RU Archives

Archives Update

The Roosevelt University Archives is now located in room AUD 1043 in the Murray-Green Library.  You can reach Archivist Laura Mills at extension 2280, at lmills@roosevelt.edu, or at mailstop AUD1035 to make an appointment to use the collection.  Or search the online catalog at http://roosevelt.cuadra.com/starweb1/b.archives/servlet.starweb1?path=b.archives/STARArchives.web

The Librarian and the Law

Two weeks ago on Thursday, I was called up for jury duty at the Dailey Center. I’m no stranger to being approached by a judicial system reluctant to actually use me for anything once I turned up. The first time I was called for jury service, I was instructed to call a number and they would tell me if I was to report. They didn’t want me. The second time, I was called over to the courthouse in Maywood. I didn’t like the place. It was so filthy; there was even dirt inside the gumball machine.  I sat in the waiting room being stared at because I had thought it appropriate to wear a suit. No one else did. I waited there all day and then was sent home because they didn’t need me. The third time, I ended up at the Dailey Center, a much nicer place. But they didn’t want me, either. This was my fourth attempt. I was called back to the Dailey Center. This time, people asked me questions. This is what happened:

It was nearly lunchtime and my group of about thirty was taken by elevator to the courtroom where the trial would be held. There were lawyers from both sides sitting at two tables facing the jury box.  There were eleven seats in the jury box, and I knew from television that the attorneys had the right to remove a certain number of jurors. The rest of the potential jurors were there to replace the jurors that the attorneys wanted to remove. The deputy read eleven names of people to sit first in the jury box. The third name called was mine.

 It was to be a civil trial, we were told, probably not lasting more than two days.  Two cars had collided. The driver of one, a man, claimed whiplash. The lawyer for the other driver, a woman, claimed the male driver had punched her after the crash.  They were both suing for damages.  Interestingly, the male driver had two sets of lawyers, one to sue the other driver and the other to protect him from her suit.

The judge asked the first questions. He looked at the information sheet I had filled out and asked “Does Roosevelt University have a legal program?” I said “It has a legal assistant’s program.” He asked “Does that give you a special knowledge of the law?” I said “no,” thinking that explaining the use of Lexis-Nexis does not constitute a special knowledge.

The woman’s attorney snorted.

Then his turn came to ask the jury questions, and he chose not to ask me anything.  I thought “He’s going to challenge me.”

And he did. The judge and attorneys retired to another room for a few minutes, and upon their return, they excused half the jury, including me.

So that’s what happened. The judge and the lawyers believed a librarian is too wise in the ways of the law to be allowed to sit on a jury.

-Michael Gabriel

 

Happy Valentine's Day!

 

Love was in the air in the early days of Roosevelt University.  This photo from March 1947 shows student Phyllis Bottomley, who married her English professor, Alfred Partridge and music professor Martha Veysey, who married her piano student, Gilbert Silvius.  Cherchez l'amore! 

 Photo by Mary Parkinson.

- Laura Mills

 

Shel Silverstein's First Cartoons

 

I think Shel Silverstein was one of the two most famous people who attended Roosevelt University, the other being Harold Washington, of course. Silverstein is best known for writing children's books, including  A Light in the Attic, Where the Sidewalk Ends and The Giving Tree. He also wrote the song "A Boy Named Sue", which was made famous by Johnny Cash.

He only attended Roosevelt University  few years in the 1950s and did not graduate. He bounced around several collages in those years.

While at Roosevelt, Shel worked on the staff of the student newspaper The Torch, and published cartoons there. As far as I know, these were the first cartoons he ever published.

After Silverstein left Roosevelt University, the Torch continued to publish his leftover cartoons, and even republished some of his cartoons with new captions added:

The original, published Dec. 8, 1952 and a copy, published March 2, 1965.

*Notice that the quality of the cartoons is uneven because they were reprinted from microfilm.

-Michael Gabriel

Thirty years of Professors: The R.U. Faculty Database

I am working on the long-term project of creating a database of every faculty member who ever taught at Roosevelt University, using information obtained from the college catalogs.

The Roosevelt University catalogs are usually issued every two years and contain a  section at the end which lists every professor currently teaching in the school. How many catalogs are issued changes from year to year. Some years have only a single catalog. Some years are divided into Arts & Sciences, Business, Music, and Graduate School.

Taking this information, I created an Excel file which lists the Professor's Name, Department, Subject, Degrees held, Faculty rank, other data (university offices held, outside employment, etc.), and the  dates the professor taught at Roosevelt. I am updating the list as I go through each new catalog, so the reader can see the progress the faculty member made in the university.

The first catalog was issued in 1945 and I have completed the database through 1975.

-by Michael Gabriel

Celebrate National Archives Month

October is National Archives Month.  Celebrate by seeing if you can answer the following question:

What do Marshall Field, III, Coretta Scott King, Dan Rather, Harold Washington, and Walter Reuther have in common?

Contact University Archivist Laura Mills at lmills@roosevelt.edu if think you know the answer.

September Library Displays

Michael created two displays- both housed in the same large library display case, because of two events this month.

Constitution Day- Who was the first President of the United States? That's right, it was John Hanson, who served from 1781-1782. George Washington didn't hold the office until 1789. So why does everyone call Washington the first president? The first government the U.S. had was under the Articles of Confederation, a weak central government that lasted from 1781-1789. Deciding that the government that existed under the Articles was unworkable, a Constitutional Convention was held in 1787 that wrote the Constitution. Not everyone thought a strong central government was a good idea, however. The Federalists wanted it, and the Anti-Federalists did not. I assembled a collection of books containing the papers, letters and diaries of the major people involved.You can read them in the library or check them out.

Banned Books Week- Every year, the American Library Association promotes Banned Book Week, to draw attention to the books that are removed (or threatened with removal) from libraries because someone disapproves of the contents. In creating this display, I used a list of banned books compiled by the University of California.I used the information from their site to create bookmarks which give the censorship history of every book in the display.

Banned Book week is September 27-October 4.

Constitution Day is September 17.

Temporary New Home for Archives

The Archives has a temporary new home on the second floor of the Herman Crown Center.  The reference area for the Archives is in what used to be the Private Dining Room.  Although a little off the beaten path, the Archives is open for business by appointment.  Please contact University Archivist Laura Mills at x2280. 

The Advisory Board

by Michael Gabriel

Whenever I read through an old Roosevelt University Bulletin before 1969, I see a section listing the members of the Advisory Board. What's the Advisory Board and why should I care, you ask? Well, despite the fact that none of them ever held a job at R.U., and many of them never set foot in the building, the institution might not exist without them.

Back in 1945, when the institution was still in the planning stages, it was intended that the place be called "Thomas Jefferson College." When F.D.R. died, the decision was made (to my mind, the best marketing decision the administration has ever had) to change the name to Roosevelt College, to honor the beloved late president.

This was a wonderful idea because it got Eleanor Roosevelt, probably the most famous and popular woman in the world, involved with the new college. She visited R.U. a number of times, generating large amounts of favorable press with each visit. This fact, coupled with the fact that R.U. was created as an act of support for civil rights, caused a number of other famous people to add their support to the cause.

Some of these people are still well known today:  Pearl S. Buck, Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas, Albert Einstein, Marshall Field, and  Adali Stevenson.

These people were collectively listed as "The Advisory Board" , a body separate from the "Board of Trustees", which actually governed the college. The Advisory Board's purpose was to add name recognition to the fledgling college and assist in raising funds. As the years went by, some dropped out or died, and were replaced by new volunteers. The Advisory Board continued as an institution until 1968.

Happy Labor Day

Come see the new exhibit on labor history in the Murray-Green Library.  Items in the exhibit are from the Keeley Labor Collection and focus on international labor.