Marathon Football

Marathon Football

In the tumult and chaos of the 1960s, Loyola College student Larry Evans came up with a new philanthropy concept: raising money by breaking records and playing three days of continuous flag football.  The games would be played  by students from different area colleges and the money would go to Santa Claus Anonymous, a Baltimore-area charity that

Continue Reading

Frederick James Ladd Photographic Collection

Frederick James Ladd Photographic Collection

This blog post was written by former Archives Associate, Armando Suarez. The Frederick James Ladd Photographic Collection (circa 1969-1999) is now available for research in the University Archives at  the Albert S. Cook Library. The finding aid is searchable online, while the physical materials can be consulted at the Archives and Special Collections room located

Continue Reading

STC on the Homefront

STC on the Homefront

In February of 1944, M. Theresa Wiedefeld, President of the State Teachers College at Towson (STC) and member of Class of 1904, co-authored a letter with the Alumni Association President, Myrtle Markley Groshans, and published it in a special newsletter called the “Alumni Victory News”. They were making the case for the establishment of the

Continue Reading

100 Years Ago Today: The Dig

Towson University has had its share of groundbreaking celebrations. Earl T. Hawkins, Towson President from 1947 until 1969, oversaw the beginnings of at least 13 buildings on campus.  He was in charge right as members of the Baby Boom generation entered college.  His administration oversaw one of the largest changes in programs and expansion as

Continue Reading

How Far We’ve Come

Last year while processing a collection, I came upon this remarkable entry in a notebook devoted to minutes of the “Faculty Meetings” — the predecessor to our modern-day University Senate. For those of you not well-versed in 120-year-old cursive, let me transcribe it for you. Principal’s Office September 16, 1893 A special meeting of the

Continue Reading

Normals and Pests

“Are you a Norm or are you a Pest?” Believe it or not, this isn’t really that unusual a question for students at the Maryland State Normal School, first incarnation of what is now Towson University. By 1876 — a decade after its creation — MSNS already had in place “literary societies”.  There is no

Continue Reading

Swimming at the LaMotte Pool

Tucked away in our photographs collection are four tiny snapshots of young women and a couple children swimming. While the photos are charming and bucolic — a beautiful pool in the middle of a country setting — it is the description on the back of the photos that offers up the most interesting part of

Continue Reading

Another Semester Done

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

Continue Reading

Skip to toolbar