Backyard Ballyhoo: Shining a Light on the Dark Side of the Circus

By Stella A. Ress, Associate Professor in the Department of History, Affiliated Faculty of Gender Studies

The canvas tent, the cotton candy, the clowns, the big cats! For many, the circus is a perennial and beloved spectacle that conjures images of daring feats, extraordinary talents, and a respite from the normal humdrum daily activities we all must do. For most then, “the circus” as a serious area of research and study, might sound as laughable as its clown performers. Yet, in actuality, the circus was a big part of U.S. history starting from the mid-19^th century when it became the most popular form of entertainment in the nation (a title it enjoyed up until the mid-twentieth century when television took its crown).[1] And circus life and culture is not just a national story, it is an Indiana story! Indiana was home to one of the most diverse and rich circus cultures in the country. From the 1880s to the 1940s, the Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus, based in Peru, Indiana, was, after the Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey Circus, the largest circus in the country. But, it was only one of a half-dozen of the nation’s premier shows that set up winter quarters in Peru, Indiana.[2] And Peru didn’t have the corner on the circus market. In fact, during that same period (roughly 1880-1940) over 25 Indiana communities, including the southern Indiana city of French Lick, were home to over 60 different circuses!

In 2022, after diligent work behind the scenes and with generous funding from private donors through the USI Foundation, David Bower, USI’s Vice President for Development and Alumni Engagement and President of the USI Foundation, successfully acquired the renowned Tom Dunwoody Circus Collection for the University of Southern Indiana. Today, the University Archives and Special Collections proudly houses one of the 20th century’s most remarkable circus collections, offering invaluable insights into the captivating world of circus history and culture. The Dunwoody Circus Collection is comprised of 144 document boxes, 900 books, dioramas, toys, and other circus memorabilia from the Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus and several other smaller Indiana-based circuses.

Circus history is important beyond its popularity, however. Examining the experiences and activities of the talent, the crew, the sites, the acts, and the audience, helps us understand the society in which the circus became a favorite national pastime. Studying the circus also aids in uncovering the voices of those often ignored…those on the margins of society (e.g., women, children, laborers, those with disabilities, the poor, people of color, rural Americans, etc.). As such, it can help us teach about those folks and their past as well.

It was with that in mind that I created a project in my Fall 2023 HIST 246 class, US History in a Global Context. For this assignment, students were tasked to act like historians. In other words, they had to produce original scholarship for the local community. Specifically, they had to use objects and/or photographs from the Dunwoody Circus Collection to write 700-word essays examining how a marginalized group of their choice was presented in the circus at a specific point in time. They were also asked to determine what those depictions and experiences could tell us about America and its culture at that time. Though all students had to write the essay, not all student essays were selected for publication. Through the next few weeks, amUSIngartifacts will publish these student essays.

The essays themselves showcase the various items in the collection, but also the ways the Dunwoody Collection could be used for research (and since they were originally produced for a classroom, how the Collection could be used for teaching as well). Taken together, these six essays demonstrate the thin line (often crossed!) between entertainment and exploitation. The first three essays by Tiffany Sandoval, Alex Reynolds, and Noah Albin, highlight how the circus used and abused people for amusement, specifically women, those with dwarfism, and Native Americans, respectively. The next three essays by Gloria Hinterscher, Emma Boyd, and Ahmad Abushammalh confirm how the exploitation and abuse extended to all performers, even the non-human ones as they expose the conditions and experiences of animals in general, and more specifically elephants and giraffes.

In circus slang the “backyard” is the area that is off-limits to the public, whereas “ballyhoo” refers to the figure-eight spotlight that swept over the spectators in the tent.[3] Thus, these essays, collectively referred to as “The Backyard Ballyhoo,” reveal the true cost of the turn-of-the-century circus: sure it was fun, but by and large, not by those who conjured it for the rest of us.

[1] Dominique Jando, “Short History of the Circus,” Circopedia: The Free Encyclopedia of the International Circus, 14 October 2023, http://www.circopedia.org/index.php?title=SHORT_HISTORY_OF_THE_CIRCUS&oldid=40359  

[2] Kreig A. Adkins, Peru: Circus Capital of the World (Charleston, SC: Arcadia Publishing, 2009), 27.

[3] Wayne Keyser, “American Circus Lingo,” Goodmagic, 2008 (last accessed 3 April 2024), https://www.goodmagic.com/carny/c_a.htm.

Post written by Mona Meyer, Archives and Special Collections Metadata Librarian

Welcome to Archives Madness 2024, the friendly contest between area institutions vying for recognition for having the coolest artifact. We’ll start by introducing the institutions and their nominated artifacts, then proceed with several weeks of voting (which you will be able to do online) until all but the winner are eliminated. You may notice a similarity between this a certain athletic competition that takes place in March and culminates this year on April 8. That similarity is intentional!

DOWNLOAD THE 2024 BRACKETS

And the winner is…

Congratulations to the

Evansville Wartime Museum!

Championship Results

Parachute Dress (854) VS Archie Mascot (518)

Final 4 Results

Civil War Letter (94) VS Archie Mascot (384)

Tennessee Club Car (184 VS Parachute Dress (241)

Elite 8 Results

Civil War Letter (233) VS Passenger Pigeon (211)

Rising Sun Quilt (168) VS Archie Mascot (281)

Saint Dorothea (201) VS Tennessee Club Car (238)

Napoleon Letter (188) VS Parachute Dress (260)

Sweet 16 Results

Civil War Letter (378 votes) VS Willard Library Building (224 votes)

Passenger Pigeon (374 votes) VS Accordion (192 votes)

Rising Sun Quilt (355 votes) VS Crazy Quilt (218 votes)

Harmonist Cabinet (96 votes) VS Archie Mascot (476 votes)

Saint Dorothea (346 votes) VS 1919 Postcard (220 votes)

Napoleon Letter (340 votes) VS Army Biscuit (229 votes)

Chemise (195 votes) VS Parachute Dress (386 votes)

Evansville City Charter (155) VS Tennessee Club Car (448)

Now, let’s meet the competitors and their artifacts.

University Archives and Special Collections, Rice Library, 3^rd floor/University of Southern Indiana

In the summer of 1972 the Lilly Endowment, Inc. of Indianapolis, Indiana awarded the then Indiana State University Evansville a three-year grant to establish an archival project for the acquisition, preservation and processing of regional material. At the end of the third year the University was to assume responsibility for continuing the growth of the Special Collections. It started with just a few regional history books on Indiana from the library’s own collection. Today, the University Archives and Special Collection has over 850 unique collections, 800 oral history interviews, 6,500 rare and unique books, and 30,000 digital resources.

The first item is this circa 1970 original suit for USI’s mascot, Archibald the Screaming Eagle. The head is the second one used with this costume. The original head was made of papier mache. Fondly nicknamed “Creepy” Archie, this item greets everyone who comes into UASC.

The second item is this accordion from the William J. Moutoux collection, MSS 280. Nothing is known about this particular accordion, but a quick search online found it to be similar to German instruments dated 1880-1890. It is the type of instrument that might have accompanied a family as they immigrated to this country. William Moutoux’s parents were both German immigrants, making this a possibility, made stronger by the fact that his collection contains quite a bit of sheet music, but nothing that can be proven conclusively.

Evansville Museum of Arts, History, and Science at 411 SE Riverside Dr. 

Evansville has had a museum since 1906, with today’s location dating to the 1950s.  This appearance dates to a major update/remodel circa 2014. “The Evansville Museum of Arts, History & Science houses a permanent collection of more than 30,000 objects, including fine and decorative art, as well as historic, anthropological, and natural history artifacts. Over twenty temporary, regional and international exhibitions are displayed each year in four galleries.  The Koch Immersive Theater houses a 40-foot diameter domed screen with 360-degree digital projection featuring astronomy and science programming.  Evansville Museum Transportation Center (EMTRAC) featuring transportation artifacts from the late 19th through the mid-20th centuries. On exhibit is a three-car train. The museum is home to a model train diorama of Evansville.”

The first item from the Evansville Museum is a document signed by Napoleon Bonaparte. This is a request submitted to the Emperor Napoleon of France on February 6, 1811, requesting pensions for two military nurses. Napoleon approved these pensions by signing this document, at lower left, on February 7, 1811. 

The second item is the Tennessee Club Car of the Louisville & Nashville Railroad, acquired by the Evansville Museum in 1966.  Capable of seating 38 people, this car ran on the Cincinnati to New Orleans passenger train the Pan American. It also played a role in American politics. In 1952, it was part of a campaign train of General Dwight Eisenhower in his successful run for the presidency. In 1964, the press corps used this car when it was assigned to a train utilized by Lady Bird Johnson as she toured the South on behalf of her husband, President Lyndon Johnson

Newburgh Museum at 503 State St. in Newburgh, IN

The Newburgh Museum preserves exhibits and educates all visitors about the history and culture of Newburgh and the surrounding areas’ unique river town heritage.

The first item is a handwritten letter dating to the Civil War, written by a soldier in the field to his wife tending the family at home. The letter is very informative of the Battle of Memphis as well as very tender and touching in the author’s love and support of his wife’s domestic hardships.

The second item is this colorful “Crazy Quilt,” made in 1893. It was made by Nannie Morrow and donated to the museum by her descendent, Mary Jean Barr.  This pattern is indicative of the 19th century. Notice in particular the embroidered details, hand-painted fabrics, and overall richness of the textiles used.

Evansville Wartime Museum at 7503 Petersburg Road, Evansville, IN 47725

“Evansville Wartime Museum is the place to visit for the surprising, interesting and world-changing story of our community’s involvement in winning WWII. The stories we tell come from home front workers and battlefront warriors — these are the people who were there. You can also explore the history of Evansville during WWI, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War in our exhibits dedicated to those times.”

The first item is this piece of WWI hardtack (here called an Army biscuit), an integral part of soldiers’ diets because it was easy to make and non-perishable.

The second item is this silk wedding dress, made from the bride’s fiance’s WWII parachute. It was worn by Phyllis Hall when she married Jim Hall, a veteran of the US Army Air Corps on March 19, 1949 in Port Huron, Michigan. “Real” silk would have been expensive, but the thrifty bride had plenty of fabric from the parachute.

Owensboro Museum of Science and History at 122 East 2nd Street, Owensboro, KY 42303

The Owensboro Museum of Science & History, founded in 1966, is housed within a historic 19th/early 20th-century building in downtown Owensboro, Kentucky. The museum is a gathering spot, a learning center, and a family-friendly entertainment experience.

The first item is young male Passenger Pigeon, weighing approximately 10 ounces. A full-grown male could weigh up to 12 ounces. Although extinct, at one time the Passenger Pigeon represented 40% of all bird life in North America. In 1813, near Henderson KY, Audubon observed one flock, approximately 1 mile wide and 180 miles long, containing an estimated 1.2 billion birds. One nesting site in Michigan covered 850 square miles. For centuries, these birds were used for food by indigenous inhabitants, and later by early settlers of this area. By the 1830s their feathers were used for bedding, their fat for cooking and soap making, and their flesh for food for animals and people alike. In 1869, during one 40 day period, 120 carloads of salted pigeons (7.6 million birds) were shipped from a single nesting site in Michigan to New York. After 1870 their numbers began to decline rapidly, and by 1890, sightings were rare. Attempts were made to protect the birds as early as 1848, but the first law providing complete protection was not passed until 1897. The Passenger Pigeon needed large numbers for optimum breeding conditions and survival. The last one, named Martha, died September 1, 1914 at the Cincinnati Zoological Society.

The second item is this embroidered silk postcard, dating to 1919. Postcards were a common souvenir from WWI. They were blank postcards glued on embossed paper that helped frame and hold the central piece of silk. On the silk, a design was hand-embroidered in colorful thread. Embroidered postcards were sold in thin paper envelopes and were usually mailed with letters. Designs, often patriotic or sentimental, featured flags, butterfly wings, bird plumage, rainbows
and a few words.

University Art Collection, University of Southern Indiana

The mission of the University of Southern Indiana Art Collection is to provide educational and aesthetic experiences for members of the University community and the surrounding region through the exhibition, research, and preservation of original works of art.

The first item is this painting entitled The Annunciation of Saint Dorothea, 14^th century, by a member of the Sienna School, Egg tempera on panel, 18 1/2” h x 27 1/2” w x 3” d. St. Dorothea is the protector of young girls according to the inscription on the reverse of the painting. 1989.561.001  

The second item is this quilt, entitled Rising Sun, 2003, pieced by Miriam Graber and Amos A. Graber, and hand quilted by Delores Kemp. This quilt was made in Montgomery, Indiana, in the Old Order Amish community. Medallion style quilt made from cotton and poly-cotton blend fabric and medium loft polyester batting. 92″ x 107″. 2013.025.001

Working Men’s Institute, 407 Tavern Street, New Harmony, IN 47631

Established by philanthropist William Maclure in 1838, the Working Men’s Institute (WMI) set as its mission the dissemination of useful knowledge to those who work with their hands. After 170 years of continuous service, this goal is still at the heart of our mission. Maclure, who was a business partner with Robert Owen in the communal experiment in New Harmony from 1825-1827, was devoted to the ideal of education for the common man as a means of positive change in society. At New Harmony, The Working Men’s Institute was one manifestation of this ideal. The Working Men’s Institute in New Harmony was the first of 144 WMIs in Indiana and 16 in Illinois. It is the only one remaining. Many WMIs were absorbed by township libraries or Carnegie libraries. Yet the one in New Harmony remained. Today, the WMI is a public library, a museum and an archive. In each of these areas, the WMI tries to stay true to the original mission of William Maclure.

The first item is a Harmonist linen chemise dating from Harmonist days, 1814-1824.

The second is a miniature hutch cabinet made as part of a WPA (Works Progress Administration, a New Deal program) in 1938.

Willard Public Library at 21 N. First Ave.

Willard Carpenter was born in Vermont in 1803 and came to Evansville in 1837 to continue to pursue his fortune. Desirous of leaving a lasting legacy, in 1876 he expressed his intention “to establish and endow a public library, to be located in a public park, on land owned by me, situated in the city of Evansville. I am induced to do this in the well-grounded hope that such an institution may become useful toward the improvement of the moral and intellectual culture of the inhabitants of Evansville, and collaterally to those of the State of Indiana; and also toward the enlargement and diffusion of a taste for the fine arts.” The library opened in 1885, 2 years after Carpenter’s death.

The first item, and last year’s winner, is this original charter of the city of Evansville. An act granting Evansville a city charter was approved by the state of Indiana on January 27, 1847. The Indiana Secretary of State issued this certified copy.

The second item is Willard Library itself. Willard Public Library opened in 1885 following nearly a decade of construction of its Victorian Gothic building, designed by the Reid Brothers. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1972. It is the state of Indiana’s oldest public library building. More information can be found above, next to the library’s logo.

Now that you’ve met all the candidates, it’s time to consider your vote. Here’s the first round bracket.

*Post written by Mona Meyer, Archives and Special Collections Metadata Librarian

Every blog I write contains at least one item from a UASC collection. Sometimes an item just sparks my imagination and I’m off on a voyage of discovery. This is one such blog.

While looking at MSS 010, a miscellaneous collection of nearly 1000 postcards, I ran across this.

Now take a look at the message on the back of this postcard.

A man named Adolph sent this to his sister in Evansville. He got to see the Hindenburg at Lakewood, NJ and said, “I’d like to take a ride on it.” This postcard was mailed on August 10, 1936. History tells us that the Hindenburg crashed in a fiery disaster at that location on May 6, 1937, less than one year later. Adolph’s timing was fortunate….he got to see the Hindenburg in all her glory, and while I cannot know if he ever got his wish to take a ride on her, I can say that there was no one in the list of those killed named Adolph!

The Hindenburg was the latest in luxury travel. It was huge, some 3 times longer than a 747. While an Atlantic crossing took 5 days on an ocean liner, this airship made it in only 2.5 days. Passengers were accommodated on 2 decks. “Hindenburg’s “A Deck” contained the ship’s Dining Room, Lounge, Writing Room, Port and Starboard Promenades, and 25 double-berth inside cabins. The passenger accommodations were decorated in [a] clean, modern design …, and in a major improvement over the unheated Graf Zeppelin, passenger areas on Hindenburg were heated, using forced-air warmed by water from the cooling systems of the forward engines. Hindenburg’s Dining Room occupied the entire length of the port side of A Deck. It measured approximately 47 feet in length by 13 feet in width, and was decorated with paintings on silk wallpaper. … The tables and chairs were designed … using lightweight tubular aluminum, with the chairs upholstered in red.” (quote here)

“On the starboard side of A Deck were the Passenger Lounge and Writing Room. The Lounge was approximately 34 feet in length, and was decorated with a mural …depicting the routes and ships of the explorers Ferdinand Magellan, Captain Cook, Vasco de Gama, and Christopher Columbus, the transatlantic crossing of LZ-126 (USS Los Angeles), the Round-the-World flight and South American crossings of LZ-127 Graf Zeppelin, and the North Atlantic tracks of the great German ocean liners Bremen and Europa. … During the 1936 season the Lounge contained a 356-pound Bluthner baby grand piano, made of Duralumin and covered with yellow pigskin. The piano was removed before the 1937 season and was not aboard Hindenburg during its last flight.” (quote here)

“Hindenburg was originally built with 25 double-berthed cabins at the center of A Deck, accommodating 50 passengers.  After the ship’s inaugural 1936 season, 9 more cabins were added to B Deck, accommodating an additional 20 passengers. The A Deck cabins were small, but were comparable to railroad sleeper compartments of the day.  The cabins measured approximately 78″ x 66″, and the walls and doors were made of a thin layer of lightweight foam covered by fabric.  Cabins were decorated in one of three color schemes — either light blue, grey, or beige — and each A Deck cabin had one lower berth which was fixed in place, and one upper berth which could be folded against the wall during the day. Each cabin had call buttons to summon a steward or stewardess, a small fold-down desk, a wash basin made of lightweight white plastic with taps for hot and cold running water, and a small closet covered with a curtain in which a limited number of suits or dresses could be hung. … None of the cabins had toilet facilities; male and female toilets were available on B Deck below, as was a single shower, which provided a weak stream of water “more like that from a seltzer bottle” than a showe …. Because the A Deck cabins were located in the center of the ship they had no windows, which was a feature missed by passengers who had traveled on Graf Zeppelin and had enjoyed the view of the passing scenery from their berths.” (quote here) B Deck cabins were slightly larger and had windows.

The B Deck also held the ship’s kitchen, passenger toilet and shower facilities, the crew and officers’ mess, a smoking room and a bar. A smoking room aboard a ship powered by hydrogen? For safety’s sake it “was kept at higher than ambient pressure, so that no leaking hydrogen could enter the room, and the smoking room and its associated bar were separated from the rest of the ship by a double-door airlock. One electric lighter was provided, as no open flames were allowed aboard the ship.” (quote here)

Given this time period, it should come as no surprise that to the Germans, the Hindenburg was far more than just a fancy way to get from point A to point B. “Although the Hindenburg was in development before the Third Reich came to power, members of the Nazi regime viewed it as a symbol of German might. Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels ordered the Hindenburg to make its first public flight in March 1936 as part of a joint 4,100-mile aerial tour of Germany with the Graf Zeppelin to rally support for a referendum ratifying the reoccupation of the Rhineland. For four days, the airships blared patriotic tunes and pro-Hitler announcements from specially mounted loudspeakers, and small parachutes with propaganda leaflets and swastika flags were dropped on German cities. … Later in 1936 the Hindenburg, sporting Olympic rings on its side and pulling a large Olympic flag behind it, played a starring role at the opening of the Summer Games in Berlin.” (quote here) The PBS NOVA documentary, Hindenburg: the New Evidence, says that the Germans had a goal of linking all the major cities of the globe, of connecting the world (which they believed would be a German world) by 1945.

Here’s how events transpired in May 1937. One important fact to know is that these airships had an issue with on-time arrival, and a big goal in 1937 was to improve this issue.

The ship left Frankfurt at at 7:16 a.m. on May 3, 1937. It carried 36 passengers with a crew of 61. Poor weather conditions across Europe and the Atlantic meant the Hindenburg was already 12 hours behind schedule when she arrived at the Naval Air Station in Lakehurst, NJ late in the afternoon of May 6. There were thunderstorms there and concern over these delayed the “touchdown” (really a docking) until after shortly after 7:00. As it approached, the captain and crew struggled to keep the ship trim….it seemed to be tail heavy. Some hydrogen was released, along with some water ballast, and finally some of the crew were asked to move forward into the nose, all to no avail. Possibly because they were already late, no one was sent to go back and see why the tail was still too heavy. SPOILER ALERT: they should have taken the time.

Finally, at 7:21 p.m., with the ship about 180 feet above the ground, two landing ropes were tossed down to the ground crew. Four minutes later the ship went up in flames.

“The fire spread so quickly — consuming the ship in less than a minute — that survival was largely a matter of where one happened to be located when the fire broke out. Passengers and crew members began jumping out the promenade windows to escape the burning ship, and most of the passengers and all of the crew who were in the public rooms on A Deck at the time of the fire — close to the promenade windows — did survive.  Those who were deeper inside the ship, in the passenger cabins at the center of the decks or the crew spaces along the keel, generally died in the fire. … As the ship settled to the ground, less than 30 seconds after the first flames were observed, those who had jumped from the burning craft scrambled for safety, as did members of the ground crew who had been positioned on the field below the ship. Natural instinct caused those on the ground to run from the burning wreck as fast as they could, but Chief Petty Officer Frederick J. “Bull” Tobin, a longtime airship veteran and an enlisted airship pilot who was in charge of the Navy landing party, cried out to his sailors: “Navy men, Stand fast!!” Bull Tobin had survived the crash of USS Shenandoah, and he was not about to abandon those in peril on an airship, even if it meant his own life.  And his sailors agreed.  Films of the disaster (seen in image immediately above) clearly show sailors turning and running back toward the burning ship to rescue survivors. Hindenburg left Frankfurt with 97 souls onboard; 62 survived the crash at Lakehurst, although many suffered serious injuries.  Thirteen of the 36 passengers, and twenty-two of the 61 crew, died as a result of the crash, along with one member of the civilian landing party.” (quote here)

Hindenburg Captain Max Pruss immediately claimed sabotage. Ernst Lehmann had previously commanded the Hindenburg but was aboard this flight strictly as an observer, was badly injured and died of his injuries the next day. “Before dying, Lehmann told American airship officer and Lakehurst commander Charles Rosendahl that he believed Hindenburg must have been destroyed by an “infernal machine” (Hollenmaschine), presumably referring to a bomb or other sabotage device, or possibly a shot fired from the ground.” (quote here)

Why did the Germans use hydrogen, known to be very flammable? Why not use helium, which would also lift the ship but is not flammable. The thing is, Hindenburg’s designer wanted to use helium. “However, the United States, which had a monopoly on the world supply of helium and feared that other countries might use the gas for military purposes, banned its export, and the Hindenburg was reengineered. After the Hindenburg disaster, American public opinion favored the export of helium to Germany for its next great zeppelin, the LZ 130, and the law was amended to allow helium export for nonmilitary use. After the German annexation of Austria in 1938, however, Secretary of Interior Harold Ickes refused to ink the final contract.” (quote here)

The Secretary of Commerce, who had jurisdiction “relating to the investigation of accidents in civil air navigation in the United States, …[was charged] to investigate the facts, conditions and circumstances of the accident involving the airship Hindenburg, which occurred on May 6, 1937, at the Naval Air Station, Lakehurst, New Jersey, and to make a report thereon. … [The conclusion was that] the cause of the accident was the ignition of a mixture of free hydrogen and air. Based upon the evidence, a leak at or in the vicinity of cell 4 and 5 caused a combustible mixture of hydrogen and air to form in the upper stern part of the ship in considerable quantity; the first appearance of an open flame was on the top of the ship and a relatively short distance forward of the upper vertical fin. The theory that a brush discharge ignited such mixture appears most probable.” (Taken from the Air Commerce Bulletin of August 15, 1937 (vol. 9, no. 2) published by the United States Department of Commerce, and found here.)

At the time, insufficient evidence was gathered to truly determine the cause of the accident. Other than eyewitness reports, investigations were based on newsreels taken that day. The problem with this is that all the films were taken from the same location, facing the ship, and only began after the fire broke out. Since the fire began in the back, there was no film footage of its ignition. Then, at the 75th anniversary commemoration of the disaster, an 8 mm film by spectator Harold Schenck was offered by his nephew to current day Hindenburg experts. His film was shot broadside and offers a new view of events. He had offered the film to the Commerce Dept. investigators at the time, but they believed the newsreels they had were sufficient.

PBS’ Nova program had an episode entitled “Hindenburg: The New Evidence” that originally aired May 19, 2021. First, the film and camera were vetted as authentic. A Caltech professor of chemical engineering, Dr. Konstantinos Giapis, conducted the investigation. All craft flying through the air build up an electric charge, but unless there is a pathway for this charge to flow, it’s not a problem. The Hindenburg fire started 4 minutes after the two landing ropes were dropped. Did they serve as this pathway? If so, why was there a 4 minute delay? Tests on rope very like that used were conducted and the ropes were proved to be conductive, and even more so when they were wet, as they were on that rainy day in 1937.

“Giapis agonized over how to explain that discrepancy…. [Finally], the answer came to him: After the ship was grounded, it became more electrically charged. Before the mooring ropes made connection with the ground, the Hindenburg collected a positive charge. However, this continued only to a point; indeed, as the skin became more positively charged, it also more strongly repelled any additional charge from collecting. Then, when the mooring ropes were dropped, electrons from Earth’s surface moved up to the frame, giving the ship a positively charged skin and a negatively charged frame. Just like how the north end of a bar magnet will be attracted to the south end of another bar magnet, that negatively charged frame began pulling more positive charge out of the stormy atmosphere and onto the ship’s skin. In other words, by grounding the frame with the mooring ropes, the landing crew had inadvertently made more “room” for positive charge to gather on the ship, setting the stage for the disaster. “When you ground the frame, you form a capacitor—one of the simplest electric devices for storing electricity—and that means you can accumulate more charge from the outside,” Giapis says. “I did some calculations and I found that it would take four minutes to charge a capacitor of this size!” With the ship now acting as a giant capacitor, it could store enough electrical energy to produce the powerful sparks required for igniting the hydrogen gas—which, based on eyewitness accounts, may have been leaking from the rear of the ship near its tail. This theory could also help explain a question that puzzled Giapis from the start: How did a spark occur in just the right spot to ignite leaking hydrogen? “Hydrogen was leaking at one specific location in this humongous thing. If there is a spark somewhere else on the ship, there is no way you would ignite a leak hundreds of feet away. Charge could move on wet skin over short distances but doing that from the front of the airship all the way to the back is more difficult,” he says. “So how did the spark find this leak?” Any place where a part of the frame was in close proximity to the skin would have formed a capacitor, and there were hundreds of these places all over the ship, Giapis says. “That means the giant capacitor was actually composed of multiple smaller capacitors, each capable of creating its own spark. So I believe there were multiple sparks happening all over the ship, including where the leak was,” he says.” (quote here)

Quite a story from one little postcard, isn’t it?!

Resources Consulted

Cuthbert, Dominic. “How the Hindenburg haunted hydrogen (And why it needs laying to rest).” ITM-Power.com blog, August 1, 2022.

Hindenburg Accident Report: U.S. Commerce Department.  Airships.net

The Hindenburg Disaster.  Airships.net

The Hindenburg’s Interior: Passenger Decks.  Airships.net

 Klein, Christopher.  “The Hindenburg Disaster: 9 Surprising Facts. History.com, May 5, 2020.

“Newly released film of Hindenburg disaster.  TheHistoryBlog

PBS NOVA.  Hindenburg: The New Evidence.  Episode aired May 19, 2021.

Paone, Thomas.  “Dealing with the Aftermath of the Hindenburg Disaster.  Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, May 6, 2022.

Taylor, Alan. “75 Years Since the Hindenburg Disaster.  The Atlantic magazine, May 8, 2012.

Velasco, Emily. “History’s Mysteries: Caltech Professor Helps Solve Hindenburg Disaster.” Caltech (California Institute of Technology) blog, May 17, 2021.

*Post written by Mona Meyer, Archives and Special Collections Metadata Librarian, and Kirsten Williams, Resource Sharing and Catalog Librarian.

First, a couple of definitions. The homecoming theme this year is a reference to the multiyear Eras tour of superstar Taylor Swift. She will perform a total of 151 concerts, celebrating her journey through the eras of her career. A Tardis is a time machine spacecraft from the BBC science fiction television series, Doctor Who. Finally, I know you know who Archie is….the long time university mascot, Archibald Eagle. In this blog we’re envisioning Archie entering the Tardis to explore the history of USI much as Taylor might have entered it to explore her career.

Archie has 4 eras to explore: 

The Foundation Era, beginning in 1965The Independence Era, beginning in 1985, The Expansion Era, beginning in 1994/1995, and the Division One Era, beginning in 2022.

Foundation Era

One of Taylor’s early albums was entitled Fearless. Archie might think of that word to describe those brave souls who boldly proposed the establishment of a state university in southwestern Indiana. This image pays homage to her album, released in 2008. The fearless man in this photograph is Dr. David L. Rice, founding president of ISUE/USI. Here he walks past the mud and muck of construction with a smile on his face, proof that his vision was coming true.

Evansville had a booming WWII economy, but by the 1950s most of the opportunities dried up as Chrysler, Briggs, International Harvester, and Hoosier Cardinal closed their doors. Additionally, in the early 1960s the baby boom threatened to overwhelm the capacities of Indiana’s colleges and universities, both public and private. Evansville was the largest city in the state that did not have a state university. True, it did have Evansville College (as it was called then), a private school that had lots of community support. It’s just that Evansville needed more.

It was an uphill battle. In 1966 a non-profit group called Southern Indiana Higher Education (SIHE) was formed. It “battled ‘sacred cows’ in Indiana’s academic powerhouses, challenging accepted practices that had left Indiana with one of the lowest educational achievement levels in the nation. They battled legislators from other cities with different agendas. And they battled some of their own peers, who couldn’t see beyond parochialism and an old allegiance.”ⁱ Finally, there was an unwritten gentlemen’s agreement (the “Indiana Plan”) among the presidents of the current state universities that they would not establish a branch campus anywhere there was already a private institution. Eventually Indiana State University (ISU) “broke ranks” and agreed to establish a branch campus in Evansville. 

September 15, 1965 saw the first ISUE (Indiana State University, Evansville) classes held at the old Centennial School at 112 N. 12th Ave. There were 412 students, two full-time and 36 part-time faculty and staff, and freshmen-level courses in seven academic programs.

By 1967 it was apparent that Centennial School could NOT be the permanent location for ISUE. 

SIHE was still on the ball, raising money and promoting higher education in Evansville. ”It launched a community campaign that raised almost $1 million, a record in Evansville at the time. Then it bought the land for a university and eventually gave it to the school, free of charge. When the state would not build student housing, SIHE built the housing and deeded it to the university, at no cost. A gymnasium was needed, so SIHE bought the vacated Central High School gym and leased it to the university for $1 a year.”ⁱⁱ

One critical limit to the growth of the campus was the lack of housing. For the first few years enrollment slowly grew to just shy of 4,000, but there it peaked, with ISUE enrollment only appealing to those who could commute to campus daily. In June 1970 Dr. Rice requested that the board seek state funding for married students, at the time some 25% of the ISUE student population. For a time it seemed as though this would be successful, but there was a great deal of resistance in the legislature. After all, this was a branch campus, and no other branch campus of any university in the state had housing. The legislature was firmly in the hands of a no-competition mentality.

“Continuous attempts by SIHE….met with the same brick wall of opposition, while the need for housing–not just for married students but for all students–became what [Dr.] Rice described as critical for the campus to continue growing. By April 1978 the SIHE board had made up its mind to no longer wait for ISU to act. … [SIHE board members] went to the ISU board on February 2, 1979 with an offer they felt the trustees would find too good to turn down: SIHE would build student housing and deed it to ISU at the end of amortization.”ⁱⁱⁱ Archie would surely have thought this was a slam-dunk, but no, there was concern about the fact that ISU had overbuilt housing and had empty dorms. BUT THIS HOUSING WAS IN TERRE HAUTE, HARDLY USEFUL FOR ISUE STUDENTS. 

SIHE had had enough. It created a nonprofit subsidiary, Mid-America Student Housing, Inc. (MASH) to build housing. This protected SIHE’s assets. Tax -free economic development bonds could be sold to finance construction, so long as a unit of government (state or local) would accept the housing once paid for. The Vanderburgh County Commissioners agree to do this. Despite struggles with high interest rates and continuing banking reluctance, funding was obtained and ground was broken on October 17, 1983 for two buildings that would house 600 students. Over a period of 10 years MASH built housing for 1300 students.

Independence Era

It’s time for Archie to hop back into the Tardis and explore how ISUE became USI. The image below plays homage to Taylor Swift’s album 1989 (Taylor’s Version), released in 2023. Our version shows a 1985 “Free the Eagle” ceremony on campus, with a ball and chain symbolizing the long struggle for independence being cut from Archie’s ankle.

And a long struggle it was! The plan, at least in the minds of all ISUE/USI supporters, was always an independent university. After all, there was precedent: Ball State University began as a division of ISU, but early on gained its independence. Once again, Archie would have assumed this was therefore a slam dunk, but he was sadly mistaken. This time, instead of a speed bump, he encountered a brick wall. There was opposition to creating another university that would then turn around and request state funding. There was opposition to expanding academic programs and as we’ve seen, to campus housing. There was opposition in 1975 from the new ISU president, Dr. Richard Landini, who had replaced the retired (and generally supportive) Dr. Rankin. There was opposition to offering graduate level classes, particularly a master’s degree in elementary education. UE felt this would duplicate and undermine its offering of the same degree. The 1971 creation of the Indiana Commission for Higher Education merely added another brick to that wall. On February 9, 1973, a bill granting ISUE independence passed the Indiana House by a huge margin, but was held up in the Senate which didn’t assign it to a committee; when it finally did so, that committee never scheduled a hearing. Independence wouldn’t even be a possibility for 12 more years.

But Archie and his SIHE friends were nothing if not persistent. In late 1983 they learned that the (Indiana) Commission of Higher Education was prepared to back independence, based on a study it had conducted concerning post-secondary attainment in southern Indiana. Survey results were disturbingly low. A concerted effort was made to quietly lobby legislators one by one, in private, to line up support. Then Governor Robert Orr was not opposed, but he was aware that there was still some opposition in the state legislature. Orr was from Evansville, and knew if he didn’t support independence, he faced a very real risk of losing hometown support when he came up for re-election. He suggested a small amendment to the bill; the new bill would establish a “board of incorporators” that would formulate the university’s mission and the types of programs offered. This was to be for a year, with the full understanding that when the question of independence arose next year it would be granted. This was in March 1984. In March of 1985 both houses of the Indiana General Assembly resoundingly voted for independence. Archie the Eagle could spread his wings and fly!!

Officially, “the University of Southern Indiana was created at 12:07:15 p.m. on April 16, 1985, when Governor Robert D. Orr …signed the bill establishing the University of Southern Indiana before an audience of more than 1,500 people in the Physical Activities Center.”^iv At the ceremony he said, 

  “I look forward to the day in the future when being an alumnus of the University of Southern Indiana will mean every bit as much as it does to be an alumnus of the greatest universities, not just in Indiana, but in the entire United States of America. I believe the spirit which prevails, which has made this possible today will most certainly achieve the standard, and that is the standard to which we can all aspire. I thank you for your dedication. I thank you for the inspiration which has made the University of Southern Indiana and which is going to make it a great university.”

The first building on campus was the Science Center, opening in 1969. 

The second was the original library building, built in 1971.

At about this same time, a Temporary Union Building (TUB) opened.

The Physical Activities Center (PAC) opened in 1980 with an indoor pool and sports arena. Unless you’ve been on campus before 2019, you’ve not seen this building. The Screaming Eagles Arena stands in its place.

Expansion Era

There’s so much more Archie could tell us, but he needs to get a move on back to the Tardis, and travel to the Expansion Era. This image pays homage to Taylor’s Swift’s Midnights album, released in 2022. She includes a listing of the tracks on the cover; Archie’s version lists some of the new things on campus in this era.

To keep fit (this Tardis travel is exhausting), Archie likes to enjoy the outdoors. “USI boasts many miles of multi-use trails on its scenic 1,400-acre campus open to the University community and to the public. The most recent trail is the USI-Burdette Trail, completed in 2012. This three-mile paved trail is the result of a USI/Burdette Park partnership. It is a diverse, interesting, and educational route for hikers, bicyclists, and runners. The scenic trail allows users to witness Southwestern Indiana’s natural beauty while connecting a picturesque park with one of the nation’s most beautiful college campuses. The trail is a key connection to an area of river bottom land, with an additional 37 miles of paved roads currently signed for bicycle use south of Burdette Park. The USI-Burdette Park Trail is a designated destination point of the American Discovery Trail, which passes through Southern Indiana. The trail also has been named a National Recreation Trail by the Secretary of the Interior. The trail begins at University Boulevard between the [Screaming Eagles Arena] and the Recreation, Fitness, and Wellness Center, and also is accessible at trailheads to the side of the baseball field, at the Broadway Recreational Complex, and via a paved connecting path from the end of Rochelle Lane.”^v

Division I Era

Archie is nearly worn out with all this time travel, but he gamely hops back into the Tardis for one last journey. This image is an homage to Taylor’s 2017 album, Reputation. It celebrate’s USI’s February 7, 2022 decision to make formal application to the NCAA for reclassification from Division II to Division I athletics. (I think Taylor would agree “Reputation” is particularly relevant here, too.)

Although the new Screaming Eagles Arena, pictured below, was opened in 2019, it certainly is evocative of the Division I Era.

Next year the university will celebrate its 60th anniversary. This blog barely scratches the surface of all the advancements the university has made. The mere fact that we’re standing and thriving 60 years later proves the vision and fearless tenacity of Dr. David L. Rice and SIHE members. It’s also a testament to those who continue to work to improve and promote the University of Southern Indiana. According to the university’s webpage, USI now offers 130 areas of study along with 130 clubs and organizations. Some 52,000+ alumni can claim ISUE/USI as their alma mater, and we currently have 9,286 students.

Now, Archie might say, enough of this!! It’s time to focus on the main event, Homecoming 2024. February 10 USI will take on SIU Edwardsville. Game time is 7:30. Archie is relieved to be out of the Tardis and eager to be at the game, cheering on his favorite team.

GO, SCREAGLES!!

Illustration Footnotes

Box 1: (Left): Centennial School, December 13, 1966. There is a model of this building in the 4th floor reading room of the library. UA78, University Photographs Collection UP01140; (Middle): Charles Wiley and Joseph Schoenbachler hanging the ISUE sign at the Centennial School. UA78, University Photographs Collection UP01150; (Right): Original cartoon courtesy of the Evansville Press. This image from UA 041, Creative and Print Services.

Box 2: (Left): A billboard donated by the West Side Nut Club stands over the 1968 groundbreaking ceremony for the new campus. From left to right are John McCutchan, Evansville’s representative on the board of Indiana State University, Dr. David L. Rice, then dean of ISUE, ISU President Rankin, who is shaking hands with Evansville Mayor Frank F. McDonald, and Charles Emge, Nut Club president. UA78, University Photographs Collection UP26067; (Right): UA78, University Photographs Collection UP18724

Box 3: (Top left): The Health Professions Center opened in 1994. UA78, University Photographs Collection UP02901; (Top center): In 1993, the founding president of ISUE/USI Dr. David L. Rice announced his retirement. His successor, Dr. H. Ray Hoops, was inaugurated in 1995 as seen here. After nearly 30 years in existence, USI had just its second president. UA78, University Photographs Collection UP01697; (Top right): Also in 1995, USI’s men’s basketball team won the NCAA Division II championship. Image courtesy of USI Photography & Multimedia; (Middle left): 1999 saw the addition of the first suite-style residence hall, Newman Hall. UA78, University Photographs Collection UP05568; (Middle center): The Liberal Arts Center opened in 1999. UA78, University Photographs Collection UP02792; (Middle right): These magnets were distributed to publicize and celebrate the opening of the new David L. Rice Library on July 23, 2006. Image from personal collection; (Bottom left): USI installed its 3rd president, Dr. Linda Bennett (left) on October 15, 2009. Here she is alongside Dr. David L. Rice (middle) and Dr. H. Ray Hoops (right). Image courtesy of Photography and Multimedia; (Bottom right): October 10, 2010 saw the ribbon cutting and open house for the Business and Engineering Center. Image courtesy of Photography and Multimedia.

Box 4: (Left): The Performance Center opened in 2015. Image from USI website; (Center): Interior of the Performance Center, showing its nearly 300 seats. Image from USI website; (Right) Inauguration portrait of USI’s fourth president, Dr. Ronald S. Rochon, on April 5, 2019. Image from USI website.

Resources Consulted

Heiman, Roberta. A Story of Leadership: Southern Indiana Higher Education, Inc. How Evansville Got a State University (Almost in Spite of Itself). A Narrative History. Evansville, IN: M.T. Publishing Company, Inc., 2009.

Pedestrian, Bike, and Nature Trails. USI Trails webpage.

Shaping the Future: University of Southern Indiana 1965-2015. Evansville, IN: M.T. Publishing Company, Inc., 2015.

Notes

• ⁱ Heiman, p. 4
• ⁱⁱ Heiman, p. 4
• ⁱⁱⁱ Heiman, p. 22
• ^iv Shaping, p. 58
• ^v Pedestrian

*Post written by Mona Meyer, Archives and Special Collections Metadata Librarian.

Lush hardwood forests abounded along the Ohio River valley in the early 19^th century.  In 1800 Indiana had 19,500,000 acres of forest land.ⁱ  After Indiana became a state in 1816, the population continued to grow, and there was a need to exploit this natural resource.  One of the biggest users of this resource was the lumber industry.  One pamphlet called Evansville “’the greatest hardwood lumber market in the world.’ This may not have been far from the truth.  It is said that at one time, except for the area reserved for the wharf, the banks of both the Ohio River and Pigeon Creek were a solid mass of great piles of logs.  Many of these logs came considerable distances, floated down the Patoka, the Wabash, and Green rivers, and then were pulled in great rafts by little towboats to Evansville.”

The largest lumber company in Evansville was owned by German immigrant John Augustus Reitz.  Born in 1815, Reitz was a member of a well-to-do family.  His family saw that he was well educated, and at the age of 21, he came to the United States.  Moving to Evansville in 1838, he originally intended to go into the pottery business, but this proved unsuccessful.  He then worked at a sawmill and learned the trade.  He opened his own sawmill near the mouth of Pigeon Creek (near where Mulzer Crushed Stone is in 2023) in 1845 and never looked back.  In 1873 it was incorporated into John A. Reitz & Sons.  From 1883-1893 it manufactured more hardwood lumber than any other sawmill in the United States.  “It was operated when the elements permitted twenty-two hours out of twenty-four and six days of the week.”ⁱⁱ  It did not cease operation until 1918, and the building was razed circa 1962.

Reitz may have been the “Lumber Baron,” but his was not the only sawmill in business.  Seen left is the Schultze Waltman & Co. (sawmill), located at 712 W. Ohio St., at the corner with Wabash Ave. It was founded in 1878 and located next to Peoria, Decatur and Evansville Railroad (PD&E); razed circa 1930. The back of this operation would have faced on the Ohio River. The Schultze was George T. Schultze who died in 1933; some time after 1910 the company became known as the George T. Schultze Lumber Company. The Waltman was Joseph Waltman, Sr., who died in 1915.  NOTE: this location would have been close to the Reitz business.   The Helfrich Saw & Planing Mill Company (seen to the right) was at 613-615 W. Franklin St. (The 1904 city directory calls this the Helfrich Lumber & Manufacturing Co.) Adam Helfrich was the president.  On August 24, 1884 the sawmill and lumber were destroyed by fire, for a loss of $17,000. Sometime around 1895 this property became a flour warehouse, was vacant circa 1910 and razed circa 1922.  The Historic Evansville website says that some of oak beams used in the Old Mill restaurant were salvaged from this facility.

Rechtin Lumber Company, seen here in a picture postcard and in the 1937 flood (it’s the building on the right) began in 1872 and was destroyed by fire in 1949.  It was located at 714-720 Ingle St., near the corner with 7^th St.  At this time there was also a Stremming Lumber Company at 1031 W. Missouri St., Yosemite Mills at 100-104 Sixth Ave., S.W. Little Saw Mill at 830 W. Ohio St., H. Herrmann Saw Mill on Vermont St., and Rietman & Schulte Saw Mill at 519 W. Ohio St. 

Sawmills were not the only industry to benefit from the abundant supply of hardwood.  “Many small companies sprang up to manufacture barrels and kegs, wagons, carriages, boats and barges, coffins, farm implements, and—most importantly—furniture.  The commercial manufacture of furniture began in Evansville at a very early date—as early as 1837 when Thomas Smith moved his cabinetmaking shop from Princeton. … Many skilled cabinetmakers and wood-carvers were among the German immigrants who arrived in the 1840s and 1850s, so by mid-century several small furniture shops had sprung up, each employing three to seven men.

The Evansville Coffin Company was located at 401 N. Main St., formerly 1601-1617 Main St. “Organized in 1881, the business manufactured “fine funeral furnishings” for markets that eventually reached as far south as Alabama. The four-story factory, located on the northeast corner of Main and Michigan, covered half a city block and produced 500 coffins a week by 1890. By then, Evansville’s abundant supply of lumber, easy access to river transportation, and numerous railroad lines combined to make the city a leading manufacturer of wagons, coffins, furniture, and other products.” In the 1930s the name was changed to Evansville Casket Co. It reorganized in the middle 1940s, went out of business within 10 years, and this building was razed in the early 1950s.

This advertisement for Vulcan Plow, located at 101-27 Lower 1^st St., is another example of a company that benefited from the availability of local timber.  William Heilman, a German immigrant and U.S. Congressman, founded Heilman Plow Works in 1847. Renamed Vulcan Plow Works in 1890, the company was a leading manufacturer of various farming equipment in the Ohio Valley before merging with three other companies in Illinois and Ohio, to form Farm Tool, Inc. The last known vestige of that company in Evansville left in 1949 and went out of business all together in the 1950s. The building was razed in the late 1950s. 

Just barely visible atop the front corner of the factory is a statue of Vulcan, the Roman god of fire, foundry and metalworking.  The statue resided in a number of different locations after the building was razed, finally moving to the Evansville Museum where it can be seen today.

“In the 1870s and 1880s the largest furniture factory in the city was operated by the Armstrong Brothers in a six-story building at Seventh Avenue and Franklin Street, where they turned out large quantities of high quality hand-carved, Victorian-style bedroom suites, marble-top tables, etageres, and various upholstered pieces, as well as less expensive machine-made lines.  Their furniture was displayed and offered for sale in 15 rooms located between 209 and 215 Main Street.  It is said that Queen Victoria’s emissaries once came to Evansville to order furniture for one of her residences.”^iv

By the last decade of the 19^th century, there were 9 large and probably many more smaller furniture factories in Evansville, providing employment for over 700.  Amazingly, that growth continued until in 1909, the Furniture Building or Furniture Exchange Building was built at 123 NW 4^th St. It offered 60,00 square feet of display space for 31 exhibitors.  This building still stands today, now the Court Building.

Although this type of economic growth is beneficial to the local economy, not to mention the fortunes it made for the lumber-related business owners, it was not sustainable.  “With the commencement of frontier settlement at the dawn of the
19th century, Indiana had over 20 million acres of forest covering about 87 percent of the land. The forest proved invaluable to providing for the pioneers’ need for home and barn building materials, fences, fuel for cooking and heating, barrels, tools, and machinery.  Nonetheless, forests were also viewed as a threat, harboring Indians and dangerous wild beasts, and as a hindrance to progress. Forests needed to be cleared for crop fields and pastures, roads, businesses, and towns.  Deforestation accelerated through the 19th century and into the early 20th century, clearing forests at an average rate of over 178,000 acres/year over a 100 year span. By 1900 only 8 percent, or 1.8 million acres, of Indiana remained covered by remnant forests. Those remnant forests were growing on land that was too steep or too wet to farm. Though not cleared, they were often grazed, burned, and almost certainly heavily logged.”^v

Fortunately, with legislation and better forest management, Indiana’s forests, although not free from danger, are making a recovery.  But that’s a topic for another venue!  Meanwhile, I hope you enjoyed this glimpse of Evansville history.

Resources Consulted

Carman, Sam F. 2013. Indiana forest management history and practices. In: Swihart, Robert K.; Saunders, Michael R.; Kalb, Rebecca A.; Haulton, G. Scott; Michler, Charles H., eds. 2013. The Hardwood Ecosystem Experiment: a framework for studying responses to forest management. Gen. Tech. Rep. NRS-P-108. Newtown Square, PA: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Northern Research Station: 12-23.

Elliott, Joseph P.  A history of Evansville and Vanderburgh County, Indiana; a complete and concise account from the earliest times to the present, embracing reminiscences of the pioneers and biographical sketches.   Evansville, Ind., Keller Printing Co. [c1897; Evansville, Ind., Unigraphic, Inc., 1970]    General Collection F532.V2 E4 1970

McCutchan, Kenneth P. et al. Evansville at the bend in the river: an illustrated history.  Sun Valley, CA : American Historical Press, c2004.    General Collection F534.E9 M38 2004

Rathfon, Ron.  A Landowner’s Guide to Sustainable Forestry in Indiana. Part 1.  Sustainable Forestry What Does It Mean for Indiana?  Purdue University Cooperative Extension Service, 2001.

ⁱCarman, p. 14

ⁱⁱElliott, p. 370. 

ⁱⁱⁱMcCutchan, p. 41

^ivMcCutchan, p. 41

^vRathfon, p. 2-3

*Post written by Mona Meyer, Archives and Special Collections Metadata Librarian.

If you order a drink “on the rocks,” you want it over ice.  Here we are going to look at a different kind of ice—ice so thick on the river that it freezes over.  In today’s climate of global warming, this might not happen again, but it certainly did in the past. 

An ice gorge is when the river not only freezes, but the ice piles up higher and higher. “The formation of river ice is rare. It happened in only 14 winters out of more than 140 years of record keeping in Cincinnati.  … The deeper and wider the river, and the faster the water flow, the less likely it is to freeze. Moving water generates friction, which heats the water (even if only a bit).”ⁱ Today’s rivers are different—between dredging and the system of dams, the water level is kept far most constant, making for consistently deeper and swifter water.  Thus the likelihood of freezing over or ice gorges is greatly diminished, but when it did happen, it was quite a sight to see.

This article from the Fort Morgan, Colorado Times February 19, 1897 describes the situation in Evansville the week prior.

The following six pictures are all from UASC MSS 264, the Thomas Mueller Collection and show the February 10, 1897 ice gorge in Evansville.

Freezing of the Ohio River happened in January 1856, leading to both a heroic act and a work of literature.  Margaret Garner was a slave in Boone County, Kentucky, who, with her family, escaped across the frozen river to freedom in Ohio.  This did not have a happy ending as she and her family were recaptured, but not before Margaret killed her 2 year old daughter to prevent her from being enslaved again, and was ready to kill her other children and herself when she was caught.  Despite intense publicity and a trial, she and other family members were sent back into slavery and soon disappeared from history.  The novelist Toni Morrison based her novel Beloved on this real life tragedy.  If this peaks your interest, there are 4 different editions of the book available in Rice Library, in the General Collection, with the call number PS3563.O8749 B4 (there is a date after this that varies with the edition, but the basic call number is the same).  There is also a DVD of the movie: DVD PN1997 .B456 1999. 

The Evansville Journal on January 10, 1856, carried a list of ships stuck in the ice here: the Monarch, Ohio, J.M. Stockwell, Sultanna, T.C. Twitchell, Tecumseh, W.A. Eaves, and the South America.

Probably related to this 1856 freeze in Cincinnati is this tale from St. Louis in December 1855. “When the river froze over during the bitterly cold month of December 1855, newspapers nicknamed it the ice gorge. An expansive ice sheet fused St. Louis to the Illinois shore, and just like every other time the river froze, city officials begged St. Louisans to stay off it.  Unsurprisingly, their pleas were ignored: thrilled St. Louisans came out by the hundreds for ice parades, midriver bonfires, and carriage rides. They set up makeshift businesses on the new frozen real estate, including bowling alleys, skating rinks, pop-up saloons, and gambling houses. Farther from the levee, brewery workers chopped away large chunks of river ice to pack into their beer cellars. … The ice revelers disappeared as the weather warmed up — which is precisely when catastrophe struck. On Feb. 27, 1856, some St. Louisans noticed that a few of the docked steamboats had been nudged up onto the levee’s dry cobblestones. This was the first sign of a slow-motion disaster.  As the sheet of river ice broke up and moved, it dragged more than 100 steamboats along with it. Astonished, St. Louisans gathered on the riverfront, listening to the eerie snaps and booms as the ice’s powerful force crushed one boat after another. The St. Louis Republican reported on the chaos: . . . the destruction commenced . . . [the steamers] were torn away from shore as easily as if they had been mere skiffs, and floated down with the immense fields of ice. The shock and crashing of these boats can be better imagined than described. All their ample fastenings were as nothing. . . . The whole business portion of the levee was clear of boats. . . . There was not a single boat at the levee which entirely escaped injury. The ice piled up into a jagged, 20-foot-high wall along the riverfront, twisted pieces of steamboats mixed throughout. As the blackened piles of slushy ice melted away that spring, they left behind a graveyard of pulverized boilers, mangled brass chandeliers, crunched china, and splintered bed frames.”ⁱⁱ

It happened again in St. Louis in 1888 and as seen in the image below, undoubtedly both of these vehicles suffered damage and/or were demolished.

Here are some images of the frozen Wabash River early in the 20^th century.  The Evansville Press, on December 11, 1937 carried this memory of 20 years ago, probably related to the 1918 pictures seen below:  because of the ice gorge local schools were only part time due to a lack of fuel.  Five loaded barges tore loose of their moorings and were grounded in the Howell area.  Because there was no ferry, there was no traction car service to Henderson (meaning that it was cut off from Evansville—no bridge until 1932).

In addition to the massive flood on the Ohio River in 1937,  1936 and 1937 had very cold winters and the rivers (Wabash and Ohio) froze over both years.

In the Evansville newspapers, the 1936 ice gorge seemed like a party, particularly as the gorge was breaking up later  in February.  From the front page of the Evansville Journal, February 24, 1936: “Thousands of cars passed the riverfront during the day viewing the scene from the foot of Main St. and various points on Ohio St. … Pedestrians and tourists filled the plateau atop the [Reitz] hill so that from a distance it resembled a piece of jam covered bread discarded at a picnic and taken over by ants.”  On the same day the Evansville Press (p. 10) reported that 50, 000 saw the gorge break at Evansville.  “Thousands of sightseers, many of whom motored to Evansville from other cities, jammed the river from Sunset Park to Ingle St. all day Sunday, watching the ice gorge break. … Several whistles were blown Sunday, signalling the break.  Crowds filled the streets quickly, all running toward the river.”

Some were quick to capitalize on the situation.  The Evansville Journal, February 28, 1936, had this advertisement: “Spectacular Ohio River ice gorge pictures for mailing to friends…5 prints [of] Evansville and Newburgh 25 cents, 5 set $1.”  If this wasn’t enough, you could attend a Pathe newsreel viewing at the Grand Theater showing the the choked river, crushed wharfboat, and Ocoee riverboat, and the gorge breaking up and moving downriver. (Evansville Press, February 28, 1936)

These two pictures of the Ocoee paddlewheeler were dated as 1936.  You can easily see the damage caused by the ice.  In the first image the Ocoee is chained to the wharfboat, which itself was not in good shape.  Both photos are from UASC MSS 264, the Thomas Mueller Collection. 

This gentleman was seizing a great publicity opportunity in 1937! 

It happened again the winter of 1977.  Although the ice does not look as impressive in this picture, it caused the barges and towboat shown here to be stuck on the riverfront.  This location is probably near the end of NW Riverside Dr., where it turns into Fulton Ave. One of the tugboats says A.W. Mulzer, and Mulzer Crushed Stone (today’s name) is very near this location or may, indeed, be this specific location.  The big building on the right is the McCurdy Residential Center Inc. at 101 SE 1st St. (formerly the Hotel McCurdy).

The year 1977 was the last date the Ohio River has frozen.  As noted earlier, global warming might mean it won’t happen again, but you’ve seen plenty of evidence here of what it looked like when it did.

Resources Consulted

“Archives: In January of 1977, the Ohio River froze over.”  Cincinnati: WLWT, January 2, 2020.

Ellis, Laura.  “Curious Louisville: When’s The Last Time The Ohio River Froze Over?”  WFPL radio, December 29, 2017.

“The Ice Gorge: Tales from the Mighty Mississippi.” Missouri History Museum: Sproutlight.

Norrington, Keith.  “Icy Times Returneth On The River.” Old Boat Column/Waterways Journal, February 22,2021.

Russell, Stefene. “In 1888, the Mississippi River formed ice gorges, captured here in a photograph.” St. Louis Magazine, January 13, 2020.

“A Tremendous Ice Gorge.”  The Fort Morgan Times, Volume XIII, Number 27, February 19, 1897. Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection.  Colorado State Library.

U.S. Dept. of Commerce: Weather Bureau.  Ice in the Ohio River at Cincinnati 1874 through 1964. Orsanco.org

U.S. Dept. of Commerce: Weather Bureau.  Ice in the Ohio River at Cincinnati 1974 through 1988. Orsanco.org

“Will the Ohio River freeze again? Why is the river steaming?”  Cincinnati: Enquirer. January 2, 2018.

ⁱ Will

ⁱⁱ Ice Gorge

*Post written by Mona Meyer, Archives and Special Collections Metadata Librarian

Have you ever heard this expression? It means you were almost, but not quite, successful in something you attempted. “Its origins were back in the 1920s when carnivals would hand out cigars as prizes. These games were obviously targeted at adults and not children. Carnival games were very difficult to win and the stand owner would simply shout the phrase when the player miserably failed to win. Hence no cigar as a reward. With time, carnivals began to move and travel around the USA and so did the saying. Nowadays stuffed animals have replaced cigars as prizes but not the phrase.”¹

Full disclosure: this blog is not about carnival games and prizes, but rather about a cigar factory that operated in Evansville, Indiana for some 114 years. The origins of this story go back to 1833, when six members of the Fendrich family (mother, father, four sons: Joseph, Charles, Francis, and Herrmann) immigrated to the United States and settled in Baltimore, MD. They came from southwestern Germany (then the Holy Roman Empire), from the Baden area. The family soon grew with the addition of a fifth son, John. Sometime in the 1840s the four oldest sons decided that the cigar and tobacco business would be a good fit for them and so apprenticed themselves to members of that trade around Baltimore. Their motivation for entering this field is unknown, although the area of Germany from whence they came was known for cigar making. Probably more relevant is the fact that during the 1830s Cuban cigars gained in popularity, and the United States began to produce better quality tobacco. It seemed to be a lucrative trade to enter, with Baltimore one of the top cigar centers in the country.

By 1850 all five brothers felt confident enough to open their own factory, at 155 Forrest Ave. in Baltimore. Their main product was plug tobacco, which came from Kentucky. (Plug tobacco is chewing tobacco, densely compressed into a square.) They also opened a production factory in Columbia, Pennsylvania. It is clear that the Fendrichs were successful; only five years later they moved their operations to Evansville. This put them not only nearer to the Kentucky source of their tobacco, but also in an excellent location to take advantage of river transportation down to New Orleans and out to the wider world.

Above is what is believed to be the first location of the Fendrich cigar enterprise in Evansville. It later moved its store and factory up a block on Main Street, to a five story building, seen below.

The original company name was Francis Fendrich and Brothers. At some time in the 1880s the oldest three brothers retired, leaving the company to the second youngest Fendrich brother, Herrmann. The company name became Herrmann Fendrich, successor to Fendrich Brothers. Herrmann died in 1889 and then name again changed, now H. Fendrich. His only son, John Herrmann Fendrich, took up the reins of the business at this point.

The company flourished, with warehouses opening in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Wisconsin, in addition to those in Evansville. Having grown up in the business, John knew it intimately. He maintained quality standards and improved processes by developing and patenting “new techniques for removing harsh irritants in tobaccos to make his cigars milder and mellower, and to give them a most inviting bouquet to smokers.”_ⁱⁱ Multiple sources speak of his “aggressive salesmanship.” In 1889 Fendrich only employed 40 cigar workers, but under John’s leadership it grew to employ 3,000 cigar makers. According to Hyman, Fendrich grew to become the largest of Indiana’s over 600 factories, and 100,000 cigars were produced daily. The company history also stresses the growth in the production of custom-made cigars and labels. Hyman counters with: “Cigar factories that created dozens of “custom” brands generally kept their tried and true blends constant, changing only the name and label to suit the customer. Sellers desiring a “house” or “custom” brand selected a particular manufacturer (out of 10,000+ available) because they like the taste and appearance of their cigars, and usually wanted few, if any, changes. Minor changes like wrapper color, dipping the cigar’s head in a sweetening agent or spraying the blend with various flavorings made for the easiest changes. Fendrich’s profusion of brands were most likely a combination of custom blends for some, minor tinkering like described above for other customers and packing their standard brands under a custom label for yet others. How many of the brands and labels were actually created by the H. Fendrich company itself not recorded.”ⁱⁱⁱ

While the exact number of custom blends is unclear, the growth in production was enough to warrant the move to the larger facility on Main Street. One very important factor was Fendrich’s employment of women. This was quite a departure from the norm…..women in that time period did NOT work in factories. Take a look at this advertisement seeking female employees.

The early 1900s reader of this would have likely had an entirely different response than today’s reader. I’m just going to leave this as it is, a document reflecting its time period. However, I will note that while it may have been considered progressive at the time to hire women, it’s also true that it “was a smart business move, cutting salary and production costs while doubling output.”^iv

Disaster struck on December 6, 1910, when a massive fire completely destroyed the factory, taking with it ten nearby businesses and one private residence. The fire was at night, so no employees were killed, but equipment and stock suffered a total loss. The December 7, 1910 Evansville Courier reported that the fire was thought to have started with a gas leak. “Chief Grant and Assistant Chief Wilder believe such must have been the cause from the rapid spread of the flames in the Fendrich building. … New gas pipes were laid in the building Monday. They were attached to an old pipe that had not been used for fifteen or twenty years. At 5 o’clock in the afternoon, the pipes were tested and found to be in good order. It is the theory of Mr. Fendrich that after all the lights had been turned off, the old gas pipe sprang a leak from the increased pressure and gradually filled the building.”^v The newspaper detailed $594,750 in total losses, $457,000 of which was the cigar factory, the Fendrich building, warehouse stock, and insurance on the stock. Many workers arrived to work that morning, completely unaware of what had happened. Famous Courier cartoonist Karl K. Knecht showed their dismay.

John Fendrich, however, was not deterred. “The company bought the eastern half of Willard Park from the Trustees of Willard Library and built a large modern facility on Oakley Street between Pennsylvania and Illinois.”^vi The new factory opened in 1912, with “wings adjacent to open court yards in front and back, maximizing natural light for rollers and packers, and allowing for an adjoining symmetrical series of warehouses under one roof, with all the latest equipment and design. The 192,000 square structure included a cafeteria, first aid, showers and a recreation area.”^vii If you are familiar with Evansville, this location is where Berry Plastics is today.

The company moved forward, changing with the times as necessary. “In the 1880s when work was done under gas lights, a three-girl team using wooden molds turned out 1,000 cigars a day. In the new factory, once machines were installed, four girls working one machine turned out 4,400 perfect cigars each ten-hour shift. In keeping with the times white and “colored” cigar makers worked in separate buildings.”^viii

Like other businesses in Evansville, H. Fendrich contributed to the war efforts in both WWI and WWII.

During World War II, Fendrich continued to provide cigars for the troops. “Tens of millions of Fendrich-made cigars, approximately 30% of production, were packed in special wooden cases with waterproof liners designed for dropping during bad weather or for floating ashore to troops on remote Pacific islands with no harbor facilities.”^ix  The company received this citation from the War Department in February 1945: “We know that our soldiers appreciate the convenience of obtaining a good cigar when they want it….your cooperation in maintaining all-out production will continue to bolster the morale of American troops overseas.”^x Furthermore, the factory’s machine shop manufactured precision parts for local war industries.

Fendrich celebrated its 100th anniversary in 1950, but this was its last big “hurrah.” In November 1967 the company was sold to the Parodi Cigar Corporation, which soon moved its production to its Pennsylvania facility. March 4, 1969 was the last day a Fendrich cigar was made in Evansville.

Enjoy these images of Fendrich cigar factory workers.

Footnotes

¹Heredia

ⁱⁱ One Hundred Years…

ⁱⁱⁱHyman

^ivHyman

^vEvansville Courier

^viMcCutchan, p. 58

^viiHyman

^viiiHyman

^ixHyman

^x One Hundred Years…

Resources Consulted

Evansville Courier, Wednesday, December 7, 1910, p. 1 and 3.

Heredia, Marianna. “What do “close, but no cigar” & 3 other sayings mean? Cigar Country website.

Hyman, Tony. Herrmann & John Fendrich, La Fendrich & Charles Denby. Cigar History Museum online, July 12, 2012.

McCutchan, Kenneth P., William E. Bartelt, and Thomas R. Lonnberg. Evansville at the Bend in the River: An Illustrated History. Sun Valley, CA: American Historical Press, 2004. UASC Regional Collection F534.E9 M38 2004

One Hundred Years of Cigar Making 1850-1950. Evansville, IN: H. Fendrich, Inc. (booklet in the Anna Orr Collection in UASC, MSS 205-1-2.

*Post written by Mona Meyer, Archives and Special Collections Metadata Librarian

Do you recognize this woman? Unless you’re an art historian, I’m going to guess that the answer is no. (Not fair if you read the caption on this image first!) When you delve a little deeper, you find out that hers is an amazing story.

Rachel Ruysch (RAHG-kehl RAH-eesh) was born in 1664 in The Hague, the Netherlands. She was one of 12 children born to Frederik Ruysch and Maria Post. “Her mother, Maria Post, came from a creative family—her father was the Dutch imperial architect Pieter Post, and her uncle, Frans Post, was a leading landscape painter. Ruysch’s own father, Frederik, brought the scientific chops to her gene pool. A well-known physician and botanist, he served as Amsterdam’s praelector (or college officer) of anatomy beginning in 1667, and subsequently took positions as a professor of botany and supervisor of the city’s botanical garden. His reigning achievement, though, was his famed cabinet of anatomical and botanical curiosities: a five-room collection of embalmed and wax-injected organs, animals, plants, and countless other oddities which he posed in artful, macabre dioramas (in one, a baby’s hand holds a turtle egg as it hatches).” Theirs was a well off family who moved to Amsterdam and lived in an area with many other artists.

At the age of 15 Rachel’s father agreed that she would serve as an apprentice to artist Willem van Aelst. She worked with him until his death four years later, and learned valuable lessons both about painting and about arranging the flowers she painted so that they appeared more natural. “By the age of eighteen, Ruysch was already making a name (and living) for herself while rubbing shoulders with the city’s most popular flower painters and horticulturists.” It would be impressive today for someone of just-out-of-high-school age to already have renown–just consider how even more impressive it was for a young woman in the late 1600s. She even maintained her maiden name after her marriage because she was already successful at that time. “In 1693, Ruysch married the successful portrait painter …Juriaen Pool. The couple would go on to have ten children. Despite being more than occupied with her domestic situation (and even if the family’s status suggested they were very likely to have had hired domestic help), Ruysch continued to paint, producing over 250 paintings over seven decades.Her painting career brought in steady income for the family, with Ruysch earning, on average, more per painting during her lifetime than even Rembrandt.”. Another source says, “Her work nevertheless commanded hefty sums, known to sell for as much as 1,200 guilders for a single canvas. By means of comparison, “Rembrandt never got really more than 500 guilders for a painting,” as National Gallery curatorial fellow Nina Cahill has explained.” A document entitled Money in the 17th century Netherlands puts this into modern terms: 100 guilders in the 1600s was comparable to $6000 US dollars (in 2016, the date of this document).

Above is the postcard image (MSS 010-644) that first caught my attention. (The actual postcard image is quite dark, so for the sake of clarity, this image was found here.)

Rachel Ruysch was the first female painter to be accepted into the painters guild in The Hague. In 1706 she gained the patronage of Johann Wilhelm, Elector Palatine of Bavaria, serving as court painter until his death in 1716. During this time she gave birth to her last child (she was 47 at the time!), naming him Jan Willem to honor her patron, who agreed to serve as the child’s godfather. There is some conjecture that she was so well respected that she was not required to move to Dusseldorf, site of the court, but rather permitted to stay in Amsterdam. Others state that she and her family did indeed live in Dusseldorf from 1708-1716. She accepted commissions from other wealthy patrons, including Cosimo III de’ Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany. Husband Juriaen Pool was commissioned to paint her portrait, finishing it just as the Elector died.

Rachel continued to paint the rest of her long life, proudly including her age of 83 on a canvas toward the end of her career. She died October 12, 1750. Germaine Greer says, “As the creator of pictures of perfect beauty she was heaped with commissions and honours, but her poise never altered. She never succumbed to flattery and demand, but continued to work as fastidiously as ever.” (Greer, p. 242) Ann Sutherland Harris further states, “She nearly always includes some fruit–dusky plums, a split pomegranate, a fuzzy peach–and always some insects, especially beetles, butterflies, grasshoppers, and dragonflies. The perfection of these specimens, which are seldom available in ideal condition in the same season, reminds us that Ruysch’s realism is in fact an ideal representation. She is in effect following the doctrine that it was the artist’s duty to select from nature and to portray perfectly what nature could only render imperfectly. Above all, the study of her work testifies to her profound knowledge of contemporary botany and zoology. Her works are an extraordinary synthesis of seventeenth-century scientific interest in the range and variety of species found in nature and the artistic traditions she used to display them. The results are beautiful visions of impossible natural perfection.” (Harris, p. 160)

Enjoy more of her beautiful work!

Resources Consulted

Gotthardt, Alexxa. “Rachel Ruysch’s Exquisite Still Lives Revolutionized the Form.”  Artsy.net, May 21, 2020.

Greer, Germaine.  The obstacle race: the fortunes of women painters and their work.  New York : Farrar, Straus, Giroux, 1979.  General Collection ND38 .G73 1979

Harris, Ann Sutherland.  Women artists, 1550-1950.  Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art; New York: distributed by Random House, 1976.  General Collection  N6350 .H35

Money in the 17th century Netherlands.

“Rachel Ruysch.” The Art Story.org.

“Rachel Ruysch.” Washington, DC: National Museum of Women in the Arts. Robinson, Lynn. “Rachel Ruysch, Flower Still-Life.  Smarthistory, August 8, 2015.

These YouTube videos are worth your time:

Ruysch: Painter of the court and mother of 10 | National Gallery (YouTube)

#Rijksmuseumfromhome: Cèlia about Rachel Ruysch (YouTube)

Post written by Mona Meyer, Archives and Special Collections Metadata Librarian

You’re invited to have a special tour of UASC, which has been transformed into a spooky haunted house, complete with a dinner table where the guests might have ingested poison, a surgical amputation, ghosts, skeletons, bats, rats, and lots of cobwebs. You’ll even be offered a guided tour of a haunted cellar, complete with appropriate lighting. Tours begin today, Wednesday, October 25 and continue through Halloween, Tuesday, October 31. Tours are on the hour, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. The Haunted Archives are not open on the weekend.

This picture shows that even a haunted archives still has a library focus.

But then we let our imaginations run wild….

Come and share the haunting with us!

Post written by Mona Meyer, Archives and Special Collections Metadata Librarian

Archives and museums the world over are treasure troves of interesting/beautiful/bizarre/fantastic/ unusual/historical/challenging (pick your adjective!) items. You never know what you might find when you open the doors to one of these places, but you are sure to be both educated and entertained.

In celebration of American Archives Month, and Indiana Governor Holcomb’s declaration of October 2023 as Indiana Archives Month, University Archives and Special Collections (UASC) is launching Passport to the Past. Participants are encouraged to travel to at least 4 participating institutions to get a special stamp on their (provided) passport.  Once you’ve gathered at least 4 stamps, you will be eligible to enter your passport in a prize drawing from the UASC.  Passports may be downloaded here or picked up at UASC.  Passports must be turned by October 31, 2023 by noon. The drawing for the winner will be held in UASC at 4 p.m. that day.

Below is a list of the participating institutions, their locations, and hours.

First is UASC in the David L. Rice Library here on the campus of the University of Southern Indiana. Located on the third floor, UASC is open 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Our other ArchivesFest Passport to the Past participants are:

411 SE Riverside Drive, Evansville, IN 47713

Hours: Wednesday-Saturday: 11:00 AM to 5:00 PM; Sunday: 12:00 PM to 5:00 PM

Evansville has had a museum since 1906, with today’s location dating to the 1950s.  Today’s appearance is the result of a major update and remodel circa 2014. The Evansville Museum of Arts, History & Science houses a permanent collection of more than 30,000 objects, including fine and decorative art, as well as historic, anthropological, and natural history artifacts. Over twenty temporary, regional and international exhibitions are displayed each year in four galleries.  The Koch Immersive Theater houses a 40-foot diameter domed screen with 360-degree digital projection featuring astronomy and science programming.  Evansville Museum Transportation Center (EMTRAC) featuring transportation artifacts from the late 19th through the mid-20th centuries. On exhibit is a three-car train. The museum is home to a model train diorama of Evansville.

For more information on the Evansville Museum of Arts, History, and Science, please visit https://emuseum.org/ and follow their social media accounts at:

• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/evansvillemuseum
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/evvmuseum
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/evansvillemuseum/
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/evansvillemuseum

503 State Street, Newburgh, IN 47630

Hours: Friday and Saturday, 11:00 AM – 3:00 PM

“The Newburgh Museum’s mission is to preserve, exhibit and educate all visitors about the history and culture of Newburgh and the surrounding area’s unique river town heritage. The permanent displays at the museum include information about the town’s founding, how it got its name, its early industry, a period of decline and how it has changed in modern times. The main exhibit at the museum is changed every few months.”

For more information on the Newburgh Museum, please visit https://www.newburghmuseum.com/ and follow their social media accounts at:

• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NewburghINMuseum
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/newburghmuseum/

407 Tavern Street, New Harmony, IN 47631

Hours: Sunday, 12:00 PM-4:00 PM; Tuesday-Thursday, 10:00 AM-7:00 PM; Friday-Saturday, 10:00 AM-4:30 PM

Established by philanthropist William Maclure in 1838, the Working Men’s Institute (WMI) set as its mission the dissemination of useful knowledge to those who work with their hands. After 170 years of continuous service, this goal is still at the heart of our mission. Maclure, who was a business partner with Robert Owen in the communal experiment in New Harmony from 1825-1827, was devoted to the ideal of education for the common man as a means of positive change in society. At New Harmony, The Working Men’s Institute was one manifestation of this ideal. The Working Men’s Institute in New Harmony was the first of 144 WMIs in Indiana and 16 in Illinois. It is the only one remaining. Many WMIs were absorbed by township libraries or Carnegie libraries. Yet the one in New Harmony remained. Today, the WMI is a public library, a museum and an archive. In each of these areas, the WMI tries to stay true to the original mission of William Maclure.

For more information on the Working Men’s Institute, please visit https://workingmensinstitute.org/ and follow their social media accounts at:

• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NewHarmonyWorkingMensInstitute/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/workingmensinst
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/Workingmensinstitute

21 First Avenue, Evansville, Indiana 47710

Hours: Monday-Tuesday: 9:00 AM – 8:00 PM; Wednesday-Friday: 9:00 AM – 5:30 PM; Saturday: 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM; Sunday: 1:00 PM – 5:00 PM

Willard Carpenter was born in Vermont in 1803 and came to Evansville in 1837 to continue to pursue his fortune. Desirous of leaving a lasting legacy, in 1876 he expressed his intention “to establish and endow a public library, to be located in a public park, on land owned by me, situated in the city of Evansville. I am induced to do this in the well-grounded hope that such an institution may become useful toward the improvement of the moral and intellectual culture of the inhabitants of Evansville, and collaterally to those of the State of Indiana; and also toward the enlargement and diffusion of a taste for the fine arts.” The library opened in 1885, 2 years after Carpenter’s death.

For more information on Willard Library, please visit https://willard.lib.in.us/ and follow their social media accounts at:

• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/willardpubliclibrary/

579 South Garvin Street, Evansville, IN, 47713

Hours: Tuesday-Friday, 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM; Saturday 12:00 PM to 4:00 PM

“The mission of the Evansville African American Museum is to continually develop a resource and cultural center to collect, preserve, and educate the public on the history and traditions of African American families, organizations, and communities. Located in Evansville, Indiana as the last remaining building of Lincoln Gardens, the second Federal Housing Project created under the administration of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal in 1938, our building serves as a permanent artifact in itself.”

For more information on the Evansville African American Museum, please visit https://evvaam.org/ and follow their social media accounts:

• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EVVafricanamericanmuseum
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/EVV_AAM

Historic New Harmony at the Atheneum, 401 North Arthur Street, New Harmony, IN 47631

Hours: Tuesday-Saturday, 9:30 AM to 5:00 PM, Sunday 12:30 PM to 5:00 PM

New Harmony was the source of two communal experiments in the 19th century: religious separatists from Germany who aspired to Christian perfection, and later, followers of Robert Owen who wanted to establish a model society of educational and social equality. “Historic New Harmony is a program of the University of Southern Indiana. By preserving its utopian legacy, Historic New Harmony inspires innovation and progressive thought through its programs & collections.” Start your tour of Historic New Harmony at the Atheneum, pictured below. There you will find exhibits on the town’s communal history and an orientation film.

For more information on Historic New Harmony, please visit https://www.usi.edu/hnh and their social media accounts:

• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/historicnewharmony
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheAtheneum
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/historicnewharmony/

7503 Petersburg Road, Evansville, IN 47725

Thursday to Sunday 12:00 PM to 4:00 PM

“Evansville Wartime Museum is the place to visit for the surprising, interesting and world-changing story of our community’s involvement in winning WWII. The stories we tell come from home front workers and battlefront warriors — these are the people who were there. You can also explore the history of Evansville during WWI, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War in our exhibits dedicated to those times.

Evansville was a center of WWII production. Our community’s factories made the products that help our military fight the war on land, on sea and in the air. Thousands of new jobs, created virtually overnight, drew workers from Evansville and the surrounding counties in Indiana, Illinois and Kentucky. We show what they made, how they made it and where it helped win the war.

More than sending wartime goods, this region sent men and women to the far-flung battle fronts of that world war. We share their stories. The stories we share include a paratrooper’s D-Day landing, a pilot’s flights over the Hump, an infantryman’s march to retake Luzon and a story of a man and woman who met in Washington D.C., married and settled in Evansville.

Then there’s the stories of Evansville’s legendary Red Cross Canteen, eloquently told by the many letters and cards mailed back by troops grateful for warm hospitality, a delicious hot meal and an experience that was the next best thing to home. Also, Mom Hudson’s story, the kindly seamstress who sewed patches and mended uniforms and comforted troops passing through one of our USOs.

Have you ever dreamed of flying a plane? You can do just that with any one of our three Gleim Simulators here at the Evansville Wartime Museum. Jump in the cockpit and get a feeling of what it is like to pilot an aircraft.”

For more information on the Evansville Wartime Museum, visit https://www.evansvillewartimemuseum.org/ and its Facebook page: facebook.com/evansvillewartimemuseum

*Post written by Mona Meyer, Archives and Special Collections Metadata Librarian, with input and assistance from Bill Smith, UASC student worker

The African Cultural Diversity Showcase is a visual display of African cultural artifacts. The first showcase was in 2013 at the University of Southern Indiana. The showcase was envisioned and developed by Joseph Uduehi with the assistance of Dr. Michael Ndemanu and Dr. Amanual Beyin. Other contributors included Dr. Sweet Ebeigbe, whose cultural artifacts from Benin-City, Nigeria have enriched the collection, and (then) Provost Ronald Rochon and Professor Michael Aakhus, both of whose collections have made a valuable impact on the showcase. The goal of the African Cultural Diversity Showcase is to educate the public about African culture through African artifacts. These materials include artifacts, ceramics, textiles, and many other items, including musical instruments, the topic of this blog.

The first two instruments come from the country of Eritrea.

Eritrea’s location on the Red Sea made it an ideal port location, and many larger nations sought to dominate the trade route by dominating Eritrea, including Egypt, Italy, and Turkey. “After independence from Italian colonial control in 1941 and 10 years of British administrative control, the UN established Eritrea as an autonomous region within the Ethiopian federation in 1952. Ethiopia’s full annexation of Eritrea as a province 10 years later sparked a violent 30-year conflict for independence that ended in 1991 with Eritrean fighters defeating government forces. Eritreans overwhelmingly approved independence in a 1993 referendum.”ⁱⁱ Years of war damaged the economy, which today is largely agricultural. Add to this years of drought and Eritrea, though rich in culture, still struggles with many basic issues.

Above is UA 077-063, a kirar/kirara/kirare/krar (all spellings were found) from Eritrea. What is seen here is 33 cm. by 23 cm. in diameter, and is possibly a decorative copy of a real instrument. A kirar has 5 or 6 strings on some sort of frame and is tuned to a pentatonic scale. Apparently some instruments have 12 or more strings, but the 5-6 variety seems more common. Modern instruments may even be amplified like an electric guitar. It can be plucked or strummed, each technique creating a different tone.

“There are two main types of lyres in this Northeast African Empire. These are (a) the rare semi-sacred box-lyre called begena, and (b) the secular bowl-lyre called krar. The terms “bowl” and “box” refer to the shapes of the sound resonators of these instruments. The benena, found today only in Ethiopia, is a lyre type with a square, rectangular, or box-shaped sound resonator; the krar is a lyre type with a circular or bowl-shaped sound resonator. The krar is always employed in the performance of secular music.”¹

Legend has it that God made the begena and gave it to King David, who used it to compose his psalms and glorify God. The devil, jealous of this, created a bastardized version, the krar, and decreed that it would glorify carnal love. The same distinctions apply in contemporary usage–the begena being used to accompany sacred or semi-sacred themes and the krar, aka the devil’s instrument, for secular themes.

Above is a video of a modern kirar being played.

Another instrument in the collection, also from Eritrea, is this chera wata, seen below. Made of horsehair, goat skin, and wood, this is similar to a violin and played with a small bow.

Below is a video that includes the chera wata, along with other instruments and dancing.

Also from Eritrea is this percussion instrument below, called a tsenasel. Sized 21.75 cm. by 8.75 cm., the wooden handle holds up a golden metal rectangle which has notches on the top and is riddled with holes throughout the sides. In the middle of the rectangle lie two metals bars with 3 metal corks each that slide back and forth with the moving of the device, creating a clanking noise. It is mostly played in church recitals.

The next instrument is from South Africa. “South Africa, the southernmost country on the African continent, renowned for its varied topography, great natural beauty, and cultural diversity, all of which have made the country a favoured destination for travelers since the legal ending of apartheid (Afrikaans: “apartness,” or racial separation) in 1994. South Africa’s remoteness…helped reinforce the official system of apartheid for a large part of the 20th century. With that system, the government, controlled by the minority white population, enforced segregation between government-defined races in housing, education, and virtually all spheres of life, creating in effect three nations: one of whites (consisting of peoples primarily of British and Dutch [Boer] ancestry, who struggled for generations to gain political supremacy, a struggle that reached its violent apex with the South African War of 1899–1902); one of Blacks (consisting of such peoples as the San hunter-gatherers of the northwestern desert, the Zulu herders of the eastern plateaus, and the Khoekhoe farmers of the southern Cape regions); and one of “Coloureds” (mixed-race people) and ethnic Asians (Indians, Malays, Filipinos, and Chinese). The apartheid regime was disdained and even vehemently opposed by much of the world community, and by the mid-1980s South Africa found itself among the world’s pariah states, the subject of economic and cultural boycotts that affected almost every aspect of life. …Eventually forced to confront the untenable nature of ethnic separatism in a multicultural land, the South African government of F.W. de Klerk (1989–94) began to repeal apartheid laws. That process in turn set in motion a transition toward universal suffrage and a true electoral democracy, which culminated in the 1994 election of a government led by the Black majority under the leadership of the long-imprisoned dissident Nelson Mandela.”ⁱⁱⁱ

Made from a calabash (a bottle gourd), this has metal keys and a wooden base, and is 7.5 in. by 4.5 in.and was identified as a marimba. It is played with both thumbs, and the tone is dependent upon the length of the keys and the maker. Originally this designation as a marimba was confusing, because the marimba with which I am familiar is more like a xylophone, and played with mallets. The image seen here is what I’d call a thumb piano. Fortunately, Encyclopedia Britannica online cleared this up: “mbira, also called mbila sansa, kilembe, likembe, timbrh, or thumb piano, [this is a] plucked idiophone (instrument whose sounding parts are resonant solids belonging to the body of the instrument itself) …—that is unique to Africa and widely distributed throughout the continent. ..Reported by European travelers as early as 1586, the mbira is found in the same areas as the xylophone, to which its tuning is similar and with which it shares several local names. It was taken by enslaved Africans to Latin America, where it developed into a number of unique forms. Many of these Latin American instruments are known by some variant of the term marimba.”^iv

We now move to Cameroon, the source of our next two instruments.

“Cameroon resulted from the merger of former French and British Cameroon in the early 1960s. The country has generally enjoyed stability, permitting the development of agriculture, roads, railways, and a petroleum industry.”^v It has more than 200 different ethnic groups, and is a generally prosperous country.

Above is also a percussion instrument, with three rattle heads joined together in one handle wrapped in dried rope. It is 9 in. by 3 in. in size.

Above is an Atenben. This wooden instrument with black dotted patterns resembles a flute and would be played on both festival and personal occasions. Information found about this instrument refers to it as originating in Ghana. “The Atenteben has six finger holes and one thumb hole, and the mouthpiece is cut at an angle to allow for better sound production. The Atenteben is usually around 40-50cm in length and has a diameter of around 2-3cm. Playing the Atenteben requires a special technique. The player blows into the mouthpiece while covering the finger holes to produce different notes. The thumb hole is used to control the volume and pitch of the notes. The Atenteben is played in an upright position, and the player’s fingers must be positioned correctly to produce the correct notes. The Atenteben is often played in ensembles, and the players use different techniques to create a beautiful harmony. The Atenteben is also used to accompany traditional Ghanaian dances such as Adowa and Kete.”^vi

The last instrument comes from Kenya, specifically from the Luo people. As a country, Kenya is perhaps best known for its sweepingly beautiful wildlife reserves. It was a Portuguese colony in the 1500s, and was divided between the German and British in 1890, finally gaining independence in 1963. “The Luo are the fourth largest ethnic group in Kenya. They speak ‘Dholuo’ which is part of the Nilotic language group. Known as ‘Ramogi’s descendants,’ the Luo community are in particular known for their musical skills and instruments. Notable Luos include: the former Prime Minister of Kenya, Raila Odinga; the former president of the United States of America, Barack Obama; and the environmental scientist and Nobel Prize winner, Professor Sam Odingo.”^vii

The final instrument is not really an instrument, but rather a statue of a man playing a horn-shaped instrument. The statuette is 22.5 cm.by 8.5 cm. in diameter and made of wood. The instrument is an Oporo. “A curved antelope horn (called Kudu), it is often decorated with multicolored beads [and] played by blowing air through the mouth. It’s a very difficult instrument to play and requires much force to blow: in this way it produces different sounds and also pleasant modulations.The oporo… [was] originally was used to communicate over long distances, especially when celebrating a funeral, a wedding, the “baraza” (a meeting) or during the visit of an important person.Today it is used during the ceremonies …to amplify the emotion and pressing on the rhythm of music, with other traditional instruments, especially to accompany the dances and songs.”^viii

The following video contains brief clips of 26 famous African musical instruments, many of which are not included in our collection. Some may sound alien to our western ears, but part of learning about different cultures means experiencing things we don’t immediately understand. Enjoy, and take a look at this listing of the many different items contained within UA 077, the African Cultural Diversity Showcase Collection.

Notes

ⁱ Kebede, p. 380.

ⁱⁱ World Factbook/Eritrea

ⁱⁱⁱEncyclopedia Britannica/South Africa

^ivEncyclopedia Britannica/mbira

^vWorld Factbook/Cameroon

^vi Atenteben: Ghana bamboo flute.

^vii The Luo Community of Kenya — Google Arts & Culture

^viii Luo Traditionals Instruments Kenya: The Oporo

Resources Consulted:

Atenteben: Ghana bamboo flute. FluteforFlute website.

(CIA) World Factbook/Eritrea

Encyclopedia Britannica online/Eritrea

Encyclopedia Britannica online/Kenya/People of Kenya/Luo

Encyclopedia Britannica online/mbira

Encyclopedia Britannica online/South Africa

Eritrean Traditional Musical Instruments. Website of the Ministry of Information Eritrea, February 18, 2011.

Kebede, Ashenafi. “The Bowl-Lyre of Northeast Africa. Krar: The Devil’s Instrument.” Ethnomusicology v. 21:no.3 (September 1977), p. 379-395.

The Luo Community of Kenya — Google Arts & Culture

Luo Traditionals Instruments Kenya: The Oporo. Harambee-Gwassi: The Friendship Bridge Italy-Kenya.

*Post written by Mona Meyer, Archives and Special Collections Metadata Librarian, and Isaac Kebortz, UASC student worker

You’ve surely heard someone use this phrase, which in general means that everything is included, but the expression originated with gunsmithing, and refers to the three major components of a firearm. University Archives/Special Collections (UASC) has a Kentucky/Pennsylvania style rifle, dated to the mid 1800s and is attributed to gunsmith Charles Flowers, who lived in Harmony, PA. We’re going to examine the component parts, consider the artistry involved, and briefly address the challenges of authentication. Let’s start with a small amount of history and then move on to a description of the rifle.

Rifles like this were common in the 18th and early 19th centuries. “Originally made in Pennsylvania, the longrifle played a crucial role in early settlement, and some people argue that it was a significant factor in the formation of the national character. Part tool, part weapon, sometimes status symbol, it was a unique New World creation growing out of European technology and the demands of the American frontier… The longrifle reflected the determination of a transitory people for whom the securing of land was a daunting imperative.”¹ The fact that it is also known as a Kentucky rifle reflects the importance of its use by those explored the wilderness that in 1792 became the 15th state to be admitted to the Union, our first state west of the Appalachian Mountains.

Using the image below, let’s examine this rifle part by part. Technically, the stock of the gun is the wood and the barrel is the (more functional) metal that is supported by it. First, the patchbox, seen in the images below.

The patchbox is used to hold weapon accessories or cleaning materials. This one is fairly elaborate, with the hinged portion opens by depressing the button on the top edge near the back (just barely visible here). One common cleaning material was tow, a fiber made of used rope that was used to scour the barrel clean. This gun would have used black powder, a substance that does not burn entirely; over time this leads to sludge in the barrel called fouling. If not kept clean, in time the barrel would become so fouled that it was impossible to insert the ball. The name patchbox comes from the piece of lubricated wadding, or patch cloth, used to wrap around the ball. Generally the ball is smaller than the diameter of the barrel, and the patch takes up the extra space so the fit is snug. This snug fit allows the ball to engage better with the cut grooves, called rifling, within the barrel.

Next is the trigger, in this case, two triggers. The one in the back is used to set the trigger, and the forward one fires the gun. Setting the trigger lessens the amount of strength needed to fire the trigger; if it takes less strength to pull the trigger, then it’s easier to be more precise in your aim. That mechanism on top is called the hammer (aka the cock or the dog on older versions). Once the user has loaded the rifle (more about this later), this is pulled back, i.e., cocked, and then the trigger is ready to be pulled.

The final item of interest visible on this side of the rifle is the ramrod–that wooden rod with a metal end sticking out just below the barrel. The ramrod would be pulled out and inserted into the barrel to push the ball until it is fully seated against the powder. This rifle has a special feature in the metal tip of the ramrod which unscrews to reveal a ball screw, puller, or worm (seen in the second image above) that can be used to remove stuck ammunition. This would have been an expensive feature.

Here’s a full view of this side of the rifle.

Let’s move on to the other side of this weapon. We’ve covered the functional parts of the rifle, so this side displays decorative parts.

As you can see, this section is the back side of the lock mechanism.

There are three decorative items here, the Hunters’ Star, the acorn, and the weeping heart. Having three such decorations is indicative of Charles Flowers; only one is really needed to hold the screw in place and keep it from digging into the wood. In this case the functional shape is the acorn, an American symbol common in the early 19th century, and associated with small game like squirrels that ate acorns. On the left is the Hunters’ Star. This rifle has two of these…this one and the one on the cheek rest (where the gun should be pressed to the cheek when firing; seen in first image above). This image is typical of those used by 18th century German immigrants, although it goes back to older European hunting lore. It’s common to have a Hunters’ Star on the check rest. The final shape is the weeping heart: 1/2 heart, 1/2 teardrop. This image was popular with Native Americans, but could also be found on weapons of English or Scottish origin.

The final decorative item below is the 1888 Liberty Seated dime near the end. This type of dime was minted from 1837-1891.

There’s an 1854 Liberty Seated dime below the trigger guard on the underside of the gun. These may or may not have been added by Flowers as it was common for the rifle owner to customize his weapon by himself in this fashion.

And here’s the full view of this side.

Now that we’ve examined the parts of this rifle, how was it fired? First, the powder was measured and poured into the barrel. How much powder was determined by the shooter, depending upon distance to target and/or type of target. The ball was then inserted into the barrel, using/not using a patch or wadding. The ramrod was next used to assure that the ball was completely in place. The hammer could be half cocked at this time; this was the safety position, meaning that the rifle could not yet be released by the trigger. It was safe to carry the rifle in this position, and it was ready to be fire quickly with the addition of the percussion cap. These percussion caps did not come with this rifle, but they are similar to what would have been used with it.

After placing this cap on the cone, the hammer would be pulled into full cock and ready to fire, as seen below. When fired, the hammer would strike the percussion cap, which is filled with a chemical compound called a fulminate. This makes the firearm’s action more reliable than previous designs of locks, creating an explosion that would more consistently ignite the powder and fire the ball.

Although we are accustomed to seeing the rifle seated against the shooter’s shoulder, it originally would have been placed against the bicep. This fact accounts for the highly curved butt plate on the end of the stock.

The authentication that accompanied this rifle attributes it to Charles Flowers, a gunsmith that lived in Harmony, PA. Listen to this brief video by Rick Rosenberger, curator of the Harmony Museum as he talks about Flowers, rifles of this type, and Flowers rifles owned by the museum.

Tracking down more information about Charles Flowers presents a challenge! The information received with the rifle has a photocopied page containing some information about Flowers from The Pennsylvania-Kentucky Rifle by Henry J. Kauffman. It says he was born in 1802, worked at the Arsenal in Pittsburgh during the Civil War, possibly learning his trade there, purchased a plot of land in Harmony, PA in 1866, and had his gunsmith shop on Wood St. The video states that he moved into this area in the 1840s, was listed in the 1850 Census as a coal miner but in subsequent censuses was listed as a gunsmith, and died in 1897. The 1850 Census entry with Flowers as a miner was corroborated as were the later censuses listing his occupation as a gunsmith. Most of the Census entries only provide an estimated birth date….some say 1815, 1818, or 1821. There is a Find a Grave entry for a Charles Flowers giving his birth date as February 22, 1821 and his death date as October 28, 1897. The information provided regarding his wife and daughter corresponds with the information on some of the Census entries. The Find a Grave entry is for a Flowers who was a Civil War veteran, serving with Company C of the 5 Pa. Heavy Artillery. Given that Find a Grave is a crowd-sourced database, it cannot be seen as completely reliable. What could be verified was that there was indeed a Charles Flowers, with the rank of private, in Company C with the same enlistment and mustering out dates.ⁱⁱ What about the Arsenal in Pittsburgh….finding information on this also provided challenging. No such specifically named entity was located, although there was an Allegheny Arsenal, founded in 1814, that was located in Lawrenceville, PA (which later became a part of Pittsburgh). It suffered a catastrophic accident when one building, known as the Laboratory, exploded on September 17, 1862. Are these two entities one and the same?

Another authentication challenges comes with the attribution of the rifle to Flowers, who was known to have signed or at least initialed his work on top of the barrel; this rifle bears neither. Flowers used locks made by the Goulcher family. (See image of a Goulcher lock below.)

Flowers was said to have been a master craftsman, and while parts of this rifle show this skill, others do not. How can this be explained? Perhaps some of the work is his, and other parts were done by a later owner, one with less skill. If this was an early work of Flowers, the imperfections might mirror the work of a man perfecting his craft, not yet the master he would become. One imperfection is the fact that the toe plate is not perfectly flush with the butt plate–but perfect alignment here is notoriously hard to achieve, a fact that might indeed argue for a rifle early in Flowers’ portfolio.

Researching this blog was a fascinating journey into an area of knowledge in which I had absolutely no background. I am indebted to UASC student workers Isaac Kebortz and Bill Smith, both of whom have the background that I lack. They very thoroughly and patiently explained this rifle to me, step by step, and equally patiently answered my MANY questions. Both have read this blog posting to ascertain that no errors based on my misunderstanding are included. Isaac also photographed the rifle in detail and provided many of the images seen here. If you enjoyed this blog, that is due in large part to the contributions of Isaac and Bill….thanks, guys! It is a joy to work with such committed and interested student workers that demonstrate the value of their USI education. Stay tuned for more explorations into the many treasures of University Archives and Special Collections.

Notes

¹ Conaway, p. 98

ii Pennsylvania…/Bates

Resources Consulted

Conaway, James. “Renaissance of the Longrifle.” Smithsonian, v. 31:no. 5, August 2000, p. 96-103.

Kauffman, Henry J. The Pennsylvania-Kentucky Rifle. New York, Bonanza Books, 1960.

NRA National Firearms Museum website. A Prospering New Republic–1780 to 1860.

Pennsylvania Volunteers of the Civil War. 204th Pennsylvania Regiment – 5th Artillery. Pennsylvania Civil War Volunteers 1997-2015 website.

Russell, Carl P. Guns on the Early Frontiers: A History of Firearms from Colonial Times through the Years of the Western Fur Trade. Berkeley, University of California Press, 1957.

*Post written by Mona Meyer, Archives and Special Collections Metadata Librarian

Apologies for that groaner of a pun in the title!

In the first half of the 20^th century, Evansville was a bit of a sleepy southern town, suffering, as did the rest of the country, from the lingering Depression.  December 7, 1941 changed that dynamic completely as Evansvillians geared up for war.  “Vanderburgh County firms would, by March 1944, receive more than $600 million in defense contracts, more than any southern Indiana county.  One study in 1981 indicated that forty-eight Evansville businesses did some sort of war work.”[i]  Let’s take a look at how the average citizen was impacted by and responded to these war contracts and the war itself.

Undoubtedly the largest impact was the huge influx of people coming into Evansville.  In 1940 the city’s population was 97,062.  Still dealing with the lingering effects of the Depression, the economy remained sluggish.  After Pearl Harbor and the subsequent swift announcement that many defense contracts had been awarded to Evansville, this situation changed almost overnight. “The combination of increased industry from existing companies and production from new plants significantly raised the number of jobs — and in turn employees. Evansville’s total industrial employment from 34 major corporations jumped from 13,492 in 1941 to 78,775 in 1943. Chrysler increased from 650 to 12,700 employees and Republic and the shipyard from zero to 8,300 and 19,200 respectively.”[ii]  Other companies with defense contracts or otherwise contributing to the war effort included Servel, Hoosier Cardinal, Sunbeam Electric Manufacturing Company, George Koch Sons, Mesker Steel, Mead Johnson, Shane Manufacturing, Bootz Manufacturing, and Bucyrus-Erie. Many of these likely needed additional employees, too.

What in the world to do with all these new people—not only the workers, but also their families? “The great influx of workers from the hinterlands put a severe strain on housing.  Any garage, attic, or building with walls and a roof was sought for living quarters.  Many of the old mansions along First and Second streets that had fallen into disrepair during the Depression were remodeled, and almost every one of their large, old rooms was turned into an efficiency apartment.  Special war housing projects were quickly erected such as Gatewood Gardens, Diamond Villa, Columbia Apartments, and Parkholm.”[iii] Below is a Karl Kae Knecht cartoon from the Evansville Courier, March 5, 1942, which addresses the issue.  Knecht was a cartoonist for the newspaper from 1906-1960.  He was famous for his little elephant, Kay, appearing in his cartoons—take a look at the bottom right corner to see how Kay is going to help with the housing crisis.

One of the first housing projects to be built was the Armory Apartments near the old National Guard Armory on Rotherwood Ave., near the University of Evansville. These buildings are no longer standing. Seen next are the Fulton Square Apartments under construction, on W. Dresden St.  There were almost 200 units, and this housing complex is still occupied.

Below are two views of Gatewood Gardens housing project on E. Maryland St. and Kerth Ave.  It was completely vacated in 1959 and razed March 1960.

Some housing was considerably less “nice” than this.  John A. Koch, housing director for the Evansville Shipyard, said, “There aren’t enough homes for the workers coming to Evansville, and trailers are the logical solution.  It has been the solution in other cities with big war contracts.  We will have to provide these trailer homes, and until it is possible to bring the trailer parking lots and camps up to the high standard of the county ordinance, we are going to have to be lenient in enforcing these unimportant details.”[iv]  That unimportant detail?  Flush toilets.  (Some trailer park residents found their accommodations the best ever and thought the county health officer was too picky.)  In the end, there were 16 licensed trailer parks in the city, including one at Pleasure Park and another on Diamond Ave.  There were also plenty of unregulated, unlicensed places like “Trailer City,” which saw a tragic fire December 24, 1943 that killed two children. The following three photographs are from the Evansville Museum, courtesy of EVPL Digital Archive: Evansville in WWII. Each of these trailers was photographed December 27, 1943. Their specific locations are not identified.

Lyman Hall, radio commentator on WGBF radio, said,

The launching of five ships in four days at the local shipyard is worthy of note and subject for congratulation.  It seems that no workers in industry are so worthy to hold their chins up along side the boys at the fighting fronts.  We owe them something.  The least we could do would be to give them better breaks on the housing situation.  It is disheartening to the Navy officials and shipyard management to have trained workers leave town to rejoin their families, because after months of searching they find no quarters in Evansville to which they can move their families.[v]

What about those workers’ children–where were they going to school?  Townships squabbled with the city over who was responsible for schooling these children.  Schools were overwhelmed by sheer numbers.  In one instance, “Vogel, the nearest school within the township, was so overcrowded that Oak Hill Club nearby had been “taken over as an auxiliary.”  The two nearest city schools, Howard Roosa and Henry Reis, were already at capacity, so the federal project children would have to go to Columbia School by bus if they were to come to city schools.”[vi]  And if this wasn’t enough, there were not enough buses to transport the extra students, nor funding for school meals.  Federal funding finally came through in December.  School play centers were available for children 6-15 when school was not in session, for a fee of $.50/week, with $1.00/week additional for a hot lunch.  The first was at Howard Roosa, with Culver, Third Ave. Colored School, and Lincoln Colored School soon joining, along with Baker and Centennial Schools.  “Thanks to the Lanham Act it was possible to have nursery schools in Evansville which provided food for some 700 grade school children and afforded great assistance to parents working in defense plants.”[vii]

St. Vincent’s Day Nursery at 611 N. First Ave. was another source of day care for children with parents working in defense plants.  This building and organization still exist in 2021.

Transportation for workers was also a challenge.  Even if a person owned a car (and many did not), gasoline was rationed.  Shipyard workers, and probably others, were known to car-pool or share rides, which allowed drivers to stockpile their gasoline rations for recreational activities.  The shipyard even had a transportation department which

assisted employees in all ration problems, and received and processed applications for gasoline, tires, automobiles, bicycles, and safety shoes.  Applicants were required to know the average mileage covered each day or week in driving back and forth to work….  One “A” stamp was to be used every week, regardless of how many supplement stamps had been issued.  The “A” books were good for eight weeks, with one coupon good for each week. … The “A” book allowed the owner 180 miles of driving per month, based on 15 miles per gallon.  Of this amount, 60 miles must be used each month for driving back and forth to work. … The supplemental or occupational mileage, up to 460 miles a month, was covered by the “B” book, and from 461 miles up, the driver was entitled to a “C” book.[viii]

This photo shows the work of the shipyard’s transportation department, here performing a tire inspection. 

Although not specifically dealing with rationing, this WWII poster speaks to the need to use everything wisely.                                                                                

These Karl K. Knecht cartoons from the Evansville Courier point out that not everyone was on board about war-induced shortages. All images are from the Evansville Museum via the EVPL Digital Archive: Karl K. Knecht Collection                                   

Scrap metal drives promoted the very real need to recycle and reuse. These two images are of the same scrap metal drive in 1944, conducted on a lot behind the old post office (the Romanesque style building) at 100 NW 2nd St. Both are from the Thomas Mueller Collection.

This African-American man is high atop a huge pile of scrap metal in 1941.

These young men are cutting the bottoms off large metal cans and then compressing them to be used for scrap metal, circa 1945.  

Despite any ideals of the time about a woman’s place being in the home, the fact that so many men were in the military meant that there was a very real need for women to take their jobs. 

Indiana…received a much larger than average share of war contracts, ranking eighth in the nation, and its manufacturing industry grew more rapidly than that of most states.  In 1944, payrolls of war industries accounted for nearly one-third of all Indiana income payments, ranking the state fourth nationally….  Women made up a significant proportion of those payrolls.  In 1940, women represented 18 percent of those employed in manufacturing in the state.  By the end of 1943, more than one-third of all factory workers in Indiana were women.  The greatest increase in female employment in the state occurred in the defense industries, not only in machinery plants (mostly converted auto and electrical goods plants), where women on average made up one-third of the labor force, but also in iron and steel mills, where the number of women employed increased 260 percent by 1944.  In some factories, such as a tank armor plant in Gary, an RCA factory in Bloomington, and most of the ordnance plants, women constituted the majority of workers. … Nearly 3,000 women, constituting one-sixth of the workforce, were employed in production jobs at the peak of wartime employment at the Evansville shipyard alone.[ix]

The image of Rosie the riveter is very well known, but this is certainly not the only role for women in industry.  At the Evansville shipyard, no Rosies (or Rosses, for that matter) were used as all joining was done by welding.  Mrs. Evelyn Cox, seen to the left, was the shipyard’s first female welder.  She was quoted as saying that “my job isn’t nearly as tiring as doing a day’s ironing.”  Nor was she alone.  The five women below are three-position welders at the shipyard.  This means that they were qualified to weld “as on a table top, or up or down as on a wall and the most difficult position of welding overhead as on the ceiling.  This was a coveted status and difficult to achieve.”[x]

None of this necessarily meant equal work for equal pay, however.  “Workers tended to argue that if a man had ever performed a job, it was, ipso facto, a “male” job, and women now employed in it should receive the higher “male” rate negotiated before conversion.  But employers feminized disputed operations and accorded them the lower “female” rate, claiming that the process of conversion had simplified the tasks once assigned to men, making them more like those done by women before the war.  Both sides were somewhat disingenuous since neither would admit the flimsy and esoteric basis for many prewar differentials.  It became, however, increasing difficult to distinguish between operations performed by men and women.”[xi]  In many instances, women were expected to give up these jobs when the war was over and men who did or could perform them returned home.

If the demand for employees failed to promote male/female equity, it was worse for racial equality.  This was an era of segregation; “separate but equal” was the law of the land.  White workers had no issue with African-Americans filling menial positions, but resisted strongly the concept of giving them skilled labor jobs.  “Black men who sought specialized training to equip them for skilled jobs at, for instance, the shipyard, were denied access to training at the segregated Mechanic Arts School and had to make do with night courses offered at Lincoln High School. … Republic [Aviation] employed just nine blacks by the summer of 1945—six in maintenance and three as truck drivers.”[xii]  The woman below performed janitorial work at the shipyard and the men were consigned to be waiters.  Even the company picnics were segregated—whites picnicked and danced at Burdette Park, blacks at Stockwell Woods.

Even the USO was segregated.  USOs provide entertainment, support, and assistance to soldiers and their families.   White servicemen and their families enjoyed the USO at the old Central and Eastern Illinois Railroad depot on SE 8^th St.  (below, left).  This building has been razed, but the columns were saved and now constitute the Four Freedoms monument on the riverfront.  African-American soldiers and their families were served by the Lincoln USO (below, right), located in the former county orphanage on Lincoln Ave. at Morton Ave.  It, too, has since been razed.

Local history buff Harold Morgan cited two rays of hope in terms of integration.  One was the Spaghetti Bowl restaurant that served everyone and even offered a free meal to any serviceman or woman whenever it was open.[xiii]

Evansville was famous for its Red Cross Canteen on Fulton Ave., another place soldiers didn’t face racial segregation.   In its three years in operation, it served 1,612,000 service men and women, an average of 1,280 meals per day. All was free—no serviceman or woman paid anything for food or assistance at Evansville’s Canteen. 

All costs were provided for by the area citizens and the American Red Cross. All Canteen workers were volunteers, they numbered in the hundreds and for many this was their full time job. …The usual mode of transportation was by railroad. America had about 11,000,000 men and women under arms. An inductee would ride to training base by rail; go home for leave by rail. Then perhaps to a special training camp, home again and then to a permanent duty station, all via the railroads. …  It appears that the army and navy put the men on a train and provided water and toilets and nothing else. There may have been no dining provisions for them along the tracks. Some canteens charged for food. …  At any one time, there would have been many thousands of troops in the rail system. Evansville averaged 1,500 men and women per day during 1943 when more than 500,000 persons stopped for a meal, a drink and a chance to stretch their legs.  The Canteen received a constant flow of food, service and money contributions from a radius of about 50 miles around Evansville. The towns in Illinois, Kentucky and Indiana took the Canteen on as their responsibility; they kept it very well supplied with what they could offer.[xiv]

I hope you’ve enjoyed this series of blogs about how Evansville both contributed to the war effort and was in turn influenced by these efforts.  Stay tuned for more blogs on different topics, always highlighting materials within the UASC collections.

Resources Consulted

Bigham, Darrel.  Evansville: The World War II Years.  Charleston, S.C.: Arcadia, c2005.  General Collection F534.E9 B54 2007

Bone, Dona. Home Front Heroes: How Women & Children Helped Win WWII.  Evansville, M.T. Publishing Co., 2019

Gourley, Harold E.  Shipyard Work Force: World’s Champion LST Builders on the Beautiful Ohio.  Mt. Vernon, IN: Wiedrich Publishing, 2000.  2 copies: General Collection, UASC Regional History VM301.E92 G68 2000

The Home-Front War : World War II and American Society.  Edited by Kenneth Paul O’Brien and Lynn Hudson Parsons.  Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1995.  General Collection D769 .H66 1995

Indiana City/Town Census Counts, 1900 to 2010.  STATSIndiana

Lutgring, Trista et al.  “Holding Down the Home Front.” Evansville Living Magazine, n.d.

MacLeod, James Lachlan.  Evansville in World War II.  Charleston, SC: History Press, 2015.  General Collection F534.E9 M335 2015

McCutchan, Kenneth P. et al.  Evansville at the Bend in the River: An Illustrated History.  Sun Valley, CA: American Historical Press, c2004.  General Collection F534.E9 M38 2004

Morgan, Harold B.  Home Front Heroes: Evansville and the Tri-State in WWII.  Evansville: M.T. Publishing, 2007   UASC Regional Collection F534.E9 M58 2007

Morgan, Harold B.  Home Town History: The Evansville, Indiana Area; A Photo Timeline.  Mt. Vernon, IN: H.B. Morgan, 2009.  UASC Regional Collection F534.E9 M67 2009

Morgan, Harold.  “The Red Cross Canteen: 1942-1945.”  Evansville Boneyard website.  

[i] Bigham, p. 51.

[ii] Lutgring

[iii] McCutchan, p. 91.

[iv] MacLeod, p. 86.

[1] Gourley, p. 56.

[v] MacLeod, p. 93-94.

[vi] Gourley, p. 57-58.

[vii] Gourley, p. 55.

[ix] Home-Front War, p. 108-109.

[x] Morgan/Home-Front, p. 204.

[xi] Home-Front War, p. 111.

[xii] MacLeod, p. 69.

*Post written by Mona Meyer, Archives and Special Collections Metadata Librarian.

In the first half of the 20^th century, Evansville was a bit of a sleepy southern town, suffering, as did the rest of the country, from the lingering Depression.  December 7, 1941 changed that dynamic completely as Evansvillians geared up for war.  “Vanderburgh County firms would, by March 1944, receive more than $600 million in defense contracts, more than any southern Indiana county.  One study in 1981 indicated that forty-eight Evansville businesses did some sort of war work.”[i]  One of these businesses was the Chrysler plant.

The story begins with three brothers: Robert, Joseph, and Ray Graham, who had a new business idea in 1919.  “The brothers, especially Joseph, had always been fascinated with automobiles. Evansville seemed like an ideal city to start a factory. There were already many highly-skilled workers who had experience assembling tractors for Hercules Tractor Company. They planned to build the car bodies on site, using purchased motors and transmissions to complete assembly.  Since they didn’t plan to manufacture their own engines or transmissions, the brothers began looking for quality parts that they could purchase. At the time, Dodge sold a line of highly-reliable motors, so they made a deal with their local Dodge dealer to supply them with the parts.”[ii]  The business, Graham Brothers Truck Company, was very successful, and in 1924 the controlling interest was purchased by Dodge, later purchased by Chrysler. 

Graham Brothers Truck Company built its factory at 1625 N. Garvin St. in 1919.  Chrysler was apparently able to make a go of the business after purchase and later expanded the footprint of the plant.  This view is circa 1930.

As the 1930s progressed, worries grew about the aggressive role Germany was taking in Europe, with fears that WWI may not have been the war to end all wars.  Business leaders were concerned that Evansville might get overlooked when it came to defense contracts.  “As early as March 1941, a group was established called the Manufacturers Association Defense Committee, chaired by Thomas J. Morton, Jr., president of the Hoosier Lamp and Stamping Corporation, and dominated by the big local companies.  By April, they had conducted ‘a survey of all available machine and personnel facilities within 50 miles of Evansville to make it possible to pool resources and get more defense work.’”[i]  In July Evansville Mayor William Dress and several committee members traveled to Washington, D.C., where there were able to get a lengthy meeting with Sidney Hillman, associate director of the federal Office of Production Management (OPM). Hillman was very impressed with the presentation and “suggested that Evansville might be made a test city where an OPM engineer would assess the impact of prioritization of defense projects.”[ii]  On September 8 the city was notified that it would indeed be a test city, with visits by OPM officials soon to follow.  Evansville made a strong case for itself, and by October it was certified eligible for preferred consideration in the awarding of defense contracts. 

Events of December 7, 1941 proved that all this preparation and lobbying was not in vain.  In future blogs I’ll discuss other defense contracts won by the city of Evansville, but for now, “Chrysler’s Plymouth assembly plant and Sunbeam Electric Manufacturing Company were both brought under the supervision of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and the giant operation known as the Evansville Ordnance Plant was formed.  Millions of tons of ammunition were manufactured in these factories, mostly for rifles, pistols, and machine guns.  Before the war ended, Evansville Ordnance was listed as the biggest producer of small caliber ammunition in the United States.”[iii]

Chrysler president W.T. Keller was certain that the Evansville plant could meet any demand.  Soon, Chrysler vice president Charles L. Jacobson, tasked with organizing and running the new operation, got an Army Ordnance team to inspect and approve the Evansville plant and a letter of intent for the making of 5,000,000 .45 caliber cartridges a day. One week later, Army Ordnance phoned Jacobson and increased the order to 7,500,000 rounds a day. Within twenty-four hours Army Ordnance again called and gave Jacobson another change order – increasing production to 10,000,000 rounds a day. Before the month ended, that number had jumped yet again to 12,500,000 rounds. Jacobson had doubts such an order could be fulfilled, but with Keller telling him to make it happen, Jacobson worked out a co-production agreement with Sunbeam, who had a plant near Evansville. On Feb. 18, 1942, Washington’s Birthday, the formal contract with the government was signed. The transformation of the Evansville plant from assembly line to arsenal began the next day.  Cartridges made at the Evansville arsenal had seven parts, passed through 48 processing operations, and had to survive 334 quality control inspections. On June 30, 1942, the first bullets produced there were test fired. From June 1942 to April 20, 1944 when the contract ended, Chrysler’s Evansville arsenal produced 96 percent of the military’s .45 caliber cartridges: 3,264,281,914 rounds. Rejection rate of cartridges was less than .1 percent of production.  It also produced almost a half-billion .30 caliber cartridges, hundreds of thousands of specialty rounds, reconditioned 1,662 Sherman tanks, rebuilt 4,000 Army trucks, delivered 800,000 tank grousers (track extensions for use in mud), and was preparing to make 7 million fire bombs when the war ended.[iv]

What’s more, a shortage of brass meant that they also had to figure out how to make bullets from steel, not brass.  This was a very complicated process, but Chrysler workers managed to do this while maintaining a prodigious output. 

This image provides a good overview of the types of work done at Chrysler.  It is from a newsletter published by the Evansville Shipyard called The Invader.  This image comes from the May 1945 issue, v.3:no.7, p. 20.   It is from the Evansville in WWII collection of the Evansville Vanderburgh Public Library digital archive. 

(link to this specific image)

Here are some photos of the Evansville plant, all from UASC MSS 253, the Raymond Frederick Diekmann Chrysler Wartime Collection.  Diekmann oversaw plant security at the Chrysler/Evansville Ordnance plant. 

First is a map of the extra land acquired to retrofit the plant for defense work.

This is a map of the original Chrysler Plymouth plant itself. The image below is one long strip, too long to use here, so it’s been divided in half, with the second part below adjoining the top image to the right.  All of this space was retrofitted for defense work, in addition to being greatly expanded and additional buildings constructed.  For example, the recreation field seen here would have been taken over for defense work. 

Those 1,662 Sherman tanks that were retrofitted at this facility arrived, some in poor condition, by rail.  While awaiting repair or awaiting return to the front lines, they were kept in this tank storage yard seen below.  In the foreground you can see some of the turrets.  In the other two photos, the track or tread is being replaced.

Once the tanks were repaired, they had to be tested.  The tank test track would have been a bit north of the plant, off Diamond Ave. This track still exists and can be driven on.  The first image below is looking east from the southeast curve of the track.

The image below depicts the first group of tanks on the “new road.,” October 20, 1944.  Another interesting thing in this photograph is that light- colored arch in the center.  That was part of the conveyor assembly that carried ammunition from manufacture at the Ordnance Plant to a separate packing plant.

Above is a group shot of the tank test drivers, taken on February 2, 1945.  Tanks are meant to be all terrain vehicles, so not all the testing took place on this track—there was “off-road” testing, too.  And, as you can see below, it didn’t always go to plan.  I’m pretty sure that tank is supposed to drive out of the lake, not be towed!

To the right is a close-up of a tank with one of the 800,000 grousers that Chrysler also manufactured.  A grouser is an extension added to the track or tread to provide more traction in mud and other adverse conditions.

Below is a close-up of the storage yard for the 4,000 Army trucks that Chrysler rebuilt.

This plant also built cluster bombs.  These photographs depict this type bomb being loaded onto a B-25 bomber.

“In the early summer of 1943, the Evansville arsenal won the coveted Army-Navy “E” – Excellence – Pennant. In presenting it to the workers, Lt. Col. Miles Chatfield of the Army’s Ordnance Department said, “Ninety days after you broke ground, you proof-fired the first ammunition made at this plant. When the Chief of Ordnance asked you to switch from brass to steel you did the seemingly impossible and then when you were asked to convert some of your machines to .30 caliber carbine ammunition, you made the first cup within a week and two weeks later you proof-fired the first round of that ammunition. This all adds up to a remarkable accomplishment performed by those inexperienced in the ways of making ammunition, but with a willingness and devotion to patriotic duty second to none.””[i]

If you want to see more of the 924 photographs in the Raymond Frederick Diekmann Chrysler Wartime Collection, follow this link.   To broaden your search, try the American Military History Gallery which contains photographs from other individuals and includes other American military conflicts in addition to WWII.  There will be future blogs highlighting other contributions Evansville made to WWII—stay tuned!

Resources Consulted

Bigham, Darrel.  Evansville : The World War II Years.  Charleston, S.C. : Arcadia, c2005.  General Collection F534.E9 B54 2005

Giorgio, Mary.  “Graham Brothers Trucks: Evansville’s Extinct & Influential Auto.” OrangeBean Indiana, May 31, 2019.

Jackson, David D. “The American Automobile Industry in World War Two: An American Auto Industry Heritage Tribute” webpage.

MacLeod, James Lachlan.  Evansville in World War II.  Charleston, SC : History Press, 2015.  General Collection F534.E9 M335 2015

McCutchan, Kenneth P. et al.  Evansville at the Bend in the River: An Illustrated History.  Sun Valley, CA. : American Historical Press, c2004.  General Collection F534.E9 M38 2004

Zimmerman, Dwight John.  “Bullets by the Billions: Chrysler Switches World War II Production from Cars to Cartridges.” DefenseMediaNetwork, June 14, 2012.

*Post written by Mona Meyer, Archives and Special Collections Metadata Librarian.

In the first half of the 20^th century, Evansville was a bit of a sleepy southern town, suffering, as did the rest of the country, from the lingering Depression.  December 7, 1941 changed that dynamic completely as Evansvillians geared up for war.  “Vanderburgh County firms would, by March 1944, receive more than $600 million in defense contracts, more than any southern Indiana county.  One study in 1981 indicated that forty-eight Evansville businesses did some sort of war work.”[i]  A number of these contracts dealt with aviation. Perhaps the biggest player in aviation defense contracts was Republic Aviation, a company that wasn’t even in Evansville until November 1942. The parent company was in Farmingdale, NY. “

In order to chart the history of Republic Aviation, we have to go back to the Seversky Aircraft Company which was founded in 1931 by Alexander de Seversky, a Russian expatriate and veteran WWI pilot who had lost a leg in the war. After several failed attempts at winning military aircraft contracts, Seversky Aircraft finally won a design competition for a new Army Air Corps fighter, and was awarded its first military contract in 1936 for the production of its P-35.  In 1939, Seversky Aircraft again entered a military fighter competition with its AP-4. Unfortunately, the contract was awarded to Curtiss with its P-40 Warhawk.  The Army Air Corps was very pleased with the AP-4’s medium and high altitude performance and ordered 13 for testing. They were given the designation YP-43.  By April 1939, Seversky Aircraft Corporation had lost $550,000, and Seversky was forced out of his own company by the board of directors while he was on a business trip. In September 1939, the company was reorganized as the Republic Aviation Corporation.”[i]

The NY plant built a number of different aircraft, but soon the Army was calling for a long-range aircraft that could escort bombers into Germany.  In response, Republic engineers designed what would become the P-47 Thunderbolt.  Although it was not perfect, the Army was pleased.

Concurrent with this, (the mayor of Evansville) William Dress set about to improve the then inadequate Evansville airport to make it more attractive to the aircraft manufacturing industry.

Although almost all materials were being diverted to the war effort, the mayor, through connections in the cement industry, was able to get a quantity of material.  With no official sanction whatsoever, he ordered a runway expansion program.  It was a fortunate move because at the time the Republic Aviation Corporation in Farmingdale, New York, secured a government contract to produce an unlimited number of P-47 fighter planes known as Thunderbolts.  The president of Republic felt that the East Coast was too vulnerable to attack from the sea, so he set out to find a site for a new plant in the Midwest.  He called an old St. Louis friend and neighbor, G. Nelson Smith, for suggestions.  Smith was by this time the vice-president of Hoosier Lamp and Stamping Company in Evansville, so it was through this connection that Evansville was selected for the new $16 million airplane factory.  Mayor Dress was informed that his expansion program was much too conservative and that the U.S. Air Corps would take over.  In April 1942 ground was broken for the new plant on the south end of the airport along U.S. Highway 41.[i]

You may recognize this location as the site of the former Whirlpool Corporation.

Ground was broken in April 1942 and construction of the new plant continued around the clock.  Construction of the planes began very soon thereafter, before the plant was even complete.  Diane Igleheart, wife of International Steel president (which provided the raw materials) James Igleheart, noted, “they just kept building the plant around the way the plane had to go so when the last section that they built [was complete], the plane was there and it was sent right across.”[i] Within 20 months, 1,000 planes had rolled off the assembly lines.  President Franklin D. Roosevelt, on an unannounced tour of defense plants, visited the Evansville plant on April 27, 1943.  News of this visit didn’t appear in local newspapers until April 30, and this photograph wasn’t released until much later.

A newsletter was published by the Evansville Shipyard and called The Invader.  This image comes from the May 1945 issue, v.3:no.7, p. 18.   It is from the Evansville in WWII collection of the Evansville Vanderburgh Public Library digital archive.

Production ceased in mid-August 1945.  By that time, some 5,000 employees (about half women) had contributed 6,242 P-47 Thunderbolts to the war effort. Combat pilots loved the P-47.  It did the job, and it brought them home safely.

Nicknamed the “Jug” (short for “Juggernaut”) by adoring pilots, the P-47 was a heavyweight warbird — and one that packed a devastating punch. … The P-47 was a big plane. It was three feet wider than the P-51 and four feet longer. And at more than 10,000 pounds empty, it was about 50 percent heavier than the Mustang and nearly twice the weight of the British Spitfire. In fact, along with the three-seat Grumman Avenger, the P-47 was among the heaviest single-engine aircraft of World War Two.  Despite its considerable mass, the P-47’s 18-cylinder, 2,600-horsepower Pratt & Whitney R-2800 Double Wasp engine (the same power plant used by the Vought Corsair and Grumman Hellcat) enabled the unwieldy Jug to keep pace with the Mustang. Both had a top speed of around 440 mph (700 km/h). And while the P-47 could reach altitudes in excess of 40,000 feet (12,000 meters), its range of just over 800 miles (1,300 km) gave it half the legs of the P-51.  With four .50 caliber machine guns mounted in each wing, the Thunderbolt could shred both enemy warplanes and ground targets alike with equal ferocity. Its internal stores were capable of holding 3,400 rounds (the Mustang’s six guns could pack only 1,800 bullets), which enabled the P-47 to unleash a torrent of lead for 30 seconds straight. While the Jug did poorly in fast turning dogfights against smaller planes, it was at its best when diving on (or “bouncing”) enemy fighters with all guns blazing. It was even more effective as a ground attack aircraft; it was capable of carrying as much as 3,000 pounds of external ordnance. In fact, when fully armed, a P-47 Thunderbolt could deliver about half the payload of a B-17 Flying Fortress. When equipped with 4.5-inch M8 rockets, the Jug had the firepower equal to a battery of 105 mm howitzers. … Not only was it capable of absorbing staggering amounts of punishment, the cockpit was roomy and comfortable. Some fliers likened the aircraft’s seat to a lounge chair. Plus, the bubble canopy, which was added to D-model variants, afforded aviators enhanced visibility. The plane’s safety record was nothing short of astounding – only about 0.7 percent of Thunderbolts were lost in action. … The P-47 made its combat debut in April 1943, when a Thunderbolt with the U.S. Army’s 4th Fighter Group brought down a Focke Wulfe FW-190 over France. Over the next two years, the planes would fly more than half a million sorties in Europe and the Pacific and would claim nearly 4,000 enemy aircraft, 9,000 trains, 86,000 trucks and 6,000 armored vehicles.[i]

Republic Aviation wasn’t the only company in Evansville that produced planes or plane parts for WWII.

Another big player was the refrigeration giant, Servel, located at 119 N. Morton Ave.  In 1902 the Brighton Buggy Works of Cincinnati moved to Evansville and became known as the Hercules Buggy Company.  Circa 1926, looking to broaden its product line, it began manufacturing home refrigerators.  With the slogan of “Serving Electrically,” the company name evolved, after reorganization, into SERV-EL (Servel).  Servel president Louis Ruthenburg “was one of the most influential community leaders in the city and was a conspicuous and successful presence in the efforts of local leaders to get war contracts.”[i]  On March 28, 1942, Ruthenburg announced that, while Servel was currently working on several defense contracts, it soon would begin a new contract that was worth millions and would greatly increase both employment and production.  This new contract was to make wing panels for Republic Aviation’s P-47s.  “It, like Chrysler and Sunbeam, was also in the ordnance-production business and

manufactured 20 million 40-millimeter shell casings and 9 million 37-millimeter shell casings, as well as casings for other grades of shell, landing gear assemblies, field ranges and airplane head castings.”[i]  Below are two pictures of the Servel plant.  The first is a postcard, circa 1910, of the original Hercules Buggy Company plant.  Second is an undated aerial view of Servel, providing a better view of the size of the plant.

The Servel Inklings newsletter of November 30, 1945 (v. 12:no.24) contained a 4 page spread called “From Peace to War and Back: A History of Servel’s War Years Told in Pictures.”  This is the third page of this special report, touting the 15,000^th P-47 wing panel being completed on October 7, 1944 (center of page), and the 20,000 in May 1945.  That would average out to almost 42 wing panels being completed daily.

EVPL Digital Archive: Evansville in WWII

The Briggs Indiana Corporation, located at 800 E. Columbia St. (formerly the Graham-Paige Automobile Company) built wings for the Navy fighter plane the Vought F4U Corsair during WWII, among other products.   (This image is from 1940, before the factory tooled up for the war effort.)

The contribution of International Steel cannot be discounted, both in providing steel to build/retool the factories, but also for the construction of the planes themselves.  More will be said about this in the next blog of this series…keep reading!

Resources Consulted

Bigham, Darrel.  Evansville : The World War II Years.  Charleston, S.C. : Arcadia, c2005.  General Collection F534.E9 B54 2005

MacLeod, James Lachlan.  Evansville in World War II.  Charleston, SC : History Press, 2015.  General Collection F534.E9 M335 2015

McCutchan, Kenneth P. et al.  Evansville at the Bend in the River: An Illustrated History.  Sun Valley, CA. : American Historical Press, c2004.  General Collection F534.E9 M38 2004

“P-47 Thunderbolt – 11 Fast Facts About Republic’s Rugged Fighter Plane.”  Military History Now website.

“Republic Aviation.”  Military Aircraft Historian website.

*Post written by Mona Meyer, Archives and Special Collections Metadata Librarian

In the first half of the 20^th century, Evansville was a bit of a sleepy southern town, suffering, as did the rest of the country, from the lingering Depression.  December 7, 1941 changed that dynamic completely as Evansvillians geared up for war.  “Vanderburgh County firms would, by March 1944, receive more than $600 million in defense contracts, more than any southern Indiana county.  One study in 1981 indicated that forty-eight Evansville businesses did some sort of war work.”[i]  Perhaps the most visible and best known of these was the building of LSTs at the Evansville Shipyard.

Before we talk about the shipyard, what is an LST? The Landing Ship, Tank, or LST, was designed to land up to twenty tanks on a beach.  It did so by dropping a ramp onto the beach through a set of bow doors after the ship was deliberately grounded. The design dated to November 1941, when a British delegation to the United States asked for 200 ships and 400 craft capable of bringing tanks ashore. … An important design requirement for the LST was that it be an ocean-going vessel, capable of crossing the Atlantic. This could not be achieved with the shallow draft required for landing operations, but the problem was solved by adding two submarine-style ballast tanks. When these were filled, the LST had sufficient draft for ocean passage. The tanks could be quickly pumped out when the ship approached the landing beach, reducing the draft for the grounding operation. However, even when ballasted down, the LST had poor seakeeping. The flat-bottomed hull required for landing operations limited the ship’s speed and handling, and the LST experienced severe pounding in heavy seas. This occasionally caused the deck to develop cracks. The combination of shallow draft and broad beam also meant the ships had a very quick roll that was very uncomfortable for the crews and required cargo to be tightly secured.[i]

A less technical explanation was that “the ship’s unusual (and some consider unsightly) design allowed it to serve as a sort of Swiss Army knife of naval utility. Powerful pumps allowed it to quickly increase or decrease its buoyancy, letting the LST handle rough seas while crossing the Atlantic or Pacific Ocean. These pumps could remove this stabilizing ballast in minutes, increasing its buoyancy so greatly that its fully-loaded keel rested only three feet beneath the waterline, perfect for beach landings. This buoyancy also allowed them to take heavy punishment from enemy fire and remain afloat.”[ii]  Some sailors joked that LST stood for Large Slow Target.

Above is LST 492 landed at Omaha Beach, Normandy in 1944.  You can see how close it is to the beach, and how its cargo, in this case German prisoners of war, were loaded and offloaded through the open bow doors.  The keel for LST 492 was laid down June 25, 1942 at the Evansville Shipyard and launched October 31, 1942.  Let’s talk more about that shipyard, announced as coming on February 14, 1942.

“Walter G. Koch, an executive at International Steel Company, is credited with convincing the Navy Bureau of Ships that the big bend in the Ohio River at Evansville, Indiana, was an ideal location.  The new ships would have a draft of only six feet and could easily navigate the river, which, with its dams, was kept at a minimum stage of nine feet.”[i]  It would be built on 45 acres of unused riverfront property, roughly where Mead Johnson is today.  The shipyard was built and operated by the Missouri Valley Bridge and Iron Company, under the auspices of the Department of the Navy.

The arrival of the shipyard was met with great eagerness.  Just three days later six engineers began to design the yard.  Within another few days applications were being taken for jobs at the shipyard.  Although the land was mostly abandoned, federal condemnation hearings proceeded to clear titles for the land.  Less than a month after the big announcement men began surveying the property and stacking supplies.  Below is a map of the shipyard.

Building the shipyard was a massive undertaking.  Only after the site was cleared, excavated, and graded could “thousands of square yards of reinforced concrete…be poured for what would be the construction area—what in shipyard parlance was called the “building ways.”  Miles of pipes and wires were pre-installed under the concrete for “underground oxygen, electric, compressed air, acetylene, water, gas, and drainage lines”—there were no overhead lines in the entire yard.  Scaffolding and cranes were bult, as were a variety of offices and storerooms.  An enormous cofferdam [see later photographs] was built into the Ohio River—a concrete wall that enclosed part of the river, which was then pumped dry to allow the launching ways to be constructed down into the river.  And then four docks for outfitting were built, each of which could handle two ships.  The final cost of building the shipyard was a staggering $6.4 million.”[i] The shipyard took about 7 months to build, but even before it was complete, LSTs were being built.  It was generally accepted that four ships per month would be produced, but the Evansville Shipyard put that to shame by producing a new ship every 3-4 days.  In the end, it produced 167, more LSTs than any other shipyard.  It also produced other types of ships, for a grand total of 201 ships manufactured on the banks of the Ohio.  Their value? More than $300 million. The shipyard was virtually a small city—it operated 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and had its own hospital, cafeteria, and recreational area.  Its peak employment was 19,213; in total, over 70,00 people worked at the shipyard, making it the city’s biggest employer.[i] 

Below are some images of the construction of the cofferdam, all from EVPL Digital Archive: Evansville in WWII, with originals from the Evansville Museum.

In these images, the LST is ready to be move from the launching way into the river.  The launching way would be greased with paraffin, and the ship would slowly slide down into the river.

This image shows a bit more of the cofferdam itself.  After the ships were launched, they moved to one of four docks where they were outfitted.

These six ships are at one of the docks for outfitting.  If you compare this photograph to MSS 181-150 seen earlier, you can see the SIGECO power plant in both, thus gaining an idea of the location of the launching way as related to the outfitting docks.

“When employees entered the plant they took their time card from the “OUT” rack, inserted it into the time clock which stamped it with the date and time, and then the employee put the time card in the “IN” rack. When leaving the plant the procedure was reversed. During the WWII operation on payday, a time-keeper in each clock alley paid each employee as they clocked out at the end of the shift. Employees were assigned to a specific clock alley according to badge number.” NOTE: this information is about a WWII ordnance plant in Wisconsin, but it is likely very similar arrangements applied to the Evansville Shipyard.

The four images below are all originally from the Evansville Museum via the EVPL Digital Archive.

The Evansville Shipyard could not have been built or operated without the contributions of International Steel.  As we saw earlier, its president, Walter G. Koch, was crucial in seeing that the shipyard came to Evansville.  Successful in this effort, he put his money where his mouth was. The image below is from the EVPL Digital Archive: Evansville in WWI

For the company, it meant switching over from manufacturing structural steel and focusing instead on building sections of ships.  According to the Sunday Courier and Press of October 25, 1942, “When International persuaded the Missouri Valley Bridge and Iron Company and its associates to move to Evansville to carry out its contracts for ocean-going ships, it also obligated itself to lend whatever assistance the shipyard might need in its operations. … As the shipyard went into production, International went along with it, and finally turned into a boat building business.”  They invested half a million dollars reconfiguring the building and managed to borrow John Smith, assistant general superintendent of the Bethlehem Shipyard in Quincy, Massachusetts, as a consultant to help with the process of building ships.  The demands of providing enough steel for the Evansville Shipyard were such that International ran out of space and expanded into an outside yard where the work continued for a time in the open air.[i]

The following five photographs are courtesy of Willard Library.

International Steel contributed to the war effort in ways beyond providing for the needs of the shipyard.  It manufactured V-trestle piers and aluminum pontons for the Army Corps of Engineers, [and] also manufactured portable Bailey bridges, which were one of the most important pieces of equipment used by the Allies in World War II.  In June 1943, the first bridge built in Evansville was actually assembled for testing by army engineers outside the plant on Tennessee Street.  Thousands of these bridges, manufactured in several parts of the United States, would be erected all over Europe and the Pacific, often replacing bridges that had been damaged or destroyed by retreating Axis forces.  In September 1943, the British Royal Engineers’ Colonel P.A. Clauson addressed a war bond rally at International Steel, observing, “This bridge you are now making has proved itself an excellent bridge of great flexibility. … The Bailey Bridge is now the most important standard bridge for both American and British engineers.”[i]

World War II ended September 2, 1945, with the surrender of Japan. Orders to the shipyard were cancelled, and by September 25 it was “declared surplus property by the navy.”  Sadly, the yard was swept by fire on January 26, 1946, and virtually nothing remains.[i]  Let’s end this blog with a few more images of LST construction at the Evansville Shipyard.  The final blog in this series will focus less on war contracts, but rather on the impact they and the war had on residents of this river city.

The following three photographs were originally from the Evansville Museum, located through the EVPL Digital Archive: Evansville in WWII.

The Never Split Seat Company, located across from Bosse Field, manufactured toilet seats.  Every LST made in Evansville had Never Split seats—this would number in the thousands. 

Resources Consulted

Bigham, Darrel.  Evansville : The World War II Years.  Charleston, S.C. : Arcadia, c2005.  General Collection F534.E9 B54 2005

Blackford, Nathan.  “Preparing for War.”  Evansville Living Magazine.

“The Invasion of Normandy and the Evansville Shipyard.” OrangeBean Indiana, November 11, 2019.

“LST History.”  USS LST 393 Veterans Museum website.

MacLeod, James Lachlan.  Evansville in World War II.  Charleston, SC : History Press, 2015.  General Collection F534.E9 M335 2015

McCutchan, Kenneth P. et al.  Evansville at the Bend in the River: An Illustrated History.  Sun Valley, CA. : American Historical Press, c2004.  General Collection F534.E9 M38 2004

NavSource Naval History: Photographic History of the U.S. Navy.  “Tank Landing Ship (LST) Index.”

Pacific War Online Encyclopedia.  “LST Class.”

“A Piece Of Evansville History Journeys To Tri-State.” 14News, June 5, 2003.

[1] Bigham, p. 51.

[1] Pacific

[1] Invasion

[1] McCutchan, p. 90

[1] MacLeod, p. 30

[1] Piece

[1] MacLeod, p. 35, 37

[1] MacLeod, p. 37

[1] MacLeod, p. 47-48

*Post written by Mona Meyer, Archives and Special Collections Metadata Librarian.

UASC doesn’t really have a collection that relates specifically to the establishment of this nation, the event celebrated on July 4. This blog, will therefore, focus on images we do have that illustrate some aspect of fight for independence or the celebration of the 4th. But, first, just a wee (I promise!) bit of history.

The first and last paragraphs are a good summary. “In Congress, July 4, 1776 The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America, When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation. … We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.

Enough history….on with the “picture show!”

The following images are from MSS 124, the Eric Braysmith Collection, and depict a Freedom Festival parade held in Evansville, circa 1990.

Also from the Eric Braysmith Collection, MSS 124, are these images of the George Rogers Clark Memorial At the George Rogers Clark National Historic Park in Vincennes, IN. On February 25, 1779, American Colonel George Rogers Clark captured the British Ft. Sackville. “Although unable to achieve his ultimate objective of capturing Detroit, Clark successfully countered British and Indian moves during the remainder of the conflict. The young Virginian had prevented the British from achieving their goal of driving the Americans from the Trans- Appalachian frontier. As a result of Clark’s brilliant military activities, the British ceded to the United States a vast area of land west of the Appalachian Mountains. That territory now includes the states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin and the eastern portion of Minnesota.” The fort’s exact location is unknown, but it is believed to be close to where this memorial was constructed in 1931-1933.

The following images are from MSS 034, the Greg Smith Collection. They show the visit of the American Freedom Train to Evansville June 15-17, 1976. The train sat on a siding behind the (then) Civic Center complex (today’s Old National Events Plaza) and was open for touring. “The triumph of the steam-powered American Freedom Train was, indeed, the only nationwide celebration of the Bicentennial. It was pulled by steam locomotives in the age of the diesel, and would improve on the three display cars of its predecessor, the 1947 Freedom Train. The American Freedom Train would feature twelve display cars, ten that visitors would go aboard and pass through and two to hold large objects that would be viewed from the ground through huge “showcase” windows. The display cars were filled with over 500 precious treasures of Americana. Included in these diverse artifacts were George Washington’s copy of the Constitution, the original Louisiana Purchase, Judy Garland’s dress from The Wizard of OZ, Joe Frazier’s boxing trunks, Martin Luther King’s pulpit and robes, and even a rock from the moon. The American Freedom Train (AFT) was a 26-car train led by one of three enormous steam engines restored just for the occasion. Over a 21 month period from April 1, 1975 to December 31, 1976 more than 7 million Americans visited the train during its tour of all 48 contiguous states. Tens of millions more stood trackside to see it go by.”

Below is a picture of the mansion at George Washington’s estate, Mount Vernon. “The building began as a one and one-half story house built in 1734 by George Washington’s father, Augustine Washington, and received its well-known name from his half-brother Lawrence Washington. George Washington began running Mount Vernon in 1754, and over the next 45 years slowly enlarged the dwelling to create the 21-room residence we see today. Washington oversaw each renovation, advising on design, construction, and decoration, despite being away much of the time. Conscious that the world was watching, Washington selected architectural features that expressed his growing status as a Virginia gentleman and ultimately as the leader of a new nation. … In 1754, George Washington began residing at Mount Vernon, a 3,000 acre estate and a house that likely approximated 3,500 square feet. By his death, Washington’s Mount Vernon consisted of about 7,600 acres and an almost 11,000 square foot mansion.”

Finally, here’s a 4th of July postcard for you. Hope you enjoy/enjoyed your celebration of American independence.

*Post written by Mona Meyer, Archives and Special Collections Metadata Librarian.

“After their service in the Union armed forces during the great Civil War had ended, many of the veterans who survived the turmoil were mustered out of service and had gone home. Some of these men began to pine for the friendships and camaraderie that they had shared during the war. Veterans’ clubs began to spring up around the country. Many were local and most did not last very long but a few went on to become national organizations. One of these was the Grand Army of the Republic, or simply the G.A.R. … In 1866 the United States, now united as one nation as a result of the Union defeat of the Confederacy on the battlefield, was waking to the reality of the consequences and recovery efforts from a much different kind of war. In previous conflicts the care of the veteran warrior was the province of the family or the community. Soldiers in previous conflicts, when war had been a community adventure of local militia service, and their fighting unit had a community flavor, had gone off to fight until the next planting or harvest. But this time was different. The veterans had often endured bitter sacrifice, severe hardship and the bloodbath of industrialized warfare. By the end of the Civil War, military units had become less homogeneous; men from different communities and different states were brought together by the exigencies of battle where new friendships and lasting trust was forged. With the advances in the care and movement of the wounded, many who would have surely perished in earlier wars returned home to be cared for by a community structure weary from a protracted war and now also faced with the needs of debilitated veterans, widows and orphans. Veterans needed jobs, including a whole new group of veterans—the Africa American soldier—and his entire, newly freed, family. It was often more than the fragile fabric of communities could bear. The Grand Army of the Republic (G.A.R.) was founded by Benjamin Franklin Stephenson, M.D. an army regimental surgeon, and Chaplain Reverend William J. Rutledge. Both men had served in the Civil War in the 14^th Illinois Volunteer Infantry, and had been tent mates during Major General William Tecumseh Sherman’s Expedition to Meridian, Mississippi in February 1864. During the expedition they discussed founding an organization that the …” soldiers so closely allied in the fellowship of suffering, would, when mustered out of the service, naturally desire some form of association that would preserve the friendships and the memories of their common trials and dangers.””ⁱ

Affiliated GAR organizations were the National Women’s Relief Corps and the Daughters of the Union Veterans of the Civil War. Below are some examples of their materials found in MSS 319.

“The first national gathering of the Grand Army of the Republic was held in Indianapolis, Indiana and was called an Encampment just as in their soldier days, and all subsequent yearly national reunions were so designated, comprising 83 National Encampments from 1866 until 1949 the last Encampment held in Indianapolis, when only six members could be mustered.”ⁱⁱ Seen below is a program from a 1940 Indiana GAR encampment, held here in Evansville, and found in MSS 319.

The Grand Army of the Republic was far more than just a social club for Civil War veterans. It “set up a fund for the relief of needy veterans, widows, and orphans. This fund was used for medical, burial and housing expenses, and for purchases of food and household goods. Loans were arranged, and sometimes the veterans found work for the needy. The GAR was active in promoting soldiers’ and orphans’ homes; through its efforts soldiers’ homes were established in sixteen states and orphanages in seven states by 1890. The soldiers’ homes were later transferred to the federal government. … Members began discussing politics in local gatherings. A growing interest in pensions signaled the beginning of open GAR participation in national politics. The rank and file soon realized the value of presenting a solid front to make demands upon legislators and congressmen. The GAR became so powerful that the wrath of the entire body could be called down upon any man in public life who objected to GAR-sponsored legislation. In 1862 President Lincoln approved a bill granting pensions for soldiers who received permanent disability as a result of their military service. An 1879 act was liberalized to include conditions of payment. After that, the GAR became a recognized pressure group. The fate of some presidential elections was dependent upon the candidate’s support of GAR-sponsored pension bills. President Grover Cleveland was defeated for re-election in 1888 in large part because of his veto of a Dependent Pension Bill. President Benjamin Harrison was elected because of his definite commitment to support pension legislation. … The GAR’s principal legacy to the nation, however, is the annual observance of May 30 as Decoration Day, or more recently, Memorial Day. General John A. Logan, Commander-in-Chief of the GAR, requested members of all posts to decorate the graves of their fallen comrades with flowers on May 30, 1868. This idea came from his wife, who had seen Confederate graves decorated by Southern women in Virginia. By the next year the observance became well established. Members of local posts in communities throughout the nation visited veterans’ graves and decorated them with flowers, and honored the dead with eulogies. The pattern thus set is still followed to the present day. It was only after the first World War, when the aged veterans could no longer conduct observances, that the Civil War character of Decoration Day was replaced by ceremonies for the more recent war dead.”ⁱⁱⁱ.

To the left here is the first volume of a 2 volume set entitled The soldier in our Civil War : a pictorial history of the conflict, 1861-1865, illustrating the valor of the soldier as displayed on the battle-field, from sketches drawn by Forbes, Waud, Taylor, Beard, Becker, Lovie, Schell, Crane and numerous other eye-witnesses to the strife. It was published in 1893. There are paper copies of this in MSS 319, but they are so fragile as to be unusable–the paper just disintegrates in your hands. Fortunately, it is available online for you to explore and enjoy, linked here:

v. 1

v. 2

“Another remarkable aspect of the Grand Army of the Republic is its benevolent treatment of the African American veterans of army and navy service. Close to 180,000 African Americans served nobly in the armed forces of the United States during the Civil War. Their service was gallant and contributed significantly to the Union victory and preservation of the Union. Dozens of African American veterans had received the Medal of Honor for valor in combat. From the foundation of the order in a time of institutionalized prejudice and overt racism, the order was color-blind, and officially treated all veterans equally. Most posts were integrated, although there were all ‘colored’ posts in larger towns and cities, formed where the African American veterans lived and where they felt most welcome and comfortable, similarly to all German posts, or all Navy or all Cavalry posts in certain metropolitan areas. Philadelphia is emblematic with thirty-six posts in a large city, including three ‘colored’ posts located in African-American neighborhoods, an all-German speaking post in the German ethnic area, a post exclusively for Naval veterans; one for cavalry, others which attracted certain localized military units, such as the Pennsylvania Reserves post and the Philadelphia Brigade post.”^iv

The following two photographs are also from MSS 319. Unfortunately, neither one is identified, but they are wonderful images of some of those who participated in the Grand Army of the Republic organization.

The organization officially dissolved in 1956 with the death of Albert Woolson at age 109, the last survivor of those who had served the Union cause.

Resources Consulted

Grand Army of the Republic and Kindred Societies: A Guide to Resources in the General Collections of the Library of Congress.

Waskie, Anthony. “The Grand Army of the Republic.” Essential Civil War Curriculum. Virginia Center for Civil War Studies at Virginia Tech, 2010-2023.

ⁱWaskie

ⁱⁱWaskie

ⁱⁱⁱGrand

^ivWaskie

*Post written by Mona Meyer, Archives and Special Collections Metadata Librarian.

In the iconic TV series M*A*S*H, what was company clerk Walter “Radar” O’Reilly’s favorite drink?

Corporal Walter “Radar” O’Reilly, played by actor Gary Burghoff, loved Grape Nehi. (Image found here.)

In the undated photograph below, this fleet of delivery vehicles was outside the Royal Crown/Nehi bottling plant at 400 N. Main St. (The cross street shown here would be Michigan St.) This bottling plant no longer exists. Nehi was introduced in 1924 by Chero-Cola/Union Bottle Works. The “Nehi Corporation” name was adopted in 1928 after the Nehi fruit-flavored sodas became popular. In 1955, the company changed its name to Royal Crown Company, after the success of its RC Cola brand. In April 2008, Nehi became a brand of Dr Pepper Snapple Group in the United States.

This decorative lintel now resides in the University Center. But where did it come from?

The Orr Iron Company was founded in 1835 by Samuel Orr (1810-1882), an Irish blacksmith.  In 1913 the growing company built a new facility at 1100 Pennsylvania St. (originally the address was 17-25 E. Pennsylvania St.  By mid-1988 the construction of the Lloyd Expressway was complete; part of the Lloyd followed the path of Pennsylvania St.  Thus, in 1988, the Orr Iron Company stood at the corner of Fulton Ave. and the Lloyd Expressway, complete with a traffic light.  As traffic increased, it became clear that this stoplight was hindered the flow of traffic and, in 2008, the stoplight was replaced by an interchange.  Unfortunately, the Orr Iron Company building had to be razed to make room for this.  The building on Sycamore St. was razed in the 1970s.  Before the Pennsylvania Ave./Lloyd Expressway building was completely razed, the lintel from the original doorway was saved and repurposed when USI remodeled its University Center.

What do these buildings have in common?

Both are named for Evansville Mayor Benjamin Bosse (1874-1922, mayor 1914-1922).

What campus building is this?

This is the original library building (1971-2005). In 1992, the University honored founding president David L. Rice by naming the building the David L. Rice Library. Parts of this building can still be seen today, particularly the first and third photographs below. The second photograph was the rear/staff entrance, now subsumed by the USI Performance Center.

This is the Berry Global/Berry Plastics headquarters at 101 Oakley St. in Evansville. Berry is a Fortune 500 corporation that manufactures plastic packaging materials. But what other business “hides” inside it?

Herrmann Fendrich was born in Germany in 1830 and immigrated to the United States as a child with his family in 1833, settling in Baltimore, MD.. In the 1840s he and his brothers opened a cigar factory and eventually moved to Evansville. In 1855 the factory moved to a location on Main St. In 1910 that location was destroyed by fire and the factory rebuilt on Oakley St. It ceased operation in 1969, became Imperial Plastics, and later was renamed Berry. Today’s building completely subsumes the cigar factory.

*Post written by Mona Meyer, Archives and Special Collections Metadata Librarian.

One of the collections within University Archives and Special Collections is Communal Studies. The Communal Studies Collection began in conjunction with the Center for Communal Studies, which promotes the study of contemporary and historic communal groups, intentional communities and utopias. The key word is intentional. These communities were/are deliberate attempts to live communally, with shared goals and economies. This blog is one of a continuing series….you can search for the phrase Living in Community to find others.

This blog will talk about Arthurdale, WV, an effort of the New Deal. Unlike other communities I’ve discussed that center around religion, Arthurdale was a U.S. government project, a planned community.

In the early part of the 20th century, Americans enjoyed immense prosperity in an age known as the Roaring Twenties. But nothing that good lasts forever, and in October 1929, the bottom fell out of the stock market in a crash that had a catastrophic effect on American life for at least a decade. “By 1933, when the Great Depression reached its lowest point, some 15 million Americans were unemployed and nearly half the country’s banks had failed.”ⁱ Herbert Hoover was president when the Great Depression began, but Franklin Delano Roosevelt began the first of his four terms as president in 1933, and started advocating and implementing an “alphabet soup” of new programs designed to help the country recover. As a whole, his plans and these programs are called the New Deal. The initial application for one such program took place in West Virginia.

West Virginia ranks high in natural beauty, but is also the second poorest state in the nation, “with a $48,850 median household income and a poverty rate of 17.54%. West Virginia’s educational attainment levels are on the low side, with the lowest percentage of adults with a Bachelor’s degree or higher, and has the second-lowest life expectancy of 74.8.”ⁱⁱ These figures are for 2022, but this is a long time problem for the state, with things undoubtedly worse during the Depression. Through her association with the American Friends Service Committee (a Quaker relief agency) and friendship with journalist Lorena Hickok, Eleanor Roosevelt (and thus FDR) had been made aware of the terrible conditions near Morgantown, WV. Hickok reported, “Morgantown was the worst place I’d ever seen. In a gutter, along the main street through town, there was stagnant, filthy water, which inhabitants used for drinking, cooking, washing, and everything else imaginable. On either side of the street were ramshackle houses, black with coal dust, which most Americans would not have considered fit for pigs. And in those houses every night children went to sleep hungry, on piles of bug-infested rags, spread out on the floor.”ⁱⁱⁱ Eleanor Roosevelt visited the area and spoke to the residents, and then used her influence to raise awareness and to advocate for the creation of a model community in a nearby town called Reedsville. She “imagined a rural experiment in living that would be economically self-contained and agriculturally self-sufficient. She believed it was possible, as an experimental aspect of the New Deal, to build a community that promised democracy, dignity, education, work, and culture. All that was needed was a modest governmental contribution and earnest work by the homesteaders–who would themselves create the community and be in control. Each home would be on two to five acres, and each family would have a cow, a pig, some chickens, and seed to plant a nutritious and attractive garden. There were plans to establish a manufacturing plant that would provide good work and guarantee economic security. Local crafts and music would be celebrated. People would eventually buy their own homes, reconstitute their lives.”^iv

Money for this came from the Subsistence Homestead Division of the National Recovery Act, intially administered by the Department of the Interior. The idea was to help struggling factory and farm workers by reducing their total dependence on income from their work. Homesteads would be provided so families could help to sustain themselves…..this was related to the “back to the land” concept that rural living was better, and that people would thrive if they could get out of crowded urban areas and have a chance to own their own home. To be clear, this was farming for subsistence purposes only, so cash income was needed from another source, and to that end, businesses would be encouraged to locate in these areas. The project kicked off with the purchase of the land and estate of Richard Arthur–1,028 acres for $45,000; it was now called the Arthurdale project in his honor.

Any project this ambitious was fraught with difficulties, challenges, and outright opposition. Eleanor Roosevelt (hereafter referred to as ER for the sake of brevity) insisted that the houses have indoor plumbing and all modern conveniences, even personally selecting the refrigerators. Harold Ickes, Secretary of the Interior and thus overseeing this project, was outraged. “While over 80 percent of rural America had no modern conveniences, why should the rural poor have indoor privies?”^v ER believed that dignity was essential to everyone, regardless of financial status. “She was annoyed by petty accounting, mean-spirited trimming. This was an experiment in human development and community building.”^vi In the end, ER won this battle–all houses had modern conveniences, a window in every room (including the basement laundry), glass-enclosed sun porches, root cellars, central steam heat with a radiator in every room (even the bathroom), built in bookcases, locally crafted furnishings, etc.

Another source of contention was who would live in Arthurdale. ER expected the population of the town to mirror the same mixture of the area’s population. A committee of Quaker and University of West Virginia social workers set up an elaborate screening process and insisted on “congenial” residents. “Each applicant was carefully scrutinized. There was an eight-page questionnaire, and intense interviews. “Moral character,” “intelligence, perseverence and foresight,” basic skills, demonstrated ambition, farm experience were prerequisites for consideration. Interviewers were to check physique, education, neatness, posture, agility, literacy, church affiliation, fraternal orders, garden club membership, debts, attitudes, defects. … Specific questions were asked about the care and feeding of poultry, cows, hogs, and horses.”^vii ER was dismayed that the first group chosen consisted almost exclusively of northern European heritage West Virginians born in the area. She asked that the next group be more diverse, but the committee and area residents resisted and pushed back. The feel of the community, they said, would be destroyed by the inclusion of Negroes (in the verbage of the time) for two reasons: the community as a whole was opposed, and if included, there would need to be separate schools and churches as the laws of the state of West Virginia prohibited racial integration in schools. As you can see from the photograph below, ER conceded to the will of the majority, although she did advocate for creating another homestead community for blacks.

There were continuing struggles to get businesses to locate in the area. General Electric opened a factory to make electric vacuum cleaners in 1936. “The 1930s proved difficult for business retention in the factory at Arthurdale. From 1936 to 1942, four different businesses operated in the Arthurdale factory buildings including the Electric Vacuum Cleaner Company (1936-1937), the Phillip-Jones Shirt Company (1937-1938), the American Cooperatives, Inc. tractor factory (1939-1940), and the Brunswick Radio and Television Company (1941-1942). During World War II, Silman Manufacturing and Ballard Aircraft Company provided employment for homesteaders in their respective war-related factories. Both companies closed at the end of the war.”^viii

At its most basic, the attack on Arthurdale was an attack on the New Deal itself. “For all ER’s enthusiasm, FDR’s support, and the homesteaders’ commitment, Arthurdale was relentlessly attacked. From the beginning, every indoor faucet, every shrub and tree was scrutinized and ridiculed in the press and vilified by an astounding array of hooters who opposed New Deal planning and called it socialism, communism. Conservatives deplored the very idea of national economic planning and condemned federally subsidized work brought into an area previously plagued by unionists. Every effort to bring in work was blocked. By 1934, the Red Scare, seemingly suspended during FDR’s first hundred days, was again under way to derail or diminish every suggestion actually to improve conditions. For some, the New Deal had now become a “communist plot,” led by ER and epitomized by Arthurdale.”_^ix

Faced with such overwhelming opposition, the government severed its ties with Arthurdale in 1947, and all property reverted to private ownership. ER did not sever her ties, however, visiting the town often for the rest of her life and sharing in the lives of its citizens. “In 1939, Eleanor Roosevelt paid for Arthurdale High School graduate Dorothy Mayor Thompson to study weaving in Louisville, Kentucky, with master weaver Lou Tate for 18 months. Dorothy Mayor Thompson later established the Old Loom Barn in Davis, WV, which is still run by her daughter today.”^x

Arthurdale was not a complete failure. There were 165 homes built and a number of community buildings, many of which still stand today. Compared to the deplorable conditions they lived in before, many residents considered it a successful utopia, and in many cases, they or their descendents still live on the land they homesteaded. They established an Arthurdale unit of the Mountaineer Craftsman Cooperative that made and sold furniture, pewter, and woven goods. Weaving was so popular it was taught in the community school and materials created on several local looms. The Forge held a metalworking business that earned its artisans national reputation. A cooperatve store also provided an outlet to sell these hand-crafted items.

On October 10, 1994, historian Dr. Donald Janzen visited Arthurdale and took the following photographs. These photographs are all available for vising in our digital gallery.

Resources Consulted

Arthurdale Heritage, Inc. website.       
Cook, Blanche Wiesen.  Eleanor Roosevelt.  New York: Viking, c1992-2016.             General Collection E807.1.R48 C66 1992
“Great Depression History.”  History.com website, October 5, 2021.
“The New Deal in West Virginia.”  West Virginia Historic New Deal Trail, a partnership between the WV State Historic Preservation Office and the Preservation Alliance of West Virginia.
“Poorest States 2022.”  World Population Review.

End Notes
iGreat
iiPoorest
iiiCook, p. 130-131
ivCook, p. 133
vCook, p. 135
viCook, p. 137
viiCook, p. 138-139
viiiArthurdale Heritage
ixCook, p. 143
xArthurdale Heritage

*Post written by Mona Meyer, Archives and Special Collections Metadata Librarian.

A costume designer creates clothing for actors, clothing that helps the actor exemplify the role s/he is playing.  For example, a costume designer would dress actors portraying Buffalo Bill Cody and Annie Oakley far differently than actors portraying Samson and Delilah!  A fashion designer, on the other hand, creates clothing for the general public, or perhaps a certain segment of the public.  And yet, function plays a role here, too: a pair of pants designed for a person out for a night on the town would not be the same as those designed for a person going hiking.  Haute couture designers like Coco Chanel, Giorgio Armani, Hubert de Givenchy, and Manolo Blahnik have crossed the line, designing for movies and for the public. 

University Archives and Special Collection holds the Beardsley, Montgomery, and Gordon Families Collection of vintage clothing (MSS 297).  This collection was donated by Evadean Gordon in 2002, begun by her husband’s great-grandmother, Martha Cooper Beardsley (1831-1922), and passed down through the generations to Evadean.  There are three pieces of clothing in this collection designed by men who also designed for Hollywood, in the latter half of the 20^th century. 

The first (MSS 297-20-6) is this black chiffon rayon crepe cocktail dress with long sleeves and a lace bodice, in a size 8.  This is a 1950 creation by Don Loper, worn by Ruth Montgomery Gordston (1891-1975), the “aunt-in-law” of donor Evadean Gordon. 

Born Lincoln George Hardloper in 1907 in Toledo, Ohio, there’s not a lot of factual information about Loper.  He was said to have attended school in London or Paris from ages 9-12, meaning that his family must have been fairly well do do.  He began as a dancer (with the Chicago Civic Ballet as a child) and later in movies and theatre, often with long-time partner Maxine Barrat. “By 1942 he had settled into a somewhat regular dancing/producing gig at the Copacabana in New York City with his partner Maxine Barrat, producing a show for which he also directed and designed the costumes called “Flying Down to Rio – and Back”, also designing clothes for his society lady friends on the side. Loper designed most of Barrat’s onstage costumes, as well as her real life wardrobe.”^[i]  In 1942, having moved to Hollywood, he made his screen debut dancing with Ginger Rogers in Lady in the Dark.  In 1946 he opened his own salon.  “Even amid the gilded pleasure domes and palaces of Hollywood, the Don Loper fashion salon is something ultra in swank and shimmer. To Loper’s Grecian temple-like establishment on the lush “Sunset Strip” come movie stars and others who can afford to pay $500 for a gown and prices scaled accordingly for hats, shoes and other accessories. Loper, a former ballroom dancer, several years ago turned his very apparent talents to the fields of interior decorating and exterior adornment for women. First he designed his salon to provide the proper setting of luxury and classic grace, then he began whipping up luscious one-of-a-kind creations that soon had movie queens treading a path to his portals. Loper’s creations seem to vary from numbers cut briefly but strategically, to cunningly swathed and draped affairs which cover, but certainly do not obscure the wearers.”^[ii]  He went on to do some work in interior decoration, and dress stars like Lana Turner, Marlene Dietrich, Joan Crawford, Ella Fitzgerald, and Lucille Ball.  He made an appearance as himself in a 1955 episode of I Love Lucy.

The following items of Don Loper attire are held by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.  All date to the 1950s.  For more information, click on the image(s) found here link near each.

 Not a lot of information could be found about the next designer, Paul Parnes (1898-1978).  He was born into the business….his father, Louis, began a dress business in 1895 called the Kings County Net Waist Company, some time after coming to New York from Ukraine.  The company was later renamed Samuel R. Parnes after his oldest son.  In 1922 Paul started his own business, which had a number of name changes over the next few years.  In 1931 he, his father, and brother Edward formed the Paul Parnes Corporation that made the clothing we’re looking at today. The 1950 two piece wool ensemble seen below was designed by Paul Parnes and owned and worn by Ruth Montgomery Gordston (1891-1975).  Seen here in entirety, this little “black” (actually, it’s charcoal gray in color) dress, here unhemmed, is far more attractive with the jacket removed.  I think it’s the lace bodice that makes the dress.   The third photo shows the lace in detail on the rear of the dress.  This dress is identified as MSS 297-24-1.

These other examples of Paul Parnes jackets and dresses were found for sale on eBay. All date to the 1950s..

The final designer discussed here is Donald Brooks (1928-2005).  Born Donald Marc Blumberg in New Haven, Connecticutt, Brooks was a graduate of the Parsons School of Design.  “Brooks began his fashion career working on window displays at Lord & Taylor’s Fifth Avenue store in the early 1950s. He was a student at Parsons School of Design in New York City at the time, and store president Dorothy Shaver saw some of his fashion sketches. She asked him to design a collection exclusively for Lord & Taylor. … He was known for his simply cut dresses, often worn with a matching stole or coat. He liked bright colors and prints and used fabrics that he designed, including python-skin printed jersey, geranium-printed and sunflower-printed cottons. He also liked bold, graphic black-and-white prints. Brooks opened his own business in 1965 with the backing of Ben Shaw, a fashion entrepreneur who also financed the launch of Bill Blass, Geoffrey Beene and Halston. Inside the industry, Brooks became known as one of fashion’s “three Bs” with Blass and Beene. “Donald never looked to Paris or Rome for ideas about women’s fashion,” said Blum, who met Brooks in the mid-1960s. “He thought about how an American woman should look, how she should dress.””^[iii]

Brooks designed costumes for more than 20 Broadway shows and a number of films.  In 1964, 1969, and 1971 he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Costume Design.  He won a Primetime Emmy in 1982 for his costumes for Lee Remick in the television movie The Letter, and was again nominated for his work on the costumes for Claudette Colbert in The Two Mrs. Grenvilles in 1987.  He designed (either for film/theatre or personal use, or both) for stars Liza Minnelli, Diahann Carroll, Barbara Harris, Julie Andrews, Carol Channing, Carol Burnett, and Ethel Merman.  Princess Grace of Monaco, Barbra Streisand, and First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy were also clients. “Jacqueline Kennedy wore a Brooks-designed sleeveless pink silk sheath on a tour of India in 1962, Newsday reported. And when Truman Capote threw his famous “Black and White Ball” at the Plaza Hotel in 1966, there were more Brooks gowns at the party than those of any other designer.”^[iv]

The Donald Brooks’ two-piece dress in our collection, seen below, dates to 1960.  It is black, pink, and chartreuse in color and is identified as MSS 297-21-1.  Note the button detail on the back.

This dress (left) is housed in the Archives of the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum.  Made by Donald Brooks, “it’s a shift dress in pink silk shantung with four large covered buttons down the side. This dress is sleeveless with an empire waist. For Mrs. Kennedy, they were useful supplements to the formality of her state wardrobe. This dress was worn by First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy on a cruise of the Ganges River in Benares during her State visit to India, March 16, 1962.  In the second picture you can catch a glimpse of it being worn by Mrs. Kennedy. (Image found here.)

Above are two images of a black sequined halter-style long gown ornamented throughout with white beaded magnolias.  It was designed by Donald Brooks in 1968 for Julie Andrews for her role as Gertrude Lawrence in Star.

“Barbra Streisand wore this Donald Brooks color blocked gown on the cover of LIFE magazine on May 22, 1964.  Barbra’s Brooks maxi dress is Grecian style empire waist with a V-neck. The front is color blocked vertically with two layers of light pink and pale green chiffon. The back of the dress features a bias cut and is forest green. The dress is fully gathered and has a silk lining, rolled hem and zipper, hook & eye closure. This look perfectly encompassed Barbra’s favorite style elements that we would see her wearing for the vast majority of her career.” Images and quote found here.

Whether you go about your day attired in haute couture or are strictly an “off the rack” kind of person, I hope you’ll agree that it’s fun to explore this aspect of the Beardsley, Montgomery, and Gordon Families Collection of vintage clothing (MSS 297). 

Resources Consulted

“Don Loper, Fashion Impresario To Hollywood Stars, Dies at 65.”  New York Times obituary, November 23, 1972.

Koshetz, Herbert.  “Garment maker calls industry a challenge: Paul Parnes asserts search for ideas is 24-hour job.”  New York Times: July 15, 1964, p. 45, 49.

Lipton, Brian Scott. “Donald Brooks, Legendary Costume and Fashion Designer, Dies at 77.”  TheaterMania website, August 3, 2005.

“Obituary: Donald Brooks, a Creator of ‘America’s Look’.” Women’s Wear Daily, August 3, 2005.

“Parnes, Paul.:  Vintage Fashion Guild website, July 25, 2010.  

Rourke, Mary. “Donald Brooks, 77; Fashion Designer Also Created Costumes for Broadway and Film.”  Los Angeles Times, August 6, 2005.

Simonson, Robert.  “Donald Brooks, Costume Designer Who Jumped from Fashion to Broadway, is Dead at 77.” Playbill, August 3, 2005.

¹ Don…No Accounting…

ⁱⁱ Don…No Accounting…, as quoted in the Buffalo Courier-Express, May 4, 1947

ⁱⁱⁱRourke

^ivSimonson

*Post written by Mona Meyer, Archives and Special Collections Metadata Librarian.

This Victorian era euphemism refers to underwear—in this case, undergarments of all types.  They can be worn for the sake of modesty, to protect the body, to enhance the outward appearance, or some combination thereof.  From Victorian prudishness to Calvin Klein advertisements, to underwear as outerwear, we’ve come a long way, baby!

“The idea of items of clothing being private or public or that a body can be in an appropriately clothed or unclothed state is a relative concept that differs over time and from culture to culture. No tribal society, unless it has been infiltrated by concepts of western dress, appears to have garments that could be considered as underwear: items of clothing that act as a layer of insulation between the skin of the body and its outer garments. … In Europe and North America underwear appears to have developed in range and complexity as the sight of a naked body moves from being an everyday public occurrence to a social taboo, and codes of acceptable social etiquette and civility deem the naked body private.”^[i]

“When did the custom of wearing undies first begin?  Well, the mummified body of Ötzi the Iceman, who died in the Tyrolean Alps more than 5,000 years ago, reveals that he sported a goatskin loincloth under his furry leggings; and, if we skip forward 1,500 years to Bronze Age Egypt, you might be surprised to learn that Pharaoh Tutankhamun was entombed with 145 spare loincloths.”^[ii]

Let’s look at some examples of items within our collection.  University Archives and Special Collection holds the Beardsley, Montgomery, and Gordon Families Collection of vintage clothing (MSS 297).  This collection was donated by Evadean Gordon in 2002, begun by her husband’s great-grandmother, Martha Cooper Beardsley (1831-1922), and passed down through the generations to Evadean.  This treasure trove provides a fascinating way to look at history, and blogs on items within this collection, such as swimming suits, hats, and designer clothing have been/will be published here.

First, the chemise…”the basic undergarment worn by women next to the skin from the Middle Ages into the twentieth century.  Until the eighteenth century, chemises were more commonly known as smocks or shifts.  … Linen was the class fabric for chemises, although cotton and silk were also used. … Chemises survived until the 1930s, but they had been steadily losing ground to new undergarments.”^[iii]  The chemise seen here dates to 1890 and is made of cotton.  While functional, it’s also pretty with the addition of cutwork embroidery (cutting parts of the basic fabric out and then embroidering around those openings) and crocheted edges of the neckline and sleeves, plus the ribbon.  These 4 images are identified as MSS 297-19-2.

These ladies split drawers (MSS 297-17-3) date to the 1880s and are embellished around the ankles with handmade eyelet trim.  “An undergarment for the lower half of the torso and legs, drawers are a venerable garment designed to protect the outer garments from bodily dirt.  First worn by men, they were known as breeches or braies in the Middle Ages.  From the sixteenth century, the term “drawers” was in use.  … Women began to wear drawers at the beginning of the nineteenth century. …They were not commonly worn until the 1840s, by which time they resembled two long tubes connected at the waistband. … By the early twentieth century, the word knickers had become the preferred term even for women’s open-legged drawers, which were, in any case, passing out of fashion.”^[iv] Length varied, but as styles changed, drawers grew shorter.  They were called drawers because they were “drawn on” the body, and the phrase “pair of underwear,” which seems odd to us for a single garment, dates back to the time when drawers were two pieces joined at the waist.  “Where does the word knickers come from? It comes from a novel called History of New York by Diedrich Knickerbocker, supposedly a Dutchman living in New York (it was actually written by Washington Irving). In Britain, the illustrations for the book showed a Dutchman wearing long, loose-fitting garments on his lower body. When men wore loose trousers for a sport they were sometimes called knickerbockers. However, women’s underwear were soon called knickerbockers too. In the late 19th century the word was shortened to knickers.”^[v]

Similar to drawers, but full body for warmth is this wool men’s union suit (MSS 297-27-1 and -2) from J.C. Penney’s, dating circa 1870-1900.  While this particular one is for a man, the origin of the union suit lies with the desire to reform women’s clothing.  “Remember that the fashionable woman of the 1880s wore too much underwear; it restricted her and weighed her down. It could be too hot in the summer and not warm enough in the winter. … The many skirt layers created bulk at the waist and the weight of the clothing was unevenly distributed. If the excess bulk were removed, then a woman would not have to resort to tight-lacing which, according to many health experts, greatly damaged women’s internal organs and caused disease. One of the first reform undergarments to be promoted in America was the “emancipation union under flannel” patented in 1868. This union suit combined a knit flannel waist (shirt) and drawers in one. The combination, as the union suit was often called, was continuously improved by various knitwear companies and reformers in America. Susan Taylor Converse of Woburn, Massachusetts, designed an improved version in 1875 and named it the Emancipation Suit. A gathered section across the bodice freed the breasts from compression, and sets of buttons at the waist and hips helped suspend several layers of skirts. The Emancipation Suit also could have been purchased as two separate parts that buttoned together at the hips. The Emancipation Suit was endorsed by the New England Women’s Club, one of the earliest organizations to advocate undergarment reform.”^[vi]

Here are some examples of those petticoats that women wore.  Petticoats were originally “a skirt-like garment worn with a jacket or a gown from the sixteenth through to the eighteenth century.  From the end of the seventeenth century, most women wore open robes that needed the addition of a petticoat to make them decent in the front.  Quilted silk petticoats were favoured for informal wear, but for dress occasions, petticoats were often elaborately trimmed to match the gown worn above.  Since the nineteenth century the petticoat has been a woman’s undergarment only. … [They] were used to hold out a woman’s skirts or to provide extra warmth.”^[vii]  Today a petticoat is usually referred to as a slip.

This wool challis petticoat (MSS 297-22-3) from 1890 has two tiers of ruffles at the bottom. “The supple, lightweight woolen fabric called Challis was first woven 170 years ago in the city of Norwich, northeast of London, and gained immediate popularity among Victorian ladies and gentlemen. Men used it for coat linings, neckties, and fancy waistcoats, and women wore dresses and shawls of challis because it so wonderfully combined the qualities of firmness and resilience with softness (the word challis is a corruption of the Anglo-Indian word “shalee”, meaning soft) and lightness.  Challis was easily cared for, draped well, and was comfortable for almost any climate.”^[viii]

The petticoat seen to the right (MSS 297-22-2) also made of wool challis, dates to 1890.  Notice that its skirt is much fuller, allowing for the creation of a bell-shaped silhouette.  This effect created by the 10-inch sewn-down pleats at the top.  This fullness also allows for the addition of a bustle, the idea being to show broader (“more feminine”) hips and the waist correspondingly narrower.  A bustle is a stuffed pad that tied around the waist and hung atop the hips.  As you can see from the large illustration with the three women, the effect of the bustle varied with time and with the style of the dress itself.

One item of underclothing that raises much interest and controversy is the corset.  “Fashion history reveals the first recorded corset originated from Crete in Greece, worn by the Minoan people. Images on ancient pottery show both women and men sporting form fitting belts and vests with leather rings or straps that constrict and shape the waist. Culturally, this showed a women’s ideal shape, accentuating the beauty of her curves and often exposing bare breasts. Both Minoan men and women wanted a small waist. As children, both genders wore a girdle around their waists that was tightened as they grew in order to stop growth in the waist area.”^[ix]  Fast forward to circa 1500 and Catherine de Medici.  “The life of the wife of the king of France, contrary to our expectations, was not easy: seen as a foreigner and criticized for her appearance, it is said that she invented the corset just to reduce her “curvy” waist, then imposing it to all the other women of the court.”^[x] 

“17th Century corsets were made with linen and boned with reeds, bents or whalebones. Here the neckline of the corset ranged from high neck to very low. When a prominent bust was desired by the women, then the corsets were made to accentuate the bust and put more emphasis on the decolletage. … During this time, corsets were transformed into a fabric bodice and it was mounted on a heavily boned lining. The front of these corsets was contained with a long pointed busk. From other records, it is seen there were some health concerns for young girls that began with the tight lacing.”

While the corset clearly narrowed the waist, a lot of what we are told about tiny waists is based on the illusion provided by the outer garments.  Wearing a farthingale (an undergarment that creates the extra wide hips seen below here), or a bustle as discussed earlier, would make any waistline look tiny!  “Studies of costumes at the Smithsonian, Colonial Williamsburg, and other museums provide the evidence. Curator Linda Baumgarten’s measurements of 18th-century stays and gowns show waist sizes ranging from about twenty-one to thirty-six inches. Author Juanita Leisch’s personal collection of garments from the Civil War era shows a median waist of around 23-25 inches. Scarlett O’Hara and her 18” waist aside, few women except teenagers (like Scarlett, who is 16 when the novel opens) had unusually small waist measurements.”^[xi]

Much has been made of the danger and damage caused by corsets, but that has also been debunked. “Recent research has challenged the ‘corset myth’ that such garments were dangerous, and it now seems many women wore them without obvious health complications. Historians have traditionally decried corsetry by citing complaints made about the fashion by Victorian writers and doctors, who feared that the crushing of the ribs with whalebone stays inevitably could cause irreparable damage to the body, not least because adapted models were even worn during pregnancy. The critics’ list of potential ailments included: bruising, shallow breathing – so that just climbing the stairs was enough to bring on dizzy spells – muscular atrophy in the abdomen and back, reduced natural fertility, and, in the rarest and most severe cases, organ failure. These alarming consequences were probably from over-tightened and ill-fitting corsets, and were likely rare in occurrence.”^[xii]

I hope you enjoyed this dive “under cover!”  Stay tuned for more blogs on a variety of topics,  celebrating the riches found in University Archives and Special Collections. 

Resources Consulted

Baclawski, Karen.  The Guide to Historic Costume.  London: B.T. Batsford, 1995.   General Collection GT507 .B33 1995.

Black, Renata.  “When Was Underwear Invented? A Brief History of Undergarments.”  Eby.com, September 1, 2021.

Cox, Caroline.  “Origins of Underwear.”  Love to Know website.

Deczynski, Rebecca.  “A Brief Evolution of Underwear.”  Good Housekeeping magazine, August 5, 2014.  

Fryxell, David.  “The Revealing History of Underwear.”  Family Tree magazine online.  

“History of Corsetry.”  

“A History of Women’s Undergarments.” Everyman Theatre website, October 6, 2017.

Jenner, Greg.  “From loincloths to corsets: a brief history of underwear with Horrible Histories’ Greg Jenner.” History Extra, the official website for BBC History Magazine and BBC History Revealed, February 10, 2015.  

Lambert, Tim.  “The History of Underwear: Early Underwear.”  Local Histories website, April 5, 2021.

Paleari, Laura.  “The History of Underwear: Between Past, Present, and Inclusiveness.”  Italian Reve, June 11, 2021.

“Revisited Myth # 59: Women had very tiny waists during the “olden days.”  History Myths Debunked website, September 27, 2015.

Schoeny, Marlise.  “Reforming Fashion, 1850-1914: Politics, Health, and Art.”  Historic Costume & Textiles Collection, Ohio State University, 2000.“Wool Challis.”  Website for the Ben Silver men’s apparel store in Charleston, South Carolina.

“Wool Challis.”  Website for the Ben Silver men’s apparel store in Charleston, South Carolina.

ⁱ Cox

ⁱⁱ Jenner

ⁱⁱⁱ Baclawski, p. 62-63

^iv Baclawski, p. 92

^v Lambert

^vi Schoeny

^vii Baclawski, p. 161

^viii Wool

^ix History of Corsetry

^x Paleari

^xi Revisited

^xii Jenner

*Post written by Mona Meyer, Archives and Special Collections Metadata Librarian.

“I can wear a hat or take it off, but either way it’s a conversation piece.”  Hedda Hopper, American gossip columnist during the first half of the 20^th century

“Cock your hat – angles are attitudes.”  Frank Sinatra

The hat can be as simple as a knitted stocking to keep your head warm to an elaborate masterpiece that stops traffic.  “Humans have covered their heads since evolution.  Initially headwear offered protection from the elements, from injury or from falling rocks, weapons or masonry.  Later head coverings became symbols of status of authority or of uniform and as time progressed they became an art form as well as an everyday piece of apparel.  In fashion terms hats are a very noticeable accessory because the onlooker’s attention is always first drawn to the face. A hat is the most noticeable fashion item anyone can wear.”ⁱ Let’s take a look at some different hats and what they might say about the wearer.  Some of the illustrations in this blog come from the Beardsley, Montgomery, and Gordon Families Collection of vintage clothing (MSS 297).  This collection was donated by Evadean Gordon in 2002, begun by her husband’s great-grandmother, Martha Cooper Beardsley (1831-1922), and passed down through the generations to Evadean. 

First, a bit of terminology and a piece of historical trivia.  Millinery is the art of hat making.  The word comes from the Italian city of Milan, where the finest hats were made.  At one time, women’s hats were made by milliners and men’s hats by hatters, although that distinction is no longer so cut and dried.  That brings up the phrase, “mad as a hatter.”  Mercury was used in the hat-making business to remove hair from animal skins and make it mat or hold together well.  We now know that mercury can be toxic if inhaled or ingested, but during the 17^th century this was not the case.  “Workers would often be exposed to mercury vapors in the steamy air. … Mercury poisoning attacks the nervous system, causing drooling, hair loss, uncontrollable muscle twitching, a lurching gait, and difficulties in talking and thinking clearly. Stumbling about in a confused state with slurred speech and trembling hands, affected hatters were sometimes mistaken for drunks…. In very severe cases, they experienced hallucinations.”ⁱⁱ

Quite the occupational hazard….but now, on to hats themselves.  This felt fedora dates to 1950 and thus would not have been made using mercury (its use in the felt industry was banned by the U.S. Public Health Service in 1941).  In the 20^th century, “the Fedora was king (also known as a trilby hat in the UK) supplanting, in short order, all other styles for men. Although the style is mostly associated with men, the name “Fedora” comes from the heroine of French playwright Victorien Sardou’s drama presented in Paris in 1882. She wore the hat style that would become the hallmark of movie tough guys, Chicago gangsters, private eyes, newspaper reporters – in fact by the 1930s, virtually every man who put on a suit of clothes topped it off with a fedora.  … Today, the fedora is, hands down, the best-selling men’s style (we’re talking full size hat – not ball caps and the like). The safari style, a fedora crown with a brim turned down in the front and the back, received a huge boost with the Indiana Jones movies where Indy’s hat was emblematic of the man.”ⁱⁱⁱ

Next, the bowler.  “The bowler hat was created in 1850 for an English game warden, James Coke. It was intended as a riding hat that Mr. Coke could count on for hard hat protection as he rode his steed through his protectorate looking out for poachers.”^iv  This distinction didn’t last long as soon everyone was wearing a bowler.  “It was rapidly adopted by the upper class for sports.  Within a decade it had spread to the city, where it was widely adopted by the middle and lower-middle classes.  The working-class man’s attempt to blur class boundaries by wearing a bowler was satirized in the early films of Charlie Chaplin.  Eventually, the bowler became an icon of the bourgeoisie….and, after the Second World War, was worn mainly by middle class businessmen.”^v

Although people have always covered their heads in some fashion, hats for women became de rigueur when the church mandated that a woman’s hair must be covered.  How seriously this mandate played out, and the extent to which a woman’s hat was a necessity or a fashion statement has varied widely over the ages.  Women in some religious groups cover their hair/head entirely.  For others, both fashion and need dictated their choices.  For instance, during the middle of the 19^th century, pale skin was fashionable. No well-bred lady would want to sport sun-kissed skin and/or freckles, which might be a sign that you had to work to earn your keep.  Horrors!! (sarcasm intentional)  Wide brimmed bonnets like this preserved both skin and status.  A variation on this would be the cloth sunbonnets you might see in images of our ancestors crossing the prairie….although given the hard work that entailed, these bonnets protected the head from sun and dust and in no way implied anything about the woman not having to work.

Similar in style to this wide-brimmed bonnet, but designed with other purposes in mind, are these Shaker hats.  The Shakers were certainly not interested in the vanity of pale skin, nor in the vanity of having a prettier or nicer hat than, perhaps, your neighbor.     “The first consideration of Shaker clothing was practicality. Maintaining uniformity of appearance among Believers had much to do with fostering union, or a sense of a kinship among all Believers. When no one has unusually fine garments, ornaments, or accessories, there is less opportunity for envy and ill will that can harm communal families. According to the 1866 Ministry circular concerning the dress of Believers, “[U]niformity in style, or pattern in dress, between members, contributes to peace and union in spirit, in as much as the ends of justice are answered, and righteousness and justice are necessary companions.””  [This does not exclude beauty from the equation, however.]  “Clothes were never to be a source of vanity, but they were made attractive by the quality of their construction and materials.” ^vi

Take a close look at these Shaker bonnets to see how well they were made.  The second hat is dark in color and at first glance seems drab.  But if you zoom in, you will see that the fabric itself has a lovely pattern, and that there is beautiful braiding along the brim. 

Moving from the simplicity of the Shakers back to the more worldly, consider how hairstyles also influence hat styles. Think about those towering hairdos you have seen in images of Marie Antoinette and other ladies in her court.  With hair like that, a hat that in any way echoes the shape of the head would be impossible.  Hats perched high above.  “And the hairstyles continued to rise in height. In February 1776, the queen, going to a ball given by the Duchess of Orléans, had plumes so high that they had to be removed from her coiffure to get into her carriage. She had to leave them behind when she returned to Versailles.”^vi  Hair and hats like this were certainly not for the masses, who were not happy with such displays of extravagance.  I think you know what happened to Marie Antoinette!

The very antithesis of this is the cloche hat, seen above.  It’s “a close-fitting hat worn by women from c. 1908 to 1930.  Its bell-like shape, which gave the hat its name, is most associated with the 1920s.”^viii  There are a number of examples of this type of hat within the Beardsley, Montgomery, and Gordon Families Collection.  This was the era of the flapper—a young woman who pushed the boundaries of society and pushed hard.  The cloche-wearing flapper was a modern woman.

Hat styles also mirrored feelings about a growing consciousness for the need to preserve our natural resources.  For example, in Edwardian times, feathers or plumes were all the rage. 

Plumes have always been a status symbol and sign of economic stability.  Fortunes were paid by rich individuals for exotic feathered hats.  Gorgeous feathered hats could command as much as £100 [translated into U.S. dollars in today’s economy, this would be over $16,000] in the early Edwardian era.  The Edwardians were masters in the art of excess and the flamboyant hats of the era are a clear example of this.  At one point whole stuffed birds were used to decorate hats, but as the new more enlightened century emerged, protests were voiced.  In America the Audubon society expressed concern and in England the RSPB (Royal Society for the Protection of Birds) campaigned for ecological understanding.  Eventually plumage pleas were heard and Queen Alexandra forbade the wearing of rare osprey feathers at court so that the osprey bird was not plundered for feathers.  For a few years magazines quietly ignored making reference to feathers on hats as women continued to wear them.  But soon the use of other rare bird feathers was banned and thereafter only farmed feathers could be used and only from specific birds.^ix

The hats below are American made, contain ostrich and egret feathers, and are not as elaborate as those described above, but they, too, would have soon gone out of style among “ecologically-minded” consumers.   

Whether you wear a hat only on a bad hair day, when it’s too cold/too hot, or almost never, I hope you’ve enjoyed this look at hats as a mirror of society.  There are many more items of clothing to explore in the Beardsley, Montgomery, and Gordon Families Collection, so stay tuned for more glimpses into our past illustrated by sartorial splendor.

Resources Consulted

Baclawski, Karen.  The Guide to Historic Costume.  London: B.T. Batsford, 1995.   General Collection GT507.B33 1995

Bashor, Will.  Marie Antoinette’s Craziest, Most Epic Hairstyles.  HuffPost blog, December 16, 2013.

Crane, Diana.  Fashion and Its Social Agendas:  Class, Gender, and Identity in Clothing.  Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2000.    General Collection GT525.C75 2000

Fashion-Era website: The Wearing of Hats.

“Mad as a Hatter.”  Corrosion Doctors website.

Shaker Dress: “Plain, Comfortable, Economical, and Comely.”  An online exhibit from the Shaker Museum at the Historic Mount Lebanon Site in New Lebanon, New York

Village Hats website: History of Hats.

Vintage Fashion Guild website: History of Hats for Women.

ⁱFashion-Era

ⁱⁱMad

ⁱⁱⁱVillage

^ivVillage

^vCrane, p. 84

^viShaker

^viiBashor

^viiiBaclawski, p. 72

^ixFashion-Era

*Post written by Mona Meyer, Archives and Special Collections Metadata Librarian.

Welcome to Archives Madness 2023, the friendly contest between area institutions vying for recognition for having the coolest artifact. We’ll start by introducing the institutions and their nominated artifacts, then proceed with several weeks of voting (which you will be able to do online) until all but the winner are eliminated. You may notice a similarity between this a a certain athletic competition that takes place in March and culminates this year on April 3. That similarity is intentional!!

THE WINNER IS…

The Evansville City Charter from Willard Public Library!!!!

The votes are in for the Championship Round

Original Evansville City Charter- Willard Library 1364

VS

Chinese Silk Slippers- University of Evansville 203

The votes are in for Final 4 Round

Chinese Silk Slippers- University of Evansville 1135 VS Kentucky Long Rifle- USI Archives 616

Original Evansville City Charter- Willard Library 1310 VS Bootlegging Bodies- USI Archives 649

The votes are in for the Elite 8 Round

Kentucky Long Rifle- USI Archives 530 VS Copper Engraving by Robert Havell Jr.- John James Audubon Museum 349

Chinese Silk Slippers- University of Evansville 446 VS Into the Abyss- Evansville Museum 435

Bootlegging Bodies- USI Archives 591 VS Kuebler Cradle- Newburgh Museum 265

Original Evansville City Charter- Willard Library 731 VS Peters Margedant House- Peters Margedant House 251

The votes are in for the Sweet 16 Round

Copper Engraving by Robert Havell Jr.- John James Audubon Museum 235 VS “Our Town” WGBF Radio Script- Willard Library 234

Kentucky Long Rifle- USI Archives 240 VS Marcia Yockey’s Jacket- Newburgh Museum 203

Into the Abyss- Evansville Museum 240 VS German Trench Mortar- Working Men’s Institute 202

Chinese Silk Slippers- University of Evansville 268 VS Marsh Hawk Drawing- John James Audubon Museum 177

Kuebler Cradle- Newburgh Museum 301 VS Colt Machine Gun- Working Men’s Institute 141

Bootlegging Bodies- USI Archives 273 VS Wes Peters Life Mask- Peters-Margedant House 170

Peters Margedant House- Peters Margedant House 270 VS V-5 Navel Banner- University of Evansville 187

Original Evansville City Charter- Willard Library 316 VS Mastodon Lumbar Vertebra- Evansville Museum 165

Welcome to Archives Madness 2023, the friendly contest between area institutions vying for recognition for having the coolest artifact. We’ll start by introducing the institutions and their nominated artifacts, then proceed with several weeks of voting (which you will be able to do online) until all but the winner are eliminated. You may notice a similarity between this a a certain athletic competition that takes place in March and culminates this year on April 3. That similarity is intentional

Now, let’s meet the competitors and their artifacts.

University Archives and Special Collections, Rice Library, 3^rd floor/University of Southern Indiana

In the summer of 1972 the Lilly Endowment, Inc. of Indianapolis, Indiana awarded the then Indiana State University Evansville a three-year grant to establish an archival project for the acquisition, preservation and processing of regional material. At the end of the third year the University was to assume responsibility for continuing the growth of the Special Collections. It started with just a few regional history books on Indiana from the library’s own collection. Today, the University Archives and Special Collection has over 850 unique collections, 800 oral history interviews, 6,500 rare and unique books, and 30,000 digital resources.

The first entry is from RH 22, Miscellaneous Regional Material Collection, this book entitled Bootlegging Bodies: A History of Body Snatching by Dr. Alan F. Guttmacher. It was reprinted by the Public Library of Fort Wayne and Allen County (IN) in 1955. Guttmacher’s original paper was published in v. 4 of the Bulletin of the Society of Medical History of Chicago. “Body-snatching was the bootlegging of human dead for purposes of dissection.” (p.1) For medical students studying anatomy in England and America, “executed criminals were the sole source of anatomic supply.” (p. 13) It’s clear that supply could not keep up with demand, hence body-snatchers or resurrectionists.

The second entry is this Civil War era Pennsylvania/Kentucky long rifle. It was made by Charles Flowers of Harmony, PA, where he maintained a gunshop. The stock is of curly maple with German silver inlays, while other parts are of brass. There are 2 silver U.S. dimes inlaid in the stock, and the barrel is 36″ in length. It’s from University Archives (UA 058, Historic New Harmony).

Evansville Museum of Arts, History, and Science at 411 SE Riverside Dr. 

Evansville has had a museum since 1906, with today’s location dating to the 1950s.  This appearance dates to a major update/remodel circa 2014. “The Evansville Museum of Arts, History & Science houses a permanent collection of more than 30,000 objects, including fine and decorative art, as well as historic, anthropological, and natural history artifacts. Over twenty temporary, regional and international exhibitions are displayed each year in four galleries.  The Koch Immersive Theater houses a 40-foot diameter domed screen with 360-degree digital projection featuring astronomy and science programming.  Evansville Museum Transportation Center (EMTRAC) featuring transportation artifacts from the late 19th through the mid-20th centuries. On exhibit is a three-car train. The museum is home to a model train diorama of Evansville.”

The first item is this lumbar vertebra, part of a mastodon unearthed on a farm near the community of Solitude in Posey County, Indiana, in 1966.

The second item is a piece of artwork, Into the Abyss, by artist Sandra Jane Heard. It is made of silk yarn, reeds, paper and found objects. It was the winner of the Evansville Museum Guild Purchase Award at the 43rd Annual Mid-States Craft Exhibition in 2013-2014.

John James Audubon Museum in John James Audubon State Park, 3100 US Hwy 41 North, Henderson, KY

The museum interprets the lives and work of John James Audubon and his family within a timeline of world events. Three galleries chronicle the Audubon story, including the family’s 1810-1819 residency in Henderson, Kentucky. Over 200 objects are on display, including artifacts from Audubon’s Kentucky years, a complete set of his masterwork, The Birds of America, and many original artworks.

This is a calligraphic drawing made by 19^th century penman Oliver B. Goldsmith as a gift for John James Audubon’s son, Victor Gifford Audubon. Inspired by Audubon’s illustration of the “Marsh Hawk” (Plate 356) in The Birds of America, the drawing is composed entirely of decorative flourishes hand-drawn in black ink.

This is an original copper engraving plate made by Robert Havell, Jr., for printing John James Audubon’s illustration of “The Tell-tale Godwit” in The Birds of America. Only around 80 of the 435 plates used in the publication still survive today, the rest having been melted down for scrap in the late 19^th century.

University of Evansville, University Archives in Bower-Suhrheinrich Library/Clifford Memorial Library

University Archives is the repository for archival records pertaining to the history and operations of the University of Evansville.

The first item is this Evansville College V-5 Naval Aviation Banner. The banner, made of dark blue fabric edged by gold tassels, features a bald eagle and the Evansville College seal surrounded by a ring of stars. In 1943. Evansville College was assigned a V-5 segment of the U.S. Navy’s pilot training program. By 1944, the College had trained a total of 335 Navy cadets and received recognition from the U.S. Department of the Navy for its efforts.

The next item is this pair of women’s slippers from China. They are pink with felt lining the inside and outside, and the tops of the feet are ordained with a sewn green, purple, and orange bird. A brand has been stamped on the bottom of the slippers.

University of Evansville, Peters-Margedant House

This unassuming 552 square foot residence is a remarkable early example of Usonian style architecture – an innovative residential style conceived by world-renowned architect Frank Lloyd Wright. Called the Peters-Margedant House, it was designed and built in 1934 by 22-year-old architect William Wesley “Wes” Peters, an Evansville native and Frank Lloyd Wright’s first student-apprentice. Wes married Mr. Wright’s daughter Svetlana in 1935 and left Evansville later becoming Mr. Wright’s chief engineer and right-hand-man, taking over his architectural practice (then called Taliesin Associated Architects) upon Wright’s death in 1959 – a role Wes held until his death in 1991. The house was moved to the UE campus in 2017.

The second entry is this “Life Mask” of builder Wes Peters. Below that is a photograph of Peters.

Working Men’s Institute (WMI) at 407 Tavern St. in New Harmony, IN

“Established by philanthropist William Maclure in 1838, the Working Men’s Institute (WMI) set as its mission the dissemination of useful knowledge to those who work with their hands. After 170 years of continuous service, this goal is still at the heart of our mission.  Maclure, who was a business partner with Robert Owen in the communal experiment in New Harmony from 1825-1827, was devoted to the ideal of education for the common man as a means of positive change in society. At New Harmony, The Working Men’s Institute was one manifestation of this ideal.  The Working Men’s Institute in New Harmony was the first of 144 WMIs in Indiana and 16 in Illinois. It is the only one remaining. Many WMIs were absorbed by township libraries or Carnegie libraries. Yet the one in New Harmony remained.  …  Today, the WMI is a public library, a museum and an archive. In each of these areas, the WMI tries to stay true to the original mission of William Maclure.”

First is this German heavy trench mortar, or “schwerer Minenwerfer.” Captured in World War I, this German trench mortar was received by the American Legion post in New Harmony in 1925. The post was disbanded in 1928 and the mortar moved to the front lawn of the Working Men’s Institute. It is a short-range high caliber weapon. Its original wooden wheels were replaced with “farm machinery” metal wheels about half their size.

Next is this Colt machine gun, Model 1906. made by Marlin Arms for use in World War I. It is a .30 caliber gun and is mounted on a tripod. It was given to the WMI by the U. S. Ordnance Department. These guns were nicknamed “potato diggers” because of the action of a downward swinging lever at the front of the gun, propelled by hot gas from an exiting bullet. It could actually dig into the ground if the gun were fired too low to the ground.

Willard Public Library at 21 N. First Ave.

Willard Library is the oldest public library building in the state of Indiana.  It was established by local businessman and philanthropist Willard Carpenter, opening its doors in 1885, two years after his death.  For the past 137 years Willard Library has maintained an excellent reputation for its local history archives and genealogy collections.

First is this original charter of the city of Evansville. An act granting Evansville a city charter was approved by the state of Indiana on January 27, 1847. The Secretary of state issued this certified copy.

Second is this WGBF radio broadcast script from December 8, 1941. Entitled “Our Town,” it is an example of a 15 minute evening radio segment ready by Clifton “Cliff” Brooks throughout the 1940s. This script describes local reactions the day after the bombing of Pearl Harbor.

Newburgh Museum at 503 State St. in Newburgh, IN

The Newburgh Museum preserves exhibits and educates all visitors about the history and culture of Newburgh and the surrounding areas’ unique river town heritage.

The first item is this cradle which belonged to the Kuebler family and was used to rock some 17 Kuebler babies to sleep in the mid-1800s. It was featured in the museum’s “Made in Newburgh Kids Museum” video with master woodsmith Louis Duncan.

“John M. Kuebler [1835-1918], born in Alsace Lorraine, was the son of … a wine grower. Coming to the United States when 19 years old, he worked in the Boston Tannery for a few years. In 1860 he purchased the property [in Newburgh] to develop. Being a tanner by trade he added a tannery on the property near the main house and employed about 40 men. In 1875 he developed the big house and gardens. Later the gardens included 15 acres to grow grapes for wine making. … A greenhouse located on the property provided flowers year round. A grandstand built for band concerts as well as an amphitheater, race track and baseball diamond. Thousands of families came on Sundays to enjoy the music and dine on good food and wine. The Kueblers were known for their Dutch meals and fried chicken. Kuebler’s Band was the first in Newburgh who performed at the gardens and the dance hall in the winter months. Baseball teams came from far away as Cincinnati to play. When prohibition was enacted in 1919 it was the death blow to the gardens. Mr. Kuebler died shortly thereafter.” 

The next item is Marcia Yockey’s jacket from her days as a weather reporter with WFIE-TV. From the museum’s website: “Marcia Yockey was a local weather caster in the region for decades. She was born on 6 November 1922, grew up in Evansville, and graduated in 1940 from Bosse High school. However, she spent much of her life in Newburgh, living at 201 West Jennings Street, and considered herself a native of the town. Yockey debuted on WFIE Channel 14 in 1953, after 10 years of working for the National Weather Service. Over the course of her 35-year career, she bounced around from WFIE Channel 14 and WTVW Channel 7 before finally retiring in 1988. She quit one station because she didn’t like a new theme song they picked. Another time she gave notice when her bosses cancelled her annual July 4 televised swim after the forecast. Channel 14 newscaster Mike Blake recalled the veteran weather-woman’s habit of going beyond her allotted time. Blake, becoming impatient from the sidelines asked for Yockey to hurry it up. Yockey, in full view and hearing of the television audience, responded with “Keep it up, Sports, and you’ll never get on.” A resident of Newburgh, she reached star status for her forecasting skill, irreverent attitude, and colorful personality. She received the Indiana Associated Press Broadcasters Hall of Fame Award. In her free time Yockey enjoyed flying Piper Cub planes, and she was only the 100th woman to receive a helicopter pilot licence. Yockey died on 28 September 2000 at the age of 77 after suffering for several years from Alzheimer’s Disease.”

There you are….all the entries for the 2023 Archives Madness contest. Read the descriptions and decide which are your favorites, then be sure to vote for them. Voting will be done on this blog. Here’s the timeline:

• March 13-19, 2023: Sweet 16
• March 20-26, 2023: Elite 8
• March 27-April 2, 2023: Final 4
• April 3-9, 2023: Championship
• April 10, 2023: Revealing 2023 Arch Madness Champion

Keep checking the blog to see how the voting is progressing, and to help your favorite artifact make it to the championship. Get your friends to vote, too! May the BEST artifact win!

*Post written by Mona Meyer, Archives and Special Collections Metadata Librarian.

One of the collections within University Archives and Special Collections is Communal Studies. The Communal Studies Collection began in conjunction with the Center for Communal Studies, which promotes the study of contemporary and historic communal groups, intentional communities and utopias. The key word is intentional. These communities were/are deliberate attempts to live communally, with shared goals and economies. This blog is one of a continuing series….you can search for the phrase Living in Community to find others.

This blog will talk about the Abbey of Gethsemani, a historic and continuing Cistercian monastic community in Trappist, Kentucky (near Bardstown).

The monks at this abbey follow the rule of St. Benedict to order their days. Benedict (480-547 A.D.) was born in Italy, and sent by his parents to Roman schools. “Shocked by the licentiousness of Rome, he retired as a young man to Enfide (modern Affile) in the Simbruinian hills and later to a cave in the rocks beside the lake then existing near the ruins of Nero’s palace above Subiaco, 64 km (40 miles) east of Rome in the foothills of the Abruzzi. There he lived alone for three years, furnished with food and monastic garb by Romanus, a monk of one of the numerous monasteries nearby. When the fame of his sanctity spread, Benedict was persuaded to become abbot of one of these monasteries.”ⁱ

Eventually Benedict formulated what became known as his Rule governing the monastic life. “Accentuated was the harmony of a simple, unpretentious life in common wherein all were exhorted to “prefer nothing whatever to Christ.” Practical, flexible, and balanced, it became the standard for Christian monasticism in the West.”ⁱⁱ

But I initially said this was a Cistercian monastery….so where does this fit in? In 1098 a group of 21 monks, seeking to simplify their lives and return to more of what Benedict originally intended, established Citeaux, the “New Monastery,” near the city of Dijon, France. “They trimmed the thicket of medieval liturgy, creating space for the formerly discarded manual labor, the integral rhythm of Benedict’s rule emerged in a harmony of work, prayer, and spiritual reading.”ⁱⁱⁱ

The monks at Gethsemani are also known as Trappist, springing from yet another reform that began in 1664 at La Trappe, near Paris. “Forced to leave the country at the time of the French Revolution, this community eventually became the nucleus of the Trappist branch of the Cistercian order, also known as the Cistercians of the Strict Observance (O.C.S.O.)”^iv

French Trappist monks first ventured to this part of the country in 1805, coming to and staying in the Bardstown area for about 4 years until continual bad weather drove them back home. The second, and successful attempt at establishing themselves in Kentucky came in 1848, when 44 monks from the Abbey of Melleray in France once again ventured to the New World and came to the Bardstown area just before Christmas of that year. Their leader was a man named Eutropius Proust, who became the first abbot of the new monastery. The current monastery was built beginning in 1852, with later modifications and additions.

A well known person affiliated with Gethsemani that you may have heard of is Thomas Merton (1915-1968. “His autobiography, The Seven Storey Mountain, has sold over one million copies and has been translated into over fifteen languages. He wrote over sixty other books and hundreds of poems and articles on topics ranging from monastic spirituality to civil rights, nonviolence, and the nuclear arms race. … After a rambunctious youth and adolescence, Merton converted to Roman Catholicism whilst at Columbia University and on December 10th, 1941 he arrived at the Abbey of Gethsemani, a community of monks belonging to the Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance (Trappists), the most ascetic Roman Catholic monastic order.The twenty-seven years he spent in Gethsemani brought about profound changes in his self-understanding. This ongoing conversion impelled him into the political arena, where he became, according to Daniel Berrigan, the conscience of the peace movement of the 1960’s. Referring to race and peace as the two most urgent issues of our time, Merton was a strong supporter of the nonviolent civil rights movement, which he called “certainly the greatest example of Christian faith in action in the social history of the United States.” For his social activism Merton endured severe criticism, from Catholics and non-Catholics alike, who assailed his political writings as unbecoming of a monk. During his last years, he became deeply interested in Asian religions, particularly Zen Buddhism, and in promoting East-West dialogue. After several meetings with Merton during the American monk’s trip to the Far East in 1968, the Dalai Lama praised him as having a more profound understanding of Buddhism than any other Christian he had known.”^v The Seven Storey Mountain is available in our General Collection, BX4715.M542 A3.

The Abbey of Gethsemani is considered to be the “motherhouse” of all Trappist monasteries in this country, and the oldest one still in operation. Its 40 some monks lead quiet, structured lives of prayer, study, and work, and welcome visitors to visit, only 2.5 hours away from Evansville. There is a welcome center, 1500 acres of hiking trails to explore, and homemade fruitcake and bourbon fudge available for purchase (this is how the monks support themselves). All of its services are open to the public.

Resources Consulted

Abbey of Gethsemani website                                                                                                            "Cistercian Life at Gethsemani," pamphlet found in CS002-1, the Abbey of Gethsemani collection                                                                                                                                                       Saint Benedict entry in Encyclopedia Brittanica online                                                                                 "Thomas Merton's Life and Work." The Thomas Merton Center at Bellarmine University, Louisville, KY

End Notes                                                                                                                                                
i Saint                                                                                                                                                    ii Cistercian                                                                                                                                           iii Cistercian                                                                                                                                                       iv Cistercian                                                                                                                                                        v Thomas

*Post written by Mona Meyer, Archives and Special Collections Metadata Librarian

This lyric is from a novelty song written by Paul Vance and Lee Pockriss and recorded by Brian Highland, way back in 1960.  (listen here)  It’s definitely an oldie, and although probably not a golden oldie, this phrase is in common parlance, and is used here to introduce a blog on the history of the swimsuit. Anything to take you away from a dull, grey January, right?

To begin with, let’s discuss terminology…..it was originally referred to as a bathing suit.  Swimming in the recreational sense that we know it today didn’t even begin to be considered popular until early in the 20^th century. People bathed or swam privately, and au naturel was the style. 

“In the eighteenth century, the idea of a retreat to the seaside for bathing grew more attractive as the benefits of water, fresh air, and exercise were extolled.”ⁱ  The bathing gown was appropriate attire for women.  “However, immersing oneself completely was discouraged. This was deemed particularly important for women as activity in water was not seen as sufficiently feminine. For bathing, women would wear loose, open gowns, that were similar to the chemise. These bathing gowns were more comfortable to wear in the water, especially when compared to more restrictive day clothes. The bathing gown [seen to the right] is from 1767 and belonged to Martha Washington, the wife of then-Continental Army commander, and later the first US president, George Washington. The blue and white checked gown is made from linen and is in an unfitted shift style. Small lead weights are sewn into each quarter of the dress, just above the hem. This was to ensure the dress did not float up in the water, helping women to maintain their modesty. It is known that Martha Washington travelled in the summers of 1767 and 1769 to the famed mineral springs in Berkeley Springs, West Virginia, to absorb the apparent health benefits.”ⁱⁱ Given the sheer fabric seen here, there would have been nothing modest about it when wet, so it’s presumed that Martha bathed privately.

By the 19^th century, swimming became more popular, more for recreation than for health benefits.  At the most, women paddled in the water—exercising was seen as unladylike.  Given their attire, they could do little more without drowning!  Sometimes they waded out (not very far) holding on to a rope.  “Along with wool, swimsuits from this era were also made from canvas and flannel, which, naturally, were far too heavy for real swimming, but which at least had the virtue of being sturdy and, most importantly, didn’t turn transparent when wet.  Some gowns even had weighted hems to prevent the fabric from riding up mid-swim, saving women from suffering the embarrassment of unwittingly showing some leg.”ⁱⁱⁱ In addition to providing modesty, these swimsuits covered up all your skin so there was no chance of having any tan, which was seen looking like a farmer.  NOT cool!

Interestingly, these 1800s bathing suits were two-piece!  In this context, the two pieces were a long dress over ankle length pants.  The Victorians even used bathing machines to preserve privacy.  These were small houses that were pulled out into the water.  A lady could enter beach side in full attire, change inside into her bathing costume, and then emerge out the back into the water to bathe in relative privacy. 

These two images show the progression of bathing suits—the first is from the mid 1800s and the second from the turn of the 20^th century.  The dresses and pants have both shortened, and arms are now visible.  Although these women have bare legs, keeping the legs covered with long black stockings and wearing shoes was more common at first.  The sailor suit, seen on some of the women in the second picture, was popular.

Men also bathed or swam, and in general, their attire was less restrictive.  “Nineteenth century men were able to escape the restrictions of swimwear for much longer than women.  Nude male bathing in public places continued into the second half of the century, although times and places were regulated.  Experiments with woolen swimming drawers began in the 1840s, but were not entirely successful because of the tendency of the drawers to droop and drop when waterlogged.  This lamentable state of affairs led to the introduction of 1870 of a short-sleeved, all-in-one costume which covered the body from neck to knees.  Striped costumes were especially popular.  Although young boys and older men continued to wear drawers only, most men preferred the more substantial costume.  Two-piece costumes consisting of a vest and drawers were available at the end of the century.”^iv

Big strides were made when Australian swimmer Annette Kellerman became one of the first women to attempt to swim the English Channel in 1905.  “Her passion and courage led her to design a one-piece, form-fitting swimsuit that was more aerodynamic than the bulky, heavy swimsuit styles of that day. Known as the “Annette Kellermann,” these one-piece suits changed swimwear forever.”^v  This is not the end of the story.  “In 1907, [she] was arrested on a beach in Boston, Massachusetts, and charged with indecent exposure because she’d been wearing a knee-length swimsuit that resembled a unitard and showed her arms, legs, and neck.”^vi

The revolution continued in 1912 when women first competed in swimming at the Olympic games.  This image of the British freestyle swimming team that won the gold medal, dressed in silk suits, is particularly amusing for the juxtaposition of their attire next to that of the woman in the center!

Annette Kellerman and the 1912 Olympics notwithstanding, there was still a great deal of pushback in the 1920s and 1930s to showing too much skin on the beach.  “Something had to be done before America fell into irretrievable debauchery, so many municipalities passed laws enforcing the length of swimsuits, often prohibiting anything shorter than six inches above the knee. Swimsuit police were employed to make sure swimmers didn’t break the rules, and if they found a woman with a swimsuit that was too short, she was either sent home to change or forced to cover up. Beach police in Chicago found a clever method of ensuring that patrons maintained their modesty: a “beach tailor” who could be summoned to sew up oversize armholes or affix a layer of fabric to the bottoms of skirts deemed too short or the tops of necklines deemed too low. … Women weren’t the only ones whose beachwear was policed. On the grounds that no one wanted to see “gorillas on the beaches,” the city council of Atlantic City, New Jersey passed laws mandating shirts at the shore, and beaches around the country followed suit. Men who went topless could be fined and forced to put their shirts back on, but starting in 1937, many of these local rules were overturned and men could once again enjoy the sunshine on their bare chests.”^vii

By 1940 the term swimsuit came into vogue as styles became more and more streamlined.  During World War II, wartime rationing encouraged designers to use less fabric.  Maybe the designer of the bikini was only doing his patriotic duty?! “It wasn’t until after World War II that two Frenchmen invented the modern bikini, which shows the navel and was the next major stepping stone in the history of swimwear. In 1946 Jacques Heim first invented the ‘Atome’, named so because it was a very small two-piece bathing suit. Then an engineer named Louis Réard, made sure his bathing suit was even smaller and named his two-piece outfit the ‘Bikini’, after the Bikini island where a nuclear test had taken place that year. Réard wanted the excitement about his new Bikini swimwear to be just as ‘explosive’….

The Frenchman was right: it did shock the world seeing the sexy bikini on a Parisian catwalk for the first time. The invention made everyone forget about the ‘Atome’ and ‘Bikini’ became the generic name for two-piece bathing suits in Europe. It took a while for the rest of the world to take a liking for bikinis and they were initially banned in the USA and Catholic countries.”  Apparently Réard’s bikini was so shocking that regular models would not wear it, so he had to hire a Parisian showgirl named Micheline Bernardini to show it to the world.

It’s tempting to go on with this history, but you can consult the resources listed below to learn more.  Let me end by noting that while these photographs are great, nothing beats looking at the real swimsuits themselves.  University Archives and Special Collections is fortunate to have a few of these in the Beardsley, Montgomery, and Gordon Families Collection, MSS 297.  These are all made of wool, and while only the green and black one is actually dated to 1920, they are probably all from the same general time period. 

Three images above, MSS 297-23-5, front, side, and detail views.  Can you imagine having to button your swimming suit?  This suit is a wee bit more modest in that it covers the shoulders/upper arms.

Three images below, MSS 297-16-3, front, side, and detail of the embroidery.  Although not shown here in detail here, if you look closely at the first photograph you can see that this suit also has the buttoned shoulder.

Three images below, MSS 297-16-6, front, side, and detail views.  Note that this suit only has a single button.

I would not wish to swim, or even bathe, in any of these wool items, but they are very interesting to see. If you’d like to see any of these three in person, contact University Archivist Jennifer Greene in advance and arrange for a showing.

Footnotes

ⁱ Baclawski, p. 30

ⁱⁱ Ibbetson

ⁱⁱⁱ Radical

^iv Baclaswki, p. 31

^v Swimsuits

^vi Booth

^vii Harris

Resources Consulted

“45 Interesting Vintage Photographs of Bathing Machines from the Victorian Era.”  Vintage Everyday website, April 30, 2015.

Baclawski, Karen.  The Guide to Historic Costume.  London: B.T. Batsford, 1995.   General Collection GT507 .B33 1995.

Booth, Jessica.  “From the 1800s to Now: Here’s How Swimsuits Have Changed Over the Years.”  Insider.com website, July 16, 2021.

“Did You Know: In the 1920s, Police Could Arrest Women for Exposing Their Legs in One Piece Bathing Suits?”  Vintage Everyday website, November 3, 2016.

Faust, Ella.  “The Evolution of the Swimsuit.”  CR Fashion Book website, June 29, 2020.

Harris, Karen. “Bikini Laws: When Women Could Be Arrested for Wearing The Wrong Swimsuit.”  History Daily website.

“History of Bathing Suits.” Victoriana Magazine online.

“History of Swimwear.”  Swimwear Shack website.

Ibbetson, Fiona.  “A History of Women’s Swimwear.”  Fashion History Timeline, a project of the History of Art Department at the Fashion Institute of Technology, State University of New York, 2022.

Komar, Marlen.  “Women’s Swimwear Photos from the 1800s Until Today.”  Bustle website, February 14, 2016.

Picone, Kiri.  “Appreciate Your Bikini: A Brief History of Women’s Swimwear.”  Ati (All That’s Interesting) website, May 30, 2015.

“The Radical History of the Swimsuit.”  Google Arts and Culture. 

“Swimsuit Police to the Rescue!”  Recollections website.

“Swimsuits Throughout History: Swimwear for Women, Men & Competition.”  Swimmingpool.com website.

“Women being arrested for wearing one piece bathing suits, 1920s.”  Rare Historical Photos website.

*Post written by Mona Meyer, Archives and Special Collections Metadata Librarian

Welcome to 2023!

Here’s hoping you had a relaxing and restorative break, and that you’re ready to hit the books again. All of us at Rice Library wish you all the best in the coming semester, and stand ready to assist you in achieving academic success. Let’s start Spring 2023 off with a smile, perhaps even a laugh, as we look at some of these turn of the 20th century postcards sent to wish friends and family a happy new year. All images are from MSS 010, the Postcards Collection.

For more fun, take a look at the display of postcards in the display case to the right of the library reading room on the second floor, room 2001.

*Post written by Mona Meyer, Archives and Special Collections Metadata Librarian

In the previous blog I told you about local historian Kenneth McCutchan (1913-2002) and his journals and scrapbook documenting his WWII service abroad.   That blog focused on his military service overseas; now we’re going to see how McCutchan used his time abroad to see more of the world.

From May 20, 1943 through the first week of January 1944, McCutchan was in Tunisia.  On June 9, 1943 he got an all-day pass and hitched a ride into Tunis, the capital, and the ancient city of Carthage.  Hannibal, who crossed the Alps on elephants to threaten the Roman empire circa 218 B.C., was from Carthage.  The Roman empire proved mightier and decimated the city in 146 B.C.  McCutchan says that the ruins at Carthage were worth the trip alone, with the most beautiful being those of the Temple, with its marble and granite columns and mosaic floors. 

By August the regiment had moved on to Tabarka.  McCutchan’s August 26^th journal entry says, “Had the day off and went to Tabarka…visited the old Roman fort and ruins dating to the 6^th century.  Strolled through the old French cemetery, and visited the old Roman ruins….”  In MSS 004-2402 below, on the right can be seen an Arab cavalry unit bivouacking there. 

Mid-January 1944 found McCutchan on the island of Corsica, seemingly little affected by war.  One day they were unexpectedly given 6 hour passes into Ajaccio, the capital, complete with transportation.  Napoleon Bonaparte was born there.  “In the center of the Place du Diamant, facing the bay, stands this [1865] statue of Napoleon with his four brothers.  They say that the sculptor died of a broken heart because he had intended this monument to be his masterpiece, but when it was unveiled, the citizens of Ajaccio laughed.  Even today they refer to it as ‘l’encrier,’ the inkstand.”

On January 15, 1944: “Today I have seen some of the most beautiful scenery one can imagine.  It reminds me of what I would expect the Swiss Alps to look like. … Tonight we are bivouacking just at the edge of the snow line in a forest of giant pine trees, so dense that sunlight hardly penetrates.  Mountain streams are bubbling and tumbling over boulders….”  In his scrapbook he says, “These streams, fed by springs of melting snow, leapt and skipped over the rocky forest floor, filling the solitude with a water music that was a fitting accompaniment to the wind’s singing in the trees…forests below clung to the slopes like green cloaks that had slipped from the mountains’ shoulders.  Tiny red-roofed villages appeared toy-like in the valley far below, and smoke-blue heaps of more mountains were piled against the distant horizons.”  On June 4, McCutchan and a fellow soldier decided to try to climb Monte d’Oro, Corsica’s second highest peak.  Good progress was made at first, following the mountain stream.  “By the end of the second hour we reached a large glacier which had been hollowed out by a stream until a cave of ice had formed with huge icicles hanging from the ceiling….Soon after, we struck a spot that was almost impossible to scale bare-handed.”  They wisely retreated.

In August they moved to southern France, arriving in Marseille on September 2, where he found that despite much damage, many parts of Marseille retained its historic beauty.  His visit to the Palais Longchamp is a good representation of the sights he enjoyed.  His scrapbook says, “The Palais Longchamp is a series of great buildings in the style of the Italian Renaissance erected about 1869.  The Museum of Fine Arts on the left and the Museum of Natural History on the right are joined to the central building by semi-circular colonnades.  A grand fountain ornamented with statuary feeds a pool in the front of the palace.”

On March 30, 1945 they moved into Germany.  On April 5 he received word that his 2-week furlough to Great Britain had been approved, and so began his first opportunity to truly play the tourist.  On April 8, he arrived in Paris and made the most of every minute, enjoying Notre Dame, the Arc d’Triomphe, and the quintessential Parisian attraction, the Eiffel Tower. (seen respectively below)

From Paris he went to Edinburgh and toured Edinburgh Castle and other city sites, and spent a day in Sir Walter Scott country.  Edinburgh Castle, pictured left, was “perched on a high formidable rock in the very center of the city.  One of the most interesting rooms at the castle was the great banquet hall where all coronation banquets for centuries have been held.  The guide explained that one of the most colorful ceremonies of the coronation banquets was the challenging, in which a knight in full armor rode a horse into the dining hall and challenged the guests in the name of the newly crowned king.  The great hall is lined with suits of mail and weapons of all eras, as well as portraits of all the kings and queens of Scotland and England for centuries.” Pictured here is the drawbridge entrance. 

On Sunday he took a bus tour through the countryside with lunch on the grounds of Abbotsford on the River Tweed.  “Abbotsford is the country estate of Sir Walter Scott, built to his own plans after he had acquired the property in 1811.  He called it his dream house. … His rooms are exactly as he left them, lined with books and collector’s objects.”

Then to London for 3 more busy days: Madame Tussaud’s Wax Museum (“very weird because some of the figures are so real that you are not sure who is alive and who isn’t),  St. Paul’s Cathedral (just the outside since it was very crowded for the memorial service for the recently deceased Franklin D. Roosevelt), Parliament, Westminster Abbey, London Bridge, Tower of London, Kew Gardens, and Buckingham Palace (for the changing of the guard).  This is Big Ben and Parliament as viewed from Westminster Bridge.

His furlough ended, McCutchan arrived back at company headquarters the afternoon of April 24.  The next few months were spent in Mannheim and Bremen, Germany.  While in Mannheim, McCutchan had the opportunity to see Heidelberg, about 15-20 miles away.  The scrapbook says that Heidelberg is a famous university town, “a seat of learning, and since it was of no military importance, it is one of the few German cities that weather with but little damage.  It was never bombed from the air, and only a few of the bridges were demolished deliberately.  This is the bridge gate on the left bank” [of the Neckar River.]

June 11, 1945’s journal entry: “An interesting memorandum came out today announcing that the University of Paris is soon to take 750 U.S. Army students for eight weeks courses in languages and studies in French culture. … I have been hoping for an opportunity like that. … It would be wonderful to live in Paris for a while.”  July 3 brought an official letter from Bremen Post Command about this course of study, but McCutchan, uncertain his Colonel would approve his application, asked directly and was told yes.  July 10: “Sgt. Iula and I have been selected for the course at the Sorbonne.  Our travel orders will be out tomorrow.”  He was in Paris the next day, eager to embark on this new adventure.  He was early since classes didn’t start until the 16^th, but was able to enjoy the Bastille Day celebrations. This was the first Bastille Day celebration since Paris and France were liberated, so crowds were really exuberant.  Under this photograph in his scrapbook, McCutchan notes, “Sidewalks for miles along the route of the parade were jammed with people from soon after dawn.  They stood on chairs, on step ladders, sat on one another’s shoulders, hung from windows.  Those who were unable to see a thing cheered and screamed just as loudly as all the others when the parade came by.”

Students in the Latin Quarter of Paris customarily studied outdoors on very warm days.  They often went as a group to the nearby Luxembourg Gardens and sat under the huge chestnut trees.  Here are some of his classmates with their teacher, Mademoiselle Louise Durand.  Mlle. Durand worked with the underground during the German occupation, “caring for allied fliers whose planes were shot down over France.  She and her group smuggled the fliers into Paris, fed and housed them and supplied them with civilian clothes until arrangements could be made to have them taken back to England.  Mlle. Durand, who had studied in England before the war, maintained secret short-wave radio communication with her friends there, and through them made the arrangements to have the men picked up by reconnaissance planes that would make quick landings for that purpose in secluded spots in the country.  In order to protect herself in case she was arrested by the Germans, she carried various kinds of false identification.”

Field trips were part of the curriculum.  One day he and a friend went to Montmartre, the artist colony of Paris and climbed to the top of the highest tower.  “All Paris was at our feet.  We could see the Seine winding through the city, and the Eiffel Tower stood up like a bony finger pointing toward heaven through the mists that lingered over the river.”   

Another day the class went to Versailles. It “is so large that it is said that at no one spot can one get a view of the entire building.  The façade on the garden side is 2,413 ft.  During the reign of Louis XIV the court, including nobles and servants, numbered nearly 10,000 persons.”  Marie Antoinette built an entire idyllic rural village, the Hamlet, with a mill, mill pond, cow barn, and buttery.  She built a house for herself there, too, when “she felt the need to ‘get away from it all’ and bake bread and make butter with her own hands.  When she had the Hamlet constructed in 1783, people began to accuse her of ruining France with her caprices.  Much unsavory gossip also rose against her because she refused to admit people of the court to her pastoral retreat.”

Another day Mlle. Durand took her class to see Fountainbleau. “The palace is built on the location of a hunting lodge that King Louis VII had built in the heart of a forest.  Legend says that here was a spring of fine clear water (La Fontaine Belle-eau) where the king stopped to quench his thirst after the chase. …The horse-shoe staircase at the main entrance is particularly interesting.  It was from these steps that Napoleon said good-bye to his officers before he went into exile.”

McCutchan enjoyed his time in Paris.  “I tried to see Paris in all attitudes.  Then, too, I was there to celebrate VJ Day, the end of the war.  I loved Paris, but all good things must end sometime, so on September 7^th we finished our school term.  The first tinge of autumn was beginning to appear.  Chestnuts were starting to fall in the Jardin du Luxembourg and the leaves were turning a rusty color.  September 9^th I flew back to Bremen, Germany and rejoined the 335th Engineers.”

From the previous blog you know the ending of this story, with McCutchan back at home in Indiana.  He made the most of 959 days overseas and as a historian, left a wonderful record for us to enjoy.  You can always stop by UASC on the 3^rd floor of the Rice Library to look at these in more detail.  Be sure to call first: 812-228-5046.

*Post written by Mona Meyer, Archives and Special Collections Metadata Librarian.

Recordkeeping sounds pretty boring, doesn’t it?  We tend to think about it primarily in terms of financial matters, tasks that must be done.  In the broader context of keeping a record of one’s daily activities, however, it’s a different matter.  Keeping a journal, for instance, is recordkeeping.  Historians certainly appreciate the value of good records when they are doing research.  One man who excelled at this was Ken McCutchan.

Kenneth Peva McCutchan (1913-2002) was a historian at heart.  His family was part of the early history of Evansville and Vanderburgh County, and the section of northern Vanderburgh County called McCutchanville is named for his family.  Ken McCutchan had ample reason to appreciate history and value of good recordkeeping.  This is demonstrated by his World War II journals and a scrapbook of his time serving overseas.  The journals begin with this entry on July 15, 1942: 

“Off to the Army today on the noon train for Fort Benjamin Harrison.  Had lunch at the Red Cross Canteen at the L & N depot before leaving.  At Vincennes we picked up more draftees, and at Indianapolis, 5 carloads coming in from Ohio, Virginia, and points East.”       

He continues with daily entries until November 15, 1945:

“Arrived at the local airport shortly before noon and as the plane taxied up the runway I could see Mother standing there waiting—all dressed up in her Paris hat.  It is good to be home again.  Everything looks just the same as when I left, and I know that in a short time, as I look back upon the past years, it will be hard to realize that it really happened.”  After some 8 months of training in various locations, McCutchan embarked on duty overseas in March 1943.  In addition to his journal entries, he recorded his time overseas in an incredible scrapbook (185 pages!) he entitled 959 Days Overseas.  He kept notes and completed this when he finally returned home as he could not have carried something this large with him.  Those notes were very detailed—he names the soldier in a picture, says where his hometown was, and tells something about him.  He provides information such as background or history of the locations.  In his preface to this scrapbook, he admits to a bit of misbehavior: “Back in the spring of 1943 cameras were forbidden to soldiers going overseas.  I owned a little inexpensive Brownie that I had purchased at the PX at Fort Leonard Wood the autumn before.  I wanted very much to take it with me.  If it was confiscated, I thought, there won’t be much lost, so I decided upon taking the chance of smuggling it across, with five rolls of film as a starter, in the toe of my overshoes.  Had it not been for that little camera, the picture record of my experiences which follows in this book would never have been made.” 

McCutchan served as Company Clerk with the 335^th Engineer Regiment.  He was ‘behind the lines,’ i.e., arriving in a location after the Germans had been defeated and the location at least somewhat secured.  He and his fellow soldiers arrived in North Africa April 13, 1943, and spent most of the time through January 7, 1944 in Tunisia.  He was as interested in the local area and peoples as he was in the military experience, and frequently commented on how eager the children were to be around the soldiers.  Whenever the unit stopped for lunch, they gathered around to get the leftovers from C rations: sugar cubes, hard candies, and little packets of soluble coffee.  No matter how desolate the area appeared, the children always appeared, seemingly from out of the bushes and rocks. This photograph of an old shepherd demonstrates that it was not only the children who took advantage of the soldiers’ largesse—if you look closely, you will see that he is wearing GI shoes! 

As the summer turned into fall in Tunisia, the unit continued its work of repairing roads, maintaining hospitals, and working on the docks.  Back in camp, there were housekeeping chores such as the weekly laundry.  While the quality of this photograph isn’t ideal, you can see the men scrubbing the clothing on a makeshift table, and in the background, getting ready to boil it to remove any germs, etc. 

As 1943 drew to a close, the men felt certain they would be leaving Africa soon, probably headed for Italy. The Allies were beginning a difficult push to Rome, and losses were heavy as judged by the ships full of wounded coming into the port of Bizerte, Tunisia.  Heading to Italy wasn’t a pleasant prospect. After packing up and crating their equipment, they went aboard LSTs on January 8.  Not until they were out at sea did they learn that they were headed instead to the island of Corsica. 

On January 11 the unit landed at the capital of Corsica, Ajaccio.  McCutchan noted that the city was “pleasant looking with palm lined boulevards, gay flowers, and a lovely backdrop of mountains.  The most unforgettable thing about … Corsica is the smell which wafts delicately out to the boat before you have ever actually set foot on land—the mixed fragrance of the maquis, mimosa, and eucalyptus.”  The unit remained on Corsica until August 17, at various locations.  The men spent a lot of time on roadwork, in particular rebuilding a road that local defenders had blown up to prevent the Germans from reaching the interior of the island. For the last 5 months on Corsica they built and operated a sawmill to supply lumber for needs at the airport, to build props for coal mines in Sardinia, and to build up a stockpile to be used whenever the invasion of southern France got underway.

Corsicans speak French, and this gave McCutchan an advantage since he spoke the language—probably textbook French, but he had more knowledge of it than most.  In the village of Vivario, McCutchan was assigned as a liaison officer and billeted with a local family.  He was the first American to live there and so became known as ‘l’Americain.’  This is Grandmama Casanova, a “sweet old lady who had lived almost her whole life of 84 years in her own tiny world in and around Vivario.  Once, when she was young, she had visited Toulon in France.  There she had ridden in an elevator and that was the most thrilling experience of her whole life.  She always called me ‘mon Americain,’ and insisted on washing and darning socks for me, or making a cup of coffee when I would come in on a cold day.”

By mid-August of 1944, France was being secured and the regiment sailed to southern France.  The coast had been fortified with the heavy concrete gun emplacements seen here.  McCutchan notes that “the weather was very hot, and the bodies of the German gunners lying inside these pill boxes had already started to bloat.  The stench was sickening.  Notice the clothing and equipment scattered over the ground, indicating the great haste in which these positions were evacuated.” They also came across an emergency hospital dug under the hill.  Inside the operating room lights were still on, unclean surgical instruments were lying around, and the operating table bore blood stains.  There were 2 wounded Germans dead in their beds. 

By August 29 the unit moved on to Marseille.  The people there were hungry after suffering German occupation and gathered around any Army installation to salvage any edible food from garbage cans.  The unit made it a habit to set the kettles out after the men had been served so that the civilians could take what was left.  One of the scavengers was this little boy named Napoleon.  He was so small that he didn’t stand much of a chance getting anything in a crowd.  “But, when he stood by the wall with his gallon bucket, sucking his thumb, we always saw that he got filled with the best there was left—and often some candy for good measure.”

The regiment was fortunate in being able to utilize residences for housing.  They were particularly lucky on December 18, 1944, when they took up residence in the Chateau Champ Renard.  It was built in the 1870s as a summer house but was no longer occupied by members of the original family.  Located on 20 acres, it had 3 stories and about 40 rooms.  There was a caretaker’s cottage with attached greenhouse, large barn, laundry, and pigeon cote.  The German army had occupied it and took with them some of the art treasures, including a $20,000 hand-made Chinese rug.  McCutchan and 2 others made their bedroom in an elaborate library, complete with walnut paneling, brocade wallpaper, and large oil paintings.  “The Army cots looked rather sad among all the splendor.”

By March 30, 1945, McCutchan’s unit had moved into Germany.  “The extent of the destruction was almost indescribable.  Every town and village seemed to be leveled.  Fields were pockmarked with bomb craters and the roadsides were littered with debris.  Few civilians were seen.  Now and then we would pass a family walking along the road dragging what was left of their belongings in a broken-down baby carriage.  Sometimes we would see them digging among the rubble of a bombed house.” The railyard seen here showed evidence of the hundreds of freight cars that had been loaded with every possible commodity.  “Many of the cars had been demolished by bombings and fire, but those that had not been destroyed had been pillaged by the armies and the liberated prisoners from forced labor camps in the vicinity—the armies looking for souvenirs, the liberated prisoners looking for food and clothing.”   On April 28^th, the regiment crossed the Rhine into Mannheim.  “Once a lovely modern city of about 250,000 population, [it was now] a mass of ruins.  Miles and miles of its streets looked like this this.  Only the main streets were opened and free from rubble.  Most of the side streets were impassible.  It was a ghost city.  Almost nobody could be seen.”

McCutchan’s ‘959 Days Overseas’ was nearing an end.  His number finally came up for a return to the United States, and on October 8, 1945, he and other ‘home-bound boys’ headed to Holland and Belgium.  After hurricane-related weather delays, he was aboard the U.S. Merchant Marine Thomas Johnson, pulling out into the ocean on October 28.  The GREAT DAY came on November 10, 1945, when the ship neared Boston harbor.   “It was just twilight when the ship pulled into its berth at Boston docks.  All the whistles blew and a band was playing when we came down the gangplank.  The Red Cross ladies were on hand with pints of milk and doughnuts.  It was an all-out welcome. … A train was waiting to take us to Camp Miles Standish, where more welcoming committees were waiting, and a huge first-night-home dinner, with everything anyone could wish for in the way of good eats.  Yes, we were finally back in the U.S.A.  It was good!  And so ended my 959 days overseas.” 

After a trip to Camp Atterbury for a clothing check, physical, shots, and final pay settlement, his final discharge came at 2:15 pm on November 14, 1945.  “The next morning I flew home… Mother was waiting at the airport.  I was really home.”

There is far more to Kenneth McCutchan’s journals and scrapbook than can be explored here.  I’ve made no mention of his exploration of the places where he was stationed, two-week furlough to Paris, London, and Edinburgh, or his eight-week study at the Sorbonne in Paris, all of which will be covered in the next blog.  Read on!

Post written by Mona Meyer, Archives and Special Collections Metadata Librarian.

At the turn of the 20th century, the words, ‘the circus is coming to town’ would have struck delight and anticipation in the hearts of nearly every American. It was a HUGE event. “Shops closed their doors, schools canceled classes, and factories shut down. In 1907 the Board of Education in Bridgeport, Connecticut, voted to closed the schools on Circus Day, and children in Paterson, New Jersey successfully lobbied school officials to dismiss classes. When the Adam Forepaugh circus arrived in South Bend, Indiana that same year, the Studebaker Wagon Works locked its doors so that its seven thousand employees could see the program.”ⁱ The thrill wasn’t limited just to small towns…when Barnum and Bailey played New York in March 1905, huge crowds had to be turned away because the arena was already jam-packed. The Ringling Brothers played New Orleans in 1898, with accounts that everyone in the city was at the circus. Another circus reported selling 8,00 to 9,000 tickets in 40 minutes with at least 1,000 sold in advance. “No other amusement saturated consumers like the circus at the turn of the century. … The traveling circus….came to one’s doorstep. Disconnected from daily life, the nomadic circus had a distance from community ties that enhanced its ability to serve as a national and even international popular form, because American railroad shows traveled overseas. … The circus was ubiquitous in all regions of the nation, small towns and urban centers alike…. Circus Day disrupted daily life thoroughly, normalized abnormality, and destabilized the familiar right at home, day after day, town after town.”ⁱⁱ

The circus is by no means a modern phenomenon. Elements of it, particularly the animals and the parades, existed in ancient times. Ptolemy II, aka Ptolemy the Great (309-246 B.C.) was the pharaoh of Egypt from 284-246 B.C. He presented incredible parades. “The procession of Ptolemy II began at dawn and took all day to pass through the stadium….Barnum and Bailey themselves would have envied the turnout of animals. First came an elephant caparisoned in gold and crowned with ivy leaves, bearing a satyr astride his neck. Then followed 24 cars drawn by elephants, 60 by he-goats, 12 by lions, 6 by she-goats, 15 by buffaloes, 4 by wild asses, 8 by ostriches, and 7 by stags. Behind camels hitched to chariots came mules….Camels loaded high with spices and perfumes were followed by Ethiopians bowed down under elephant tusks, ebony, gold and silver goblets, and powdered gold; hunters leading thousands of dogs; men holding branches to which numerous kids of animals were attached; exotic birds in cages made of reeds; hundreds of sheep; and an Ethiopian rhinoceros. …. As the line of the parade moved on, there were horses, more wild beasts, including 24 enormous lions; statues of still other kings and gods; a choir of 600 men, 300 of whom played on gilded citharas and wore gold crowns; 2,000 bulls….”ⁱⁱⁱ

The Romans were no slouch when it came to spectacles, either. Consider the amphitheatres, the Circus Maximus and the Circus Flaminius (the very word circus is Latin for round), and the Colosseum. “During [Julius] Caesar’s triumph in 46 B.C. he was escorted to and from the Capitol by forty elephants carrying blazing torches. In the arenas, the mighty beasts fought like gladiators, danced to cymbals clashed by other elephants, and threw weapons in the air. … In the time of Tiberius, an elephant walked across the Circus Maximus on a tightrope.”^iv Despite a fascination with wild animals and large collections of them, the Roman attitude towards ‘beasts’ was vastly different than that of the circuses generally discussed in this blog. To be clear, there have always been concerns about the ethical treatment of circus animals, but the Romans had no such compunctions. “When the Colosseum was dedicated, 9,000 wild and tame animals were killed in a hundred-day show. At Trajan’s triumph, 11,000 were destroyed. In one great festival, enough animals were killed to stock all the zoos in modern Europe.”^v

Fast forwarding to medieval times, traveling was extremely difficult, so most people stayed home. Traveling bands of performers and sellers of folk remedies provided a ‘thrill’ of contact with the wider world. Medieval fairs were similar to modern carnivals, with an aded element of the marketplace. These were supported and encouraged by the church. One of the oldest was St. Bartholomew’s, held on the site of an 1123 priory just outside the city wall of London. This fair lasted 700 years! Especially popular were amazing tightrope acts (including tightrope-walking horses) and side shows. Collections of animals, or menageries, continued to be very popular. These were not limited to emperors and rulers; wealthy Italians and French, as well as Popes, had menageries. William the Conqueror is credited with setting up the first real collection of wild beasts in England.

Renaissance Italians continued Roman processions, creating what could be considered the predecessor of the contemporary circus parade. One re-enactment of Julius Caesar’s triumphs had Caesar standing atop a revolving globe. Lions were known to walk in these processions. “Cosimo d’Medici showed twenty-six lions in a pageant in honor of Pope Pius II, and tried to stage a Roman hunt.”^vi By the 16th century, the Italian Commedia dell’Arte all’ Improviso was generating performances that were the forerunners of today’s clowns. In England events were falling into place to bring the disparate parts of a circus into a cohesive whole. Much of this came in the person of the man called the Father of the Circus, Philip Astley. Astley was born in 1742 in a small English village, and despite the plans of his cabinetmaker father, he was crazy for all things horse. At the age of 17 he enlisted in the 5th regiment of Dragoons and made a name for himself. When he was discharged he was given a horse and soon purchased two more. “In 1768, after taking to himself a wife who also loved to ride, Philip Astley bought a field called Halfpenny Hatch, in Lambeth near Westminster Bridge, and advertised that he would teach vaulting on two or three horses, and saber attacks and defenses such as were in use among the Hussars. Naturally, he also gave exhibitions of his own superlative skill. Performances were in an open ring enclosed by a rough fence of palings. To attract the crowds, one or two fifers stood on a small platform in the middle, and produced shrill tootings while Mrs. Astley beat on a bass drum. At the end of the performance she passed the hat. The venture was a success and, after a year or so at Halfpenny Hatch, Astley acquired a piece of ground some 200 yards away, facing Westminster Bridge, and put up a permanent building.”^vii

An Englishman by the name of John Bill Rickets (a student of Astley) brought the first circus to American, debuting on April 3, 1793, with George Washington in attendance for one of the first performances. “Contemporary reviews noted particularly Ricketts’s grace and good taste: he rejected as ‘both unfashionable and vulgar’ tricks that evoked fear and tension in his viewers. … Aiming to provide a wholesome, amusing, and diverting programme, Rickets urged parents to bring their children–unusual for eighteenth-century audiences. Newspaper reports remarked on the attendance of young boys and girls among the audience as early as May 1793.”^viii

If you didn’t know the circus was coming to town, you just weren’t paying attention. Posters plastered nearly every available space, promising untold delights. When the circus got to town, the parade it staged tantalized perspective circus-goers. Initially, these parades were fairly modest. “By the middle of the century [19th], though, the circus pageant had evolved into a spectacle in itself. Carved and gaudily painted wagons carried clowns, acrobats, jugglers; riders in glittering costume pranced on bedecked horses; the brass band played on; and finally there was the unmistakable tooting of the steam organ or calliope. A menagerie followed in cages, or elephants took the lead, if the circus could afford to buy, feed and care for them. Spectators felt engulfed by the bustle and fervour of the pageant. … The circus parade reprised the experience of being at a fair, where a panoply of entertainment was free and accessible to all. For some, the parade was their only circus experience, available to anyone–including blacks in places where they were barred from entering the tent, children whose parents forbade them to see a performance, or families adhering to their minister’s prohibitions.”^ix

(The following three posters are from UASC MSS 326, the Thomas Dunwoody Circus Collection. This collection was only recently received and remains unprocessed. When it is processed and thus accessible, there will probably be another circus-related blog. Courtesy of the USI Foundation)

By 1903 there were 98 circuses and menageries who toured….the largest number in U.S. history. At least 38 of these traveled by railroad, and some traveled cross country within a season. The sheer logistics of moving this would have been a nightmare. Traveling by road (many of which were very poor) was extremely slow, which explains why circuses played so many small venues. If they could travel by rail, they could afford to play only in larger cities, to larger crowds, and thus make more money. The problem was, there was no uniform railroad gauge. “Every change in gauge meant a shift from the cars of one railroad to those of another. After a manager packed everything into and onto one set of cars and started forth, after only a few miles he might have to repack all the paraphernalia, animals, and human beings into cars that fitted the width of the rails that went on from there. Such disturbances could happen as often as three or four times in a single night. The process was almost worse than struggling through the mud on the roads.”^x

By the late 1860s, railroad gauge became uniform, so it became more economical for circuses to travel by rail. It still wasn’t easy, because not every circus property could be transported in freight cars. Things like animal cages, band wagons, and the calliope had to travel by flatcar. But how to get them loaded onto flatcars? Customarily 3-4 wagons or cages would be placed on a flatcar side by side, with each one being hoisted aboard. There were size limitations–for them to fit, none could be longer than 8-9 ft. Longer wagons were more efficient, but in addition to the length limitations, the heavier weight of longer wagons made them more dangerous to load. A man named William Cameron Coup, then in partnership with P.T. Barnum, devised a method of unloading/loading a string of cars from the end. “For getting them [the wagons] up to the proper level and down again, Coup created the steel ‘plank’ or run. To smooth the process of getting them over the annoying and dangerous gaps between cars, he invented the fishplate, which can be attached between one car and the next, to make a strong, level surface. Snubbers helped slow up the pace of a wagon going down the plank. Coup’s system of ‘end loading,’ with snubbers and hook ropes, steel runs and fishplates, is still used today by every circus that travels by rail…. For 1872, the show set forth by railroad, with sixty or seventy freight cars, six passenger cars, and three engines. Nothing like it had ever been seen. It could go as far as a hundred miles in a night, arriving each day to a sizable town in time to give a parade and three exhibitions. Audiences in these towns included thousands from outlying districts, who often arrived in the night and camped out. Financial rewards were fantastic.^xi

The image below provides a view of this endloading process.

There’s so much more to say about the circus, so stay tuned for future blogs.

End Notes

ⁱ Davis, p. 2

ⁱⁱ Davis, p. 13-14

ⁱⁱⁱ Murray, p. 31-32

^iv Murray, p. 43-44

^v Murray, p. 47

^vi Murray, p. 71

^vii Murray, p. 79

^viii Simon, p. 37

^ix Simon, p. 109-110

^x Murray, p. 225

^xi Murray, p. 226

Resources Consulted

Albrecht, Ernest J. The new American circus. Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 1995. General Collection GV1803 .A43 1995

Davis, Janet M. The circus age: culture and society under the American big top. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2002. (MSS 326, the Thomas Dunwoody Circus Collection)

Murray, Marian. Circus! From Rome to Ringling. New York:Appleton-Century-Crofts [1956] General Collection GV1801 .M8

Simon, Linda. The greatest shows on earth: a history of the circus. London: Reaktion Books, 2014. General Collection GV1801 .S56 2014; also available electronically Online Access

Post written by Mona Meyer, Archives and Special Collections Metadata Librarian.

Interesting/beautiful/bizarre/fantastic/unusual/historical/challenging (pick your adjective!)–there are lots of items like this to be found in museums and archives. This year UASC is partnering with the Evansville Museum of Arts, History & Science, the Evansville African American Museum, the Newburgh Museum, the USS LST Ship Memorial Museum, and the Lawrence Library to introduce you to some of these wonders. You are invited to come up to UASC (Rice Library, 3rd floor), see what’s on display, and pick your favorite. You can even hug your favorite if you like, and we’ll take a picture and post it on social media.

ArchivesFest 2022 runs from September 26 through October 21. UASC is open M-F 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Let’s take a brief look at the museums that are participating in this year’s ArchivesFest.

Hours: Thursday-Saturday: 11:00 AM to 5:00 PM; Sunday: 12:00 to 5:00 PM

411 SE Riverside Drive, Evansville, IN 47713

Evansville has had a museum since 1906, with today’s location dating to the 1950s.  This appearance dates to a major update and remodel circa 2014. The Evansville Museum of Arts, History & Science houses a permanent collection of more than 30,000 objects, including fine and decorative art, as well as historic, anthropological, and natural history artifacts. Over twenty temporary, regional and international exhibitions are displayed each year in four galleries.  The Koch Immersive Theater houses a 40-foot diameter domed screen with 360-degree digital projection featuring astronomy and science programming.  Evansville Museum Transportation Center (EMTRAC) featuring transportation artifacts from the late 19th through the mid-20th centuries. On exhibit is a three-car train. The museum is home to a model train diorama of Evansville.

For more information on the Evansville Museum of Arts, History, and Science, please visit https://emuseum.org/ and follow their social media accounts at:

• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/evansvillemuseum
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/evvmuseum
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/evansvillemuseum/
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/evansvillemuseum

“The mission of the Evansville African American Museum is to continually develop a resource and cultural center to collect, preserve, and educate the public on the history and traditions of African American families, organizations, and communities. Located in Evansville, Indiana as the last remaining building of Lincoln Gardens, the second Federal Housing Project created under the administration of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal in 1938, our building serves as a permanent artifact in itself.”

For more information on the Evansville African American Museum, please visit https://evvafricanamericanmuseum.wordpress.com/ and follow their social media accounts:

• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EVVafricanamericanmuseum
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/EVV_AAM

Hours: Friday and Saturday, 11:00 AM – 3:00 PM

503 State Street, Newburgh, IN 47630

“The Newburgh Museum’s mission is to preserve, exhibit and educate all visitors about the history and culture of Newburgh and the surrounding area’s unique river town heritage. Located on the first floor of the Old Newburgh Presbyterian Church, the museum opened in July 2012. The permanent displays at the museum include information about the town’s founding, how it got its name, its early industry, a period of decline and how it has changed in modern times. The main exhibit at the museum is changed every few months.”

For more information on the Newburgh Museum, please visit https://www.newburghmuseum.com/ and follow their social media accounts at:

• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NewburghINMuseum
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/newburghmuseum/

An LST is a Landing Ship Tank, a type of ship that saw much service during WWII, particularly during the landings at Normandy. Because of its design, an LST could land tanks and fighters very close to the beach. During the war, Evansville operated a shipyard that produced 167 LSTs, more than any other inland shipyard in the country. Note that LST 325 was not produced in Evansville, but it is an example of the work done at the Evansville Shipyard.

USS LST-325 is located at 610 NW Riverside Dr. (on Riverside Drive in downtown Evansville, Indiana, immediately across the road from the Bally’s Evansville (formerly Tropicana) LST 325 is currently on a voyage to Kentucky, West Virginia, and Ohio, and will not return to Evansville until October 8. After this date it will be available to tour Tuesday-Sunday, 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

John M. Lawrence ’73 Library

Room 0119 of the Liberal Arts Center

The Lawrence Library is located on the lower level in room 0119 of the Liberal Arts Center of USI’s campus. The concept for this library sprang from the friendship of Patricia (Patty) Aakhus and John M. Lawrence. The library is named for Mr. Lawrence, a graduate of USI’s class of 1973 and an international expert and collector of medieval manuscripts, for his generous support of the College of Liberal Arts. John Lawrence donated many items to the College, including a collection of medieval manuscripts as well as other artifacts, for use as a study collection for students. Patty Aakhus was an associate professor of English and served as the director of the Center for Interdisciplinary Studies and program director in International Studies. Aakhus also published three novels based on medieval texts that she studied and translated. Patricia Aakhus served as the first caretaker of the space prior to her death in 2012. The Lawrence Library prides itself on the student leadership of the space where student archivists curate exhibitions, research manuscripts and artifacts, and participate in collections management and care

To tempt you further, here are some photos of items from UASC that will be on display during ArchivesFest 2022. Come up and visit the department September 26 through October 21, M-F 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., pick your favorite, and have your photo taken. Enjoy Discover It in the Archives!

*Post written by Mona Meyer, Archives and Special Collections Metadata Librarian

The longest reigning British monarch, Elizabeth II, died at the age of 96 on Thursday, September 8, 2022. When Elizabeth Alexandra Mary was born April 21, 1926, there was no expectation that she might someday ascend the throne. Her father, Prince Albert, Duke of York, was the second son of the reigning monarch, George V, making Elizabeth third in line at her birth. Should George V’s eldest son, the future Edward VIII, marry and have children, she would have been further down the line of succession.

History proves that this was not the case. Edward VIII abdicated the throne on December 11, 1936, and Elizabeth’s father became George VI. Elizabeth became the heir presumptive at the age of 10. She was only presumptive because of the possibility that a son might yet be born to her parents. “Primogeniture is a system of inheritance in which a person’s property passes to their firstborn legitimate child upon their death. The term comes from the Latin “primo” which means first, and “genitura” which relates to a person’s birth. Historically, primogeniture favored male heirs, also called male-preference primogeniture. Under this regime, the eldest living son would inherit the entirety of his parent’s estate. A daughter could inherit if and only if she had no living brothers or the descendants of deceased brothers. … Primogeniture was a common method of determining succession in hereditary monarchies throughout the world.”ⁱ

Upon the death of George VI on February 6, 1952, Princess Elizabeth became Elizabeth II. The coronation was June 3, 1953.

Here are some interesting facts about the ceremony, from the Royal Family website page about the event:

Westminster Abbey has been the setting for every Coronation since 1066. Before the Abbey was built, Coronations were carried out wherever was convenient, taking place in Bath, Oxford and Canterbury.

The Sovereign’s procession was made up of 250 people including Church leaders, Commonwealth Prime Ministers, members of the Royal Household, civil and military leaders and the Yeoman of the Guard.

The Archbishop of Canterbury conducted the service, a duty which has been undertaken since the Conquest in 1066. For the first time in 1953, a representative of another Church, the Moderator of the Church of Scotland, also took part.

A total of 8,251 guests attended The Queen’s Coronation ceremony at Westminster Abbey. 129 nations and territories were officially represented at the Coronation service.

The Queen was crowned in St Edward’s Chair, made in 1300 for Edward I and used at every Coronation since that time. It is permanently kept in Westminster Abbey.

BBC coverage of the Coronation was a breakthrough for the history of broadcasting. It was the first service to be televised and for most people, it was the first time they had watched an event on television. 27 million people in the UK (out of the 36 million population) watched the ceremony on television and 11 million listened on the radio.  There were more than 2,000 journalists and 500 photographers from 92 nations on the Coronation route.  Among the many foreign journalists was Jacqueline Bouvier (later the First Lady of the United States of America, Jackie Kennedy), who was working for the Washington Times-Herald at the time. (Some sources say that people purchased their first television just to be able to watch this event.)

The St. Edward’s Crown, made in 1661, was placed on the head of The Queen during the Coronation service. It weighs 4 pounds and 12 ounces and is made of solid gold.  After the crown, the orb, also made in 1661, was the most important piece of regalia. It is a globe of gold surrounded by a cross girdled by a band of diamonds, emeralds, rubies, sapphire and pearls with a large amethyst at the summit.

Sometime in the next two weeks the state funeral will be held at Westminster Abbey, and be buried with her parents and sister in Windsor Castle’s King George VI Memorial Chapel. It is likely that her husband, the late Prince Philip, who died April 9, 2021 and was laid to rest in Royal Vault at St George’s Chapel, will be moved to be buried next to her. Her son, Charles, became king immediately upon her death, but no date has been set for his coronation.

On her 21st birthday, April 21, 1947, the then Princess Elizabeth was on a tour of South Africa with her parents and sister. During a radio broadcast, she declared to the commonwealth and the the world how she intended to live her life, “I declare before you all that my whole life whether it be long or short shall be devoted to your service and the service of our great imperial family to which we all belong.”

Mission accomplished.

.

Resources Consulted

Burack, Emily.  “Where Will Queen Elizabeth Be Buried?” Town and Country, September 8, 2022.

Cornell Law School.  Legal Information Institute online. “Primogeniture.”

“50 facts about The Queen’s Coronation.”  Royal Family website.

“The Queen’s Coronation dress, designed by British Fashion designer Norman Hartnell, was made of white satin and embroidered with the emblems of the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth in gold and silver thread.” 

Westminster Abbey: History.

Footnotes

ⁱCornell

*Post written by Mona Meyer, Archives and Special Collections Metadata Librarian

There are a lot of buildings that once stood proudly in Evansville, but no more.  Let’s take a look at some of these lost treasurers.

The Orr Iron Company was founded in 1835 by Samuel Orr (1810-1882), an Irish blacksmith.  For the first 80 years of its existence, the company did business at 10-12 Sycamore St.  In 1913 the growing company built a new facility at 1100 Pennsylvania St. (originally the address was 17-25 E. Pennsylvania St.  By mid- 1988 the construction of the Lloyd Expressway was complete; part of the Lloyd followed the path of Pennsylvania St.  Thus, in 1988, the Orr Iron Company stood at the corner of Fulton Ave. and the Lloyd Expressway, complete with a traffic light.  As traffic increased, it became clear that this stoplight was hindered the flow of traffic and, in 2008, the stoplight was replaced by an interchange.  Unfortunately, the Orr Iron Company building had to be razed to make room for this.  The building on Sycamore St. was razed in the 1970s.  Before the Pennsylvania Ave./Lloyd Expressway building was completely razed, the lintel from the original doorway was saved and repurposed when USI remodeled its University Center.

Does that name Orr sound familiar to you….as in, the Orr Center building on campus?  That building is named in honor of former Indiana governor Robert Dunkerson Orr (1917-2004; governor 1981-1989).  Robert Orr is the great-grandson of that Irish blacksmith who came to Evansville in 1835.

Evansville, as you might expect from a city with a strong German ethnicity, had a lot of breweries.  One of these was Sterling at 1301 Pennsylvania Ave, on the corner with Fulton Ave.  It was originally built at 330-340 Fulton Ave. in 1863.  In 1880 a new building was built across the street and known generally as the Fulton Avenue Brewery.  A severe windstorm on March 28, 1890, destroyed parts of the building.  According to the Historic Evansville website, “The ice house cupola toppled over and a the wall facing Fulton gave way. The damaged half was torn down for a new stock house.”  What resulted was the iconic building that many people remember.  Again, from Historic Evansville, “Like many others during Prohibition, the company renamed itself Sterling Products Co. They made soft drinks, near beer, and malt extract (which was used by illicit homebrewers). It became Sterling Brewers Inc after Prohibition was over in 1933.”  In 1972, the G. Heileman Brewery bought the company, closing it in 1988.  A group of local investors managed to keep the brewery afloat for a bit longer, but after bankruptcy was declared, the brewery was razed December 1998.

In the days before everybody owned a car, railroads were a major source of transportation.  In a November 2018 blog I talked about the razing of the C & EI (Chicago and Eastern Illinois) railroad depot in the 1960s.   Another railroad station for the L & N (Louisville and Nashville) railroad was located at 300 Fulton Ave.  Built in 1902, it also served the C & EI after its depot was razed in the 1960s, and was often called Union Station.  Although there were highways before 1956, the growth of the interstate highway system got a big boost in the passage of the Federal Aid Highway Act of 1956, championed by President Dwight D. Eisenhower.  This, in addition to the popularity and affordability of air travel, eventually brought an end to the popularity of passenger railroads.  This magnificent building was vacated by 1975 and sat empty for a decade.  In 1985, despite public protest, it was torn down.

The year 1868 saw the opening of the first public high school in Evansville, at least in its “permanent” home at 203 NW 6^th St.  Classes had been held in various buildings over the years (with a founding date of 1854, this is the oldest free public high school in continuous operation west of the Allegheny Mountains), but this was to be the home of Evansville High School.  Originally a 3-story building with 12 rooms, in 1898 it was expanded with the addition of a tower and north and south wings.  In 1918 another high school, Reitz, was opened and Evansville High School was renamed Central.  By 1971 growth and housing patterns for the city had changed, and Central High School on 6^th St. closed and moved to a new facility at 5400 N. First Ave. This explains the seemingly odd name of a high school that is no longer by any measure in a central location.  In 1973 the original Central was razed, with the exception of the gymnasium.

A building that has long been gone, and was not long in existence, is the Evansville Taxi Cab garage at what was 124-128 Upper 4^th St. (now NW 4^th St.).  Built in 1890, it was razed in 1920 for the construction of what became the Sears building in downtown Evansville.  That building still stands, although clearly no longer Sears.

Another old building, although not gone quite so long as the garage shown above, is the Keller Crescent building at what would now be 24-8 SE Riverside Dr.  The building was built around 1895 as a warehouse for the Bement and Seitz Wholesale Grocery.  In 1930/1931 that company moved to a new location and the Keller Crescent printing business moved in.  Keller Crescent stayed until 1961 when it moved to a newer location.  In 1962, the vacant building was razed.  Today, Old National Bank (with an address of One Main St.) occupies this location. The advertisement below for Bement & Seitz has a good illustration of the building as well as a listing of its best products.

Although this image was taken during the 1937 flood, it is a good view of Keller Crescent (on the left) and the Hotel McCurdy on the right.  There was a dock or catwalk between these buildings that was used for boats and staging during the flood.

Below is a photograph from 1962, with the Keller Crescent building almost entirely gone.  The building that is seen in the middle is the Hotel McCurdy.

Earlier I said that Old National Bank’s headquarters were at One Main St., where Keller Crescent once stood.  That’s the newest ONB headquarters.  Before 2003/2004, the headquarters were at 420 Main St.  That building opened in 1969, and was razed at 7:00 am Sunday, November 21, 2021.  What is seen above towers above the skyline no more.  Interestingly, ONB has had a number of its previous buildings razed.

The Old State National Bank was established in 1834 as a branch of the Old State Bank of Indiana in a temporary location at the corner of Main St. and Water St. (now called Riverside Dr.) In 1835 it moved across the street into a new building at 20 Main St. and changed its name to Old National Bank.  The Greek temple façade seen here dates to 1855. When the bank moved to a new location in 1916, the Moose Lodge used this building.  The façade was changed again in 1950, with the final end to the building coming in 1960.  Back to 1916—the bank moved to this building (below, left) at 420 Main St. It was modernized a bit in 1927, which is reflected in this image.  The bank moved in the 1960s to an adjacent and built the tower seen in UASC MSS 184-0440 above. 

This is the latest Old National Bank headquarters, at One Main St.

The Old National Bank tower on Main St. may be the latest Evansville building to be razed, but the one that probably had an impact on the largest number of people was Roberts Stadium.  “Roberts Stadium opened on October 28, 1956 and hosted a total of 109 Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Famers through the years and the NCAA College Division (now Division II) national tournament from 1957 to 1977. It hosted the Division II Elite Eight in 2002.”[i]  Named for the 1952-1955 mayor of Evansville, Henry O. “Hank” Roberts, the stadium was a place where many enjoyed circuses, saw concerts, graduated from high school or college, attended basketball games, political rallies, etc.  It was the home arena for University of Evansville basketball.  After the Ford Center opened, Roberts Stadium was seen as unneeded and razed in 2013.

I’ve just scratched the surface of buildings that once stood in Evansville but have been razed.  This stanza, from a poem by Isaac Watts, describes this well.  (You may also recognize this text from a hymn entitled “O, God, Our Help in Ages Past.”)

Time, like an ever-rolling stream, Bears all its sons away; They fly forgotten, as a dream Dies at the opening day.

[i] Engelhardt

Resources Consulted

Engelhardt, Gordon. “Roberts Stadium put Evansville basketball on the map, hosted 109 hall of famers.”  Evansville Courier and Press, November 23, 2017.

Historic Evansville website

*Post written by Mona Meyer, Archives and Special Collections Metadata Librarian.

One of the collections within University Archives and Special Collections is Communal Studies. The Communal Studies Collection began in conjunction with the Center for Communal Studies, which promotes the study of contemporary and historic communal groups, intentional communities and utopias. The key word is intentional. These communities were/are deliberate attempts to live communally, with shared goals and economies. This blog is one of a continuing series….you can search for the phrase Living in Community to find others.

This blog will talk about the Amana Colonies, primarily in Iowa. The story starts in Germany in the early 18th century. “Germany [was] in the midst of a religious movement called Pietism, [and] two men, Eberhard Ludwig Gruber and Johann Friedrich Rock, advocated faith renewal through reflection, prayer and Bible study. Their belief, one shared by many other Pietists, was that God, through the Holy Spirit, may inspire individuals to speak. This gift of inspiration was the basis for a religious group that began meeting in 1714 and became known as the Community of True Inspiration. Though the Inspirationists sought to avoid conflict, they were persecuted for their beliefs.”ⁱ They moved to the German state of Hesse, a more liberal area. By 1749 both Gruber and Rock had died and the movement faltered. It was revived in 1817 by Christian Metz and Barbara (Heinemann) Landmann. Due in large part to its strong pacifist stance, they were once again unwelcome in Germany, and led by Metz, they immigrated to the United States in 1842 and settled near Buffalo, New York, establishing the Ebenezer Society, “a communally-organized settlement where they could be economically self-sufficient and spiritually free. By the middle of the 1850s their numbers had increased to such an extent they required new land for their community. Land shortages, as well as the disruptive influence of nearby Buffalo, encouraged the Inspirationists once again to move westward. They left New York in 1855.”ⁱⁱ

Over a period of ten years the group (1,200 strong) sold their New York property and moved to east central Iowa (some 30 miles southwest of Cedar Rapids). This would be their final home, and they named it Amana after a place name in the Bible book of Song of Solomon that means to remain true, to believe faithfully. There were eventually seven villages: East, South, West, High, Main, and Middle Amana, and Homestead. Homestead was a town they purchased so as to have access to the railroad. Villages varied in size from about 100 residents to 400, and each was roughly, at least, self-sustaining.

Life was truly communal in Amana. The community provided all residents housing, food, education, a job, and medical care. Adults received an amount of annual credit to purchase items in stores, etc. that were not otherwise supplied. No one, other than outside hired help, received wages. Families lived together in homes, but these houses did not include a kitchen. Meals were taken communally; each village had a number of communal kitchens, each of which fed 30-40 people. You were assigned to eat at a certain kitchen, and men ate at one table, women and children at another. Each kitchen had its own garden, and was the sole province of a Küchebaas or “kitchen boss,” always a woman (and the kitchen was often named after her). The boss was assisted by other assigned women and young girls. Meals were served at a set time–no coming to dine when you merely felt hungry!

Metz and other leaders were those to whom God sent special inspiration. They were called Werkzeuge, or “instruments of the Lord.” “The prophecy of these human “instruments” was divine authority for the Inspirationists. They followed the inspired advice of the Werkzeuge unquestioningly and made their commandments into law.”ⁱⁱⁱ Daily life was managed by trustees and elders. Each village had its own centrally located church, with 11 church services each week in additional to special services. “Unpretentious, the churches were indistinguishable in appearance from the appearances from the homes and other buildings. Inside, the white-washed walls, bare floors, and unpainted benches were a testimony of the simplicity of the Christian faith. Women, wearing black shawls and bonnets, sat on one side of the church, men on the other. There were no musical instruments. Hymns were sung, and the messages of the elders were from the Bible and from the testimonies of the founders and leaders of the church.”^iv As you can see from the pictures below, it would be very difficult to identify these as churches!

Education for a young Amana resident began at age three, with attendance at the Kinderschule, or “child school.” “Predating modern child care centers by over a century, the Kinderschule were essentially day care facilities where young children were watched over and cared for by a few women selected for the task. Generally, very few children at a time would be in Kinderschule, so the buildings were small and set in a secluded part of the village. Each of the Kinderschule were surrounded by a wooden fence, provided, as more than one former student noted, to keep the children from running away. [It] was equipped with a swing, books, and, of course, a myriad number of toys.”^v These children were in day care so their mothers could return to work in (usually) her assigned kitchenhouse,

From ages 5 to 14, children attending “learning school,” Lehr Schule. Lessons combined typical things like “reading, writing, and arithmetic,” as well as knitting taught to both boys and girls during an activity period called Strickschule. There were periods of manual training or Arbeitschule (“work school”) for older children to help with gardening and farming. Rigorous religious education (at least in the early years when these schools were independent of the state) included cathechism and Bible history. School was in session year round, six days per week, no holidays or breaks. Teachers were always men, chosen by elders, and staying on the job for many, many years. “Instruction in the schools remained in German, and German was the language spoken by the children as they played in the school yard. As early as the 1870s children were taught English grammar, and surviving copy books from the period suggest that they diligently practiced writing in English from Appleton’s Grammar. However, before World War I, English was not emphasized. Many residents, beneficiaries of English instruction as children, never learned how to speak the language and spent their entire lives within a predominately English-speaking nation unable to speak the language. One woman, recalling her English instruction in school, noted that she never really learned to speak English until her son married a woman from outside the community. To learn grammar was one thing, to actually speak it, another.”^vi

After 8th grade, most children’s schooling ended and they were given their adult work assignments. Girls began working in kitchenhouses, and boys began a trade or agriculture. A select few boys (never girls) began high school via correspondence courses for two years, and then possibly went on to more education outside the community. More education was strictly on a needs basis….if a community needed a doctor, then a boy might be sent to train for that, but it the community had a sufficient number of like professionals, this would not occur. After training (paid for by the community), it was expected the newly graduated advanced student would return to the community and share his skills without pay, as all other community workers. With time, many Amana education practices were forced to change. World War I ended the emphasis on the German language (no good, LOYAL American would speak/write in German). As education came more under control of the state of Iowa, religious education ceased, teachers had to be certified, and textbooks were standardized.

Werkzeuge Christian Metz died in 1867 and Barbara Heinemann Landmann in 1883. No other “inspired instruments or leaders” came forth in Amana after that time, although the colonies continued to exist and thrive. Elders and trustees kept things running, but they did not have the same respect as the werkzeuge did–after all, the elders and trustees were appointed by humans, not divinely inspired by God. This did not cause the end of the communal way of life, although it undoubtedly contributed. “People had been planning for a reorganization for some time but the final change came June 1, 1932. The reorganization is often referred to by Amana people as “The Great Change.” There were numerous reasons to change the structure of the business and social system. There had been a disastrous fire in 1923 which destroyed the flour and woolen mills in Amana, causing substantial loss of capital. Young people were leaving the community in order to find better jobs and get a higher education. 1932 marked the third year of the Great Depression — orders for woolen goods and farm items were being canceled. Most importantly, the religious and economic life of the community was separated. The Amana Church continued to be the religious focus of the community and the Amana Society Corporation guided the business activities. People were given shares of stock in the corporation which they could sell if they wished. Some purchased cars and homes and other necessities of a non-communal lifestyle. A high-school was built so that children could continue their education. People began to work for wages, cook their own meals, and individualize their homes.”^vii

Amana continues today, probably in large part as a tourist attraction. Many of the things that made the colonies thrive in their heyday now attract visitors: delicious food, wine and beer, German ambience, beautifully crafted items, museums celebrating the heritage, etc. Church services very similar to the original are conducted in German and English, with visitors welcome. A canal dug over a period of two years of very hard labor, 1865-1867, “furnished direct water power for [two] woolen mill[s]…for a cereal meal, a print shop for calico cloth, a starch factory, saw mills, machine shops, millright shops and threshing machines.”^viii Although these industries no longer operate on water power, the woolen goods they produce, in particular, are still highly prized. And now this is a “hot spot” for fishing! The building now seen by this canal is Amana Refrigeration. It was begun by the Amana Society Corporation after the “great change,” and introduced a number of firsts over the years: first upright deep freezer (1947), first side-by-side refrigerator (1949), first bottom freezer (1957), first consumer microwave (1967), first clothes drier with a stainless-steel drum (1992), first refrigerator with a dry-erase surface (2007), etc. It is still in operation, but since 1965 is no longer owned by the Amana Society. Enjoy the pictures of Amana below….maybe you’ll want to visit it one day!

Sources Consulted

Amana Brand History: 80+ Years of Innovation.  Amana.com website

Amana Colonies.  Encyclopedia Britannica online.

Amana Colonies: Most Frequently Asked Questions.  University of Wisconsin Eau Claire.

The Amanas Yesterday: Seven Communal Villages in Iowa.  Historic Photographs collected by Joan Liffring Zug, with text edited by John Zug.  Amana, IA: The Amana Society, 1975.  (booklet located in CS 021-9, the Amana Colonies collection)

History of the Seven Villages: Amana Colonies.  Amana, Iowa Visitors Bureau.

Hoehnle, Peter.  “The Schools of the Amana Society, 1776-1932.”  (Paper written for an independent study class  May 8,1999, and located in CS 021-11, the Amana Colonies collection)

Richling, Barnett.  “The Amana Society: a History of Change.” Palimpsest, v.58:no.2, March/April 1977, p. 34-47.  (located in CS 021-5, the Amana Colonies collection)

End Notes

ⁱ History

ⁱⁱ Richling, p. 36

ⁱⁱⁱ Richling, p. 34.

^iv Amanas Yesterday (unpaged)

^v Hoehnle, p. 12

^vi Hoehnle, p. 15

^vii Amana Colonies: Most Frequently

^viii Amanas Yesterday (unpaged)

*Post written by Mona Meyer, Archives and Special Collections Metadata Librarian

In the early 19th century, New Harmony, Indiana was the site of two experiments in creating a better way of life. Very briefly, the first lasted roughly 1814-1825 and was formed by a group awaiting the Millenium, the return of Christ. The second lasted only two years (1825-1827) was an effort to put into place the ideas of social reformer and industrialist Robert Owen. This blog addresses the Owen experiment. An October 19, 2020 blog dealt with Robert Owen–read it for some more background if you like.

Robert Owen (1771-1858) was born into a working class family in Wales and had limited educational opportunities, but he had a curious mind and was a voracious reader, and began to work his way upwards. In 1799 he married Caroline Dale, the daughter of a Scottish philanthropist and owner of a large textile mill in Lanark, Scotland. Owen and several partners purchased this mill from his father-in-law, David Dale, and at the beginning of 1800, Owen became the mill’s manager. This provided him the stage to implement many of his ideas about social reform. “His ultimate objective was to create a New Moral World, a world of enlightenment and prosperity leading to human happiness defined as mental, physical and moral health enjoyed in a rational way of life. … Educators and scientists were crucial to Owen’s plans because education, science, technology and communal living were the means he felt could effect the New Moral World.”ⁱ

Owen had a like-minded colleague in the president of the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences (now the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University), William Maclure (1763-1840). Born in Scotland, Maclure moved to Philadelphia and became an American citizen in 1796. He had a deep interest in educational methods, influenced by an 1805 trip to Switzerland where he met the progressive educator Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi (1746-1827). Maclure was also very interested in the sciences. Many of those who came to New Harmony for the second experiment in communal living came because of their relationship with Maclure. “Maclure’s radical social philosophy divided populations into nonproductive and productive classes, the governors and the governed. He argued that knowledge held exclusively by the governing class accounted for the concentration of power and property in the hands of the few. Likewise, knowledge made available to the masses would become the engine for their liberation and the equalization of power and property.”ⁱⁱ

Plans began to come together when Owen came to the United States in November 1824. “He used his fame as a businessman and social reformer to propagandize his new social system among the cultural and political elite of New York, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C. And he risked about half his fortune to purchases the town of New Harmony, Indiana, and its surrounding 20,000 acres for an original price of $135,000, which was later negotiated downward to $125.000.”ⁱⁱⁱ With the site established (and a good site it was, as New Harmony at that time already had a reputation as a “wonder” town with some 180 buildings, lots of farm acreage in use, and a strong market for its products), “Maclure and Owen needed to recruit members for their new “Community of Equality,” and they opened it to anyone who wanted to join. By April of 1825, the town had between 700 to 800 residents. To jumpstart New Harmony’s intellectual heart, Maclure organized something called “The Boatload of Knowledge.” On a ship named the Philanthropist, a group of European and American geologists, entomologists, naturalists, zoologists, artists, and teachers took the month-long journey down the Ohio River from Pittsburgh to New Harmony.”^iv They set out on December 8, 1824.

Let’s be clear about that method of transport…although a streamboat was originally intended, the water levels were too low, so a keelboat was necessary. The compartment was divided into four sections: for crew, for the men, for the women, and finally, for the children. It certainly was not luxurious, probably not even particularly comfortable, and keep in mind, these travelers were not hardy pioneers, accustomed to discomfort. The journey wasn’t particularly easy, either–just 3 days after they left and only 15 miles from where they started, they were stuck in ice. They were marooned for 28 days at a spot ironically named Safe Harbor.

On January 8, a successful attempt was made to chop a path out into the main channel of the river, and the Boatload was once again underway. They stopped in Cincinnati on January 17 where they toured a museum and heard a lecture, and again stopped in Louisville on January 19. Finally, they reached Mt. Vernon, Indiana on January 23, where some disembarked for a wagon ride to New Harmony the next day, but others remained on board and went further downstream to the Wabash River, then up the Wabash to New Harmony itself.

Let’s take a look at some of these “Boatloaders,” with the fuller list for you to examine above. We’ve already discussed Maclure and Robert Owen. Philadelphia born Thomas Say (1787-1834) was a self taught naturalist, interested in many fields of natural history–entomology, zoology, palentology, herpatology, conchology, etc. He was closely affiliated with the nation’s first natural history museum in Philadelphia as its keeper of collections. He went on several expeditions, including those to the Rocky Mountains and to the headwaters of the Mississippi River. He made a number of discoveries, publishing some of these in the 3 volumes of American entomology or Descriptions of the insects of North America, in 1824-28. Say’s work continued in New Harmony, where he married Lucy Way Sistare, a talented illustrator who had studied with Charles Alexandre Lesueur and John James Audubon. She illustrated much of her husband’s printed works. Say’s health was adversely affected by the climate in New Harmony, but he didn’t want to leave, dying there in 1834 of typhoid. Lucy died in 1886.

Charles Alexandre Lesueur (1778-1846) was a French artist, naturalist, and explorer. He was friends with both Maclure and Say and traveled with them to New Harmony. He had visited the United States previously and in 1833 visited Vincennes and drew the first known drawing of William Henry Harrison’s home, Grouseland. While in New Harmony he continued his drawings and collection of natural history specimens and artifacts, many of which are still in French museums. He remained in New Harmony until his friend Say died, returning to France in 1837.

Marie Duclos Fretageot (1783-1833) was a French educator who had been trained by Pestalozzi. She was teaching in Philadelphia at this time and was familiar with and enthusiastic about Owens’s ideas on social reform. She was also well acquainted with William Maclure and perhaps helped influence him to join the Boatload of Knowledge. The boatloaders, during the stop at Louisville, met William Neef, a Pestalozzian teacher who later joined them in New Harmony. While in New Harmony, Fretageot and Neef and others eagerly began to implement a new style of education. At the Infant School (what we would call pre-school), Fretageot’s method, ala Pestalozzi, was to teach the children simply, with ample use of all their senses, and without prejudice. “The school curriculum [beyond Infant School] included arithmetic, geometry, mechanism (physics), natural history (science and health), writing and drawing, gymnastics, languages, music, and manual training. The girls followed the same curriculum, taught by Madame Fretageot, as the boys, who were instructed by Neef. Maclure believed that the school students could feed and clothe themselves and this his would be a useful part of their education; thus, both the boys and the girls worked in the cotton and woolen mills and the fields.”^v Fretageot remained in New Harmony long after the Owen period, continuing to teach there until 1831 and directing Maclure’s printing press. She died in Mexico in 1833, while visiting Maclure who had moved there for his health a few years earlier. Members of the Fretageot family remained in New Harmony, including her son, Achilles, who came with her on the Boatload. A quick check of that last name shows at least 21 burials in Maple Hill Cemetery in New Harmony, the latest in 1972.

Owen’s oldest son, Robert Dale Owen (1801-1877) came along with his father in 1825 to New Harmony. He remained in New Harmony and promoted educational reform. He served in the Indiana House of Representatives 1835-1838 and 1851-1853, and in the U.S. House 1843-1847. Because of his efforts, free public education was part of the second Indiana constitution, written in 1851. In 1846 he helped establish the Smithsonian Institution, America’s “national museum.” Other Owen sons, although not part of the Boatload, also came to the United States and New Harmony. David Dale (1807-1860) gave up a career in medicine to pursue geology, and commissioned the first geological survey of Indiana in 1837. Under his leadership, New Harmony was the national headquarters for federal geological surveys from 1837-1856, before the U.S. Geological Survey came into existence in 1876. He also served as the state geologist of Kentucky, then Arkansas, and then Indiana. The youngest of Robert Owen’s sons, Richard Dale (1810-1890), succeeded his brother as Indiana state geologist, then became a natural history professor at Indiana University from 1964 to 1879, and served as the first president of Purdue University 1872-1874.

If you recall, the Owen New Harmony experiment lasted only two years. Owen’s utopian ideals, although deeply held and of real value, were not deeply rooted in practicality. “Owen never adequately understood or adopted the secrets that made the three Harmonist and nineteen Shaker communities thrive. In fact, Owen’s own faith in mental freedom and his insatiable urge to travel and speak on behalf of his social system militated against his adoption of the unquestioning commitment of members and the daily authoritarian administration that insured Harmonist and Shaker solidarity and economic success. This basic defect helps explain the monumental debates at New Harmony and the eventual dissolution of the communal aspect of Maclure’s and the other scholars’ involvement with Owen by 1827.”^vi

Two years isn’t very much time, but Owen’s, his sons’, and his friends’ and colleagues’ contributions still echo today, and visitors and scholars still flock to New Harmony to partake of the utopian dream.

NOTE: the following two photographs are from the October 1977 filming of “The New Harmony Experience,” the first orientation film shown in the Atheneum/Visitors Center in New Harmony. (This is not the film shown today.) Nor are these photographs of the real Boatload of Knowledge, or necessarily even scale models. These are only the creation of the film’s artists as they sought to show visitors a representation of what the Boatload might have looked. Still, they are interesting and informative to give you a contemporary view of what might have been seen in New Harmony in 1826.

Resources Consulted

• Budds, Diana.  “This small Indiana town is a hotbed of utopianism.” Curbed.com, August 5, 2019.
• Pitzer, Donald E.  “The Original Boatload of Knowledge Down the Ohio River: William Maclure’s and Robert Owens’s Transfer of Science and Education to the Midwest, 1926-1827.”  Ohio Journal of Science, v. 89: no.4 (1989), p. 128-142. 
• Pitzer, Donald E.  “William Maclure’s Boatload of Knowledge: Science and Education into the Midwest.” Indiana Magazine of History, v.94: no. 2 (June 1998), p. 110-137. 
• Reynolds, Virginia K.  “Madame Marie Duclos Fretageot—The New Harmony Years.”  Contemporary Education, v, 58: no.2 (Winter 1987), p. 90-91. (journal article located in UA 058-1-18, the Historic New Harmony collection)

End Notes

• ⁱPitzer/Original, p. 130
• ⁱⁱ Pitzer/William, p. 111
• ⁱⁱⁱ Pitzer/William, p. 115
• ^iv Budds
• ^v Reynolds, p. 91
• ^vi Pitzer/William, p. 115-116

*Post written by James Wethington, senior library assistant for the University Archives and Special Collections.

Basketball is Indiana’s favorite past-time. It doesn’t matter if it is high school, collegiate, or professional basketball, Hoosiers love the sport. At the University of Southern Indiana, basketball is one of the top sports on campus. Even on the west side of Evansville, a prominent drive is named after the USI basketball coaching legend, Bruce Pearl.

Until the arrival of Bruce Pearl, the USI men’s basketball team had six head coaches over a twenty-one-year span. Pearl was among eighty applicants for the head coach position in April 1992. Before coming to USI, he served as the assistant coach for the Iowa Hawkeye men’s basketball from 1986 to 1992 and at Stanford University from 1982 to 1986. By May 1992, USI announced Pearl would become the seventh coach in USI men’s basketball history

Pearl went to work, and the men’s basketball shined throughout the season under his leadership. The results were evident as the team posted their best season in school history at that point. The 1992-1993 team went 22-7, after going 10-18 the previous season. The team entered the 1993 NCAA Division II Men’s Basketball tournament but did not make it out of their region. By the next two seasons, no one realize how much the USI men’s basketball team was going to become a powerhouse.

The 1993-1994 season outshined their previous season by improving their record to 28-4 and winning the Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC) championship and made it to the NCAA Division II championship; however, USI fell to the California State University, Bakersfield Roadrunners, 92-86. As a consolation, Stan Gouard, won the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player award, despite losing. The 1994-1995 season proved to be redeeming as the Screamin’ Eagles dominated and returned to the NCAA Division II championship, facing UC Riverside. Unlike the previous year, the team defeated UC Riverside, 71-63, winning USI’s first ever collegiate championship. Following their win, the Indiana General Assembly honored and recognized the team. After their championship win in 1995, the men’s basketball team continued to be a force to be reckoned; however, the team did not return to the championship round until 2004, where they lost to Kennesaw State.

Pearl would stay at the helm of USI’s men’s basketball team until 2001, when he left for the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, as their head coach. Rick Herdes, an assistant coach for Pearl, later became the next coach for the team. During Pearl’s tenure at USI, he garnered a 231-46 record, a school record, and 146-28 record in the GLVC. He also won the GLVC Coach of the Year in 1993 and 1994. Pearl also became the fastest coach in NCAA history to win 200 games by doing so in 240 games. He was inducted in the GLVC Hall of Fame in 2008 and continues to coach men’s basketball. Pearl has worked for the University of Tennessee and Auburn University, reaching the Final Four in 2019, the first time in school history.

At the University Archives and Special Collections at the David L. Rice Library hosts an online digital gallery containing over 6,800 materials pertaining to USI history. The materials cover a wide array of topics and departments, including USI Athletics. The materials are free and available at http://digitalarchives.usi.edu/digital/.

References

Borgus, H. (1995, April 24). General Assembly recognizes basketball team’s achievement. The Shield, page 8. Retrieved from http://digitalarchives.usi.edu/digital/collection/p17218coll4/id/6062/rec/4

Great Lakes Valley Conference. (n.d.). Bruce Pearl. http://www.glvcsports.com/mobile/hof.aspx?hof=31

Smith, N. (2001, April 12). Coach Pearl on his way out. The Shield, page 1. Retrieved from http://digitalarchives.usi.edu/digital/collection/p17218coll4/id/7454/rec/1.

University Notes. (1992, May 27). Retrieved from http://digitalarchives.usi.edu/digital/collection/p17218coll3/id/7779/rec/1.

USI Athletics. (2020). University of Southern Indiana men’s basketball all-time records. Retrieved September 11, 2020, from https://www.usi.edu/sports/mbasket/mbasketrecords.asp#All-Time%20Coaching%20Records

USI Athletics. (2020). Year by year results for USI men’s basketball. Retrieved September 11, 2020, from https://www.usi.edu/sports/mbasket/mbasketyears.asp

Wendt, B. (1992, April 22). Big 10 assistant basketball coach interviews at USI. The Shield, page 12. Retrieved from http://digitalarchives.usi.edu/digital/collection/p17218coll4/id/3438/rec/2

*Post written by James Wethington, senior library assistant of the University Archives and Special Collections.

Most Evansvillians have a love-hate relationship with Indiana State Road 62, better known locally as the Lloyd or Lloyd Expressway. It is a common road to travel and one of the few roads that go all the way through east to west, even if an expressway has stoplights. The expressway has a unique history in Evansville and most residents have varying opinions. The story of its namesake is heartbreaking, to say the least.

By the 1950’s, construction started on the expressway on the west side of Evansville by extending Pennsylvania Avenue. The expressway would extend from the Posey County line on the west side to Interstate 164, now known as Interstate 69, on the east side of Evansville. During the 1970’s, funds were secured by then-Evansville mayor, Russell G. Lloyd, Sr. The expressway was not completed for close to thirty years. Finally, on July 19, 1988, the expressway was officially open for business. The originally renamed of the expressway was Division Street-Pennsylvania Expressway until 1980, when it was renamed to honor Lloyd.

Russell G. Lloyd, Sr., served as Evansville mayor from 1972 to 1980. He was born on March 29, 1932 in Kingston, Pennsylvania. After graduating from the University of Notre Dame with a law degree. Lloyd would move to Evansville and make a local political career there. He served as an alternate delegate for Indiana in the 1972 Republican National Convention and become the mayor for Evansville, serving two terms. Lloyd would leave office in 1980 but he was assassinated by Julie Van Orden on March 19, 1980. Van Orden had issues with local officials and believed Lloyd was still in office. She decided to voice her opinions to Lloyd at his home and after a belief argument, Van Orden pulled a gun and shot Lloyd. Two days later, Lloyd passed away. In 1981, Van Orden was found guilty by insanity and sent to the Logansport State Mental Hospital until her death in 2014.

Interested in learning more about local history? Check out the UASC Digital Gallery, https://digitalarchives.usi.edu/, from the University Archives and Special Collections at the David L. Rice Library. There are over 50,000 photographs and over 1,000 oral histories relating to local history and various subjects.

References

AA Roads. (2013). Lloyd expressway: State road 62 and state road 66. https://www.aaroads.com/guides/lloyd-expwy/

Driving Division was frustrating, scary. (2007, Sept. 27). Evansvile Courier and Press. https://web.archive.org/web/20070927212427/http://web.courierpress.com/features/150/hist1116.htm

Evansville Vanderburgh Public Library. (n.d.). Browning genealogy. Browning Genealogy: Evansville Area Obituary Search. Retrieved May 21, 2021, from http://browning.evpl.org/

Lutgrieg, T. & Gross, E. (n.d.). Moments that shaped our city. Evansville Living. http://www.evansvilleliving.com/articles/moments-that-shaped-our-city

*Post written by Mona Meyer, Archives and Special Collections Metadata Librarian

One of the collections within University Archives and Special Collections is Communal Studies. The Communal Studies Collection began in conjunction with the Center for Communal Studies, which promotes the study of contemporary and historic communal groups, intentional communities and utopias. The key word is intentional. These communities were/are deliberate attempts to live communally, with shared goals and economies. This blog is one of a continuing series….you can search for the phrase Living in Community to find others.

The story of these two colonies begins with, is entwined with, and ends with, a man by the name of Wilhelm (William) Keil, born in Prussia in 1812. He worked as a milliner and a tailor, and married Louise Reiter in 1836. He had a curious mind that led him initially to mysticism and a search for “religious truth.” He searched for a universal cure for all ills, a panacea. He and his wife came to the United States circa 1836 and settled for a time in New York, “working at the tailor trade. But a nature like Keil’s is not satisfied with the handling of needle and scissors. He delved deeper into mysticism, theosophy, alchemy, magnetics, and botany and soon moved to Pittsburgh, where he opened a drug store and became known as “Doctor.” He had not been here long before he performed some strange cures. … As a result he was known in some circles as the Hexendoktor or witch doctor.”ⁱ

In 1838 Keil attended a German Methodist revival and was converted, renouncing his “witch doctor” ways. He wholeheartedly embraced Methodism, even becoming a licensed local pastor (although the actual licensing seems to be in doubt). He was appointed to a church in Deer Creek, near Pittsburgh, but soon began to chafe under the church’s authority. “Keil’s entire life showed that he was a man who could not conform, and that he was restless under any authority. But notwithstanding his independent spirit, he desired to belong to an established religious denomination. On leaving the Methodist Episcopal Church he joined the Methodist Protestant Church, again taking his entire congregation with him. … Because he refused to obey his superiors in the Methodist Protestant Church, he was expelled from that body. Thus, in less than a year, Keil was in and out of two of the major branches of American Methodism.”ⁱⁱ It is at this time that his story intersects with that of another communal group of local interest, the Rappites or Harmonists that settled in New Harmony, Indiana, and were now living in their third and final colony in Economy, PA. Keil met them and was influenced by their communal lifestyle. Some of those disenchanted with life in Economy, particularly the stance on celibacy, became part of Keil’s congregation and followed him when he moved on.

Seeking to find a place where he could establish his own community, he and his scouts purchased 2500 acres in Shelby County, Missouri, in 1844. Eventually the community of Bethel covered 4000 acres. Bethel is a Hebrew word meaning “house of God.”

The hardworking and talented German craftsmen and farmers, after a difficult first winter, were able to build a stable and prosperous town. Nearly all the houses were made of brick, with that brick made right there in Bethel. All farming equipment and all furniture was also made by local craftsmen. “Each family was given a house, while a long two-story brick building near the center of the village served as a hotel and dormitory for the single men. Besides the homes and the hotel, the village consisted of a church, school, tannery, distillery, mill, glove factory, drugstore, and a wagon shop. Agriculture was a means of livelihood in the colony, but apparently the glove factory and the distillery were more important features of the economy of the group. Gloves made by the colonists were so superior in quality that they won first prize at the New York World’s Fair in 1858. The main source of revenue was the distillery which sold whiskey by the wagon load in Quincy, Illinois, for 15 cents per gallon! Bethel boasted the first steam mill in rural Missouri. All clothing, shoes, brick, furniture, wagons, and farm implements used by the colonists were made in the village shops, and the surplus was sold in the surrounding area.”ⁱⁱⁱ

Keil’s house, Elim, was about a mile outside of Bethel. It was a large building made of locally-made brick. It had a full basement and wine cellar, paneled walnut doors, and a large ballroom on the second floor. This ballroom was where many celebrations were held, particularly for the holidays and the annual celebration of Keil’s and his wife’s shared birthdays on March 6.

Bethel Colony thrived, but by 1855, Keil was growing restless. “He dreamed of a chain of colonies reaching from his first venture to the Pacific Coast.”^iv A site was selected in Washington, and Keil and his followers (some stayed in Bethel and that community continued) got ready to head west. His 19 year old son Willie was very excited that his father had promised to take him along. On May 19, 1855, before the wagon trail could leave, Willie succumbed to malaria. A promise was a promise, though, so his father had him placed in a lead-lined coffin and had it filled the finest locally-made 100 proof Golden Rule whiskey. The body was carried in the first wagon in the train across the Oregon Trail and not laid to rest until November or December when the group arrived in Washington. Ironically, the climate in Washington did not suit the colonists and they settled the Willamette Valley in Oregon, leaving the beloved son behind. Keil also remained in charge of Bethel, even though he never returned.

The new colony was named Aurora, meaning dawn, also the name of one of Keil’s daughters. “As early as 1860, after the stagecoach line that connected San Francisco and Portland was established, Keil turned of portion of his “Great House” into a hotel and restaurant for travelers. Aurora, located halfway between Portland and Salem, found itself right on the line. Ten years later, Keil faced a new challenge when Ben Holliday’s Oregon and California Railroad also came through Aurora. But this time Keil was ready. He had anticipated the railroad and had the colonists build a large hotel which they completed in 1867. … Visitors coming into Aurora on the train sometimes were greeted by the colony band playing from the top of the hotel. Colony women cooked and served the food and Federal Judge Mathew Deady was so impressed with the food that he wrote in his diary that he wished there was “a Dutchtown” at every stop.”^v (Clarification: Dutch is a “corruption” of the German word for German, Deutsch.)

What were the beliefs and practices of Bethel and Aurora colony members? When he broke completely with the Methodist church, Keil had “found church regulations irksome, and ….declared that he would accept no authority except the Bible, no rule except the Golden Rule, no creed except that of moral living. … In 1844 the plan was made to establish a Colony, based on the Christian ideal of equality and sharing.”^vi He refused to have any written constitution, so his word or interpretation was always final. “Practical Christianity was stressed. Each family was given a house, and each person worked as he or she was able. Unlike the practices in most intentional communities, no records of accounts were kept. Attendance at church services, held every two weeks, was voluntary, but the church was usually filled to capacity. Most of the traditional Christian rituals were abolished. There was no baptism or confirmation, but Easter was celebrated. … The practice that caused the most unrest was that of confession and public repentance, but most of the colonists bore Keil’s recriminations from the pulpit for their transgressions with stoicism. Others withdrew from the Colony (but remained in the settlement) or did not join in the communal practices.”^vii

One thing that characterized both colonies was a rich musical tradition. There were at least two bands in Bethel, the Bethel Band and the Bethel Independent Brass Band (it is believed these later merged into one). The Aurora Pioneer band did a 16-day tour of the Puget Sound area in 1869, headlined the American centennial celebration in Portland in 1876, and were greeted with much enthusiasm and anticipation at an 1877 college graduation ceremony. Aurora also boasted a “Pie and Beer Band” made up of boys and young men, so named for how they were paid. Choral music was also quite popular. “Most of Aurora’s music was borrowed from its German heritage, but some was adopted from the new American culture. … The old, familiar German music reminded the colonists of their Heimat (homeland), but the new, American airs helped to make their musical groups acceptable and popular throughout Oregon.”^viii A portion of the music was locally composed, unfortunately not always signed.

“Perhaps the most celebrated instrument of the Aurora band was the Schellenbaum or bell tree. It was made in Bethel by John L. Bauer, a talented craftsman….The Schellenbaum is comprised of three circular patterns of bells (with attached clappers), interspersed with jingles (with unattached clappers). It was carried by respected members of the colony and marked the head of band processions. Resting in a belt much as a flag is carried, the Schellenbaum jingled brightly in time to the steps of its bearer. Common to 19th century German bands, the Schellenbaum….had its origins in Turkey.”^ix

William Keil died December 30, 1877. His rule, both in Bethel and Aurora, had been an autocratic one, based strongly on his charisma and ability to persuade others to follow him. Any society so focused on one person will suffer when that person dies; indeed, both Bethel and Aurora were disbanded and dissolved by 1883. There were no half measures with Keil–you either adored and followed him, or despised his despotism. “His friends praised him and considered him a superman; his enemies maligned him and thought of him as a man without principle, integrity, or honor.”^x

Resources Consulted

Dailey, Harold.  “The Old Communistic Colony at Bethel.”  The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, v.52:no.2 (1928), p. 162-167.  

Gooch, John O.  “William Keil: A Strange Communal Leader.” Methodist History Journal: July 1967, p. 36-41.  United Methodist Church: General Commission on Archives and History.

Kopp, Jim.  “Wilhelm Keil (1812-1877)”  The Oregon Encyclopedia online.  Oregon Historical Society.

Old Aurora Colony website.   Aurora Colony Historical Society.

Olsen, Deborah M. and Clark M. Will.  “Musical Heritage of the Aurora Colony.”  Oregon Historical Quarterly, v. 79: no.3 (Fall 1978), p. 233-267. (located in CS 044-3, the Aurora Colony collection)

Schroeder, Adolf E.  “Bethel German Colony, 1844-1879: Religious Beliefs and Practices.”   Historic Bethel German Colony, Inc., 1990. (pamphlet located in CS 057-4, the Bethel German Communal Colony collection)

Schroeder, Adolf E.  “The Musical Life of Bethel German Colony, 1844-1879.”   Historic Bethel German Colony, Inc., 1990. (pamphlet located in CS 057-4, the Bethel German Communal Colony collection)

Simon, John E.  “Wilhelm Keil and Communist Colonies.”  Oregon Historical Quarterly, v.26: no.2 (June 1935), p. 119-153.

End Notes

ⁱ Simon, p. 120

ⁱⁱ Gooch, p. 38

ⁱⁱⁱ Gooch, p. 39-40

^iv Dailey, p. 165

^v Old Aurora Colony website: Colony History/Hotel

^vi Schroeder/Bethel, p. 14-15

^vii Schroeder/Bethel, p. 16

^viii Olsen, p. 235

^is Olsen, p. 255

^x Simon, p. 152

*Post written by James Wethington, senior library assistant for the University Archives and Special Collections.

Throughout Evansville, there are numerous buildings and streets that bares someone’s name. The real question is, have you ever wondered the story behind it? You are in luck because several Evansville icons will be discussed in a seven-part miniseries. The first place is in the heart of the University of Southern Indiana (USI): the Robert D. Orr Center.

Robert D. Orr was born on November 17, 1917, in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Shortly after his birth, his family moved to Evansville. He graduated from Yale University, with a bachelor’s in American History, and attended Harvard Graduate School; however, he left Harvard to serve in the U.S. Army during World War II. Orr was stationed in the Pacific Theatre through the war. He did achieve moving in rank from private to major and awarded the Legion of Merit medal for exceptionally conduct in his service. After the war ended, Orr moved to Evansville and worked in the family business, Orr Iron Company.

In Evansville, Orr achieved political success and served as precinct committeeman, convention delegate, and the chair of the Vanderburgh County Republican Party. The first elected position Orr held was on the Center Township Advisory Board in Vanderburgh County as member and chair. He decided to move his political career to the state level. It finally happened in 1968 when he was elected to the Indiana Senate. Before he realized it, his political career had skyrocketed. Orr was elected as lieutenant governor in 1972 and 1976, serving alongside Dr. Otis Bowen. During his lieutenant governorship, Orr served as the director of Indiana Department of Commerce, Commissioner of Agriculture, and President of the Senate. As 1980 approached, Bowen couldn’t run for governor because of term limits; however, Bowen gave Orr his approval and he won the Republican nomination. He would win the governorship in the largest margin in Indiana gubernatorial history, 57.7% to 41.9%.

In Orr’s first term as governor, Indiana was in a recession. His focus was getting the state out of a deficit, which finally happened in 1982 when the state legislature increased the state income and sales taxes. He continued to focus on economic development into his second term after being reelected in 1984; but he was also centered on education. His “A-Plus” package was passed, which required achievement testing and the creation of a new school accreditation system, and “Prime Time” program, which reduced classroom sizes and increased the school year. After he left office in 1989, Orr served as the US ambassador to Singapore until 1992.

Some maybe asking, what did Orr do for USI? If it wasn’t for Orr, there wouldn’t be USI because it was known from 1965 to 1985 as a satellite campus for Indiana State University (ISUE). On April 16, 1985, then-governor Orr signed Senate Bill #207, allowing ISUE to become an independent university, becoming USI in the process. USI dedicated to honor Orr and his work for USI by naming the next university building after him. The Orr Center was only the sixth building built on the property of USI and first since 1980, when the HYER or Physical Activities Center (PAC) was completed. It was opened and dedicated on June 10, 1990 (“Orr Center dedication”, pg. 1). Orr would receive an honorary degree at the first commencement for USI in 1986, along with his wife, Joanne. Orr passed away on March 10, 2004.

For more information on the Orr Center and the University Archives collections, visit the Online Digital Gallery available at the David L. Rice Library through the University Archives and Special Collections (UASC). The gallery has seven galleries over the history of ISUE and USI, such as university newsletters, the Shield newspapers, yearbooks, and commencement programs.

References

Associated Press. (2004, March 12). Robert D. Orr, 86 governor who revamped Indiana schools. The New York Times. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/12/us/robert-d-orr-86-governor-who-revamped-indiana-schools.html

Indiana Department of Administration. (2020). Robert D. Orr. Retrieved from https://www.in.gov/idoa/2787.htm

Indiana Governor History. (2020). Robert D. Orr. Retrieved from https://www.in.gov/governorhistory/2335.htm

Indianapolis Star. (2004, March 15). Governor Robert D. Orr. Retrieved from https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/indystar/obituary.aspx?n=robert-d-orr&pid=143713497

National Governors Association. (2020). Governor Robert D. Orr. Retrieved from https://www.nga.org/governor/robert-d-orr/

Orr Center dedication. (1990, June 6). University Notes. Retrieved from http://digitalarchives.usi.edu/digital/collection/UNotes/id/14628/rec/1

University of Southern Indiana. (2020). Honorary degrees, 1985-1989. https://www.usi.edu/about/university-honors-and-awards/honorary-degree-recipients/honorary-degrees-1985-1989/

*Post written by Mona Meyer, Archives and Special Collections Metadata Librarian.

The votes are in and the winner and is…

Congratulations to this year’s winner. You can see the “Coolest Artifact” at the Evansville Wartime Museum. For more information on the museum visit, https://www.evansvillewartimemuseum.org/

And big thank you to all of the participants: Evansville Museum of Arts, History & Science, John James Audubon Museum, USI Art Collection, USI Lawrence Library, Willard Library, and Working Men’s Institute.

And thanks to everyone that voted and helped to make this year’s event another great tournament!

University Archives and Special Collections, Rice Library, 3^rd floor

In the summer of 1972 the Lilly Endowment, Inc. of Indianapolis, Indiana awarded the then Indiana State University Evansville a three-year grant to establish an archival project for the acquisition, preservation and processing of regional material. At the end of the third year the University was to assume responsibility for continuing the growth of the Special Collections.  It started with just a few regional history books on Indiana from the library’s own collection. Today, the University Archives and Special Collection has over 850 unique collections, 800 oral history interviews, 6,500 rare and unique books, and 30,000 digital resources.

Meet the Competitors

The first entry is this hat from the Beardsley, Montgomery, and Gordon Families Collection. MSS 297.  It’s a cloche hat, a “a close-fitting hat worn by women from c. 1908 to 1930.  Its bell-like shape, which gave the hat its name, is most associated with the 1920s.”[i]  This was the era of the flapper—a young woman who pushed the boundaries of society and pushed hard.  The cloche-wearing flapper was a modern woman. (quote from Baclawski, Karen.  The Guide to Historic Costume.  London: B.T. Batsford, 1995.   General Collection GT507.B33 1995) This brown straw hat dates to 1920 and has grosgrain ribbon around the brim and surrounding the colorful decoration, which is made from bakelite.  Bakelite was the first plastic made from synthetic materials.

The second entry this “blooper” poster advertising the release of the third film in the vastly popular Star Wars series.  The original version was released March 25, 1983.  It’s from MSS 118, the Jeanne Suhrheinrich Collection.  Suhrheinrich was a long time entertainment editor for the Evansville Courier.

Evansville Museum of Arts, History, and Science at 411 SE Riverside Dr. 

Evansville has had a museum since 1906, with today’s location dating to the 1950s.  This appearance dates to a major update/remodel circa 2014

“The Evansville Museum of Arts, History & Science houses a permanent collection of more than 30,000 objects, including fine and decorative art, as well as historic, anthropological, and natural history artifacts. Over twenty temporary, regional and international exhibitions are displayed each year in four galleries.  The Koch Immersive Theater houses a 40-foot diameter domed screen with 360-degree digital projection featuring astronomy and science programming.  Evansville Museum Transportation Center (EMTRAC) featuring transportation artifacts from the late 19th through the mid-20th centuries. On exhibit is a three-car train. The museum is home to a model train diorama of Evansville.”

The first item is this doorknob, from the infamous Adolf Hitler’s Eagle’s Nest retreat near Berchstegaden, Germany.  It was taken in July 1945 by U.S. Army Air Corps Captain Henry J. Luerssen, who also provided a notarized document attesting to its authenticity.

The second is this letter written by Abraham Lincoln to David Turnham, a childhood friend from Spencer County, Indiana.  Written just prior to the 1860 election, Lincoln speaks of wishing to see his old friends and old home again.  Turnham was later able to provide historians with information about the assassinated president’s time in Indiana.

John M. Lawrence ’73 Library in Rm. 0119 of the Liberal Arts Center

Lawrence Library is located on the lower level in room 0119 of the Liberal Arts Center of USI’s campus. The concept for this library sprang from the friendship of Patricia (Patty) Aakhus and John M. Lawrence. The library is named for Mr. Lawrence, a graduate of USI’s class of 1973 and an international expert and collector of medieval manuscripts, for his generous support of the College of Liberal Arts. John Lawrence donated many items to the College, including a collection of medieval manuscripts as well as other artifacts, for use as a study collection for students. Patty Aakhus was an associate professor of English and served as the director of the Center for Interdisciplinary Studies and program director in International Studies. Aakhus also published three novels based on medieval texts that she studied and translated. Patricia Aakhus served as the first caretaker of the space prior to her death in 2012. The Lawrence Library prides itself on the student leadership of the space where student archivists curate exhibitions, research manuscripts and artifacts, and participate in collections management and care.

The first entry is an etching on paper by Francisco Goya entitled “Los Caprichos: Los Chinchillas”, created in 1799.   This piece of art served as the inspiration for the vidual design of the monster character made famous by Boris Karloff in the 1931 film, Frankenstein.

The second entr is this Roman Redware Terra Sigillata Jug, circa 150 CE.  Terra sigillata clay was found in Gaul (present day France).  This jug was excavated in North Africa, once a part of the Roman empire.

John James Audubon Museum in John James Audubon State Park, 3100 US Hwy 41 North, Henderson, KY

The museum interprets the lives and work of John James Audubon and his family within a timeline of world events. Three galleries chronicle the Audubon story, including the family’s 1810-1819 residency in Henderson, Kentucky. Over 200 objects are on display, including artifacts from Audubon’s Kentucky years, a complete set of his masterwork, The Birds of America, and many original artworks.

The first entry this life-sized bronze sculpture of John James Audubon’s White Headed Eagle by Raymond Graf, completed in 2008.  The original Audubon painting was plate 31 in the Double Elephant Folio of the Birds of America.  This sculpture sits outside the museum in Henderson, KY.   Raymond Graf is a Louisville artist and graduate of Murray State University.

The second item is this hand-colored lithograph from 1851 of John Woodhouse Audubon’s painting, “Cat Stalking Bird on Bough.”  John Woodhouse was the son of John James Audubon.

University of Evansville, University Archives in Bower-Suhrheinrich Library/Clifford Memorial Library

University Archives is the repository for archival records pertaining to the history and operations of the University of Evansville.

The first entry is this English moss rose china teapot measuring 37 inches high and weighing roughly 90 pounds empty, 355 pounds filled. This teapot can hold enough tea for an estimated 850 people. The hand-painted teapot was made by Alfred Meakin of Tunstall, England in 1890. It first arrived in Evansville from England as a present to the old Ichenhauser & Sons Company on NW First Street, which claimed to be the largest glass and china dealer in the Midwest. Silas Ichenhauser was a trustee of Evansville College, and when the firm closed in 1927, he presented the teapot to the college, where it was displayed for years in the front hall of the Administration Building (now Olmsted Administration Hall).  This image, with two University of Evansville (Evansville College at the time of this photograph) students gives you a good idea of the large size of this teapot.

The second item is this Japanese mask.  It was sometimes worn on religious occasions, but more commonly by children or adults for amusement.  This white mask has a pointed nose with whiskers along it, and a red painted mouth that opens.  A string tied through the eyes holds it on the face.

Evansville Wartime Museum The EWM focuses on the manufacturing contributions made during World War II by local industries and celebrates the service of hometown and regional members of the armed forces.  It is located in a hanger near the airport, at 7503 Petersburg Rd

The first entry is “Hoosier Spirit II”, a Republic Aviation P-47 Thunderbolt.  This WWII fighter plane was manufactured in Evansville.  Republic Aviation didn’t even come to Evansville until November 1942, but it immediately geared up and by the time production ceased in mid-August 194, some 5,000 employees (about half women) had contributed 6,242 P-47 Thunderbolts to the war effort. Combat pilots loved the P-47.  It did the job, and it brought them home safely.

This specific P-47 Thunderbolt was originally developed as a trainer plane for the U.S. Air Force in May of 1945. In August of 1947, it became part of the Venezuelan Air Force and remained there for 28 years. In 1975, the plane became part of a private collection in France where it stayed for 12 years. In 1987, the plane returned to the U.S. by a private collector who had the plane for 11 years. During that time, the plane was restored and given the name of “Big Ass Bird II” after a plane from WWII. The name caused some booking problems in parts of the U.S., so it was renamed “Tarheel Hal” after another P-47 flown during WWII. In 1998, the plane became part of the collection of the Lone Star Museum in Galveston, Texas, where it remained for 22 years.  On Saturday October 17, 2020, The Evansville P-47 Foundation purchased Tarheel Hal as a symbol for all the planes produced in Evansville during WWII.  Shortly after being flown back to Indiana, the plane was renamed “Hoosier Spirit II”. Following the passing of House Bill 1197 on April 26, 2021, the Hoosier Spirit II became Indiana’s State Aircraft. It is now on display inside the Evansville Wartime Museum located at 7503 Petersburg Road, just a mile from where it was manufactured by Republic Aviation in 1944.

The second entry is the first Evansville gravestone of James Bethel Gresham. The one now standing in Locust Hill is a replacement. When it was replaced it was given to a group of disabled veterans who met at the Coliseum, and they, in turn, donated it to the museum. James Bethel Gresham (August 23, 1893 – November 3, 1917) was one of the first three American soldiers to die in World War I. He was born in Kentucky, but moved with his family to Evansville in 1901, attended Centennial School, and worked in one of the furniture factories. He died in France and was originally buried there, but in 1921 was reinterred at Locust Hill Cemetery in Evansville.

Working Men’s Institute at 407 Tavern St. in New Harmony, IN

“Established by philanthropist William Maclure in 1838, the Working Men’s Institute (WMI) set as its mission the dissemination of useful knowledge to those who work with their hands. After 170 years of continuous service, this goal is still at the heart of our mission.  Maclure, who was a business partner with Robert Owen in the communal experiment in New Harmony from 1825-1827, was devoted to the ideal of education for the common man as a means of positive change in society. At New Harmony, The Working Men’s Institute was one manifestation of this ideal.  The Working Men’s Institute in New Harmony was the first of 144 WMIs in Indiana and 16 in Illinois. It is the only one remaining. Many WMIs were absorbed by township libraries or Carnegie libraries. Yet the one in New Harmony remained.  …  Today, the WMI is a public library, a museum and an archive. In each of these areas, the WMI tries to stay true to the original mission of William Maclure.”

The first entry from WMI is a Harmonist sewing clamp.  This is a pincushion with a wooden clamp for attaching it to the edge of a table.  The outer portion of the pincushion appears to be cloth which was re-used garment fabric, an example of Harmonist frugality.  The Harmonists were a utopian group that lived in New Harmony between 1814-1825.

The second entry is the “Pat Lyon” fire engine, circa 1804.  It was made for George Rapp, leader of the Harmonists, in Philadelphia by Pat Lyon and brought to New Harmony in 1815.  This engine has been in New Harmony ever since. It is a hand power machine, the pumping may be done by eighteen men. A fire company was organized in 1848, and until 1879 the old Rapp engine was the only one used.

Willard Library at 21 N. First Ave.

Willard Library is the oldest public library building in the state of Indiana.  It was established by local businessman and philanthropist Willard Carpenter, opening its doors in 1885, two years after his death.  For the past 137 years Willard Library has maintained an excellent reputation for its local history archives and genealogy collections.

The first entry is this 1894 bride’s book/scrapbook lovingly made by Emily Orr Clifford (1866-1952) celebrating her marriage to George Clifford (1858-1927).  Clifford was a prominent businessman and citizen who was instrumental in the establishment of the University of Evansville (then Evansville College).  Emily Orr was also from a prominent family—her grandfather, Samuel Orr, was one of the first settlers of Evansville and established the Orr Iron Company.  A first cousin was Robert Dunkerson Orr, the 11^th governor of Indiana, 1981-1989.

The next entry are these eyeglasses belonging to Willard Carpenter (183-1883).  The Victorian era frames feature hook temples, and are stored in a thin black sleeve-style case, here seen below the glasses. Born in Vermont, Carpenter was a local businessman and philanthropist; although he did not live to see its completion, Willard Library is his legacy to the city of Evansville.

Vote for your favorite artifact! https://usi.libwizard.com/f/uasc-final-4_copy

*Post written by Mona Meyer, Archives and Special Collections Metadata Librarian.

Although vitally important, housing isn’t enough to improve a community. As needed as Lincoln Gardens was, its very existence alone was insufficient to alleviate Baptisttown’s problems. Fortunately, Lincoln Gardens had a neighbor that was deeply invested in its success.

Directly across the street was Lincoln High School at 635 Lincoln Avenue. Built in 1927-1928, it “was the first new school in Evansville built for the black minority community. The school cost $275,000 to build. The school included twenty-two classrooms, a gymnasium, auditorium, sewing room, home economics kitchen, study hall, and manual training center. However, Lincoln didn’t have a cafeteria. The library had no books and the board refused to allocate money for that purpose. To stock the library, Mrs. Alberta K. McFarland Stevenson, Lincoln’s first librarian, went door to door collecting books and money donations. Classes were first begun in 1928. It was a K-12 school. Since Lincoln was the only black high school for miles around, black students from Mt. Vernon, Rockport, Newburgh, and Grandview were bussed to Evansville to attend Lincoln. In 1928, the enrollment was over 300” (i).

Granted, Lincoln was a segregated school, and clearly it wasn’t supported financially as well as non-black schools. (This librarian author is particularly incensed about not allocating money to purchase materials for the library!) What it did have was pride. It had been in operation for about 10 years when Lincoln Gardens was built, and the African American community loved and supported the school. The school had dedicated and forward-thinking teachers and administrators, one of whom was then principal W.E. Best. Dr. William Ebenezer Best (1884-1959), was the first principal of Lincoln School, 1928 to 1951. According to his obituary, Best joined the local school system in 1913 and was formerly principal of Douglass High School. He graduated from Indiana State University, earned a masters from Indiana University, and was granted an honorary doctorate from Wilberforce University.

Best initially “conceived the plan of using Lincoln Gardens as the spark to ignite interest of his people in improved living conditions. Three-fourths of the city’s Negro population of 6,500 lived in the slum area of Baptisttown prior to inauguration of the better housing project” (ii). The first manifestation of this idea was seen at Lincoln’s 1938 graduation ceremony. The theme of the commencement was Lincoln Gardens as a stepping-stone to a better future. In addition to the main speaker, four student speakers discussed “Housing as Related to Citizenship.” They included:

• “What Constitutes a Housing Problem?” by Hazel Gracey
• “The Federal Government and Housing” by Sarah Crutcher
• “Lincoln Gardens: A Contribution to Good Citizenship” by Stephen Wells
• “Making Lincoln Gardens a Success” by Margaret Bass (iii).

In the fall this idea was incorporated into a complete 16-unit curriculum taught at Lincoln. Each unit was taught as part of some related class already established in the curriculum. Related classes were in the social sciences, health, home economics, industrial arts, science, mathematics, and bookkeeping. There was a plan underway to get permission to use one apartment for demonstration purposes. The foundation was to be laid in the 8^th grade social science class, which included “material about early housing attempts and traces the awakening of public interest in housing through modern surveys and legislation. Economic and social aspects of large-scale housing are studied somewhat in detail.” Practical lessons covered studying the relationship between sanitary facilities and possible quarantines, how to maintain a clean and orderly household, basic electricity issues like changing fuses, etc., how to do basic plumbing like shutting off water and fixing leaks, handyman chores, and basic “scientific principles incorporated in the apartment units. This [included] mechanical refrigeration, construction features, heating, and ventilating. …We are attempting to make a practical application of classroom work, and we feel that this course of study will help tenants get the most from the use of their new apartments” (iv). If this seems like very basic knowledge that should already be known, take another look at the housing that some Lincoln Gardens’ residents had lived in previously. If this was the only sort of housing you and your family had ever known, how could you know anything about efficient heating? Indoor plumbing? Cleaning your windows?

Best also intended this as “a challenge to the Lincoln faculty, to raise living standards of Evansville’s Negro people to a much higher plane by inculcating permanent ideals into the coming generation.” What might be considered the capstone classes were taught in two 12^th grade “American Problems” classes, which included dealing with community relationships. Evidently the then new educational theory of learning by doing met with approval. “An outline of the 17 study units of the new course on housing, built around every-day living problems and largely demonstrated right in the Gardens, has been released throughout the country by the U.S. Housing authority. The release quotes an Indiana University professor who expressed the possibility that the course may be incorporated in the curricula of all public schools.” The article also indicated that a U.S. Department of the Interior representative was expected to visit soon “to designate an apartment of Lincoln Gardens for use of the school in teaching the new course” (v).

Another example of the close connection between the school and the community is this row of houses directly across Lincoln Avenue from the school. Many of these were owned by Lincoln faculty. From the left are Alfred (taught Latin, science, and music at Lincoln for 37 years) and Phoebe Porter’s house, Thomas (Lincoln faculty and coach) and Pauline Cheeks’ house, Boyd Henderson’s house, William (Lincoln principal) and Helen Best’s house, and Raymond (dentist and Lincoln Gardens administrator) and Bessie King’s house.

Our requiem for Baptisttown ends here, with the twin pillars of housing and education serving to revitalize the community. Forward strides have been made, but the struggle for quality housing and quality education for everyone continues.

Reference Consulted

• (i): Lincoln School webpage—About Us: History
• (ii): The Evansville Argus, October 8, 1938, p. 6.
• (iii): Evansville Press, June 10, 1938, p. 18.
• (iv): Evansville Press, July 4, 1938, p. 3.
• (v): The Evansville Argus, October 8, 1938, p. 6.

*Post written by Mona Meyer, Archives and Special Collections Metadata Librarian.

Baptisttown is an old name for an area of Evansville once a primary African American neighborhood. This area corresponds with the city’s 7^th Ward, roughly bounded by Governor Street, Canal Street, and Lincoln Avenue. At the turn of the 20^th century, segregation laws had forced some 54% of the African American population to live in this area. There were a number of Baptist churches in this area, and the name was originally a pejorative that played on the stereotype of “all blacks as Baptist.” Baptisttown residents, however, co-opted the term for their own and it became a source of pride. “Over 200 businesses, civic organizations, churches, and social clubs located in Baptisttown during its heyday between 1930 and 1960” (i).

An area with a vibrant social and cultural life, yes, but this area had its share of crime and poverty-related problems. “While no group escaped the economic devastation of the Great Depression, few suffered more than African Americans. Said to be “last hired, first fired,” African Americans were the first to see hours and jobs cut, and they experienced the highest unemployment rate during the 1930s. Since they were already relegated to lower-paying professions, African Americans had less of a financial cushion to fall back on when the economy collapsed” (ii). Housing, in particular, was deplorable. The houses seen below are on Days Row, the northeast side of Canal Street, between 10th Street and Governor Street. The surrounding 10 acres was the site of the city’s worst slum. These dwellings appear ready to fall apart. There was no insulation, inadequate or non-existent indoor sanitation, and certainly no central heating. No one would want to live here; no one should have to live here. In addition, the (iii) that “the district was recognized as a breeding ground of crime and epidemics. Its efficiency in filling jails and hospitals was well known. Scarlet fever, diphtheria, malaria, and typhoid fever thrived. Deaths from tuberculosis ran high.”

Top Image: MSS 181-0936 Bottom Image: MSS 181-1348, Darrel Bigham Collection

The area’s housing stock consisted of small structures, many little more than shacks. Most were rental units. At the turn of the twentieth century, only 9 percent of black household heads in Evansville owned their own home, and in the three census districts in Baptisttown with the largest number of African American residents the figure fell to a miniscule 6 percent. Most of those who did own their dwellings belonged to the small black middle class consisting of teachers, barbers, and owners of small businesses who remained in the area because they had few options. … These dilapidated structures generally had no connection to city sewers and most still relied on cisterns for their water supply” (iv). Several efforts over the years to deal with this failed due to financial constraints. But persistence paid off! In 1933 William Best, principal of Lincoln High School (a black school located on the edge of this area) “approached Mayor Frank Griese “to determine if there is a possibility of cleaning up conditions in Baptisttown,” perhaps with federal funds” (v).

One of FDR’s alphabet-soup attempts to put the brakes on the Great Depression was the Public Works Administration. “Language in the 1933 legislation that created the Public Works Administration (PWA) “broke open the door to the nation’s first significant public housing experiment.” The PWA’s Housing Division conducted that experiment, which continued until the advent of the United States Housing Authority in 1937, and it marked “the first direct federal intervention into the housing market in the United States during peacetime.” Over the course of its brief and often controversial existence, the Housing Division was the direct builder of fifty-one projects in thirty-six cities” (vi).

With federal funding now feasible, the City Plan Commission et al immediately conducted a housing survey and worked to garner public support, enabling it to submit a proposal on April 17, 1934. The Housing Division began work on an internal review, and correspondence flowed between interested locals and federal employees. In August, a site visit was conducted, and Evansville was notified that its proposal had made the cut as one that warranted more detailed consideration. More correspondence and documentation were exchanged, and in March 1935 then mayor William Dress and others were informed that “because of the Housing Division’s “sound standards of construction,” it could not set rents low enough to be “satisfactory for the income group we are trying to rehouse in Evansville.” Since the city had a “limited group of families of sufficient income to meet our rents,” federal officials had deemed it “inadvisable to make final disposition of the Evansville project” for the time being. Proponents should not, however, “abandon all hope”” (vii). Negotiations resolved this issue, and the project was back on track.

There was one final hurdle to cross. Early on there had been debate as to where to build this new housing. Some felt that it was cheaper to use undeveloped land on the outskirts of town, while others argued for replacing sub-standard housing in the same location. The second argument won the day; now, what to do with those who would be displaced during the demolition and construction? Options for dealing with this were ironed out, supported by cooperation with the YMCA. “The final few months of 1935 witnessed a flurry of activity. The Housing Division required that its projects have a local advisory committee, and Mayor Dress had named such a group in May. The eleven members included several businessmen (including [industrialist Richard] Rosencranz, who became chairman of the committee, and A. W. Hartig, who served as its secretary), the city’s superintendent of schools, a judge, a minister, and the president of Evansville College. Two members represented the African American community: Dr. Raymond King, a dentist, and Mrs. L. A. George, a Lincoln High School teacher who had been involved in anti-tuberculosis and child welfare work. In December, officials in Washington approved the plans submitted by the consortium of local architects, and an Evansville company received the contract to demolish buildings in the Lincoln Gardens area” (viii).

The Chicago firm of A. Smith and Company won the construction contract with a bid of $483,333. The land cost $161,480.40 and the foundations $70,335.85. Superstructure costs, architects’ fees, and administrative expenses brought the total to $715,148 (ix). What about those concerns with the original cost making rental costs prohibitive? They were lowered by switching from a brick exterior to a brick veneer, and by eliminating a central heating plant in favor of individual heating stoves. Additional economies of scale were had by increasing the number of units to 191 in 16 buildings, instead of the original 138 units in 12 buildings (x).

By January 16, 1938, the project was 65% complete (xi), with full occupancy expected by June 17 (xii). The cornerstone was laid April 23, 1938. Mrs. L.A. George, a teacher at Lincoln and active participant in the planning process, called it “a requiem to the dead –the old Baptisttown. Today is one of the happiest days of our lives. It marks the building of a different set of men in the colored race, boys and girls who will see beauty in the project and rise to it. Give us more schools, teachers, and slum clearance like this, and we won’t ask anything else (xiii). The Evansville Argus, a black newspaper, carried the glad news of Lincoln Gardens’ grand opening on July 1, 1938. “The apartments are made of 2-3 and 4 rooms that rent from $10.95 to $14.95 per month for the 2 rooms, $16.40 and $18.70 for the 3 rooms, and $19.35 to $23.35 for the 4 rooms. [These] rates include electricity for lights and refrigeration, gas for cooking purposes and hot water. Each apartment has an individual heater. … There are 191 apartments that include 40, 2 rooms; 121, 3 rooms and 30, 4 rooms. Each apartment comes equipped with an individual coal bin” (xiv). Another newspaper provided further information: the ceilings were white, the walls gray, the floors hardwood in the living and bedrooms, with ceramic tile in the bathroom (which included a lavatory and tub), and Havana brown linoleum flooring in the kitchen. The kitchen included the gas hot water heater, electric refrigerator, gas stove, built-in work table and cabinets, and a built-in combination sink and laundry (xv).

The local manager for Lincoln Gardens was Dr. Raymond B. King, a graduate of Indiana University School of Dentistry. “Dr. King is well-known in civic affairs of Negroes in Evansville and was an active worker with the Red Cross during the flood of 1937. He has been a member of the Evansville Advisory Committee on Housing and was particularly active in the development of Lincoln Gardens.” King was responsible for choosing which of the applicants would live in Lincoln Gardens (xvi). By July 1, 1938, there were 300 applicants, with only 65 chosen (xvii). “The government employed several criteria in the selection of residents. An applicant’s “fidelity and character” had to be “well established.” The federal George-Healey Act of 1936 specified that families would be eligible only if they currently lived in substandard housing and their monthly income did not exceed five times the rent (or six times for families with three or more minor dependents). … Low income, however, did not mean no income. As Dr. King explained several months later, “public housing is for poor people, yes, but for the poor who show some sign of being able to pay rent regularly” (xviii).

The final family moved into its apartment on December 20, 1938. In total, 509 applications were received, 262 approved. Tenant annual incomes ranged from $584 to $1,407, with 39.8% of families representing WPA employment (xix). Although not without its naysayers, Lincoln Gardens was well regarded when it was established, but fast forward through the decades and this is no longer the case. By the 1990’s it had fallen into disrepair, and eventually all but one unit was demolished. That unit was upgraded and remodeled into the Evansville African American Museum. Within the museum is a full-size model of one of the apartments: living room, bedroom, and kitchen. The full text of the historical marker reads: “African Americans settled in Evansville in the early 1800’s and established a vibrant community here in Baptisttown by 1890. Segregation and discrimination led to a section of overcrowded, dilapidated buildings. With citizen support, city officials applied for New Deal funding to clear part of this area in the 1930s and develop a federal housing project, Lincoln Gardens. Opened in 1938, Lincoln Gardens provided low-cost housing managed by and for African Americans. During World War II, occupants started a club for African American service members barred from the local USO. Lincoln Gardens served as a community center for decades. Saved from demolition, this building opened as the Evansville African American Museum in 1999.”

The story of Lincoln Gardens does not end here. Be sure to read “A Baptisttown Requiem,” part 2 when it is published.

Reference Consulted

• (i): “Baptisttown Walking Tour/Evansville African American Heritage Trail,” a collaborative effort between the city of Evansville and the Evansville African American Museum. 
• (ii): Klein, Christopher. “Last Hired, First Fired: How the Great Depression Affected African Americans.” History Channel, August 31, 2018.
• (iii): Evansville Courier and Press, November 28, 1937, p. 24.
• (iv): Barrows, Robert G. “New Deal Public Housing in the Ohio Valley: The Creation of Lincoln Gardens in Evansville, Indiana. Ohio Valley History, Volume 14, Number 1, Spring 2014, p. 54.
• (v): Ibid, p. 55.
• (vi): Ibid, p. 51.
• (vii): Ibid., p. 59.
• (viii): Ibid, p. 60.
• (ix): Evansville Press, March 6, 1937, p. 6.
• (x): Evansville Press, May 20, 1937, p. 1.
• (xi): Evansville Press, January 16, 1938, p. 4.
• (xii): Evansville Courier and Press, March 11, 1938, p. 2.
• (xii): Evansville Press, April 23, 1938, p. 1.
• (xiv): Evansville Argus, July 2, 1938, p. 1.
• (xv): Evansville Press, April 24, 1938, p. 40.
• (xvi): Indianapolis Recorder, June 11, 1938, p. 9.
• (xvii): Evansville Courier and Press, July 1, 1938, p. 17.
• (xviii): Barrows, p. 67.
• (xix): Evansville Press, December 13, 1938, p. 7.

*Post written by Mona Meyer, Archives and Special Collections Metadata Librarian.

As this blog is being written, the United States recently completed another presidential election. For every election, there must be someone who did not win. The dictionary defines an also ran as the loser in a contest or race, particularly by a wide margin. The origin of this phrase is believed to be in the late 1800s, when it originally meant a horse which did not finish in the top 3. Let’s look at 8 of these non-winners who visited our area. To be clear, I’m only including those who visited on a non-successful presidential bid, and for whom we have photographs of that visit within University Archives Special Collections (UASC).

Let’s begin 100 years ago, with a 1920 visit from James Middleton Cox. Cox was born in Ohio in 1870, and served as its governor for 3 terms: 1913 to 1915 and 1917 to 1921, the first from Ohio to serve 3 full terms in office. He was also a successful journalist, owning and editing multiple newspapers in Ohio, Florida, and Georgia. Cox’s success as governor made him prominent within the Democratic party, which nominated him as its candidate for president. Cox chose as his running mate the then Assistant Secretary of the (U.S.) Navy a man you may have heard of … Franklin Delano Roosevelt. In 1920, Cox visited our corner of the Hoosier state, seen here in Princeton, IN. Cox is 2^nd from the left, pictured with several men from Evansville, including Mayor Benjamin Bosse, (2^nd from right), a Democrat. Cox and Roosevelt lost in a landslide, winning only 127 electoral votes to 404 for another Ohioan, Warren G. Harding, and his running mate, Calvin Coolidge. Cox/Roosevelt only won 11 of the then 48 states, neither man even carrying his home state.

Next up was a Hoosier boy, Wendell Lewis Willkie, born February 18, 1892, in Elwood, IN. Elwood is about mid-way between Kokomo and Anderson. He graduated from the Indiana University School of Law in 1916, and after serving in World War I, moved to Akron, OH for a position with the Firestone Rubber Company. After going into private practice, he moved to New York, where he served as legal counsel for the Commonwealth & Southern Corporation, a public utility, eventually becoming its president.

Early in his career Willkie was a Democrat; indeed, he had supported the presidential aspirations of Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1932. But, one of FDR’s New Deal initiatives was the establishment of the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA). Willkie believed public utilities like he owned would be unable to complete with programs run by the federal government, and thus causing him to move to the Republican Party in 1939. In 1940, he was nominated as the Republican candidate for president. At this point, Willkie had never held any political office. Surprisingly, he won the nomination on the 6^th ballot, defeating much better-known candidates, earning the sobriquet “Dark Horse.” He visited Evansville in 1939 or 1940, riding in a motorcade down Main Street. “Despite a well-fought campaign, Willkie lost the election to Roosevelt in a landslide, earning only 82 electoral votes to Roosevelt’s 449. He also lost the popular vote by nearly five million.” Willkie again sought the presidential nomination in 1944 but dropped out after poor early showings. He died October 8, 1944.

Thomas Edward Dewey was born March 24, 1902 in Owosso, MI.  He graduated from the University of Michigan in 1923 and received his law degree from Columbia University in 1925.  He remained in New York, passing the bar in 1926.  In 1931 he became chief assistant to the U.S. attorney for the southern district of the state, soon going after bootleggers and racketeers.  In 1935 the governor of New York appointed Dewey as special prosecutor for the County of New York, aka Manhattan.  He continued his crusade against the mob, eventually sending Lucky Luciano to Sing Sing prison. “Between 1935 and 1937, Dewey won 72 convictions out of 73 prosecutions. His success against New York’s biggest mobsters gave him a huge political platform. He was elected district attorney for New York in 1937; he immediately launched an effort to win the governor’s seat in New York in 1938 but lost. He was successful in his second try, winning the governorship in 1942 and two more terms, serving until 1955.“

Turning his attention to national politics, Dewey failed to garner the Republican presidential nomination in 1940. He was one of those far better-known candidates who lost to Willkie. Trying again in 1944, he won the nomination unanimously, choosing his former rival, Ohio governor John W. Bricker as his running mate. Dewey himself may well have visited Evansville that year, but we have this photographic proof that Bricker did, here speaking from the back of a train.

FDR’s wartime popularity proved too much to overcome. Dewey lost, 99 electoral votes to Roosevelt’s 432. They only won 12 of the then 48 states; Dewey won neither his home state of Michigan nor his adopted state of New York, although Bricker was able to garner the votes of his Ohio constituents. Undeterred, Dewey ran again in 1948. By this time, FDR was gone, having been succeeded in office by his vice-president Harry S. Truman after FDR died in 1945. This time Dewey chose California governor Earl Warren to run with him. Dewey was considered a shoo-in, unless he made a huge public gaffe. Truman’s Democratic party was split 3 ways. Dewey made a whistle-stop trip to Mt. Vernon, IN, and the sign on this caboose shows just how confident he and his supporters were!

After the dust had cleared, results showed that Truman earned 303 electoral votes to Dewey’s 189, with the remaining 39 going to Strom Thurmond. Dewey carried 16 states, Truman 28, and Thurmond 4 (and one of Tennessee’s 11 electoral votes). The Chicago Tribune made the famous gaffe in its headline seen here on November 3, 1948. Dewey went on to be active in Republican politics as an advisor until his death in 1971.

George Corley Wallace was born in Alabama on August 25, 1919. In 1942 he graduated from the University of Alabama Law School and then served in World War II. After the war, he served in the Alabama House of Representatives and as a state judge. He launched his first attempt at the Alabama governorship in 1958. After losing that race, he “became” what he was known for, a staunch segregationist and populist. His 1962 run for the governorship was successful, and he served from 1963 to 1967. His inaugural speech, written by a Ku Klux Klansman, ended with this sentiment: ”Segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever.” In 1963 he made his famous “stand in the schoolhouse door,” literally standing in the doorway of Foster Auditorium at the University of Alabama to block the entrance of black students Vivian Malone and James Hood. Term limits prohibited a second term as governor, but no matter, his wife Lurleen won that election, making him governor in all but name only from 1967 until her untimely death in 1968. After successfully amending the Alabama constitution to permit a second term, Wallace served as governor of Alabama from 1971 to 1979 and again from 1983 to 1987. During this time period he also made 4 unsuccessful runs for the presidency. In 1964, he failed to get the nomination that went to Lyndon Johnson. In 1968, he ran on the American Independent Party ticket and got 46 electoral votes, winning 4 southern states (plus one vote in North Carolina). In 1972, he was back in the fray, this time vying for the Democratic party nomination against Hubert Humphrey, George McGovern, and John Lindsay. Things were going well for Wallace, who had disavowed his earlier stance on segregation.

That is, until May 15, when, while campaigning at a shopping mall in Laurel, MD, he was shot 5 times by would-be assassin Arthur Bremer. One of the bullets lodged in his spinal column, rendering him paralyzed from the waist down for the rest of his life. His 1972 campaign ended abruptly, but Wallace was up for one more try at the presidency in 1976, once again as a Democrat. “From the start, aides noticed that the applause dwindled once crowds saw his shiny wheelchair. Mr. Wallace noticed it, too, and in private he disputed friends who reminded him that Franklin D. Roosevelt had won despite crutches and wheelchair. ”Yeah,” Mr. Wallace told his confidant Oscar Adams, ”they elected Roosevelt, but they didn’t watch him on television every night getting hauled on a plane like he was half-dead.”” Wallace visited Evansville, holding a press conference at the airport April 22, 1976. He dropped out of the race in June, just before the Illinois primary. He served one more term as Alabama governor, dying some 11 years later, in 1998.

To date, the United States has had only one non-elected president, Leslie Lynch King, Jr. If you don’t recognize that we ever had any president by that name, you’d be both right and wrong. King was born in 1913 in Omaha, NE, but his mother soon divorced his father and in 1916 remarried a man in Grand Rapids, MI by the name of Gerald Rudolph Ford. “Leslie King, Jr., did not learn of his biological father until he was a teenager, and after graduating from college he officially changed his name to Gerald Rudolph Ford, Jr.” Skipping ahead, Ford was elected to the House of Representatives from Michigan’s 5^th district in 1948, serving 12 successive terms from 1949 to 1973. Meanwhile, Richard M. Nixon had been elected president in 1968, with his vice president Spiro Agnew; the two were re-elected in 1972. In 1973, Agnew resigned after pleading no contest to tax evasion and money laundering charges that began during his time as governor of Maryland and continued during his tenancy as vice president. Ford, then House Minority Leader, was nominated and elected by both the Senate and House to serve as vice president. During this time the Watergate scandal was spiraling out of control, and Nixon soon faced impeachment. He resigned on August 8, 1974, and the next day, after only 8 months as vice president, Gerald Ford was sworn in as president.

In 1976, Ford decided to run for election as president in his own right, winning the nomination narrowly after a heated battle with Ronald Reagan. Ford and his running mate, Kansas Senator Robert Dole, faced the Democratic nominee Jimmy Carter and his running mate, Minnesota Senator Walter Mondale. On April 23, 1976, Ford visited Evansville, seen in company of then Evansville Mayor Russell Lloyd in this photo.

On October 27, 1976 Ford’s running mate, Senator Robert Dole, also visited Evansville. History puts Ford/Dole in the also ran column, with Carter’s 297 electoral votes to Ford’s 240. Senator Dole stayed firmly in the also ran group, failing to win the Republic party nomination for president in both 1980 and 1988. In 1996, he was successful at winning the nomination, but lost the election to Bill Clinton, 379 to 159 electoral votes. Dole carried 18 of the 50 states. Ford passed away in 2006; at the time this blog was written, Dole was still living.

Resources Consulted

Clark, Justin. “Wendell Willkie: The Dark Horse.” Indiana History blog, the Indiana Historical Bureau of the Indiana State Library, May 17, 2016.

Gerald Ford. Miller Center of Public Affairs, the University of Virginia.

Historical Presidential Elections. 270toWin website.

James M. Cox. Ohio History Central website.

Pearson, Richard. “Former Ala. Gov. George C. Wallace Dies.” The Washington Post, September 14, 1998, p. A1.

Raines, Howell. “George Wallace, Segregation Symbol, Dies at 79.” The New York Times, September 14, 1998, p. A1.

Thomas Dewey. The Mob Museum website.

“Thomas E. Dewey.” Encyclopædia Britannica website, March 20, 2020. Wendell L. Willkie. Ohio History Central website.