Last week I gave lightning talks to visiting elementary school students about what we do here in Towson University’s Special Collections and Archives. The very first thing I did was explain what archives are (collections of things that represent the history of the University) versus what special collections are (items that may not have anything
The records of the Lida Lee Tall School (circa 1919-1982) are now available for research in the University Archives at the Albert S. Cook Library. The finding aid is searchable online (http://library.towson.edu/cdm/compoundobject/collection/tuafa/id/673), while the physical materials can be consulted at the Archives and Special Collections room located on the 5th floor of the library. The
Arbor Day. It’s not the first thing that jumps to mind when someone says “state holidays”. But at the turn of the previous century, it was a significant day for Maryland schoolchildren, and therefore significant for Towson University’s predecessor, the Maryland State Normal School. While not a holiday, Arbor Day was a day set aside
Plans for the new Maryland State Normal School began long before the property for the campus was acquired. In the same 1910-1911 Annual Report in which Sarah Richmond stated her case for the need for a new building, she outlined what she expected of the architect the school would eventually hire, and included examples of
“Sometimes in the course of events, circumstances so combine as to set at naught the wisest of preconceived plans,” writes Sarah Richmond, Principal of the Maryland State Normal School in the Annual Report of 1910-1911, and making the case for funding a new building for her students. “In the last twenty-five years school architecture has
Towson University, formerly known as the Maryland State Normal School, the State Teachers College at Towson, Towson State College, and Towson State University, has had thirteen principals and presidents, three interim presidents, and one principal ex officio with founder Libertus Van Bokkelen. The office of Principal/President has had to contend with the same difficulties throughout
When I was a kid, my family took me to see “The Rescuers”. It’s a Disney movie about a couple of mice (voiced by Bob Newhart and Eva Gabor) who rescue a little girl from some nasty lady named “Madame Medusa” who’s hidden a diamond in the girl’s teddy bear and is trying to get
This post was written by Nadia Nasr, former head of Special Collections and University Archives. Last Wednesday Towson University Dining hosted an Old English Holiday Party. Seeing the publicity for this event reminded us about the Old English Christmas dinner that used to take place on campus, when Towson University was the Maryland State Normal
In a previous post, I talked about how Nadia and I pored over school catalogs to glean information for a presentation we crafted. In fact, we use the school catalogs for a lot of information about the school. I was a student here in the 1990s, and back then I had little understanding of how