Honors Day

Written by: Emily Cottle

Last week on April 3, 2014 Delaware State University held its 41^st annual Honors Day program.

The archives have a collection of programs dating back to the third annual honors day program held April 27-28, 1976.

President Luna I. Mishoe speaking at Honors 

Day festivities on April 13, 1983.

The following note from the Honors Council, the sponsors of Honors Day, appears in the aforementioned program from the 1976 event:

Honors Day was established two years ago as an annual event in recognition of academic achievement. In a format which enables students to present original research papers and exhibits, academic excellence at Delaware State College is made visible to all students and faculty. Through lectures or panel discussions the meaning and value of the pursuit of excellence is stressed. In addition, departmental scholars, students in the Honors programs, and students achieving membership in national honor societies are recognized.

Some of the programs from the 1990s even include summaries of student papers and projects.

In addition to these event programs, we have a number of photos documenting honors day activities dating back to the 1980s.

Come visit the archives to view any of these materials and learn more about the history of the Honors Day program.

Middle States Accreditation Self-Study Reports: A History of Self-Reflection

Written by: Cale McCammon

Cover of the 1971-1972 report.

One of the collections that offer a dense look at DSU’s organizational and academic history is our collection of Middle States accreditation self-study reports, which date back to the 1971-1972 academic year. These reports contain information on the university’s organizational structure, philosophy, student body, employment of alumni and finances. For anyone looking for statistical information regarding specific departments or for information on how the university has changed overtime, the reports serve as a convenient aggregation of the information found in some of our other collections. They also demonstrate changes in how the university has seen itself, as in the self-study report for the 1971-1972 academic years:

Delaware State College is a group of scholars actively seeking the truth, creatively teaching the truth, and carefully preserving the truth. The College claims the right, without restraint, to investigate the whole province of knowledge. With this freedom, the College accepts the responsibility of communicating knowledge to all who can make good use of it. (p. 2)

How might this connect to the university’s current mission and vision statement?

New Acquisition: President Jason’s book

Written by: Emily Cottle

Back on December 19^th of last year, the William C. Jason Library held a ceremony to formally accept a generous endowment to the library from Bertha Carol Jason and William C. Jason, III., descendants of the library’s namesake, William C. Jason, Sr.

During the ceremony, Carol Jason, shown below in the screen capture of a press release on the event from the university’s website, told wonderful stories about William C. Jason, the longest serving president in DSU’s history from a family volume containing old course catalogs for the State College for Colored Students dating back to 1893.

Screen capture from DSU's News and Events webpage.

In January, the archives was fortunate enough to have Mrs. Jason officially donate this book to us. It is currently being digitized, but we hope to have it available for patrons to view in the archives soon.

The archives is very grateful to the Jason family for this donation, which is just the latest of their generous contributions to our department. Previous donations have included wonderful rare books and programs for early campus events at the State College for Colored Students. 

New Acquisition from the Office of Alumni Affairs

Written by: Cale McCammon

The Delaware State University Archives' collection is expanding. The folks at the Office of Alumni Relations (previously known as the Office of Alumni Affairs) recently sent over thirty linear feet of materials our way. These included minutes and financial records of the Alumni Association, newsletters, photo albums, as well as copies of The Echo that have helped us fill holes in our existing collection. We’re having quite a time going through the photographs, which we hope to finish processing soon.

Class of 1913. Among one of the oldest photographs 

we’ve found sleeved in the albums.

We’d like to thank the folks at the Office of Alumni Relations for sending us their materials and look forward to more transfers. We also encourage any other departments on campus to get in touch with us if you have materials that need a safe home.

Miss DSC, Homecoming, Presidential Scholarship Ball—

just a few of the events we’ve encountered in the photos.

Caring for your family photographs

Written by: Emily Cottle

Here in the archives we’ve been doing a lot of work on photograph collections lately and thought that our readers might benefit from a few tips for dealing with your own family photograph collections.

The following are just a few of the great resources available online to help you get started with preserving your family’s materials.

• Caring for your family archives from the National Archives and Records Administration, http://www.archives.gov/preservation/family-archives/
• Care, Handling, and Storage of Photographs from the Library of Congress, http://www.loc.gov/preservation/care/photo.html
• CCAHA Preservation Bulletins, http://www.ccaha.org/publications/technical-bulletins
• Caring for Private and Family Collections from Northeast Document Conservation Center, http://www.nedcc.org/free-resources/preserving-private-and-family-collections/caring-for-private-and-family-collections
• Guide to caring for your treasures from American Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works, http://www.conservation-us.org/about-conservation/caring-for-your-treasures

Below are a summary of just a few of the tips you’ll find in the sources listed above:

• Photographs last longest in areas that are a stable (preferably cool) temperature that is not damp.
• Avoid using rubber bands to group photos as they dry out and stick to the photos, causing damage.
• Use photo corners to mount items in scrapbooks or albums – that way you can easily remove the photos and you avoid putting glue or adhesive directly on the photos.
• Store photos in boxes with lids and without handholds if possible to prevent dust and pests from damaging photos.
• Avoid framing and leaving valuable family photographs on display for long periods of time. Instead, make a copy and display that. Fading caused by light damage is irreversible.

Visit the sites listed above to learn more or post specific questions in the comments below.

Founders Day 2014

Carlos Holmes as President William C. Jason 

striking a thoughtful pose.

Written by: Cale McCammon

February 25th’s snowy weather didn’t dampen DSU’s spirits as we celebrated the university’s 183rd birthday, complete with birthday cake and tours of Loockerman Hall, the oldest building on campus and the former center of the university. As part of the celebration, students donned period-style costumes as Carlos Holmes, Director of News Services at the Office of Public Relations, dressed as President William C. Jason and provided insights into the history of the university.

Loockerman Hall, February 25, 2014.

Founders Day is an annual celebration of the university’s heritage from its beginnings in 1891 as the State College for Colored Students after the passage of the second Morrill Land Grant Act. The archives have a collection of past Founders Day programs, the oldest going back to 1942. We also have photographs starting in the 1970s. By all accounts, DSU has made a history of celebrating history.

You can see more photos from the day on the university's website here. 

Treasure: State College for Colored Students records

Written by: Emily Cottle

The original wooden box housing the SCCS records.

In January 2014, the archives was very excited to receive a call from the Administration building that they had a box of State College for Colored Students (SCCS) records they had found in a closet.  These records include grade cards for summer and extension school students at the SCCS dating back to the 1920s. The records arrived at the archives in a wooden box sorted by alphabetical dividers. The cards were transferred to archival folders maintaining their original arrangement within the box. Though the records no longer reside in it, the wooden box has also been retained.

The photos included in this post show the wooden box containing the records when they arrived and then their new archival housing.

The records after being rehoused into archival folders and boxes.

The archives would like to extend a sincere thank you to Rhonda Powell-Sargeant of the financial aid office who recognized the importance of these records and saw that they were transferred to the archives.  We also encourage anyone else on campus that has materials which document the history of the university to contact the university archives at x6130 or x7179 to discuss a potential transfer.

Come back next week for a recap of today’s rescheduled Founder’s Day festivities!

Additional posts in our Treasures series can be found here.

Treasure: The Echo, 1909-1912

Written by: Emily Cottle

This post is the first in our Treasures series. Each post in this series will focus on a particular item (or in this case, group of related items) that are considered important treasures of our collection.

The homepage of the Delaware Heritage Collection
displays a selection of recently added items.

This week’s treasures are the early issues of The Echo, which was the early school newspaper of Delaware State (or more accurately, the State College for Colored Students, as it was then known). In our collection we have 48 of these very early issues dating from 1909-1912. As you read about last month, we are currently scanning these valuable resources and uploading them to our Delaware Heritage Collection site. Thirty-seven issues have been digitized thus far with the final batch expected to be posted in March.

These newspapers contain a wide array of important information about the university at this time. It includes listing of the administration, faculty, and staff members, as well as detailed accounts of campus events and other local happenings. Issues also include essays or other articles often written by notable college personnel such as President William C. Jason and Lydia P. Laws, among many others.

You can view each page of the issue separately or download the complete PDF.

The digitized issues can be viewed here. 

Staff Profile: Cale McCammon

Written by: Cale McCammon

Cale hard at work processing
items from the photographs collection.

My name is Cale McCammon, and I’ve just started as an archival fellow here at the University Archives and Special Collections. I’m fresh out of graduate school, new to Delaware, and I’m ready to get my hands dirty. You can learn a little about my bio on the Contributors page, or you can continue reading and get to know me a little better.

DSU Archives: How did you decide you wanted to be an archivist?

Cale: While a student at UVA, I studied abroad in England and Ireland. We toured different cultural institutions like the British Library, and I suppose I got caught up in the mystique of things. After doing some research, it seemed like the profession would be a logical marriage of the subjects I was studying in college (English and history), and so I decided to dive into graduate school at UNC.

DSU Archives: What excites you the most about working at Delaware State University?

Cale: Everything, really! But the fact that the DSU’s archives is so young and beginning to grow makes it even more exciting for me. In this context, you can really make a difference. You can build ties with the community, you can communicate why it’s important to have an archive, and you can make those first noteworthy collections available to researchers. By the end of my stay here, I expect I’ll be as attached to the project as I am to my cats!

DSU Archives: What are your favorite materials to work with, and why?

Cale: It’s difficult for me to pick a favorite, but I will say that I am excited to start processing our collection of photographs. Because photographs are visual, they can often immediately communicate historic value to audiences, both in-person and online, and identifying people in them sometimes becomes a puzzle of its own. I expect to highlight some interesting finds over the next several months, so be sure to visit our blog again!

History: Delaware State University, 1993-present

Written by: Emily Cottle

Welcome back for the final part of this three part series on the history of Delaware State University. Be sure to check out part one or two if you missed them. This week picks up in 1993 during the tenure of President William B. DeLauder.

On July 1, 1993, Governor Thomas Carper signed Senate Bill 138, which officially changed the name from Delaware State College to Delaware State University (DSU). The photo at right shows Governor Carper with Representative Nancy Wagner, Senator Herman Holloway, Mrs. Vermell DeLauder, and President DeLauder at a reenactment of the bill signing.

President DeLauder’s tenure also include numerous campus improvements, such as the second phase of the William C. Jason Library addition, Warren Franklin residential halls, the Mishoe Science Center expansion, and the MBNA Building (renamed the Bank of America Building in 2008), and the Administration Building, among others. 

Under the tenure of DSU’s next president, Dr. Allen L. Sessoms, the first two doctoral programs were established: Educational Leadership and Interdisciplinary Mathematics and Mathematical Physics. By the end of President Sessoms’ term in 2008, DSU had launched a total of five doctoral programs and added five master’s degrees.  Enrollment continued to increase and grew by more than 15%, going from 3,178 students in 2003 to a school-record 3,756 in 2007.

While Dr. Claibourne D. Smith served as acting president, the Wellness Center was completed in the summer of 2009 and in January 2010 Dr. Harry L. Williams was sworn in as Delaware State’s 10^th president. DSU continued to thrive under his leadership expanding research initiatives and rising in the US News and World Report ranking of HBCUs to 9^th in 2013 from its initial ranking of 22^nd in the list’s first year in 2008.

From left to right, DSU Presidents Dr. William B. DeLauder, Dr. Allan L. Sessoms, acting president Dr. Claibourne D. Smith, and Dr. Harry Lee Williams.

To recap, the presidents during this period were Dr. William B. DeLauder (1987-2003), Dr. Allen L. Sessoms (2003-2008), Dr. Claibourne D. Smith [acting president] (2008-2010), and Dr. Harry L. Williams (2010-present).

Delaware State has a very long rich history and these three blog posts barely scratched the surface. They are meant to serve as a general introduction and future posts will highlight particular events or eras in more detail.

Sources:

"History." Delaware State University. http://www.desu.edu/history (accessed January 10, 2014).

"Presidential Tenure Highlights." Delaware State University.  http://www.desu.edu/administration/presidential-tenure-highlights (accessed January 10, 2014).

Skelcher, Bradley. Delaware State University. Charleston, SC: Arcadia Publishers, 2000. (accessed January 10, 2014).