Featured

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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/

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.

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. 

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)

The 1987 Queen’s Trophy and float photos are on display in the first floor display case in Buckley Center.

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)

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.

Winters in Oregon feature scenic views of snow-covered mountains beckoning skiers and snow boarders to the slopes.   Mount Hood — the closest, just two and half hours from Portland — has been a skiing destination spot for UP students from likely before the campus Ski Club was formed in 1939.   The club still going strong today, paired with snowboarding; included among a long list of sports clubs from Student Activities.

And once upon a time UP had a Ski Team (1946 to mid-1950s) which engaged in intercollegiate competition against colleges and universities in the West and Canada.  Pilot skiers competed on Mount Hood and locations such as Donner Summit in CA; Yosemite; Banff in Canada.   During their short run, the Ski Team had successes each year–  1947 in the Giant Slalom Race – Pilots took 5 of the first 10 places; 1948, 1st and 5th place individual at Yosemite; 1949, a 1st in Giant Slalom; 1949, 3rd team overall against University of California, Stanford, and University of Oregon; 1950, 1st place in the Pacific Northwest Ski Association meet; advancing in 1951 a 5th place finish at the National Intercollegiate Ski Championship; and in 1954, 1st place again locally at the Oregon Intercollegiate Memorial Ski Championships.

The Rec Sports sends out a weekend Ski Bus during the season, and continues to offer rental equipment for recreational opportunities for students on a continuing basis, not just during the rare campus closure and even rarer twelve-inch snowfall.

Photo Gallery (click on image to enlarge)

Tom Martin; Gene Brady, Banff, Alberta, Canada, n.d. (University Archives)

Ken Underdahl, ’52, 1950 Log (University Museum)

John Little models ski apparel, 1949 Log (University Museum)

Anders Woldseth, 1952-53 team (University Archives)

1947-48 Team at Yosemite – Kneeling: “Gee Gee” Goodrich, Tom Stewart, Ted Little; Standing: Barney Becker, John Younie, Fredi Lowel, Ruth McElroy, Alan Fischer – 1948 Log (University Museum)

1948-49 Ski Team – Dave Hayes, John Clark, Jim Carr, Jack Viodoni, Bill Hoffstetter, Ted Little – 1949 Log (University Museum)

1947-48 Ski Team, 1948 Log (University Museum)