By: James H. Capshew, University Historian Excitement is building for viewing the solar eclipse in America on August 21, 2017. The path of totality passes to our south, but Bloomington will get a good taste of the temporary darkness during the day with over 90% of the sun’s disk covered. This dramatic natural phenomenon continues… Read more »
By: Angel Nathan, Bicentennial Intern, Class of 2019, Doctoral Student, Higher Education & Student Affairs, Bloomington Indiana University (IU), located in Bloomington, is an institution with a celebrated but complex racial past. Bloomington’s strong Quaker influence shaped a history with an aversion to slavery and the promotion of African American education (Wood, 2014). This may… Read more »
By: Spencer Bowman, Bicentennial Intern, Class of 2020, English and Media, Bloomington The Long Road to a Women’s Dormitory The dedication of Memorial Hall, Indiana University’s first women’s dormitory, on October 20, 1924 was a long time coming. Twelve years earlier, in 1912, Dean of Women Carrie L. DeNise researched the university’s housing at the… Read more »
By: Cassie Heeke, Bicentennial Intern, Class of 2017, Journalism, Bloomington Dr. Agnes Ermina Wells is the first individual to be honored in the Bicentennial’s Women in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Medicine) short film series. Wells, who trained as a mathematician and astronomer, also served as an educator, an administrator, and an advocate for equal rights… Read more »
By: Johnna Slabaugh, Bicentennial Intern, Class of 2020, Nursing, South Bend Throughout my months this summer as an IU Bicentennial intern at IU South Bend, I was able to interview many different alumni, faculty, and staff members as part of the Bicentennial Oral History Project. It was incredible to hear about all of the different… Read more »
By: Spencer Bowman, Bicentennial Intern, Class of 2020, English and Media, Bloomington Indiana University has a long tradition of commemorating its past, present, and future with time capsules. Capsules inserted into the cornerstones of Wylie Hall, Student Building, Memorial Hall, Indiana Memorial Union, and Bryan Hall demonstrate this commitment to preserve the past for future… Read more »
By: Logan Dudley, Bicentennial Intern, Class of 2019, Communication and Culture, Bloomington At its inception in 1820, Indiana University (then the Indiana State Seminary) was located at the modern intersection of Second Street and College Avenue. The site was home to a small spring, and since the arrival of the university’s first handful of students… Read more »
By: Logan Dudley, Bicentennial Intern, Class of 2019, Communication and Culture, Bloomington Hemmed in by walls of limestone and glass, the smooth gray trunk of the American Beech tree meanders upward, seeking life-giving light. Its base, enclosed by short railing and dotted with the names and initials of generations of college couples, serves as a… Read more »
By: Cassie Heeke, Bicentennial Intern, Class of 2017, Journalism, Bloomington My first thought when beginning my research on Mary Brown Craig: oh, the irony. Here was the University’s first archivist — a woman who spent nearly 35 years of her life collecting, recording, filing, and preserving the history of Indiana University — and yet she… Read more »
By: Logan Dudley, Bicentennial Intern, Class of 2019, Communication and Culture, Bloomington As a member of the “History Beyond the Bypass” team, I have spent the semester researching the history of the University’s buildings and grounds. Prior to this, I had never used historical archives to conduct research. Locating the proper resources that actually offer… Read more »