February 17, 2010 – 11:11 PM
“A college should always be stable, but never standing still.” —James L. McConaughy, B.A., M.A., Ph.D., LL.D.
In the beginning, it wasn’t called MoCon. It wasn’t even called McConaughy Hall.
No, when that giant spaceship-shaped monstrosity dining hall first opened its doors in September 1962, it was simply known as the “Freshman Dining Hall.” And that’s what [...]
February 3, 2010 – 2:12 PM
So the ACB is abuzz with rumors—supposedly, and hopefully, true—of Dirty Projectors, Big Boi, and Black Lips possibly maybe playing Spring Fling. From the spring 1994 Argus, here’s an amusing anecdote from a past generation’s Spring Fling planning.
Sometime in early 1994, the Social Committee hired ’90s ska favorites the Mighty Mighty Bosstones to play Spring [...]
November 20, 2009 – 6:45 PM
If you’re a Wesleyan student, you’ve probably seen the new website by now. And you probably have a strong opinion on it—with particular respect to the embarrassing new Admissions site.
But what exactly is our basis for comparison?
The Wayback Machine provides a fascinating glimpse at what the past Wesleyan websites have looked like, including some godawful [...]
November 14, 2009 – 6:08 PM
The Argus has been focusing quite a bit lately on the how the class of ‘09 is faring—who’s got jobs, who’s unemployed, who’s looking for work abroad. It makes sense, for sure, when you consider that these kids had to graduate into the HOLY-SHIT-WORST-FINANCIAL-MELTDOWN-SINCE-THE-GREAT-DEPRESSION-OMG.
But still, it might be helpful, or comforting, or whatever, to remember [...]
November 10, 2009 – 2:17 AM
By most accounts, 1996 wasn’t all that long ago. Most of us were in elementary school. Chances are you have some memories from the year, albeit hazy ones. Wesleyan was more or less the same institution it is now, even if buildings and faces were different.
Yet there’s one area in which 1996 seems completely—and hilariously—prehistoric: [...]
September 6, 2009 – 3:27 PM
An AP photo of Ted Kennedy touring the Wesleyan campus with his son, then-freshman Ed Jr. ‘83, and his then wife Joan, on November 12, 1979:
[From the NY Times Caucus Blog, via Eli Allen]
March 16, 2009 – 10:20 AM
Also in the LIFE photo archive: photos of Wesleyan students and professors volunteering at the Connecticut Valley Hospital for the mentally ill in 1965:
And a series of 1968 photos of Wesleyan’s then-president, the dapper alumnus Edwin D. Etherington, at home with his family:Etherington was the president of the American Stock Exchange before taking over at [...]
The LIFE photo archive, recently released into the public domain by Google, reveals that Wesleyan University was the host of the first intercollegiate skateboarding championships, back in 1965:Browse through the archives for more photos of old-school Wesleyan, including this 1958 shot of a football game against Amherst on Andrus Field.
November 6, 2008 – 5:55 PM
Several of the photographers whose works are currently displayed in the Zilkha Gallery will be on campus tomorrow afternoon. Come for their panel discussion, Eye of History: The Camera as Witness, followed by a book signing and public reception:
Internationally renowned documentary photographers Wendy Ewald, Eric Gottesman and Susan Meiselas join acclaimed writer and critic David [...]
September 21, 2008 – 1:02 PM
Hannah Freece ‘09 writes in to ask:
Love history? Want to support your fellow students’ academic work?Join Historical Narratives, Wesleyan’s entirely student-run historyjournal! We publish a peer-reviewed journal of undergraduate papersand reviews each year and are looking for more editors for the2008-2009 edition. Students from all majors are welcome!
Don’t forget to pick up your free copy [...]
August 13, 2008 – 6:54 PM
Aurelius Piper, Sr., chief of Connecticut’s Golden Hill Paugussett tribe, died two weeks ago at the age of 92 in the tribe’s reservation in Trumbull. Piper was a great advocate for the rights of Native Americans and other minority groups, both locally in Connecticut and abroad.
The small Paugussett tribe has been recognized by Connecticut [...]
Wesleying alum Joe John Sanchez ‘07 is sharing his boner for MGMT with the Internet, in a comprehensive series of posts on his blog appropriately called BONER4MGMT which recount the days at Wes when those guys were generally called The Management, and expound on his bittersweet feelings about their mainstream exposure in such venues as [...]
Way back in the second week of Wesleying’s existence, Xue posted about the long-forgotten legend of Boon Tan, the most infamous pre-Internet meme Wesleyan had yet known back in the ’70s. Boon Tan languished in the subconscious of alumni of decades past until it was dredged up in April 2006 by blogging Wes grad [...]
April 23, 2008 – 10:38 AM
Paul Auster remembers Vietnam and student activism:
“…We at Columbia were powerless, and our little revolution was no more than a symbolic gesture. But symbolic gestures are not empty gestures, and given the nature of those times, we did what we could.”
From here.
August 15, 2007 – 10:45 PM
One anonymous commenter asked what the deal with the firebombing talk on the ACB is about. Surprisingly, this was not about chocolate sauce in various orifices, but rather, an incident that occurred 17 years ago in 1990.
An Argus Article from 2004 described the incident:
On April 7, 1990 at 4 a.m. a fist-sized rock was thrown [...]
So there’s actually A History of Hogwarts Wesleyan out there that you can actually buy from Amazon. I didn’t think this would be out on paperback for some reason considering the relatively limited audience of interest but there is!
Incidentally, I’ve actually known about this book’s existence for some time but have never actually gotten around [...]
So there’s actually A History of Hogwarts Wesleyan out there that you can actually buy from Amazon. I didn’t think this would be out on paperback for some reason considering the relatively limited audience of interest but there is!
Incidentally, I’ve actually known about this book’s existence for some time but have never actually gotten around [...]
The Wesleyan Connection reports:
“Our reputation was one of respect from most everyone,” recalls Bill Moody ’59, P ’91.” We did not come across as rich or preppy or jock-filled or hyper-social or racist or nerdy. We did not dominate a given group or project or sport.”
Moody, author of the recently-published book, A History of the [...]
Amanda Palmer ‘98, of Dresden Dolls fame, writes beautiful anecdotes and thoughtful reflections about her life as a musical artist and as a person. She occasionally references her years at Wesleyan in her recounting of her experience:
when i was 18 or 19, i remember living in the basement of eclectic, the society i [...]
Wesleying has covered the school’s attempts at providing student, faculty, and administrative Wikis in the past, but this time it’s some industrious Wes students starting them up on their own.
For the unhip and uninformed, Wikis are websites allowing users to collectively add and edit their content. The scope of Wikis can be as small as [...]
February 16, 2007 – 5:25 PM
Valerie Gillispie, one of Wesleyan’s Archivists, just notified us that Olin now has a Special Collections and Archives Blog! If you’re interested in old photographs or Wesleyan’s history, be sure to check back as they add more stuff!
January 30, 2007 – 2:40 PM
Presenting: Everything you will ever learn on a campus tour.
This will be on the exam.
Related:
January 16, 2007 – 12:59 AM
Ever wonder what Wesleyan’s website used to look like…ten years ago? Ok, I did. Shut up.
Wesleyan’s Website:
1997
1998
2002
January 3, 2007 – 3:02 AM
EastCo 1989
Not too much has changed since 1989, huh?
October 5, 2006 – 8:22 PM
You don’t even have to go to the Olin archives to find mind-blowing Argus articles. Check out this one on cell phones from a mere six years ago…Here’s an excerpt:
In a constantly changing world full of newfangled inventions like “computers” and “CD players” another recent technological advancement is becoming quite universal. This handy pocket-sized gizmo [...]
October 3, 2006 – 2:34 PM
Wesleyan’s website proudly claims as Wesfact #1 that “In the mid-1800’s, High Street–which runs through the center of the Wesleyan campus and borders College Row–was called “the most beautiful street in America” by literary legend, Charles Dickens.” Here’s a postcard showing what it looked like around that time (though I believe this picture is from [...]
October 3, 2006 – 2:25 PM
To those of you who took the 2002 US History AP test–Here’s a familiar DBQ for you:
Document HSource: Orestes A. Brownson, An address before the Society of the Mystical Seven at Wesleyan College, August 7, 1844.
I propose . . . to bestow . . . my remarks, my attention on several species of the genus [...]
September 24, 2006 – 6:25 PM
Here’s a really interesting old postcard showing the ruins of North College after a fire broke out on March 1, 1906. The fire was supposedly started accidentally by the Mystical 7, who met in the attic in those days. From The Mystical 7: A History:
Many of the Mystic Records were destroyed in the fire as [...]
September 24, 2006 – 5:09 PM
The glossy admissions booklets have come a long way from the pamphlets of yesteryear. Here’s one from the early 1900s. Image from The American Minerva.
September 24, 2006 – 3:13 PM
Another gem from the NYTimes Archives describes the heated debate for Wesleyan’s administration to embrace computers back in 1983. Here are my favorite quotes:
- A computer in every dormitory room?
- “That day may well be coming, but I’m not one to make predictions,” said Nathanael Greene, Wesleyan’s vice president for academic affairs.
- “If you take [...]
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