University of Portland Museum

Carolyn

Honor and Remembrance

By

Each Veterans Day Air Force and Army ROTC cadets from the University of Portland keep a 24-hour vigil at the Praying Hands/Broken Wall Memorial near Christie and Kenna Halls.  The Memorial Circle remembers those from Columbia Preparatory School, Columbia University, and the University of Portland who gave their lives in war-time.  In this post we remember one of those men, Second Lieutenant David R. Kingsley, Columbia Prep student from 1933-1936, who fought and died in World War II.

2d Lieutenant David R. Kingsley (right) (Kingsley family photo)
Columbia Prep Junior Class, 1936 Columbiad (University Museum – click to enlarge)

David Kingsley knew about sacrifice from the early age of 10 or 11 after his father died from an automobile accident while helping a neighbor, AND after putting aside his own need for medical treatment insisting that his passenger be seen first.   And again, when David’s mother was paralyzed from cancer, and he assumed the role of father and mother to care for his seven younger brothers and sisters, giving up sports and study at Columbia Prep one year short of his graduation.

But the sacrifice which cost the young lieutenant his life came when Kingsley’s crippled plane was under attack over Romanian oil fields during World War II in June 1944.   When crew members were hit by enemy fire, Kingsley tended to the wounded on board.  Under orders to bail out of the badly damaged plane, Kingsley placed parachutes on the injured, but when too few were found, he removed his own parachute in favor of an injured soldier and released him to safety.  Without a chute for himself, Kingsley perished with the plane — four days before his 26th birthday.

Columbia Crusader, vol. 8, no. 6, February 1945 (University Archives)

The Congressional Medal of Honor was posthumously awarded to 2nd Lieutenant David R. Kingsley on April 9, 1945.  (Full citation)  In 2004, the David R. Kingsley Memorial was erected near the crash site in Suhozem, Bulgaria. 

Kingsley Field Air National Guard Base in Klamath Falls, OR is named to honor his valor.

Kingsley Memorial, Suhozem, Bulgaria (Wikipedia)

 

 

 

 

For related posts on the Broken Wall and Veterans Day Observance:
https://sites.up.edu/museum/veterans-day-observance/

https://sites.up.edu/museum/broken-wall-memorial-1990-2015/

https://sites.up.edu/museum/broken-wall-memorial-is-broken/

Sources:
“The Making of a Hero” by Christopher Boehme, Portland magazine, Summer 1989;
Wikipedia; United States Army Center of Military History

 

 

 

Durable Goods and Bigger Dreams

By

The president of the Alumni Association reports that a ‘treasure box of papers and relics’ was sealed into the cornerstone and foundation of Howard Hall in 1927.  And in fact during the 2017 demolition of Howard, a time capsule was recovered.

Philip Vue, Digital Services Librarian, with the Time Capsule, September 2017 (Clark Library photo)

Unfortunately, the ‘capsule’ was neither a capsule nor airtight, nor much of a success as a preservation-device and carrier of news across the divide of years.   The box measures  6.5″ H x 7.5″ W x 5.5″ D.  Adorned with a patina of mold when recovered.

Catholic Sentinel (Digital Archive)

 

 

 

 

The content of the box is two identifiable items, and also a pile of mush-like paper pulp.  The two intact survivors are (1) a copy of the Thursday, November 17, 1927 The Catholic Sentinel.  This seems appropriate, as Archbishop Howard presided at the cornerstone ceremony for his namesake building on Sunday the 20th at the University’s Homecoming Football Game.  Second (2), the roster of enrolled students typed on Registrar stationery.  Item three is a matter of conjecture, but the fragments (3) that remain do suggest a candidate:  the University monthly magazine of student and alumni news, The Columbiad.

Paper fragments from the Capsule, September 2017 (Clark Library photo)

There is an additional puzzle beyond the identity of the pulped pages.  The box is very much bigger than the physical exhibits; that is, the papers don’t fill the available space, leaving room to expand as if anticipating a larger history to come.

Xan Arch, Library Dean; Diane Romero, Administrative Assistant; and Philip Vue, Digital Services Librarian, with contents of the Time Capsule (Clark Library photo)

 

 

 

The three time capsule exhibits, and Howard Hall itself, are messages of faith, promise, and commitment.  The Sentinel newspaper represents the University’s catholic mission and identity, the Registrar’s list specifies the school’s current vitality, and the Homecoming Day dedication ceremony brings together the continuing community of students and alumni.   The exhibits don’t quite fill the interior of the box; and that was the point of constructing Howard Hall in the first place. 

The University built Howard expressing a determination to grow.  The promise and hopes of those sealing the time-capsule in cement in 1927 have come out more than true within these ninety years of life on The Bluff.

Columbiad, 1927 (University Archives)

Notes: The Catholic Sentinel is still in publication, and back-issues (even to 1927) can be found in a digital archive.  The roster of enrolled students is reprinted in the University Catalogue for the year 1927-28, and also in the big book of the University of Portland Alumni Directory 1901-1912 (with both alphabetical and class year lists).  And as to the pulped Columbiad: the Archives has the complete series of the university magazine, and several well-preserved individual copies of the November 1927 issue.

 

And Also:  The metal time capsule box has been displayed in The Clark Library Gallery in conjunction with the Remembering Howard Hall photo exhibit.

Howard Hall Time Capsule Box (University Museum photo)

Sources: The Columbiad Christmas, 1927, for the expansion of campus, pp.86-87 (included here, below); for the Alumni Association letter, pp. 90-92; the Homecoming Banquet, p. 94; and an account of the rainy Sunday football game and cornerstone ceremony, p. 117.  See also, University of Portland Alumni Directory 1901-2012, and The Catholic Sentinel Archives, www.catholicsentinel.org

Map and Legend, 1927 Columbiad (University Archives)

The Walls Came Tumbling Down

By

Taking Down Howard Hall, August 4, 2017 (Carolyn Connolly photo)

The dedication of Howard Hall was celebrated on 19 February 1928 with a student assembly, speeches, swim-races, dinner and dancing, basketball and orchestral entertainment: the several and wildly different activities all hosted in Howard Hall to showcase the diversity of design and purpose for the new building.  The cornerstone was laid previously on Homecoming Game Day, 20 November 1927.  That allows a four-month construction for a building serving 90 years of UP campus life.

And Howard Hall rendered much service through the years from Commencement Ceremonies to Academic Convocations, to student-centered activities from fund-raisers (talent shows, boxing, wrestling, dances), theater & drama production, to athletic competition hosting Conference Games and intramural sports.  It was also the student-union, with a commuter-student lunch cafeteria located in Howard, as also the offices of Student Government, The Beacon, The Log, and KDUP through the years.

As an athletic facility, Howard Hall survived Fire & Flood, Ice & Earthquake, each time repaired and reoccupied as The Home of the Pilots whether cheering basketball, chilling between classes, or running literal treadmills.  For nearly a century, the intersection of campus life.

(Slide show of photos from the University Archives. Position cursor on each photo to view the caption.)

 

The metal time capsule box recovered from the Howard Hall cornerstone has been displayed in The Clark Library Gallery in conjunction with the “Remembering Howard Hall” photo exhibit.

 

From the Beacon

http://www.upbeacon.com/article/2017/04/goodbye-to-howard-hall

More about Howard Hall on the Museum blog:

Howard Hall Fire: https://sites.up.edu/museum/march-19-1949-howard-hall-fire/

First Cove: https://sites.up.edu/museum/lunch-room-to-night-spot/

Basketball in Howard Hall: https://sites.up.edu/museum/hearty-congrats/

Nelson Rockefeller Campaign visit: https://sites.up.edu/museum/campaign-trail-nelson-rockefeller-1964/

John F. Kennedy Campaign visit: https://sites.up.edu/museum/campaign-trail-john-f-kennedy-1960/

Howard Hall Swimming Pool: https://sites.up.edu/museum/amateur-athletics-swimming/

Trampoline in Howard Hall: https://sites.up.edu/museum/amateur-athletics-trampoline/

Weight Room: https://sites.up.edu/museum/amateur-athletics-weightlifting/

Boxing: https://sites.up.edu/museum/amateur-athletics-boxing/

Fencing: https://sites.up.edu/museum/fencing/

 

 

Registering Prerequisites

By

Freshman Year Classes, 1967 (University Archives)

First Year students arrive on campus and from day-one leap into classes and studies.   The first day of term is the first day of classes with no padding or delay jumping right into work.  The assignment of desks, classrooms, instructors are locked in over the summer at the same time as enrollment is processed– and with 1000+ entering students, there is barely a desk to spare!  Students and schedules are matched before the first class day.  Thus new students are spared the familiar tradition of standing in long lines carrying various permission slips while seeking computer punch card registration tickets.

True, some students express shock and surprise over their 8:10 class or the prescribed lab assignment- quick seeking transfers and adjustments after the first speed-date class meeting- there are still rather more options for the disappointed today than, say, for new students entering and wrestling with assigned schedules and the more limited one-size-fits-all university curriculum from past years.

Here we have the model First Year schedules required in each of the colleges for 1967 [click and enlarge, above left].  Also, for the sake of context: the 1967-68 Campus Map, with slightly more generous parking options.  And, as further proof how times have changed, the cheerful advisory concerning Campus Social Life as found in the 1967 Bulletin.

Campus Map, 1967 (University Archives, click to enlarge image)
Social Life in 1967 (University Archives, click to enlarge image)

It’s Time for a Parade! UP’s 1987 Rose Festival Float

By

A volunteer army of alumni and friends worked together to create the University of Portland’s entry “Becoming” for the 79th Annual Rose Festival Grand Floral Parade.  Volunteers labored around the clock from May 31 until Parade Day June 6 to produce an award winner, the 1987 UP float earning the prized Queen’s Trophy.

UP’s 1987 Rose Festival Float …Becoming (click to enlarge photo)

So what does it take to create a float?

  • One float skeleton
  • Over 300 dozen colorful flowers
  • Over 1,700 hours of labor from over 200 alumni and friends
  • Ironing corn husks
  • Scraping bark (so the glue will stick)
  • Plucking flower petals
  • Gluing petal by petal
  • Shaking seeds from bulbs
  • Gluing seeds
  • and many, many more tedious tasks

A beautiful, colorful float viewed by a crowd of over 350,000 on the parade route in Portland and by many, many more on television.

(Gallery of Photos from the University Archives, click to enlarge image)

 

 

In Memory: Brian Doyle, November 6, 1956 – May 27, 2017

By

Brian Doyle, 1996 (University Archives photo)

Brian Doyle was recruited to come to the University of Portland and edit Portland Magazine, our alumni newsletter, in 1991.  In his twenty-five years of service, the magazine became an award winning literary journal through essays and profiles highlighting University Events, Accomplishments, Alumni , and all the stories of why the University of Portland is a home and community for students, faculty, and all who belong to the Bluff.

Brian died on May 27, 2017.  He was an award winning editor, a widely published and award winning author, and, for the students who worked at publications and journalism on campus, Brian was a spark, friend, inspiration, and mentor.

He was a pied-piper, who wrote an annual public-service announcement for The Beacon calling students to the vocation of writer, life-participant:

(from January 24, 2013)

Question: you like telling stories, don’t you?  I mean, that’s why you have friends, and that’s why people enjoy your company, and that’s why you enjoy their company, largely because you share stories that make you laugh and think and sometimes even move you to the bottom of your soul.
So why not work for The Beacon?

(answering objections, in January 23, 2014)

I don’t have the time …

Yes, you do.  Look at yourself right now, in those ratty pajamas, watching the “Burn Notice” episode for the ninth time.  Good Lord, man, get out of your room.  And pick up that towel off the floor before you go.

I have no experience…

Yes, you do.  You collect stories.  You share stories. You trade stories.  You remember stories.  You are stories.  Your family, friends, pursuits, thrills, adventures, ambitions, dreams — all stories.  Why not put that curiosity and hunger for stories to work, on, say, the yearbook staff?  Wouldn’t it be cool to try and catch the joys and shivers for a year on The Bluff in stories and photographs and paintings for the Log?

We remember his service at the university primarily through his work as a writer.  Brian Doyle was also a great audience.

http://www.upbeacon.com/article/2017/05/a-few-words-on-brian-doyle-from-a-student

2010-11 UP Authors Reception (Clark Library photo)

One of Brian’s essays in a Museum blog post, July 16, 2014:
https://sites.up.edu/museum/in-the-beginning-day-one/

In Memory: Rev. Charles David Sherrer, C.S.C., September 21, 1935 – April 13, 2017

By

Rev. Charles David Sherrer, C.S.C., died at the age of 81 on Holy Thursday, April 13, 2017 at home at Notre Dame surrounded by members of the Congregation of Holy Cross.  Fr. Sherrer studied at Notre Dame as a seminarian, taking his BA in 1958.  He set foot in a UP English classroom for the first time in 1962.  In 2005, he retired from UP, Professor of English and distinguished administrator.  Between these beginnings and ends, Fr. Sherrer did a lot of stuff along the way, but always and first, understood himself as Holy Cross religious, priest, and teacher.

English and Foreign Languages Faculty, 1999. Front row: Trudie Booth, Kate Regan, Louis Masson, Rev. Jeffrey Cooper, C.S.C., Sr. Joan Saalfeld, SNJM; Back row: Lora Looney, Rev. David Sherrer, C.S.C., Ralph Genske, John Orr, Herman Asarnow

At UP he occupied multiple lecterns.  In classrooms, at many faculty functions, and serving as master of ceremonies for many, many Commencement exercises during the years when Fr. Sherrer carried the duties of Graduate School Dean and, later, Academic Vice President (1987-1995).  A full-professor from 1991 until his retirement. 

Brian Doyle, the editor of Portland Magazine, caught and highlighted the following words in which Fr. Sherrer describes the dynamic and rewards and humility of the teacher’s art:

“Of all the hours in my day the most rewarding are those in class, and it is my conclusion after forty years that it is never a bad day in class as long as I learn something, which I do every class, so there you are.” (Portland Magazine, Spring 2005, p. 13)

(Photos from the University Archives, click on image to enlarge)

Rev. David Sherrer, C.S.C., English professor, 1963
University President, Rev. David Tyson, C.S.C. and Vice Presidents, 1996 Commencement
Rev. David Sherrer, C.S.C., President of Kings College, and lion mascot, 1980 or 81
Rev. David Sherrer, C.S.C., Academic Vice President, ca1996 Commencement
UP Deans Meeting, 1983
Rev. David Sherrer, C.S.C., at Desk in Buckley Center, 1974
Rev. David Sherrer, C.S.C., in Chapel of Christ the Teacher, 2015
Rev. David Sherrer, 2005

2017 Retiring Faculty

By

At the end of the 2016-17 academic year, five 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 number 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. Matthew Baasten, Theology; Associate Provost and Graduate School Dean (from 2012), at UP since 1981
Dr. Carol Craig, Nursing, at UP since 2008
Dr. Wayne Lu, Engineering, at UP since 1988
Dr. James Male, Engineering, Sweo Endowed Chair (from 1997), at UP since 1997
Dr. Zia Yamayee, Engineering, at UP since 1996

(Photos from the University Archives; Click on image to enlarge)

Hearty Congrats

By

Congratulations to the Gonzaga Bulldogs, West Coast Conference Champions, for their appearance in the Championship Game of the 2017 NCAA Basketball Tournament.  UP and Gonzaga were founding members of the WCC in 1952, two Catholic colleges competing before and since.

A not always polite rivalry.  Although the last Men’s Conference game held in venerable Howard Hall occurred in spring 1981, earlier in December 1978, the Portland – Gonzaga game in Howard so rocked the court, stands, and the building itself that Fire Marshalls and student fans feared the worse (but no worries, the Pilots were off to a 5-0 start that season, defeating the Bulldogs 91-76).  All later appearances in rivalry against Gonzaga have commanded a larger, sturdier venue.  In recent years Gonzaga sells out the Chiles Center as visitors meeting us on our home court.

How do you spell….?

By

Once upon a time, the content of a library centered on books, and the content of the books depended on words!  And so in the geography of a library — long ago and far away in another time but in this same place (UP, the Bluff) — the library study carrels stood clustered in obeisance around the Dictionary Stand.   For, to wax eloquent, upon the throne of the Stand rested the Monarch and Referee of all student study.

Here is that rickety prop:

The bookstand’s articulating wings adjust to provide full spine support (like with a baby).  The “Columbia Dictionary Stand” is made of oak and cast iron, circa 1890s, and is an antique used during the antique period of our own history as Columbia University (1901-1935).   Found first in the library of West (now Waldschmidt) Hall; and later moved with the library to the basement of Christie Hall in the 1930s.

Because dictionaries are in phones now, this Dictionary Stand is now on permanent display in the University Museum.

The Clark Library Research Desk fields student questions throughout the day and also includes a 24/7 chat service.  With over 4,000 questions per year receiving that human touch and attention.