Here’s another dorm-themed gallery curated by Josh Kruskal, ’15 with the help of 200 years of Middlebury’s Kaleidoscope yearbooks.
From the College Archives: Student Dorm Rooms Through History
libitsblog
Bread Loaf menu options, from the Archives
In honor of the return of the 2015 faculty plenary meeting and lunch to the Bread Loaf campus, we have some recipes to share. Late this summer, Patti McCaffrey from Dining Services delivered a mildly corroded metal recipe box to the Archives. Uncovered during the Bread Loaf renovations, the box was likely the property of Alfleda DeGray, a longtime cook at the College and Bread Loaf. (Alfleda’s start day was July 1, 1945 and her last day was February 9, 1987. We’ll do the math: that’s forty-two years of feeding mouths at Middlebury and at Bread Loaf.) At the time, female cooks were responsible for cold salads, punches, and appetizers rather than main dishes, which were the territory of male cooks. We’re not sure what’s on the menu for this year’s lunch, but we offer a few options from Alfleda DeGray’s Bread Loaf recipe box: A “Thirst Inviting” dip; Wagon Wheel Cheese; and a Fruited Cheese Salad with lemon and strawberry gelatin. Enjoy!
From the College Archives: Middlebury Commencement Through History
We are thrilled to introduce a new series, From the College Archives, curated by Josh Kruskal, ’15. In the weeks of his last semester, Josh, a prized Special Collections staff member, scoured 200 years of Middlebury Kaleidoscopes in search of historic and day-to-day moments. In Josh’s inaugural post: Commencement. In his photo essays to come, look for themes such as Students and Their Dogs, Downtown Middlebury, Halloween Costumes, and many more. Congratulations Josh, and enjoy…
Clothing Guide 1944-45, from the Archives
For the 1944-45 school year, the Student Union published these handy HELPS AND HINTS as part of a clothing guide (for women). For example, “No Rubber Boots are to be worn to the dining-rooms, or to lectures and concerts unless the weather is very severe and there is no opportunity to change.” And don’t get us started on shorts. “Shorts are never to be worn in the dining rooms…they are never to be worn downtown unless one is going through town on a bicycle. Then don’t stop to shop or have a coke. Plan those shopping or coking expeditions for sometime when you don’t have shorts on.” Unless, of course, you remembered your leg make-up (For details on that one, see the heading Housecoats.)
Winter Carnival Vintage Films Premiere and Hot Chocolate Bar, February 13
Recently rediscovered films in the College Archives from the 1940s will be shown for the first time in more than sixty years.
See Winter Carnival the way it was, before Gore-Tex and fiberglass: ski jumps on Chipman Hill, woolen races at the Snow Bowl, aero-skijoring, and more.
When: Friday, February 13, 2015, 4:30 – 6pm
Where: McCullough Crossroads Cafe (The Juice Bar)
here are the films, enjoy!
[vimeo https://vimeo.com/119374983]Sporty Sweethearts and Sausages: Vintage Valentines from the Archives
From Special Collection and Archives, selected from our collection of American postcards and ephemera:
Valentine Thoughts
My heart’s a golf ball
for your “game”
You always with
me “score”
If I could only
win this “match,”
You’d “tease” my
heart no more.
© 1914
A Greeting to my Valentine
My heart goes
bounding o’er
the net,
A “lose game” we being,
Before another sun has set
I hope the game to win
© 1911
I wish you knew
a certain girl.
Her style is
indescribable.
Her manners really
are quite nice.
Her fortune quite
desirable.
Her portrait this: they
call it fine.
And she’s your own true Valentine.
Date unknown.
It’s NO BALONEY when I say I LOVE YOU!
Date unknown
Postscript: Yes! That butcher/dog’s arm swings back and forth
The hinge is original and intact. (We can’t say as much for that baloney.)
Davis Library spring exhibit, “Before the Selfie: A Century of Student Portraits”
Our spring exhibit features a century of photographic portraits of Middlebury students.
In other words, one hundred years of awe-inspiring facial hair and evolving fashion trends.
How will you be remembered? Email a selfie to the Archives at specialcollections@middlebury.edu
Instagram #middleburyselfie
Photo credit: Lewis Hemenway, Class of 1864, Middlebury College Special Collections & Archives and May Belle Chellis, Class of 1886.
“Joseph Battell: A Centennial Appreciation,” a talk by David Haward Bain, Monday, February 23rd
February 23, 2015 is the centennial of Joseph Battell’s death. Bread Loaf land baron (in his day the largest private landowner in Vermont), environmentalist, crusading newspaperman, Middlebury College alum (Class of 1860), trustee, philanthropist, novelist.
David Haward Bain presents an illustrated “magic lantern” talk on Joseph Battell’s life and works.
When: February 23, 2015, 4:30pm
Where: Abernethy Reading Room, The Axinn Center at Starr Library, Middlebury College
Refreshments will be served.
Sponsored by Middlebury College Special Collections & Archives, the Franklin Environmental Center at Hillcrest, the Environmental Studies Program, Middlebury History Department, and the Stewart-Swift Research Center, Henry Sheldon Museum.
David Haward Bain has taught creative writing and literature at Middlebury College for 28 years, and has been affiliated with the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference for 35 years since his first-book fellowship in 1980. His books include Empire Express: Building the First Transcontinental Railroad, Bitter Waters: America’s Forgotten Naval Mission to the Dead Sea, The Old Iron Road: An Epic of Rails, Roads, and the Urge to Go West, and Sitting in Darkness: Americans in the Philippines, as well as The College on the Hill: A Browser’s History for the Bicentennial of Middlebury College and Whose Woods These Are: A History of the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, 1926-1992.
Photo credit: Joseph Battell circa 1860. Courtesy of the Henry Sheldon Museum, Stewart-Swift Research Center
Historic NYC Postcard Exhibit at Davis Family Library
Who would guess that an artist born and bred on a Vermont farm would create some of the most iconic postcards of New York City? Rachael Robinson Elmer’s ground-breaking “Art-Lovers New York” postcard series is currently on exhibit at the Middlebury College Davis Family Library, on the upper level, through April 17th, 2015. The exhibition, on loan from Rokeby
Museum and sponsored by Middlebury College Special Collections and Archives, presents all twelve cards, as well as biographical information, historical context, and the three postcards of London that originally inspired Rachael.
Rachael Robinson Elmer changed the aesthetic of American postcards. She pioneered the fine art city view card when her Impressionist paintings of popular scenes in her beloved New York City were produced as postcards by P. F. Volland in 1914. Her “Art Lover’s New York” cards were immediately copied by dozens of artists in New York and elsewhere.
Rachael Robinson Elmer was born at Rokeby to artist parents Rowland Evans and Anna Stevens Robinson in 1878. Her art education began before she had even started school and continued with a young people’s summer art program in New York City and later, at the Art Students League. She moved to New York as a young woman and commenced a successful career as a graphic artist. Rachael married businessman Robert Elmer in 1911 and died prematurely in February 1919 in the Spanish flu epidemic.
The Middlebury College Special Collections and Archives holds the extensive historical correspondence collection of the Robinson Family on long-term loan from Rokeby Museum. The books of Rachael’s father, Rowland E. Robinson, are part of the Abernethy Collection of American Literature and the Flander’s Ballad Collection. See our previous blog post, Reading Rowland Out Loud, for more on that.
Middlebury women take a snowy ride to Ripton, ca. 1940s
In this holiday-themed film clip, and part of the ongoing effort to preserve our large collection of historic 16mm films, members of the Women’s Forum of Middlebury College gather behind Forest Hall to load up holiday gifts and head to the Meeting House in Ripton. Upon their arrival (after what must have been a cold and harrowing ride in the back of a wood-slatted truck), surprisingly underdressed local children run (and slide, trudge, and sled) to meet them. The Middlebury women, joined by a costumed Santa, distribute holiday gifts.
Established in 1937, the Women’s Forum was originally organized to further interest in economic, political, and social issues of the day. In 1944 the group merged with the Student Action Assembly and focused on social and service work. This clip likely dates from the early to mid 1940’s.
Happy holidays from all of us at Special Collections & Archives.