University of Portland Museum

Carolyn

A Most Noble Order Indeed

By

Sherlock Holmes Class, 1971 (click to enlarge)

Happy Birthday to Sherlock Holmes creator, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who was born in Edinburgh, Scotland on May 22, 1859.

Sherlock Holmes Society Meeting, 1972
(click to enlarge)

Portland’s Sherlock Holmes Society, known as “The Noble and Most Singular Order of the Blue Carbuncle” was founded around 1971 by Dr. James Covert, growing out of an evening class taught by the long-time history professor. The students taking “Baker Street Revisited” determined to continue their association after the term ended.  And so was born a Sherlockian club complete with charter and ‘canonical’ name.  Dr. Covert ran the course for several years, and as the group grew larger it moved beyond the University. The Noble and Most Singular Order of the Blue Carbuncle of Portland and Vancouver continues today as one of the nation’s more active Sherlock Holmes societies.

In Dr. Covert’s words: “In the early 1970s I was looking to teach Victorian England in a novel way (pun intended) and came to this—a study of Victorian England through the Holmes stories.  In the 1980s and 90s I occasionally taught the same course under the title of “Mystery as History: The Study of Sherlock Holmes’ England”.  Finally it was put into the Honors Program and has the distinction of being my very last class taught at UP in the fall of 1997.” (Private e-mail communication, March 1, 2011)

Sherlock Holmes Deerstalker Hat, ca1971
(click to enlarge)

The items pictured are located in the University Museum and are associated with the original charter members of “The Noble and Most Singular Order of the Blue Carbuncle.”   The name being associated with one of the popular stories of the Sherlock Holmes saga, referred to by devoted followers of the Master Detective as “The Canon,” or “The Sacred Writings.” 

Sherlock Holmes Briar Pipe, ca1971

Dr. James Covert – Clark Library Digital Collections

Social Distancing, 1970-ish

By

American society seemed to fracture and unravel in the late 1960s; a time of social revolution and mutual distrust characterized by the generation-gap, Nixon’s Southern strategy, tense race relations, anti-war and draft protests. Many of these protest movements found natural outlets on college campuses. But the University of Portland was not much disturbed or disrupted by the larger social unrest. As reflected on in this retrospective piece from the July 1971 UP Alumni Bulletin:

Alumni Bulletin, July 1971, p. 4

During the time of unrest and splintering, UP practiced a measure of ‘Social Distancing’ seen appropriate to the circumstances.

(looking out from the Bluff over a not-yet-developed industrial Swan Island, and Mt. Hood, circa 1968)

However, some assembly of persons was allowed—and even encouraged—to move towards healing divisions, expressing grievances, and valuing the free exercise of speech and opinion. Though students were expected to observe the ‘5-minute rule’ (the context for this directive is found in the exhibit at the bottom).

Gatherings and communication were expected in that moment of national stress; however, the Administration anticipated that after people had their say, then dispersal would follow, all students would return to studies and the work of education would resume. Asking for continuity-determinedly so—in unsettled times. So that, despite not being able to see the future clearly, the academic community continued to watch and prepare whatever the future would bring.

(this image cheats a little, grainy; The Columbiad October 1923, p.17; another old view of Swan Island)

This last exhibit is spliced and edited from the Alumni Bulletin, January 1969, pp. 6, 11.

2020 Retiring Faculty

By

At the end of the 2019-20 academic year, nine members of the University of Portland faculty will retire after many years of service to this institution and making a difference in the lives of untold numbers of students.  The University gives thanks to our retiring faculty for their dedication and commitment to teaching and learning and wishes them all the best.

Dr. Robert J. Albright, Professor of Electrical Engineering, at UP since 1970
Dr. Robin D. Anderson, Dean of Pamplin School of Business and Franz Endowed Professor of Entrepreneurship, at UP since 1998
Dr. James B. Carroll, Professor of Education, at UP since 1994
Dr. Willoughby Deming, Professor of Theology, at UP since 1992
Dr. Mark Eifler, Associate Professor of History, at UP since 2000
Dr. Richard Gritta, Professor of Business, at UP since 1976
Dr. Pamela Potter, Associate Professor of Nursing, at UP since 2007
Frances Simmons, Instructor, School of Nursing, at UP since 1989
Dr. Thomas G. Greene, Provost and Professor of Education, at UP since 1983

(Photos from the University Archives, School of Nursing, School of Education, Pamplin School of Business, Marketing & Communications; Click on image to enlarge)

Extraordinary Measures: 1948 Graduation

By

During WWII the Port of Portland built ships.  The surge of shipyard workers was met by a surge of public housing. Built in 1942, Vanport grew up rapidly on the site of present day Delta Park and was the largest wartime housing project in the U.S.  By 1944 the Vanport area was home to 40,000 people: making it Oregon’s second largest city at the time.  As the war ended and many workers left the area, returning veterans and their families moved in.

City of Portland (OR) Archives, View of flood at Vanport with overturned cars. A2001-083, 1948.

On Memorial Day, Sunday, May 30, 1948, during the University of Portland commencement exercises, president Rev. Theodore Mehling, C.S.C. announced to those in attendance the emergency news that the Vanport dike had broken and Vanport City stood flooded. Fr. Mehling urged those concerned to leave immediately. At least two seniors and a number of guests at the ceremony lived in Vanport.

By evening, the whole of Vanport City was underwater and destroyed. Two residents, Emmett Barrett, (UP ’41), and his wife, were on campus that day to celebrate Eugene Barrett’s graduation (Emmett’s brother). When they returned to Vanport a month later, their apartment house was still standing but the inside was covered in mud.

Emmett Barrett, ’41, Letterman’s Sweater, 1948

Emmett earned his monogram playing football for UP from 1938-1940 (he had also distinguished himself by playing center for the NFL’s New York Giants for the 1942 season). All that he was able to salvage from the flood wreckage was his University of Portland letterman’s sweater (pictured) and letterman’s blanket. An insurance agent, hopefully Mr. Barrett’s losses beyond the monogram mementos were covered.

Flooded apartments during the Vanport flood, Oregon Historical Society, Library

References:
Portland Magazine, Spring 1988, p. 9-10

Flooded apartments during the Vanport flood. Camera Art Studio. Oregon Historical Society, Library. OrgLot131_014. Accessed April 27, 2020 from Oregon Historical Society, Library https://digitalcollections.ohs.org/flooded-apartments-during-the-vanport-flood-2 . In Copyright – Rights-holder(s) Unlocatable or Unidentifiable

Related:
UP Alma Mater (audio file)

Blanchet Gold Medal Award

By

round gold medal with C U in the center
Blanchet Gold Medal for Bookkeeping

Among the awards and distinctions conferred at the Columbia University commencement exercises on June 14, 1905 was the Blanchet Gold Medal for outstanding bookkeeping student. This academic award is one of the earliest objects in the University’s museum collection and was named for its donor, Monsignor F. X. Blanchet, who was also present for the occasion.

Reverse, with monogram of the recipient

The Blanchet Gold Medal was presented to Frederick L. Weber. One of a class of ten graduates. Mr. Weber was awarded a Commercial Diploma. Archbishop Alexander Christie, founder of the University, was in attendance and addressed the members of the graduating class. Mr. Ignatius McNamee delivered the valedictory.

The medal was only awarded twice, 1905 and 1906.  These academic honors were, as it were, personal gifts by the sponsors to the student-recipient.  And Monsignor Blanchet died in 1906. 

Columbia University was the precursor to today’s University of Portland, existing from 1901-1935. The ten diplomas awarded in 1905 were in the high school division.

Reference:
The Columbiad, June 1905, vol. 3, no. 9

Changing Times, Remembered Days: September 11, 2001

By

Employing once more the same format for this The Beacon series, here is the campus response to the disruptions and sorrows of September 11, 2001; another day that tested American society and the strength of our community bonds. First, the editorial statement. The front page is reproduced at the bottom.

The Beacon, p. 8

The text surrounding the front-page poster-montage reads:

(from top left-corner) William Pitt (1777) * “God bless America, land the I love.” * “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil for you are with me.” Psalm 23 * “I can hear you. The rest of the world hears you, and the people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon.” – President G. W. Bush * “And the rockets red flare . . . . gave proof through the night that our flag was still there” * “U.S.A.!” “Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now I’m found. Was blind, but now I see.” * “You cannot conquer America.”

The text superimposed on the photo-montage is a quotation from Fr. Obermiller, the then Director of Campus Ministry (pictured at lower right)

“The Events from the last few days do not make any sense.
The people who have done this tragedy
to us as a country obviously do not know us.
They do not know our faith, our compassion, and conviction.
We cannot be broken because we have our faith and support of each other.
Buildings may be destroyed, but our spirits cannot.
We are shaken, yes, but not destroyed.”
–Rev. Edwin Obermiller, C.S.C.

National Scar-tissue, November 22, 1963

By

The Beacon, p. 2 (click to enlarge)

For everyone of a certain generation there is a memory that coordinates the Kennedy assassination with their own position in time and space when they heard the news.  And when they tell that story they unconsciously link the personal and the national stories, and each is given equal weight.  The answer to the question Do you remember the Kennedy assassination? is always a personal story.

President John F. Kennedy was killed Friday, November 22, 1963.  The Beacon published a special Saturday edition inside of 24-hours to report on and process the national and personal trauma.  On Friday, on the Catholic campus, the flag was lowered, afternoon classes canceled; the priests and students flooded the chapels.  In fact, with a 2000-year history, Catholics tend to believe they own a ready-made play-book telling them exactly what-to-do, whatever the situation: but in the face of the assassination of a president, no gesture seemed enough.  The Associated Students of UP (ASUP) telegrammed a message of sympathy to the White House.  There was a lot of incomprehension.  There was a lot of turning to one another for support and turning to God for answers and care.

November 23, 1963, front page (click to enlarge)
The Beacon, pg. 3 (click to enlarge)

Nurses are Superheroes

By

University of Portland nursing graduates and student-nurses are heroes in their own right, delivering critical care and hope day after day. Often at the peril of personal safety and individual vulnerabilities, placing patient needs ahead their own. This is stated with clarity in the opening paragraph of the School of Nursing’s website: “We are a strong community dedicated to educating nurses and health care professionals who empower patients, families, and communities to embrace healthy living and strive for wellness. […] We believe that all nurses are healers, advocates, and health care leaders who believe that social justice lies at the head, heart, and hands of all that we do.”

For 85 years the University has dedicated itself to educating students for the nursing profession. Beginning in partnership with St. Vincent Hospital Training School for Nurses (1934), on-site classrooms and training at the hospital moved to the UP campus in 1960. Internships and practicums continue to reach beyond campus, while the School of Nursing prepares candidates with care and attention through a rigorous curriculum and the expanded computer-modelled Simulated Health Center in the Buckley Center.   

Capping Ceremony, October 1953

As students progress from classrooms and labs to on-site clinical training at hospitals and care facilities, the transition is marked by ceremony as well. Into the mid-1970s, the Capping Ceremony occurred during Junior Year when students received their nurse’s cap and promised themselves to the values of the Nightingale Pledge. Today, students at the half-way point receive a blessing with oils handed on by nursing faculty in a “Blessings of Hands” ceremony.

Capping Exercises Class of 1960 UPCN September 22, 1957 program cover.
The Nightingale Pledge text.
Three hands clasped together with one hand blessing another hand.
Capping Ceremony program, 1957; Nightingale Pledge, 1971; Blessing of Hands, 2014
(click each image to enlarge)

During graduation weekend every UP graduate receives an earned diploma. In addition, nursing students participate in a more personal commissioning. With faculty and family present, each nursing graduate receives a UP School of Nursing pin. At the Pinning Ceremony each student is individually recognized and “pinned” by a person (faculty member or loved one) who has been a significant influence on their academic success.

University of Portland School of Nursing pin with BSN pin attached.
Epigram, text description of the University of Portland nursing pin.
A Nurse's Oath text.
School of Nursing Pin, since 1960; Description of Nursing Pin, 2019; Pinning Ceremony Nurse’s Oath, 2019
(Click individual image to enlarge)

University of Portland College of Nursing Cape, 1947 (University Museum)












The modern nursing professional no longer wears caps and capes (like a superhero) as their uniform, but their actions and service have marked them as heroes with their sharply trained minds, open hearts, and healing hands as advocates, healers, and leaders for all who seek medical care.

Additional links:
History of Nursing Digital Collection

1949 Log p. 5

1961 Log, p. 118

1975 Log p. 120

Resusci Anne

Lamp of Learning

By

Admissions Brochure, 1951

Alone, cresting the hill, the seeker stands either as a brave sentinel watching the distance and planning for the future; or less nobly, counts maybe as someone lost.  The mission at UP embraces both sets of students, because most of us know that we humans alternate between those two roles from time to time. Hence the photo and the promise seen here (left).

Education seeks and opens a wider horizon.  The University of Portland has leaned on this association, where ‘Upon the Bluff, high over the Willamette, the spires of learning reach up to the sky’ (as the Alma Mater has it).

There is also an old bit of picture-writing which connects learning and lamps. Partly because students have to ‘burn-the-midnight-oil’ putting in all-night study-sessions. Partly because education ‘lights the way’. The lamp is almost a ‘natural-symbol’ of the enlightening that accompanies education. And even the campus newspaper, The Beacon, has a ‘light-house’ theme; raised on the Bluff, pouring forth light to issue warning against danger and indicate the safe-path.

The pre-1940s University Seal positions the lamp in the foreground, looking out from the Bluff onto the Willamette and reaching to Mt. Hood against the far horizon. The 1935 Beacon masthead has an arc-lamp that radiates light all-around. The 2020 Student Leadership Awards symbol continues the theme showing an image of the street-lamps that dot today’s campus pathways.

Sangfroid: Poised and Professional, after December 7, 1941

By

There are milestone moments in history, dates that signal the end or start of ‘an era’. December 7, 1941 is one such memory-tab, recalling a date that indicates a recognized Before & After, and making a clear division in American and personal history for those who lived through that day and its consequences. Here are three exhibits from the University of Portland reacting to that event, recorded in the December 12, 1941 issue of The Beacon (the weekly campus newspaper).

First, from the bottom corner of the first page. The declaration of a stiff-upper-lip. While waiting for the new-future to manifest and acknowledging that the world has changed for every student, every person at the University, the editors declare that on that day, in that place, during that uncertain December, there remains a duty of preparation and character assigned to each even as all look to the unknown tomorrow. 

Some might enlist, all would serve; and all would need and should know that they are part of a whole. Therefore, The Beacon and school will go on.

Also included here is a slice of community reaction from the opinion page; where both Mr. Foley (student) and Fr. Miltner (10th President) published columns and commentary throughout the year.

The final exhibit in this post is a digital reproduction of the front-page (which enlarges when the reader clicks the image).