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February 9th, 2021
To commemorate Black History Month, Purdue University Press is featuring excerpts of notable moments in black history at Purdue.
In this post we’re featuring a few excerpts and pictures from Purdue at 150: A Visual History of Student Life by David M. Hovde, Adriana Harmeyer, Neal Harmeyer and Sammie L. Morris.
On an overcast morning in May 1968, 129 students from the Black Student Union assembled at the steps of the Administration Building, nonviolently protesting discrimination on campus by symbolically placing bricks on the steps of Hovde Hall. The students delivered a petition to the University listing specific demands for change. It stated:
We demand that the University pressure its departments to recruit qualified black professors for the 1968–1969 school year.
We demand that the professors of the History Department integrate their segregated, bigoted, and insulting U.S. history courses.
We demand the immediate integration of student organizations.
We demand courses dealing with black culture.
We demand that the black arts be incorporated into the music and art appreciation courses.
We demand that the University compile a list of discriminatory housing and make this list public.
We demand more than a token integration of the administration.
We demand that the University see to it that black professors do not meet discrimination in procuring housing.
We demand that a course dealing with distortion be instituted as a general core requirement for all students.
“The day of the march we had already been told that we needed to get a brown paper bag and find a red brick. . . . (Purdue had red brick buildings everywhere). So, we each got our brick, put it in our little paper bag. . . . We assembled in Stewart Center, and we got in a single line, with our bricks in our paper bags, and one by one we marched to Hovde Hall. . . . Single file. Quietly. . . . We took our red bricks out of our brown paper bags and one by one we walked up the steps, and put a brick on the steps.”
— Marion Blalock, BS 1969, director of the Minority Engineering Program, 1973–2008
After decades of fighting for rights and representation, African American students began gaining new opportunities in academic and cultural programs. The Black Cultural Center (BCC), dedicated in the fall of 1970, offered a location for both learning and community building. Professor Singer Buchanan was hired as Purdue’s first coordinator of Black Student Programs in 1970. He articulated a vision for the BCC as an educational and social center, a place for people of different races and backgrounds to discuss issues, exchange feelings, and “emerge hopefully on the other side with a greater understanding of what each thinks, and feels, and believes. Graduate student John Houston became the first director of the BCC in 1972. He was succeeded by Antonio Zamora in 1973.
The Interdisciplinary Afro-American Studies Program at Purdue was approved in 1970. The option for students to major or minor in African American studies became available in the fall of 1971. The College of Engineering’s Minority Engineering Program was established in 1974, with alumna Marion Blalock serving as its inaugural director. The BCC brought Muhammad Ali to campus in 1976, sponsoring a lecture he gave on the topic of friendship.
Two undergraduate students, Edward Barnette and Fred Cooper, established the Black Society of Engineers (BSE) in 1971 as a means of improving black engineering student retention and recruitment. Barnette served as the first president of the new student organization. The society’s president, Anthony Harris, contacted students at universities across the country and, on April 10–12, 1975, hosted the first meeting of what would become known as the National Society of Black Engineers.
By the 1970s, students were increasingly taking advantage of the press to make their voices heard. The Black Hurricane newspaper, a publication of the Black Student Union, published its first issue in 1970. It advocated for total freedom for African American people, with a sphere “like a hurricane” that “knows no boundaries to its destination.” Several other independent student newspapers, such as Red Brick, made their debuts during the decade.
As a sophomore in the fall of 1978, Kassandra Agee Chandler was elected Purdue’s Homecoming queen, the first African American Homecoming queen in Purdue’s history. A representative of Meredith Residence Halls, she competed against twenty-three other competitors to win her title. When reflecting upon the nomination and campaign experience, she remembered hearing, “They’ll never let you win this.” But Agee Chandler drew upon the strength of her family, friends, and dorm mates, as well as her own tenacity. She worked tirelessly on her campaign, going door-to-door and hanging posters. She remembered, “I didn’t let it get to me. I never let anyone talk me down. . . . In the end, I was able to make my family and sisterhood proud.”
In addition to her roles as Homecoming queen and leader for African American students on campus, Agee Chandler was active in extracurricular activities. She was a member of Alpha Lambda Delta freshman honor society, Purdue Pals, and the Black Voices of Inspiration Choir. Agee Chandler was also a president and founding member of Purdue’s Society of Minority Managers. In addition, she served as a social counselor for the Business Opportunity Program in the School of Management and was a member of the Mortar Board senior honor society. Her involvement reflected her role as a leader on campus as well as her excellent academic record.
In 1890 George W. Lacy, or Lacey, completed a degree in pharmacy, becoming the first African American graduate of Purdue. At the time, Pharmacy was an academic organization separate from the university, and as a result, Lacy’s success is sometimes overlooked. In 1894 David Robert Lewis of Greensburg, Indiana, completed his bachelor’s degree in civil engineering, becoming the first African American graduate of a traditional four-year program at Purdue.
Purdue at 150 is available for 30% off on the Purdue University Press website when you use the code PURDUE30.
Filed under: PurduePressFebruary 9th, 2021
Parrish Library’s Featured Database will give you a very brief introduction to the basic features of one of our specialized subscription databases. This time we’re featuring IBISWorld Industry Reports, brought to you by IBISWorld.
IBISWorld Industry Reports include information on over 700 US industries in the US economy at the granular level covering industry-specific titles from the popular to the not-so-popular.
The List of Business Databases is the alphabetical list of the databases specially selected for those in a business program of study. Access the databases off-campus with your Purdue login and password.
Click Getting Started with IBISWorld Industry Reports to see the basics of using IBISWorld Industry Reports.
IBISWorld Industry reports include key statistics, industry outlook, major companies, and much more.
Some other resources you might want to explore are:
Featured Database comes to you from the Roland G. Parrish Library of Management & Economics. If you would like more information about this database, or if you would like a demonstration of it for a class, contact parrlib@purdue.edu. Also let us know if you know of a colleague who would benefit from this, or future Featured Databases.
Since usage statistics are an important barometer when databases are up for renewal, tell us your favorite database, and we will gladly promote it. Send an email to parrlib@purdue.edu.
Filed under: database, general, MGMTFebruary 9th, 2021
Newly Signed “Read and Publish” License Confirms Shared Commitment to Open Access
New York, NY, February 9, 2021—ACM, the Association for Computing Machinery, and Purdue University have entered into a new transformative Open Access (OA) “read and publish” agreement under the ACM OPEN program. The three-year agreement, which includes regional campuses, will allow for Purdue corresponding authors to publish an unlimited number of OA research articles in the ACM Digital Library across ACM’s entire portfolio of journals, magazines and conference proceedings. Regular access to the rest of the ACM Digital Library’s subscription contents is also provided for in the license. The new agreement demonstrates a shared commitment between ACM and Purdue to further sustainable OA publishing in computer science.
“We are proud to partner with ACM, who understands, as we do, that the benefits of open access publishing are numerous for both author and audience,” says Assistant Dean for Collections and Access, Rebecca Richardson. “Our new partnership with ACM creates greater opportunities for Purdue researchers and authors to choose a cost-free open access option and continue our mission to make high-quality scholarship more equitable and accessible to all learners.”
Under the new agreement, all new ACM research articles published by Purdue corresponding authors will be made OA in perpetuity in the ACM Digital Library (dl.acm.org) at no cost to authors, with default CC-BY author rights for article reuse. Additionally, all accepted new ACM research articles from any Purdue author (corresponding or not) will be automatically deposited into Purdue’s institutional repository.
“Purdue University’s faculty and students are among the most prolific authors of high quality and impactful research articles in ACM’s portfolio of scholarly journals, conference proceedings, and technical magazines published in the ACM Digital Library worldwide”, noted Scott Delman, ACM’s Director of Publications, who went on to say that “ACM is incredibly excited to enter into this new ACM Open partnership, which will enable Purdue-affiliated scholars to reach an even larger readership and greater impact on the global Computing community.”
Since its launch in late January 2020, more than 70 institutions worldwide decided to begin participation in the ACM OPEN license model. The newly signed agreement with Purdue continues ACM’s collaborative efforts towards becoming a sustainable, fully OA research publisher for the computing community.
About ACM
ACM, the Association for Computing Machinery, is the world’s largest educational and scientific computing society, uniting educators, researchers and professionals to inspire dialogue, share resources and address the field’s challenges. ACM strengthens the computing profession’s collective voice through strong leadership, promotion of the highest standards, and recognition of technical excellence. ACM supports the professional growth of its members by providing opportunities for life-long learning, career development, and professional networking.
About Purdue University
Purdue University is a top public research institution developing practical solutions to today’s toughest challenges. Ranked the No. 5 Most Innovative University in the United States by U.S. News & World Report, Purdue delivers world-changing research and out-of-this-world discovery. Committed to hands-on and online, real-world learning, Purdue offers a transformative education to all. Committed to affordability and accessibility, Purdue has frozen tuition and most fees at 2012-13 levels, enabling more students than ever to graduate debt-free. See how Purdue never stops in the persistent pursuit of the next giant leap at purdue.edu.
Filed under: general, Open_AccessFebruary 4th, 2021
To commemorate Black History Month, Purdue University Press is featuring excerpts of notable moments in black history at Purdue.
In this post, we’re featuring a chapter from John Norberg’s Ever True: 150 Years of Giant Leaps at Purdue University on the desegregation of Purdue University’s Residence Halls.
In the summer of 1946 Winifred and Frieda Parker, two sisters from Indianapolis, prepared for their freshman year at Purdue University. They were excited and nervous like all freshmen.
Excellent students, after being admitted to Purdue they applied for a room in a residence hall where all freshmen women were required to live. But Winifred and Frieda were denied.
They were African Americans.
During World War II, by federal mandate, African American male military personnel had been housed in Cary Hall — something that had not occurred throughout all the previous years of the University’s existence.
But when the war ended and military personnel left, Purdue continued its practice of refusing African American students housing in residence halls. Some men were placed in a converted home that was occupied by international students. The rest, including women, had to find housing with families across the river in a segregated Lafayette neighborhood around the Lincoln School at Fourteenth and Salem Streets. African American children attended that segregated school through eighth grade and then went to the integrated Jefferson High School. All Lafayette school grade levels were not integrated until 1951. In West Lafayette there were written restrictions in neighborhoods against renting or selling property to people who were not “pure white.”
One African American student denied access to a Purdue residence hall went on to become chief justice of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in Philadelphia — one step below the U.S. Supreme Court. During his long, successful career, Judge A. Leon Higginbotham Jr. recounted his experiences at Purdue and credited them with convincing him to become an attorney and civil rights advocate.
“In a career of energetic accomplishments and unambiguous liberalism, Judge Higginbotham received much recognition as a legal scholar and civil rights advocate, including the nation’s highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom,” the New York Times said in his December 1998 obituary. “Some historians say Judge Higginbotham was one of a handful of black jurists President Lyndon B. Johnson considered as candidates to integrate the Supreme Court before he named Thurgood Marshall in 1967.”
Higginbotham enrolled at Purdue to study engineering and was placed in International House, where students slept together in a top-floor room with open windows. The room was very cold in winter. It was believed that open-air circulation helped stop the spread of viruses, and cold dorms were common in fraternities and sororities. Some students liked them. Others, including Higginbotham, did not.
In 1944 Edward Elliott was president of Purdue, and his office was always open to students. Elliott had met Higginbotham previously. Higginbotham and another student protested that the Union barbershop would not cut the hair of African American students. Elliott told them he would buy clippers to be kept in the barbershop so they could cut each other’s hair.
Now Higginbotham was entering Elliott’s office with another request. He asked to be placed in a Purdue residence hall where students slept in warm rooms.
What happened next was retold many times by Higginbotham but was never mentioned by Elliott. “In emotional speeches, the judge . . . described how a white college president at Purdue University had flatly told him when he was a college freshman in 1944 that the school was not required under law to provide black students with heated dormitories and, therefore, never would,” the New York Times stated.
According to Higginbotham, Elliott told him he would never be allowed to live in the residence hall, and if he didn’t like it, he should leave Purdue. Higginbotham did leave. In the fall of 1945 he entered Antioch College in Ohio and in 1949 was admitted to Yale Law School.
It’s not known how many African Americans were enrolled at Purdue in the mid-1940s, because the University did not then keep records of students by race. African Americans who attended Purdue at the time estimated there were not more than twenty-five.
In a paper titled “Evolution of the Black Presence at Purdue University,” Alexandra Cornelius said, “Between 1940 and 1951, African Americans began attending Purdue in increasing numbers. Despite their proven abilities, African American students in every college in the state were discriminated against both on and off campus. . . . West Lafayette restaurants did not admit African Americans. Blacks were only allowed to eat in the Union Building or the cafeteria during lunch time.”
Nationally, The Negro Motorist Green Book, published from about 1936 to 1966, was a guide to African Americans as they traveled through the country. Jim Crow laws that enforced segregation were in effect not only in the South but in many parts of the country. In their hometowns, minorities knew where they were welcome and unwelcome. But they did not know this when they were on the road. So the Green Book was their guide, listing hotels, restaurants, taverns, gas stations, and all manner of businesses where they would be welcome and safe. The 1949 guide lists only one business open to African Americans in Lafayette — the Pekin Café at Seventeenth and Hartford Streets. That was in the heart of the segregated African American neighborhood. There were other establishments in Lafayette open to minorities that didn’t make the Green Book. But discrimination was the norm of the day.
A Social Action Committee at the Purdue Methodist Church Wesley Foundation was opposed to segregation and sent African Americans to various businesses in Lafayette and West Lafayette to see what would happen. In February 1947 the committee reported that of nineteen restaurants investigated, five refused to serve African Americans, six did serve them but were rude and hesitant about it, and some of the employees who did serve blacks were not aware they were breaking management policy. Three movie theaters would only permit African Americans to sit in the balconies. No barbershop in Lafayette, West Lafayette, or Purdue would cut the hair of African Americans.
Winifred, the younger of the two Parker sisters, had graduated number one in her high school class in May 1946. Frieda was second in her class and had graduated five months earlier in January. She completed a semester at West Virginia State College but decided to transfer. In early July 1946 both young women were admitted to Purdue. Their father, Frederick Parker, was a graduate of Amherst College in Massachusetts who had done graduate work at Harvard and Indiana Universities. He was the former head of mathematics at the African American Crispus Attucks High School in Indianapolis and had moved on to become a consultant to the Indianapolis Public Schools system. Their mother, Frieda Parker, was a graduate of Butler University in Indianapolis.
Immediately upon their being accepted, Mrs. Parker took her daughters to Purdue to meet with administrators. According to a statement written and signed by the Parkers in September 1946, they met with the registrar, who told them that while admissions had been closed prior to July, Winifred and Frieda were accepted “as a special case” because of their outstanding personal and academic records.
The Parkers next went to Clare Coolidge, acting dean of women, to obtain student housing in a residence hall. Coolidge gave them residence hall applications and told them to complete and mail them as soon as possible. The applications from the Parkers were rejected with a statement that the number of students seeking housing exceeded the spaces available.
The following day the Parkers received a letter from Coolidge. Parker said Coolidge was “gracious” to the family throughout the experience, but her letter was blunt. It stated: “I was informed by the [Purdue] President’s Office yesterday that at its last meeting the Board of Trustees of the University had discussed the question of housing negro students in the residence halls and felt it was not feasible for the present. Had I known of this action, I would, of course, have saved you and the girls the embarrassment of making an application which can only be refused.”
The most recent meeting of the board of trustees had been on June 22, 1946. The written minutes of that meeting make no mention of a discussion concerning African American students in the residence halls. However, at a meeting of the board on April 17 and 18, 1946, the topic did come up, without any official decision being recorded. Minutes of the meeting state: “[Board] Secretary [and University vice president Frank] Hockema presented an application for admission to Men’s Residence Halls from a negro student in the University. After discussion and by consent, the foregoing report was received as information.” A newspaper reporter was at the meeting but he did not write about the discussion.
Parker contacted Faburn DeFrantz, director of the African American Senate Avenue YMCA in Indianapolis. DeFrantz was a civil rights leader in the state who had worked on integrating housing at Indiana University. DeFrantz told the Parkers they should all meet with Hovde. “Our hope was that we could show President Hovde that it was an injustice for our own state college to discriminate against its own supporters, the citizens and taxpayers of Indiana, regardless of their color or their religion,” Parker said. “We had heard that this new president was fair and just and therein lay our hope and prospects.”
They were unable to arrange an appointment with Hovde and instead met with Hockema, who told them the residence halls were full. Asked if the University had a policy that prohibited African Americans in the residence halls, Hockema said no. But “he admitted that such might be the case from ‘custom and usage.’”
Taking part in the conversation was one man who was Caucasian. After the meeting with Hockema he went to the office of the director of residence halls and said his two nieces were enrolling as freshmen in the fall. He was told there were several rooms available for them.
Parker and DeFrantz returned to Hockema. “We pleaded and we begged,” Parker wrote. “We insisted a man in so esteemed a position must be able to make the decision even if he had no precedent.”
Hockema said he could not go against the position of the trustees, who had told him to hold off on admitting African Americans to the residence halls.
Following their meetings at Purdue, Parker and DeFrantz contacted Indiana governor Ralph Gates, who was “sympathetic” to their position. Gates contacted one or more of the trustees and probably Hovde.
On December 16, 1946, Parker received a five-page letter from Hovde, who went into great detail, stating that he opposed discrimination in any form, but societal change would take many years and “will not be completed in your lifetime or mine.”
The University had no written policy excluding African Americans from the residence halls, Hovde said. But he also noted that over the years three or four African American women had applied to be admitted and had been rejected. “These have been refused,” he wrote, “not because we wished to discriminate, but because the administration did not think it wise to jeopardize the successful operation of the halls, jeopardize our incoming number of women enrollees in the halls; because administrative officers and faculty felt that neither our women students nor their parents were ready yet for true social democracy in living. The situation, therefore, exists, not because we of Purdue believe in discrimination of any kind, but because the decision was thought to be in the best interests of the University and its welfare.” They were afraid students would refuse to live in a residence hall with African Americans, placing a financial strain on the University’s ability to retire construction bonds.
In his letter to Parker, Hovde concluded, “You realize and understand, I am sure, the difficulties I have in persuading and influencing others to my point of view in these matters. . . . I must use my own method of accomplishing my aims. I am personally sure they are right and will produce results more quickly than other methods. Otherwise I would act differently.” Frustrated, Frieda and Winifred attended classes at Purdue in the fall of 1946 and lived in a home in the segregated Lafayette community. They took buses to and from campus. But change came. Hovde ended discrimination at the Union barbershop, and in January 1947 the Parkers were admitted to Bunker Hill Residence Hall.
Soon after the Parkers moved in, the students voted on leadership for their residence hall.
Winifred Parker was elected president of Bunker Hill.
Ever True is available for 30% off on the Purdue University Press website when you use the code PURDUE30.
Filed under: PurduePressJanuary 26th, 2021
Parrish Library’s Featured Database will give you a very brief introduction to the basic features of one of our specialized subscription databases. This time we’re featuring Mintel, brought to you by Mintel Group Ltd.
Mintel includes market research reports for Europe, the UK, and the US that cover a variety of sectors including consumer goods, travel and tourism, financial industry, internet industry, retail, and food & drink.
The List of Business Databases is the alphabetical list of the databases specially selected for those in a business program of study. Access the databases off-campus with your Purdue login and password.
Click Getting Started with Mintel to see the basics of using Mintel.
Mintel reports discuss market drivers, market size & trends, market segmentation, supply structure, advertising and promotion, retail distribution, consumer characteristics, and market forecasts.
Some other resources you might want to explore are:
Featured Database comes to you from the Roland G. Parrish Library of Management & Economics. If you would like more information about this database, or if you would like a demonstration of it for a class, contact parrlib@purdue.edu. Also let us know if you know of a colleague who would benefit from this, or future Featured Databases.
Since usage statistics are an important barometer when databases are up for renewal, tell us your favorite database, and we will gladly promote it. Send an email to parrlib@purdue.edu.
Filed under: database, general, MGMT, UncategorizedJanuary 21st, 2021
We talked to Purdue University Press Director Justin Race about navigating a university press though a pandemic, what the last year has taught us, and what he’s concentrating on as 2021 begins.
Q: What was/is it like directing a university press in the midst of a pandemic?
Justin Race: Strangely, the suddenness of it was a blessing. There was no time to form committees or to debate. One week COVID-19 was a possibility still seemingly far away. The next week it felt like something really could happen that impacted us directly. The week after that we were working remotely. Necessity is a good motivator, and we addressed whatever challenges that came up as they emerged. Nearly a year later, it feels more “normal” to be working from homes than it would be to report to the office. I’m most grateful that I’m blessed with a flexible, understanding, and patient staff. It was an all-hands-on-deck, do-what-needs-to-be-done shift. Everyone pitched in.
Q: Has this past year substantially changed any of your views on running a university press, big or small picture?
Race: Some of us miss the energy and comradery of being physically together. Others enjoy the flexibility of working from home. At the end of the day, we have a job to do, wherever we’re doing it, and I’m proud of my team that we are getting it done. I’m also grateful that we work in an industry where that is possible. Most authors we publish I will never actually meet in person—everything can be done digitally, and we publish authors who live all around the world. It’s odd, but it turns out the same is true for staff: we may only be a few miles from one another, but it’s possible to do almost everything digitally and remotely. Personally I don’t feel that’s ideal, but it’s good that it’s possible.
Q: What kind of effect does the pandemic have on your vision for Purdue University Press and the whole university press world going into 2021?
Race: Nobody likes uncertainty, and of the many ills that COVID-19 has brought, uncertainty has been a constant. People speculate on what the “new normal” will be after the pandemic passes—I have no idea, and for the sake of running a press as well as my mental health, I try to focus on the immediate. What needs doing now? What challenges can we overcome? What’s most pressing? Authors write, readers read, publishers publish. That was true before COVID-19, is true during COVID-19, and it will be true after COVID-19. Though there’s much uncertainty, the pursuit of knowledge and importance of a marketplace of ideas are certain. Though so much has changed over the past year, it’s just as important to remind ourselves what hasn’t changed.
Q: What are some ways that Purdue University Press is unique?
Race: We’re a small group and we’ve been together for a long time. We know each other well and we trust one another. The intimacy of our group has always fostered a shared mission and common purpose—there are no silos, and every employee has a seat at the table and a voice. That’s essential at all times, and it’s bond that COVID-19 cannot break.
Thank you so much to Justin for his time. You can find some other blog posts by our director here:
Putting the “Purdue” in Purdue University Press: Letter from the Director
Looking Back and Looking Forward; Thinking Local and Thinking Global
Filed under: PurduePressJanuary 13th, 2021
Purdue University Press has a fascinating collection of books on the history of flight, from the writings of eight early women aviators to stories on the lives of notable Hoosier pilots. Read through the list below, or check out the rest of our books on flight & space.
by Fred Erisman
Amelia Earhart’s prominence in American aviation during the 1930s obscures a crucial point: she was but one of a closely knit community of women pilots. In Their Own Words takes up the writings of eight early women pilots—Harriet Quimby, Ruth Law, sisters Katherine and Marjorie Stinson, Amelia Earhart, Louise Thaden, Ruth Nichols, and Anne Morrow Lindbergh—as evidence of the ties between the growth of American aviation and the changing role of women.
Their writings confront issues relating to the developing technology and possibilities of aviation, the importance of assimilating aviation into daily life, and detail the part that women might—and should—play in advancing aviation. These writings also talk about how aviation may enhance women’s participation in contemporary American society.
by Alex M. Spencer
British Imperial Air Power examines the air defense of Australia and New Zealand during the interwar period. It also demonstrates the difficulty of applying new military aviation technology to the defense of the global Empire and provides insight into the nature of the political relationship between the Pacific Dominions and Britain.
by Ralph H. Schneck and Donald R. Schneck
Cheerio and Best Wishes is told entirely through letters written by a young Hoosier pilot to his family and friends during service in World War II. One hundred thirty-eight letters are presented in the book, curated by his family and recently rediscovered by his son, along with carefully created photograph albums.
The letters and pictures in this book offer a comprehensive story of how US airmen were prepared and trained for war, and detail the daily experience of a bomber pilot flying missions over Germany.
by Henry R. Lehrer
The systems, regulations, and technologies of civil aviation that we use today are the product of decades of experimentation and political negotiation, much of it connected to the development of the airmail as the first commercially sustainable use of airplanes.
Flying the Beam draws on period documents, pilot memoirs, and firsthand investigation of surviving material remains to trace the development of aeronautical navigation of the US airmail airways from 1917 to 1941. From the lighted airways of the 1920s through the radio navigation system in place by the time of World War II, this book explores the conceptualization and ultimate construction of the initial US airways systems.
by Ruth Ann Ingraham
“Cap” Cornish, Indiana Pilot tells the story of Clarence “Cap” Cornish, a Hoosier pilot whose life spanned all but five years of the Century of Flight. Dedicating his life to flight and its many ramifications, Cornish helped guide the sensible development of aviation as it grew from infancy to maturity. Through his many personal experiences, the story of flight nationally is played out.
Cornish’s many accomplishments include piloting a “Jenny” aircraft during World War I, serving as chief pilot for the Fort Wayne News-Sentinel, monitoring and maintaining safe skies above the continental United States during World War II, and directing Indiana’s first Aeronautics Commission. In 1995, at the age of ninety-seven, he was recognized by Guinness World Records as the world’s oldest actively flying pilot
You can get 30% off all Purdue University Press titles by entering the code PURDUE30 at checkout on our website.
Filed under: PurduePressDecember 18th, 2020
As it has the previous 59 years at Purdue University Press, the work of publishing important scholarship pressed on in 2020. This year the Press published 28 new titles by 36 unique authors and editors, as well as the countless contributors to edited collections. There were also several issues added to our subscription and open access journals.
Titles released this year ranged from two essential resources on Parkinson’s disease to Escaping Extermination, a Holocaust memoir published for the first time nearly 80 years after it was written. Another covers the unique history of Indiana’s round barns while Cat and Conservationists takes a deep dive into the conversation around feral and outdoor cats. If these are not your preferred subjects, maybe you’d like to dig into the history of one of America’s favorite garden annuals, the zinnia.
Perhaps the biggest beneficiary of 2020 was our series Purdue Studies in Aeronautics and Astronautics, adding four new titles. John Houbolt: The Unsung Hero of the Apollo Moon Landings by William F. Causey, released in March, at last gives engineer John Houbolt his due for his role in convincing NASA to utilize the Lunar Orbit Rendezvous method that allowed safe travel for Americans to the moon and back. Released in May, A Reluctant Icon: Letters to Neil Armstrong is the second collection of letters sourced from Purdue’s own archives curated by James R. Hansen, Armstrong’s authorized biographer. Through Astronaut Eyes: Photographing Early Human Spaceflight by Jennifer K. Levasseur and British Imperial Air Power: The Royal Air Forces and the Defense of Australia and New Zealand Between the World Wars by Alex M. Spencer were both released in June.
Our Central European Studies series also added three new titles: Croatian Radical Separatism and Diaspora Terrorism During the Cold War by Mate Nikola Tokić, Teaching the Empire: Education and State Loyalty in Late Habsburg Austria by Scott O. Moore, and On Many Routes: Internal, European, and Transatlantic Migration in the Late Habsburg Empire by Annemarie Steidl.
You can find the catalogs that cover our full title output here.
On September 29 Purdue University Press celebrated its 60th anniversary. In the weeks leading up to the anniversary the Press highlighted our relationship with Purdue University with the blog series Putting the “Purdue” in Purdue University Press. The rest of our blog continued to grow, featuring interviews with our many interesting authors, guest posts by others, and helpful books lists.
It should go without saying that the 60th year of scholarly publishing at Purdue University Press was not a predictable one. Starting in March, the year was spent working from the safety of our own homes rather than in the company of our coworkers, and events planned to commemorate our milestone were cancelled or reimagined entirely. In considering this unprecedented year we are endlessly thankful for all who support Purdue University Press in so many ways. While it is worth acknowledging that some of our difficulties pale in comparison to those that so many faced in 2020, we appreciate the opportunity to continue the important work of university presses so that we celebrate another anniversary 60 years from now.
To keep in touch with us in 2021, make sure to follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and sign up for our email newsletter.
If you have not heard yet, Purdue University Press is running a 40% off sale on all orders through the end of the year. All you need to do to redeem is enter discount code 21GIFT40 when checking out on our website.
Filed under: PurduePressDecember 18th, 2020
We talked to Fred Erisman, the author of In Their Own Words: Forgotten Women Pilots of Early Aviation.
In Their Own Words takes up the writings of eight women pilots as evidence of the ties between the growth of American aviation and the changing role of women.
Q: What was your main goal in undertaking this project?
Fred Erisman: I’m aiming at recovering and calling attention to some largely unknown or little-examined documents of women’s history. The eight women I discuss are known to aviation historians, but, with the exception of Earhart and Anne Morrow Lindbergh, are otherwise invisible to the larger public. The writings they left behind – Journalism, autobiography, fiction, etc. – help to expand our understanding of the women’s movement throughout its twentieth-century history. The works give a new window through which to examine the relationship of women and aviation, how women of five decades came to grips with recurring issues of women’s rights and abilities, and how women (as opposed to men) viewed aeronautical technology and the airplane.
In the case of Louise Thaden and Ruth Nichols, their forays into fiction give readers yet another way to see and reflect on how two notable women viewed aviation, the times, and the future. One created an aeronautical dystopia and the other an American aviation utopia, yet both embraced the belief that flight was a special, even purifying, endeavor.
Q: Which of these aviators were new to you? Were there any stories that were particularly surprising/impressive?
Erisman: I have to point to the two Ruths – Ruth Law and Ruth Nichols. The more I learned of them the more impressed I became. Ruth Law was among the earliest of the record-setters (1916), made her living as a pilot, expressed what I have to believe was a genuine desire to join the military, and took real pride in being allowed to wear the trousered uniform of the U.S. Army. (This was 20 years before Earhart’s penchant for trousers caused twittering among the public.) Her writings make a strong case for women’s being in the military and, more generally, their calls for being treated on an equal plane with men.
Ruth Nichols impressed me with her vision of an American aeronautical paradise as reflected in her unfinished novel, Sky Girl, and with her early recognition of space as the next “aeronautical” frontier confronting women. At age 58 she presented herself to the American space program and proceeded to blow away tests judging her tolerance for g-forces, weightlessness, and sensory deprivation. She was an outspoken supporter of women in space until shortly before her death, and gives readers a new slant on what constitutes the “right stuff.”
Q: Do you think the stories of these women and have the potential to ring true even now? Any in particular that you remember?
Erisman: Unquestionably. The stories of these eight pilots are stories of hope, aspiration, challenge, and competency – issues as applicable to the women of today as they are to those of the teens, 20s, or 30s. It just happens that these women chose to face the challenge of a new technology, a profession that had become male-dominated (by default as much as by design), and a society that almost daily was having to adapt to a changing world.
These are all “airplane” stories. Change the specifics, retain the challenges, and they are as pertinent for women of the twenty-first century as they were for those of the twentieth. There is very little distance between our admiring them for all they did, and our admiration for Tammie Jo Shults and the aviation skills that help her to pilot her southwest Airlines 737 to safety after its explosive decompression. The challenges of flying remain, whether in mastering the stick-and-wire craft of early aviation or the sophisticated craft flown by today’s commercial and military pilots.
Q: Few if any of these aviators identified with the feminist/suffragist movements of their time (you mention this in the introduction of the book), but they all seemed to take their own route advocating for women’s causes, why do you think this is?
Erisman: They were stout believers in the equality and ability of women, but were realists about the mechanisms of change. They all recognized that the profession they loved was male-dominated. They also recognized that it was an individualistic one, in which women could be as effective acting singly as they might be in groups. Aviation was an area where male-female equality could easily and visibly be established; it was much easier for a capable woman aviator to show competence in the cockpit than in business or politics. They chose to stick with the world they knew and demonstrate their capabilities there. A widely expressed goal among the women pilots of the 1920s was “eliminating sex from aviation.” They wanted to be judged as pilots who were women, rather than women pilots.
They had no quarrel with the established movements. Earhart gradually gave them her endorsement, and Anne Morrow Lindbergh became an outspoken women’s advocate late in her career. They simply believed that they could do as well – or better – by going their own way.
Q: So it seems aviation provided a unique opportunity for the advancement of women’s causes. Do you feel that these women were able to capitalize on that?
Erisman: Here, too, the answer is “undeniably.” The very novelty of the airplane worked to put the eight in the spotlight, but none of them was shy about using her association with flight to call attention to specific accomplishments or challenges. There were proud of their achievements as women – not necessarily because they were sticking a thumb in men’s eyes, but because they were advancing the public conception and understanding of their gender’s possibilities. That their work related to the larger picture of male/female relations was a bonus.
Harriet Quimby was a journalist, Earhart was married to a publicity genius, and Anne Morrow Lindbergh was married to a celebrity; all three had ready access to means of capitalizing on their deeds and emphasizing their role(s) as women. Without aviation, Katherine Stinson likely would have ended up a Mississippi piano teacher, Louise Thaden the manager of a Kansas coal distributing business, and Ruth Nichols a debutante fishing about for a “good marriage.” Each made much more of herself, solely and entirely through aviation.
Thank you to Fred! If you would like to know more about this book you order your own copy or request it from your local library.
You can get 30% off this title and any other order by entering the code PURDUE30 when ordering from our website.
Filed under: UncategorizedDecember 18th, 2020
We talked to Fred Erisman, the author of In Their Own Words: Forgotten Women Pilots of Early Aviation.
In Their Own Words takes up the writings of eight women pilots as evidence of the ties between the growth of American aviation and the changing role of women.
Q: What was your main goal in undertaking this project?
Fred Erisman: I’m aiming at recovering and calling attention to some largely unknown or little-examined documents of women’s history. The eight women I discuss are known to aviation historians, but, with the exception of Earhart and Anne Morrow Lindbergh, are otherwise invisible to the larger public. The writings they left behind – Journalism, autobiography, fiction, etc. – help to expand our understanding of the women’s movement throughout its twentieth-century history. The works give a new window through which to examine the relationship of women and aviation, how women of five decades came to grips with recurring issues of women’s rights and abilities, and how women (as opposed to men) viewed aeronautical technology and the airplane.
In the case of Louise Thaden and Ruth Nichols, their forays into fiction give readers yet another way to see and reflect on how two notable women viewed aviation, the times, and the future. One created an aeronautical dystopia and the other an American aviation utopia, yet both embraced the belief that flight was a special, even purifying, endeavor.
Q: Which of these aviators were new to you? Were there any stories that were particularly surprising/impressive?
Erisman: I have to point to the two Ruths – Ruth Law and Ruth Nichols. The more I learned of them the more impressed I became. Ruth Law was among the earliest of the record-setters (1916), made her living as a pilot, expressed what I have to believe was a genuine desire to join the military, and took real pride in being allowed to wear the trousered uniform of the U.S. Army. (This was 20 years before Earhart’s penchant for trousers caused twittering among the public.) Her writings make a strong case for women’s being in the military and, more generally, their calls for being treated on an equal plane with men.
Ruth Nichols impressed me with her vision of an American aeronautical paradise as reflected in her unfinished novel, Sky Girl, and with her early recognition of space as the next “aeronautical” frontier confronting women. At age 58 she presented herself to the American space program and proceeded to blow away tests judging her tolerance for g-forces, weightlessness, and sensory deprivation. She was an outspoken supporter of women in space until shortly before her death, and gives readers a new slant on what constitutes the “right stuff.”
Q: Do you think the stories of these women and have the potential to ring true even now? Any in particular that you remember?
Erisman: Unquestionably. The stories of these eight pilots are stories of hope, aspiration, challenge, and competency – issues as applicable to the women of today as they are to those of the teens, 20s, or 30s. It just happens that these women chose to face the challenge of a new technology, a profession that had become male-dominated (by default as much as by design), and a society that almost daily was having to adapt to a changing world.
These are all “airplane” stories. Change the specifics, retain the challenges, and they are as pertinent for women of the twenty-first century as they were for those of the twentieth. There is very little distance between our admiring them for all they did, and our admiration for Tammie Jo Shults and the aviation skills that help her to pilot her southwest Airlines 737 to safety after its explosive decompression. The challenges of flying remain, whether in mastering the stick-and-wire craft of early aviation or the sophisticated craft flown by today’s commercial and military pilots.
Q: Few if any of these aviators identified with the feminist/suffragist movements of their time (you mention this in the introduction of the book), but they all seemed to take their own route advocating for women’s causes, why do you think this is?
Erisman: They were stout believers in the equality and ability of women, but were realists about the mechanisms of change. They all recognized that the profession they loved was male-dominated. They also recognized that it was an individualistic one, in which women could be as effective acting singly as they might be in groups. Aviation was an area where male-female equality could easily and visibly be established; it was much easier for a capable woman aviator to show competence in the cockpit than in business or politics. They chose to stick with the world they knew and demonstrate their capabilities there. A widely expressed goal among the women pilots of the 1920s was “eliminating sex from aviation.” They wanted to be judged as pilots who were women, rather than women pilots.
They had no quarrel with the established movements. Earhart gradually gave them her endorsement, and Anne Morrow Lindbergh became an outspoken women’s advocate late in her career. They simply believed that they could do as well – or better – by going their own way.
Q: So it seems aviation provided a unique opportunity for the advancement of women’s causes. Do you feel that these women were able to capitalize on that?
Erisman: Here, too, the answer is “undeniably.” The very novelty of the airplane worked to put the eight in the spotlight, but none of them was shy about using her association with flight to call attention to specific accomplishments or challenges. There were proud of their achievements as women – not necessarily because they were sticking a thumb in men’s eyes, but because they were advancing the public conception and understanding of their gender’s possibilities. That their work related to the larger picture of male/female relations was a bonus.
Harriet Quimby was a journalist, Earhart was married to a publicity genius, and Anne Morrow Lindbergh was married to a celebrity; all three had ready access to means of capitalizing on their deeds and emphasizing their role(s) as women. Without aviation, Katherine Stinson likely would have ended up a Mississippi piano teacher, Louise Thaden the manager of a Kansas coal distributing business, and Ruth Nichols a debutante fishing about for a “good marriage.” Each made much more of herself, solely and entirely through aviation.
Thank you to Fred! If you would like to know more about this book you order your own copy or request it from your local library.
You can get 30% off this title and any other order by entering the code PURDUE30 when ordering from our website.
Filed under: PurduePress