Category Archives: Guest Post

Posts by persons not currently affiliated with Purdue Archives and Special Collections.

(Dis)Content in the Heartland: Protest and Peace at Purdue by Devan Lindey

The traditional narrative of college life in the 1960s seen through journalistic coverage blurred the narrative by painting it as the “summer of love” and “days of rage.”[1] This image continued into the 1970s as the United States became more entangled in Vietnam. Protests riddled campuses across the country in retaliation to escalation in Vietnam and funding of military research at universities. John Thelin in Going to College in the Sixties argues we need to consider the tameness of college in the Sixties with fraternities, athletics, and admissions processes. I intend to examine a Purdue student tradition, the “Senior Cords,” to juxtapose the on-campus protests with the more mundane side of student life to give a more nuanced picture of student life in higher education.

More extreme attacks did occur at Purdue. In response to a flag desecration a “Student Affairs Committee of the Faculty Senate” was assembled to investigate. Personal intimidation as well as threats ensued while a member of the Committee was chased in their car and nearly ran off the road. Additionally, “a dean’s home was splattered by shotgun pellets.”[2] However, most of the protests in response to on campus issues or international events were far more tame than outright threats on lives. When President Nixon announced the invasion of Cambodia, students acted. We witness a spontaneous reaction by students in protest when over four hundred students rallied which resulted in some window breaking at the armory.[3] However, this event was followed shortly thereafter by a more peaceful retort to Nixon’s action when students distributed fliers calling for the campus and surrounding community to non-violently protest through the boycott of any store not displaying a particular sign.[4]

Handbill calling for a boycott

Despite promotion of peaceful methods of protest and boycott, students did advocate for more hostile methods. The assistant to the then President Hovde announced that some students were urged through handbills to equip themselves with “guns, knives, razors, etc.” in response to arrests.[5] Students did peacefully sit in the Union as a form of non-violent protest. However, the administration saw potential for violent confrontation to develop. While we must keep in mind that this source is officially from the administration and could therefore skew information to support its own actions, other sources corroborate such fears of the administration. Specifically, we can point to a handbill circulated by students titled “Police-State Terror at Purdue,” proclaiming that “Purdue must be destroyed.”[6]

Handbill calling for the destruction of Purdue

Administrative response to threats at the Union

Despite the tumultuous affairs of protests and violence, campus life for many continued unimpeded. Classes and teaching continued while many students either unaware or simply ignoring the dissent of others immersed themselves in campus life.[7] To view this side of student life, one can look to the “Senior Cords” worn by senior students on campus. The students adorned these clothing items with imagery of student organizations, personal interests, and popular culture of the time.

The Purdue Archives contain myriad pairs of pants and skirts worn by students that all contain elements revealing the more mundane and non-radical nature of student life, a contrast with the dominant narrative of the time. As an example, we can consider Richard Gehlbach’s “Senior Cords.” When we analyze the iconography of his pants, we witness a student engaged with on campus activities such as Collegiate 4H. Additionally, Gehlbach adorned his pants with popular culture images of Yogi Bear and the spies from Spy vs. Spy of the “Mad” magazine.[8]

His pants contain various other images showing the other side of student life that we need to take into consideration to grasp a more thorough picture of student culture in the protest era.

Gehlbach cords, front

Gehlbach senior cords, back

Purdue was no stranger to discontent though the protests at the campus were less volatile than others at Berkeley and Kent State. However, in contrast to this traditional narrative, student life often remained unbothered. An observance of student culture through campus traditions reveals a much more complex image of the protest era on college campuses. The “Senior Cords” are one such source through which we as scholars can engage with Thelin’s idea of the normalcy of student life. Some students truly remained content with having the typical college experience as exhibited through the “Senior Cords.”

References

[1] John R. Thelin, Going to College in the Sixties (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2018), xiii.

[2] Robert Topping, A Century and Beyond: The History of Purdue University (Purdue University Press, 1988), 329.

[3] Skip Wollenberg, “Nixon sends G.I.’s to Cambodia.” Purdue Exponent, 1 May 1970. Accessed via https://exponent.lib.purdue.edu/.

[4] Student Protest Materials, 1967-1984, B1F3, MSF 495, William Buffington Collection of Student Protest Papers, Purdue University Archives and Special Collections, Purdue University Libraries and Special Collections, West Lafayette, IN.

[5] Student Protest Materials, 1967-1984, B1F4, MSF 495, William Buffington Collection of Student Protest Papers, Purdue University Archives and Special Collections, Purdue University Libraries and Special Collections, West Lafayette, IN.

[6] Student Protest Materials, 1967-1984, B1F3, MSF 495, William Buffington Collection of Student Protest Papers, Purdue University Archives and Special Collections, Purdue University Libraries and Special Collections, West Lafayette, IN.

[7] Robert Topping, A Century and Beyond: The History of Purdue University (Purdue University Press, 1988), 333.

[8] Senior Cords, 1965, Box 1, 20180212.3, Richard A. Gehlbach senior cords, Purdue University Archives and Special Collections, Purdue University Libraries and Special Collections, West Lafayette, IN.

Bibliography

Primary Sources

Purdue University Exponent student newspaper. Accessed via https://exponent.lib.purdue.edu/.

Student Protest Materials, 1967-1984, Box 1, MSF 495, William Buffington Collection
of Student Protest Papers, Purdue University Archives and Special Collections,
Purdue University Libraries and Special Collections, West Lafayette, IN.

Senior Cords, 1965, Box 1, 20180212.3, Richard A. Gehlbach senior cords, Purdue University
Archives and Special Collections, Purdue University Libraries and Special Collections, West
Lafayette, IN.

Secondary Sources

Thelin, John. Going to College in the Sixties. Johns Hopkins University Press, 2018.

Topping, Robert. A Century and Beyond: The History of Purdue University. Purdue University
Press, 1988.

Blog post by guest blogger Devan Lindey. 

This blog post is by Devan Lindey, a third year PhD Candidate in the History Department at Purdue University. The blog post reflects Devan’s archival research in the course ILS 695, Digital and Analog Archives. Devan studies the history of higher education and legal history.

Note: In Spring 2020, students of the Digital and Analog Archives course (ILS 695) conducted research into hidden or lesser known aspects of student life in Purdue history. Each student conducted original archival research on their individual topics and selected source materials from the archives to digitize. Originally, the plan was for students in the course to create an online exhibit using the digital humanities tool, Omeka. Due to the interruption of COVID-19 in March, the course was partially reworked. Rather than creating a group online exhibit in Omeka, each student was given the option to translate their individual research papers into a different form of digital scholarship: published blog posts.  We are excited to share shortened versions of these research papers on the Purdue Archives and Special Collections blog!

Course Reflection: The Technology and Culture of Flight

The following is a guest blog post by Katie Martin, who recently graduated from Purdue University with a Bachelor of Arts degrees in History and American Studies.

As a senior History student, I had taken plenty of history classes. However, I have never experienced a class quite like HIST 395: Air and Space: The Technology and Culture of Flight. This junior research seminar was taught by Professor Michael Smith in collaboration with Tracy Grimm, the Barron Hilton Archivist for Flight and Space Exploration at Purdue Libraries Archives and Special Collections. To facilitate discussion and use of archival materials, the class met in Swaim Instruction Center, right across the hall from the Archives and Special Collections.

Amelia Earhart and George Palmer Putnam

Amelia Earhart and George Palmer Putnam

On the first day of class, we knew we were in for a different kind of history course. Professor Smith explained that by the end of the semester each student would complete a publishable 25-page paper using primary sources held in the Purdue collection. With Tracy’s great assistance, each student identified a topic and used class time to peruse Purdue’s physical and digital collections. I chose to focus my research on Amelia Earhart, specifically, how she and her publicist husband, George Palmer Putnam, worked together to craft her enduring public image.

I looked through several Amelia Earhart scrapbooks containing newspaper clippings relating to her lecture tours, her flights across the Atlantic, and her failed world flight attempt. I also read various correspondences between Earhart and people like Eleanor Roosevelt, Anne Morrow Lindbergh, and Edward C. Elliott, President of Purdue University during Earhart’s time on campus. I received permission to view the original materials.  Holding the physical materials in my hands provided a deep understanding of my topic and strong connection to the past. I also utilized the digitized Amelia Earhart Collection in Purdue e-Archives, which consists of more than 3,500 scans of photographs, maps, documents, and artifacts.

Daily Mirror newspaper clipping, June 19, 1928

Daily Mirror newspaper clipping, June 19, 1928

The research sessions were broken up by reading assignments and even field trips. During one memorable class period, we rode the Boilermaker Special to the Purdue Airport for a tour led by Dr. Thomas Carney, Professor of Aviation Technology. We also viewed and discussed the exhibit on display in the Archives at the time, Steps to the Moon: Selections from the Neil A. Armstrong Papers and the Eugene A. Cernan Papers. Most exciting of all, our class was invited to the opening of the Armstrong and Cernan papers on November 21. We heard Eugene Cernan and Carol Armstrong speak and even got the chance to shake their hands and discuss our experiences working with the collections.

The class picked up in intensity as we neared the end of the semester. In the final weeks, we were expected to submit a 5-page abstract to our classmates. One person per class presented their work for 30 minutes followed by a session of critique and discussion. Although this portion of the class was stressful, my fun and supportive classmates made the experience worthwhile. I completed my paper and am now in the process of publishing my work in a journal of popular culture. This class improved my research, writing, and presentation skills tremendously, provided opportunities to actively learn, and exposed me to persons and scholarship on an international scale.  I won’t soon forget working with the Amelia Earhart Collection and my experiences in this class!

This class is being taught again in the Fall of 2015 as HIST 495: Flight and Space Exploration: Archival Research Seminar.  Persons interested in the course are encouraged to speak with their advisor, Professor Michael Smith, or Tracy Grimm for more information.