Allyn Lawrence is a Student Researcher for the Unearthing Towson’s History Project, a collaboration between the History Department and the Special Collections and University Archives. A senior History major, Allyn worked over the summer of 2021 to research and investigate Towson’s history of diversity. Her research focuses on the African American Studies Major that once
In 2016, to commemorate the 150th anniversary of Towson University, the book Towson University: The First 150 Years was created. This blog post is based on the section about the history of school colors as well as the alma mater from that publication. The first official school song, or alma mater, drew its inspiration from
Updates from the Fall of 2020 to the present day were contributed by Ani Allen, student worker, Fall 2023. A lot has changed since the coronavirus emerged in Wuhan, China in late 2019. In just a few months, the virus has dramatically altered daily life for those around the world – including students. This timeline
In November, 89.7 WTMD, held a party to commemorate 15 years of its current iteration as Towson University’s FM radio station. However, TU’s exploration and experimentation with radio has been a story almost 50 years in the making and encompasses many more call letters than WTMD. An Idea In October 1970, a committee made up
Sometimes when we look back at what has made Towson University successful, it feels like it was a matter of chance: somehow the right person just happened to be in the right place at the right time. Today we’re going to talk about how having the right person in the right place created not just
For over 80 years, when the children who attended the campus elementary school visited the library, they worked with the college librarian. They read and were read to, learned how to find items using the catalog, and were allowed to check out books from a curated children’s collection. But in 1949, the Lida Lee Tall School
In the spring of 1992, the campus of Towson State University was rocked by a hate crime. While defending her gay professor’s right to teach, an undergraduate named Hollie Rice was struck by a fellow student and left with a black eye. The assault on Rice was one of two hate crimes reported that year, although
A couple years before Donald “Doc” Minnegan joined the faculty at the Maryland State Normal School [MSNS] at Towson, another Physical Education teacher was already in place. A young woman with dark hair and dimples, 20-year-old Mary Elizabeth Roach was often mistaken for another student. The students in 1926 referred to her as “Our Faculty
To teach is to learn twice. – Joseph Joubert The dashing gentleman in this undated photograph is George LaTour Smith. Born in 1847 in Canandaigua, New York, Smith joined the faculty at the Maryland State Normal School in 1875, a year after his own graduation from Cornell University. MSNS was barely 10 years old and was
Lost in the excitement of Towson University’s 150th celebration is the anniversary of our first 100 years here on this campus. It’s easy to do — when talking about the big picture that is TU’s history, it seems hard to imagine not being on this campus of rolling hills. But I’m certain for the faculty