house and lot on Spring Street in Grand Rapids as an investment property.There are whispers that Michigan State Normal College president Dr. Richard Gause Boone will be asked to resign, and several have suggested Ben take his place, but Jennie is “so glad he will not think of it.” The D’Ooges hope to move on from Ypsilanti soon. Ben is offered a position at Adelphi College in Brooklyn, New York, but the college is unable to pay him enough. As it is, he must stay behind to teach summer school for the extra money while his family goes up north to Charlevoix. Outside of teaching, Ben is invited, along with Jennie, to serve as chaperone at an Arm of Honor banquet in February 1899, and he is active with the Schoolmaster’s Club.Ben’s textbook Easy Latin for Sight Reading is published by Ginn and Company in 1897. He then works with Harvard professor James B. Greenough to revise Joseph Henry Allen and Greenough’s edition of Caesar’s Gallic War. Jennie assists by researching Gaul and copying references, and the new Caesar is published in May 1898. Other publishers approach Ben to edit more Latin texts, and Jennie writes: “Of course it is all a great honor and some money too – but I wish the work outside his School work did not pile up so fast.” Ginn and Co. agree to pay Ben $1200 a year to study overseas, and in January 1899 the state board of education grants him a one-year leave of absence. Spending time abroad may help him get a position at another school. “But I don’t worry a bit about his chances for promotion,” Jennie asserts. “A man who has done such first-class work always – must win.”In May 1898, following the explosion of the USS Maine and the outbreak of the Spanish–American War, more than 4000 soldiers from Michigan’s National Guard formed four volunteer regiments, which were trained at Camp Eaton at Island Lake, near Brighton. Ben takes seven-year-old Len to see the encampment. They have supper in the mess tent with a friend, Mr. Glaspie (likely recent Normal graduate and football player Andrew Bird Glaspie), who gives Len a badge bearing an eagle and the slogan “Remember the Maine,” which, Jennie says, “is our watch-word in all engagements.” “We are wondering what a week will bring forth in the way of battles. Still we go on quietly living just as if the air were not so full of war and battles down around Cuba.”Jennie loses ten pounds during the family’s last month in Ypsilanti, as she rushes to sell investments for cash, withdraw money from banks, and procure last-minute necessities. At the end of the journal, Ben travels to Cambridge, Massachusetts, while Jennie and the children travel past Niagara Falls (“a bit disappointed”) to Canaan, Connecticut. They plan to meet at the home of Ben’s sister Nellie D’Ooge Utterwick in East Canaan, before journeying on to New York to board their transatlantic ship.
The fifth volume of Jennie Pease D’Ooge’s diary is comparatively short, spanning less than a year, from July 1893 to June 1894. It begins with Jennie and husband Benjamin L. D’Ooge’s two-week visit to the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago. Jennie gives an almost-daily account of the fair’s highlights, disappointments, and novelties, and the accompanying overwhelm and frustration. She rides the Ferris Wheel, sees Buffalo Bill Cody’s Wild West Show, and witnesses the burning of the Cold Storage Building. She also makes a side trip with a relative to her hometown, Salem, Wisconsin, to visit her aunt Charlotte and old friend Lelia Runkel. Shortly after returning to Michigan, Jennie and Ben, along with their three children, travel north by train to their summer cottage in Charlevoix. Flora Cattermole, their hired girl, joins them to help with household chores and childcare. The summer is spent, with friends from Ypsilanti and elsewhere, fishing, sketching, picnicking, bathing in Lake Michigan, attending church and amateur plays, and boating. The D’Ooges and their friends Bastian and Helen Smits purchase a yacht together, christened the “Helen.” The family stops in Grand Rapids en route to Ypsilanti for a family gathering, or “Kring” in Dutch, with Ben’s mother, siblings, and cousins. The D’Ooges continue to rent 423 Ballard Street in Ypsilanti. Hinting at the Panic of 1893, Jennie remarks on Christmas Day 1893 that she is thankful for what she and her family have “when there are so many thousands starving and cold this winter” and notes that Detroit alone has needed $10,000 per week “to feed the poor who could not get work.”Jennie alludes to a marital issue in March 1894, which appears to have been resolved and left her feeling more grateful for her husband and family. The D’Ooges’ two daughters, Ida and Helen, attend kindergarten and play with classmates and neighborhood friends. Their youngest child, Leonard, is becoming more talkative and making progress with toilet training, but Jennie worries about him for reasons she does not specify. She meticulously tends to her children’s sore throats, earaches, colds, and croupy coughs with homeopathic remedies. When a young girl in her Sunday School class dies, Jennie is critical of her parents for attributing their daughter’s death to God’s will, rather than a lack of care on their part. Galusha Jackson Pease, Jennie’s aging father, is ill and frightened of death, which grieves her. She and Ben try to help her older sister, Ida Pease, sort out his business matters. Ida is their father’s primary caretaker, as well as landlady to several students from the University of Michigan who rent rooms in the Peases’ Ann Arbor home. Jennie has difficulty managing her household accounts on the allowance she is given by Ben. Flora leaves once again and is replaced by a succession of servants: Blanche Scott, Fannie Collier, and Mamie Dickerson. The young women are often unable to handle the laundry, so Jennie hires Mary James or, on one occasion, Wealthy Sherman, a Black woman, to come in and wash clothes. Mrs. Farnam (or Farnum) helps make and make-over clothing, but Jennie still spends many late nights sewing, mending, and darning.The pressures of her family concerns, household stressors, and domestic duties take a toll on Jennie’s mental health in this volume. She describes “the everyday grinding at the home-mill” and writes she “[is] happy as [she] used to be, one day, and the next – [she is] down-cast by a single word or look.”In addition to his position as Professor of Greek and Latin at the Michigan State Normal School, Ben gives public talks, reads a paper before the Philological Society at Ann Arbor, and travels to evaluate a school elsewhere in Michigan for the State Board of Education. Richard Gause Boone becomes president of the Michigan State Normal School, replacing John M. B. Sill.
"In her diary spanning June 1890 to March 1892, Jennie Pease D'Ooge documents her daily activities and thoughts, family and community news, and memorable moments with her young children. She has pasted numerous clippings from newspapers and periodicals into the front and back of this volume, including poetry and articles on diverse topics (e.g. parenthood, the population of Michigan towns and cities, Richard Wagner, how men and women try on shoes differently), some serious and others humorous. Throughout the book, she encloses newspaper articles pertaining to her family or topics of interest to her, as well as fabric swatches and other ephemera. Jennie and her husband Benjamin L. D'Ooge continue to be busy raising their children, improving their rented house on Ballard Street, and maintaining a large familial and social network. They travel via ship on the Great Lakes to their cottage in Charlevoix each summer, along with many other Michigan State Normal School faculty families. After learning she is pregnant for a third time, Jennie worries about managing her household and parenting responsibilities. Her elder sister, Ida Pease, is an invaluable source of support for her. A son, Leonard, is born in April 1891, joining daughters Ida and Helen. His eczema concerns Jennie, as do the children's occasional illnesses, which she treats with homeopathic remedies. The 1890-1891 influenza pandemic, ""La Grippe,"" surges in spring 1891 and again in winter 1891-1892. Jennie remains active in numerous religious and secular organizations, including the Ladies' Aid Society, Young Woman's Missionary Society, Young People's Society of Christian Endeavor, and Sappho Club, but resigns some of her leadership positions. Her husband, Benjamin L. D'Ooge, steps down from his role as superintendent of Sunday School and begins teaching a class in Italic dialects at the University of Michigan. The D'Ooges' domestic servant from the Industrial School for Girls in Adrian, Phebe Crownover, returns home, and her place is taken by Emma Johnson, who is replaced shortly thereafter by Lillie Nicholson in November 1890. The advent of the Ann Arbor-Ypsilanti Street Railway in January 1891 makes intercity travel faster, easier, and more affordable. Jennie enjoys a stroll in the sunshine with her children or an evening walk on her own, but she also uses the ""motor"" for travel within Ypsilanti, especially when it is muddy or she is tired. Jennie's sister and their father, Galusha Jackson Pease, live in Ann Arbor, and the two households have regular contact. Ben's brother, Martin L. D'Ooge, a professor at the University of Michigan, and their mother and siblings from Grand Rapids and elsewhere make frequent appearances in the diary. Jennie and Ben correspond by mail and telegram with more distant relatives. Jennie's maternal grandfather, Obil Deuel, dies in southern California in September 1891, leaving much of his $7500 estate to his four grandchildren."
The diary of Jennie Pease D’Ooge dated from October 1887 to June 1890 chronicles the D'Ooge family's increasingly busy homelife, social engagements, and activities in the community, as well as the career of Jennie's husband, Benjamin L. D'Ooge, a professor of Greek and Latin at Michigan State Normal School in Ypsilanti. In July 1888, they move from Ellis Street to a rented house at 423 Ballard Street. The couple's first daughter, Ida Joanna, is joined by a second, Helen Irene, in May 1889. The diary records the children's milestones and daily occurrences, especially the phrases and mannerisms of little Ida that Jennie finds funny. Ida's "baby talk" provides a glimpse of the D'Ooges' parenting styles and values. Jennie regularly suffers from "bilious headaches," has a number of dental visits, and experiences pain after weaning Ida and again when beginning to breastfeed Helen, the children are occasionally afflicted with stomachaches or sore throats, and "La Grippe" briefly sweeps through the family during the 1889-1890 influenza pandemic, but overall the family is in good health.Ben publishes Colloquia Latina in 1888. He and Jennie appear to be gaining financial stability. They purchase real estate in Detroit and Grand Rapids, in addition to investments in Minneapolis and Sault Ste. Marie, and in June 1890 buy land on Normal Street on Ypsilanti, where they hope one day to build a home. Jennie sews some clothing for herself and her daughters, but more often she hires a seamstress or orders custom garments from a dressmaker in Pennsylvania. Jennie is again assisted by a live-in nurse during and after childbirth. The family employs a series of young women, including Phebe Crownover from the Industrial Home for Girls in Adrian, to help with housework and childcare. They adopt a kitten, followed by a puppy, whom they name Rab.Outside of the house, the D'Ooges are heavily involved with the First Congregational Church of Ypsilanti. Jennie is elected secretary and treasurer of the Ladies' Aid Society and president of the Young Woman's Missionary Society, teaches the Sunday School infant class, and participates in the Young People's Society of Christian Endeavor (YPSCE), Home Missionary Society, and Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA). Ben steps down from his role as president of the Young People's Missionary Society (YPMS) but continues as deacon and becomes superintendent of the Sunday School. Both are also active in academic and arts organizations in Ypsilanti and Ann Arbor. She is a member of the Sappho Club, a music appreciation and performance group, and the Ladies' Literary Club in Ypsilanti, and he participates in University of Michigan alumni events and goes to Schoolmaster's Club in Ann Arbor. Jennie and Ben spend time with their siblings, parents, and extended family in Ann Arbor and Grand Rapids. They visit Detroit to shop or conduct business. Their summers are spent at a shared cottage in Charlevoix, where they boat, fish, and relax outdoors. In August 1889, a sailboat capsizes in Lake Michigan with Ben and his niece, Jennie Utterwick, aboard. They are rescued, but it is a frightening experience. Jen Utterwick dies of tuberculosis in December.
Pease Auditorium on the Eastern Michigan University campus in Ypsilanti, Michigan. Constructed in 1914, the auditorium was named after professor Frederic Pease, who taught in the music department from 1858-1909. The building was constructed in response to rapidly increasing enrollment rates and was built in a Georgian Revival style.
Welch Hall on the Eastern Michigan University campus in Ypsilanti, Michigan. Built in 1895, Welch Hall was the first building on campus designated for classroom training. The building had rooms for K-8th grades, where Michigan State Normal College students could practice being teachers for young students. Andrew Nazarro, professor of historic preservation, led the effort to save the historic building in the 1980's when it was deemed the building upkeep was too costly and it was to be torn down. The building now houses university executive offices. Welch Hall was constructed in the Georgian Revival style and has a projecting portico over the main entrance that is supported by ionic columns.
Portrait of William Sherzer, professor in and head of the natural sciences department in the early 1900's at Michigan State Normal College, now Eastern Michigan University. He is wearing a large overcoat, a vest, dress shirt, and a tie.
Portrait of a man who is likely a professor at Michigan State Normal College, now Eastern Michigan University. He is wearing a wool overcoat, a dress shirt, and a tie.
Students in a classroom, presumably at Michigan State Normal College, now Eastern Michigan University. The students sit in long, wooden bench style desks while their professor sits at the front of the classroom in the foreground. Gas lights hang from the ceiling and the room is mostly unadorned. A wall length black board can be seen to the right.
Students listening to their professor in a classroom, presumably at Michigan State Normal College, now Eastern Michigan University. The students sit in long, wooden bench style desks while their professor talks to them at the front of the room. The room is unadorned and has a wall length black board in the background.
Teenage students in a classroom. The students sit in wooden bench desks while their professor stands behind her desk at the front of the room. It appears to be a biology class that the students are attending based on the drawings of the human brain on the black board, the model skeleton in front of the book cabinets, and the different model animals around the room. A deer head hangs from the upper floor balcony.
Students in an art class, presumably at Michigan State Normal College, now Eastern Michigan University. The students are sitting behind large drafting tables that have white canvas' on them. The professor stands at the front of the classroom by the blackboard, which has different geometric designs on it.
Students in a classroom, presumably at Michigan State Normal College, now Eastern Michigan University. The class is made up of men and women, who are sitting in wooden desks that fill the large classroom. The professor sits at his desk at the front of the classroom to the left and it is most likely a biology class based on the skeletons and fossils on top of glass curio cabinets in the background.
A professor's stands at the front of a classroom, instructing students, presumably at Michigan State Normal College, now Eastern Michigan University. Books cover the professor's desk and are housed in a large curio cabinet to the left. Classical studies posters hang from the ceiling and surrounding the doorway. Cursive writing covers the blackboards in the background. The men and women of the class sit in wooden desks.
A picture taken from the back of a classroom at the Michigan State Normal College, now Eastern Michigan University. Men and women sit in the wooden benches throughout the room and their professor, likely William H. Sherzer, stands at the front of the classroom. Cursive writing can be seen on the blackboard to the left.
Male students in gymnasium class, presumably at Michigan State Normal College, now Eastern Michigan University. The professor is standing in front of the class facing them, at the front of the room while all of the men stand at attention in rows throughout the room. The room has a low ceiling with metal beams supported by false ionic columns. Men sit on platforms towards the back of the class waiting for their turn.
Professor Frederic Pease on stage with the Michigan State Normal College school choir. The students are all wearing long dresses or dress clothes and are holding sheet music. The pianist can be seen to the left and a large pipe organ stands on the back wall of the auditorium. Pease Auditorium on Eastern Michigan University's campus was dedicated to Professor Pease on 1915 to honor his commitment towards the advancement of musical studies at the university.
An instructor's desk in a laboratory, presumably at the Michigan State Normal College, now Eastern Michigan University. Large display cases cover the walls in the background and have glass panes in the doors so the laboratory supplies can be seen. Several chairs surround the large wooden desk and a number of laboratory apparatuses cover the desk. An oil lamp hangs from the ceiling.
Two geology students listen to their professor while sitting on boulders in Glacier National Park in Montana. The group is sitting next to Iceberg Lake, which has its signature floating icebergs in the background. The large cliffs surrounding the lake can also be seen in the background. It is noted the picture was taken in 1925.
Students sitting in music class, presumably at the Michigan State Normal College, now Eastern Michigan University. The professor leans on the piano at the front of the room and music staff's have been drawn on the blackboard in the background. The students are both female and male, and all are dressed in period clothing.
Moored ship M.S. Dollar in San Francisco, California. The ship is an ocean steamer with a single visible smoke stack. Large ropes tie the ship to the dock where men can be seen walking next to the ship and sitting in the shadow of the building. A small tugboat can be seen in the foreground, giving perspective to the size of the M.S. Dollar.
Barbara Scheffer served with Eastern Michigan University from 1976 until her retirement in 2013. A professor with the EMU School of Nursing, Scheffer went on to serve as the Associate Dean of the College of Health and Human Services. Always a proponent of bridging the gap between university and community, Scheffer led students into Ypsilanti neighborhoods to help community members and gain valuable hands-on experience in the nursing field. Scheffer received Emeritus status when she retired in 2013.
David Geherin served as professor of English Language and Literature from 1969 until his retirement in 2010. During his time at EMU, Geherin, an author of crime fiction novels and analytic studies of contemporary crime fiction authors, designed several courses, most notably on crime fiction. Geherin was also an avid traveler during his time with the University, accompanying students on World Cultural History tours across Europe, studying classic works or art, history, and literature in their places of origination. Geherin received Emeritus status in 2010.
Alida Westman served as professor in the Department of Psychology from 1972 until her retirement in 2012. Born in The Hague, Holland, during World War II, and growing up in post-war Europe, Westman learned at an early age that certain cultural landscapes elicit specific reactions in human beings based on past trauma. As a result, the rest of her life was set by the age of four toward perception and research. After immigrating to the United States, Westman attended school in the Pacific Northwest and Cornell University, and landed at Eastern Michigan University as a professor in perception and comprehension studies. A supporter of the American Association of University Professors and member of countless academic committees during her career with EMU, Westman attained Emeritus status when she retired in 2012.
EMU Roles and Perspectives was taped television program broadcast from the campus of EMU, and produced by Robert Hoexter (1930-1978). Hoexter joined the faculty at the EMU School of Education in 1964, and served as Coordinator of Graduate Advising from 1969-1971. A member of the Faculty Senate from 1973-1976, Hoexter was elected vice-chairman from 1974-1975, and chairman, 1975-1976. In this episode of Roles and Perspectives, Hoexter interviews Leah Adams. Dr. Adams served Eastern Michigan University from 1969-1999 as a professor in early childhood education with the EMU College of Education. In this interview, Adams, a strong supporter of the growing preschool programs in the United States, defends the practice of preschooling children by saying that the emergence of preschool fits perfectly within the changing society in which it resides. With the emergence of widespread automobile use, families were able to begin isolating themselves from their neighbors, yet they wanted ways in which to socialize their children. This need for socialization, coupled with the nation’s recent “Sputnik Complex,” lead to parents wanting children to learn faster and sooner. The woman’s role in the household had changed as well, from that of homemaker who was seen to be shirking her motherly duties if she left her child at a daycare center, to that of professional, career-minded woman.
Dr. Sally McCracken is an Emeritus Professor from the Eastern Michigan University Communication, Media, and Theater Arts Department, teaching at EMU from 1968 until her retirement in 2012. In addition to teaching at EMU, McCracken has negotiated several contracts on behalf of the American Association of University Professors, an institution in which she played many roles: chief negotiator and president until 1968- From 1968 till 1994 and continued to function as regional council member. McCracken served on the Faculty Council, reader of names for commencement and president of the Emeritus Faculty Association. In this interview, McCracken details her experience growing up in Southern Ohio, the essentiality of Communication studies to forging productive relationships, and her perspectives on the growing diversity of EMU programs and campus life.
