This
book was conceived in discussions of the sesquicentennial planning
committee called together by President Richard F. Rosser in the
spring of 1985 to begin preparations for the celebration of the
150th anniversary of the founding of Indiana Asbury-DePauw University.
An editorial committee was appointed to supervise the writing and
publication of a series of departmental and school histories as
well as a larger pictorial history of the university as a whole.
Both
President - later Chancellor - Rosser and his successor, President
Robert G. Bottoms, encouraged and supported this project from its
inception.
DePauw: A Pictorial History owes much to its predecessors: Belle
A. Mansfield's DePauw University - a Historical Sketch (1901); Irving
F. Brown's Indiana Asbury-DePauw University: A History (1914); William
W. Sweet's Indiana Asbury-DePauw University, 1837-1937 (1937); and
George B. Manhart's DePauw Through the Years (1962). Besides bringing
the story down to the present, this volume attempts to present the
history of the institution in a new light by combining an analytical
narrative with carefully selected illustrations. Each chapter contains,
in addition to the main text, several word and picture vignettes
and pictorial layouts highlighting significant episodes, personalities,
and other features.
Most of the text is the work of the two chief authors, who have
been colleagues in the history department at DePauw for more than
30 years. John Baughman prepared the initial draft of the first
chapter as well as an administrative history of the institution
since 1884. He also wrote nearly all the picture captions and some
of the vignettes, and played an active editorial role throughout.
Clifton Phillips, who serves as the editor of DePauw's sesquicentennial
historical publications, was largely responsible for drafting the
remaining text and making the final revisions.
Former Professor of English Harold Spicer contributed many of the
items on student life in both the main text and the vignettes. Associate
Professor of History John Schlotterbeck was a member of the editorial
committee from the outset and provided the valuable quantitative
analysis found in the appendices. Another member of the editorial
committee, University Archivist Wesley Wilson, helped to select
the illustrations and prepare them for publication. Finally, DePauw
alumnus and novelist John Jakes wrote the lively introduction.
The authors wish to thank the many persons whose efforts helped
to make this volume possible. Several of them are attached to the
university's office of public relations: Gregory Rice, university
editor; Dian D. Phillips, director of publications; and Mary Rector,
photographer. Janae Berry, a freelance layout artist, also contributed
to the book.
Members of the staff of the university archives, past and present,
who furnished research assistance during the project include Eleanor
Cammack, David Horn, Julia D. Young, Sharon Cheslik, Susan Moore,
Laura Clymer, Joan Cunningham and the late Virginia Brann. We are
also grateful to the spouses and families who patiently endured
the strains and stresses of a protracted enterprise.
We have tried to avoid most of the usual pitfalls of college histories.
This has meant resisting the temptation to recount nostalgically
the funny stories told around the fraternity house fireplace, faculty
eccentricities, presidents' and deans' follies, and the last-minute
football victory over Old Siwash, or to flatter wealthy donors and
influential alumni and overpraise recent administrations. We have
attempted to be fair and evenhanded, noting both trials and triumphs,
praising the strengths of the university where appropriate and admitting
occasional weaknesses and misadventures.
What finally emerges from these pages, we believe, is a late 20th
century interpretation of the history of Indiana Asbury-DePauw University
that strives for objectivity while necessarily reflecting to some
degree the special perspectives of the authors.
It
is our hope that this volume will make a useful contribution to
DePauw's sesquicentennial celebration by providing its readers with
a valid record in words and pictures of the institution's first
150 years. It is dedicated to all those who have had a part as students,
members of the faculty and administration, trustees, or benefactors,
living and dead, in molding the university during the past century
and a half.
Clifton J. Phillips & John J. Baughman
Greencastle,
Indiana June 30, 1987
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