Memories of MSU

"Memories of MSU" a Sesquicentennial Exhibition at the Michigan State University Museum
February 27 - December 30, 2005
Main and Heritage Galleries, MSU Museum.

The exhibition is drawn from extensive collections of paper ephemera, artifacts, uniforms, and memorabilia in the historical collections of the MSU Museum. It is supplemented with copies of material from the University Archives and Historical Collections and the MSU Library's Special Collections.

Below are the themes and topics which are covered in the exhibition in three major galleries of the Museum and the Student Union.

MAIN FLOOR GALLERY
Memories of MSU : The Growth of a Great University

1. Memories of MSU : The Growth of a Great University. Introductory wall including main title, a bust of Justin Morrill and a copy of the Morrill Act that established land-grant universities.

2. From a Clearing in the Forest. Illuminating the beginning of this university as a Land-Grant college
consisting of five buildings situated in a clearing in the forest.

3. Into the Pit : Class Registration. Photos and signs from "The Pit," early use of punch cards, and some of the equipment that created and sorted punch cards.

4. In Classroom, Lab and Field. Books, ephemera, equipment, Lab Row desk and other objects.

5. Life Outside the Classroom.
Residence halls and off-campus living, dances, formal dinners, on-campus transportation (bikes, cars, etc.) other recreations. 

6. Agriculture Plants the Seed. The role of agriculture on campus, including the campus farm field as
a classroom.

7. What to Wear? : Campus Fashions. Drawn from the Museum's clothing collections to replicate typical student outfits of various time periods from the 19th century to recent times. These will be accessorized with MSU pennants, badges, buttons, etc.

8. Professor Beal's Stream of History. Professor Beal created a chart using an image of a stream to represent the history and development of MAC up to 1913. Supplementing Beal's original fabric stream, the museum will create a new section to bring the history through 2000.

9. Into the 21st Century. The museum will provide a separate case for the 2020 Vision, new buildings, the expansion of the virtual university, a view of the campus of the future, etc.

10. MSU Museum: Contributing to the Future, Preserving the Past.
Including an 1890s display case and some early natural history
specimens and cultural objects.

11. On the Field of Battle : Spartan Sports Highlights.

12. Class Rivalry. Freshman beanies, rivalry between freshmen and sophomores, Class Rush
competitions, annual Barbecue.

13. Five Campus Traditions. The J-Hop, Pageants and Carnivals, Cap Night, Graduation Ceremonies,
and The Rock.

14. The Printed Word : Campus Publications.

15. Marching to the Beat of a Spartan Drummer.

16. Good Old Spartan Spirit.
Sparty, cheerleaders, school songs & cheers, the Izzone, and
miscellaneous early banners, pennants, posters and buttons, as well as memorabilia relating to Homecoming and student carnivals that provided financial support for the earliest teams. 

HERITAGE HALL GALLERY
Memories of MSU : The World is Our Campus 

17. A Tribute to Old College Hall.

18. The Campus, Then and Now.

19. - 22. Buildings in a Campus Park. Covering many original and existing buildings using photos, maps and artifacts from various structures. Campus planning and landscape design will include the gardens, farms and forests of MSU.

23. Campus Organizations : Fraternities and Sororities.

24. Campus Organizations : Serving Students and the Community.

25. Now Playing : World Class Entertainment.

26. Students and Faculty - Home and Abroad.

27. When Duty Calls : Plowboy Guards to ROTC.

28. Politics and Protest

29. Presidents and Other Campus Notables (working title)

STUDENT UNION BUILDING, First Floor Lounge

Memories of MSU : Town & Gown

Lansing / East Lansing communities.

30. Trolley Travels to and from Campus

31. Mail before E-mail

32. On the Avenue : Hangouts and Hot Spots

33. Stepping off Campus : Students and the Community. Homecoming parade, game celebrations, 1937 Labor Holiday, "Pigs vs Freaks" game.

Memories Photologue

Here are some photos from the MSU 150 exhibit. Click on each to get huge enlargements. Photos courtesy MSU Museum.... thanks Lora!

This fiberglass Sparty head debuted in 1956 and it was so top-heavy that escorts stood by in case the mascot got wobbly.  Members of Sigma Phi Epsilon served as Sparty and the off-duty head resided in their living room.  This mascot was retired in 1984.

Donald Ryan Lake,  a College of Arts & Letters Museum Studies Program intern from Springport, Mich., pulls exhibit co-curator Ilene Schechter in a Spartan Chariot, now installed in the MSU Museum lobby.  Alums may remember the chariot was used in the early 1990s at Spartan football games -- pulled around on the field before games by a giant fiberglass football that was constructed on a go-cart body.  Visitors to the MSU Museum are invited to climb aboard the chariot and snap pictures of this spirited part of MSU history and make more "Memories of MSU."

The notorious "Pit," where students registered for classes:  this IBM 083 card sorter was used to organize student enrollment cards. Notably, the ES got stuck in the pit for Calculus 2... only to later drop the class and his major.

MSU 150 links

Memories of MSU:
www.museum.msu.edu

MSU150 Celebration & events:
http://msu150.msu.edu/

ES Podcast Interview mp3
(listen to exhibit tour):
ES 17 podcast

Memories Photologue

One of the more dramatic artifacts in the exhibition is "Professor Beal's Stream," created on a 22-foot sheet of muslin on which the botany professor charted events from the school's founding to 1900. 

Included are the mundane (the first broken leg at a baseball game in 1874), to the more monumental (the construction of Wells Hall in
1877).  An inch width in the stream equaled an enrollment of 50 students and the stream widens to nearly 10 inches at 1900.  MSU
Museum curators decided to continue the stream from 1900 to 2000 documenting events for each year -- but not expanding the stream's width.  If it corresponded to student population, Professor Beal's Stream would be 66 feet wide today. 

A bike from 1890s MAC days.  Also featured in the exhibit is a bike that belonged to Ernie "The Can Man."

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