I’m looking forward to a three-day holiday weekend and some summer fun so it’s hard to concentrate on RPI history today! I’ve been working on an inventory of faculty/alumni files and doing some organization in the collection. I frequently use information in this collection to answer questions about RPI people. Several years ago, we started compiling a list of unusual names that we came across in our research. We call it the Funky Names List. Here is the list for your amusement:

Clifton Sifton
Burr Beach
Van Rensselaer
Mason Flogswell
D. Humphreys Hiner
Minerva Matthews
Ellen Van Allen Lyman
Sharon Ina Berger
Tryphena Cady
General James E. Slaughter
Onward Bates
McKoskry Butt
Harwood Olyphant
Norbert Hepfinger
Marmaduke Ward Easby
Gustavus A. Longnecker
Lewis Passmore Pennypacker
Chris Csikszentmihalyi
Independence Grove
Dork Sahagian
Philander Moore
Choppy Wicker

It’s funny how two unrelated people can look so similar. You may have noticed from some of the comments about the mystery images, that their identity can easily be mistaken. A faithful and helpful reader of this blog pointed out to me (offline ) that one of the images in my last post was not the same person as the other two images. Once I had a name for this photo — Dr. Ivor Preiss, I could compare it to other photographs in our collection. He was right and I have egg on my face! :)  Who knew this could be so tricky!

I have two different views of this prof for you to consider and therefore two photos that need to be filed in the right place. The computer in the first view may help place him in time. I was curious about the sign below the prof in the computer picture so I enlarged it and it reads:

IF YOU ARE UNABLE
TO CLEAN UP AFTER YOURSELF
YOU OBVIOUSLY ARE INCAPABLE
OF USING THIS COMPUTER SO
GET OFF IT!
(OR LEARN TO LEAVE A CLEAN WORKSPACE BEHIND)

So was it the prof that was anal or someone else?

I kind of have a feeling that I should know who this guy is — but I don’t. Architecture — got that. Professor — check. If it’s obvious to everyone but me, then so be it. Let the comments roll! How about that pointer — doesn’t it seem a little out of proportion? Maybe everything looks bigger next to a small scale model!

This photo really intrigues me! In all of my RPI history travels, which includes extensive research for exhibits on student clubs and student traditions, I have not found information that provides an explanation for this image. I hope I stumble across something someday that will help me identify this curiously dressed group of men! I’m dying to know what they were up to. Was this an early LARP club?!

I do not expect the mystery will be solved in this forum (unless you happen to have expertise in turn of the century RPI or collegiate history) — soooo instead — I thought it would be fun to invite you to create a caption for this photograph. Any ideas? Come on lurkers, create a pseudonym if you must and leave a comment! I’ll post my caption choice after I received a few comments.

[Hint: click on the image to enlarge it for a better view]

Finals week is coming to an end and from my vantage point (limited as it may be), it has been very quiet on campus this week. It definitely feels like the semester is winding down. On the job I often live in the past and today I wondered how very different it must have been here 38 years ago this week in May.

I recently worked on a collection of papers from the 1970s and was amazed at the documentation of student protest activity in 1970. On Monday, May 4th, 1970, four students were killed at Kent State. On May 5th, a spontaneous demonstration took place on the ‘86 Field at RPI. The Student Council voted to support a strike of classes on that day — this was part of a National Student Strike. Following a rally in the Field House on the evening of May 6th, as many as 60 students broke into the Student Affairs Center (now the Admissions Office) and began a sit-in that lasted over 39 hours. The students issued the following demands:

The Faculty Council met on May 7th and 8th to discuss ROTC at RPI. They also voted to support a pass-fail resolution. Students were given the option to withdraw from the their classes and take a P or a V (basically an incomplete) instead of earning a regular letter grade. A campus referendum to abolish ROTC was defeated by a majority of students and faculty. President Folsom addressed the campus community at the Field House on May 8th. He stated that the Kent State shootings and U.S. military involvement in Cambodia “have been too much for students to take. They are reacting from a feeling of frustration. While they are showing their disapproval in a very unorganized way, they feel that they have got to do something.”

Students also called for a boycott of commencement or an alternative commencement to protest the commencement speaker Lee Alvin DuBridge, President Nixon’s science adviser. Dr. George Wald was invited by students as an alternate speaker. [Ultimately, protests against commencement were called off. Dr. Wald spoke at the baccalaureate and Nick Williams from the Black Student Alliance spoke on behalf of the "students view" at commencement. The 1970 commencement was held on June 12, 1970.]

Whew, what a week!

This is a two for one special — ID this person and two unidentified photos find a home. The first photo brings back bad memories of organic chemistry. The 3D molecules that he’s holding didn’t help me at all. There are some more clues in the second photo. We see a chemistry lab nicely staged with students doing experiments, including a woman with hair and socks that look like trends of the late ’80s — which coincidentally was the era when I dropped organic chemistry.

Who is this prof who kindly shows us what he looks like with and without glasses?

Every month or so, I select an image to feature on our home page and today I chose a picture of the 1948 lacrosse team.

The fun fact about this team is that they represented the United States in a demonstration game against England in the 1948 Summer Olympics. So the match was essentially RPI vs. England.

The game was played at Wembley Stadium in London and it ended in a 5-5 tie. The RPI team, coached by hall of famer Ned Harkness, was coming off an undefeated season of collegiate play. The team traveled via ship both ways and we have several press photos of the team aboard. On the way to London, they met Susan Blanchard daughter of Oscar Hammerstein.

Ladies and gentlemen, it’s time for another round of Mystery Image. There is still a thick folder of unidentified photographs on my desk so let’s get to it! My best guess about this prof is that he is/was in the School of Engineering. The nicely written notes on the blackboard are Greek to this history nerd.

I like the self-satisfied, arms crossed pose. Do you recognize him? If so, click on Comments and ring in — wait that’s another show — type in?!

There are several centennials to mark this year at RPI so I’ve been doing a lot of research in the period 1907 to 1909. I just installed a new exhibit in the Folsom Library titled Russell Sage Laboratory 100 Years: A Glance Back at the Beginning. One hundred years ago this month, ground was broken for the construction of Russell Sage Laboratory. Funding for the new building was made possible through a $1 million gift from Margaret Olivia Sage. The gift was used for building costs and an endowment for building maintenance and faculty salaries. Sage Lab was designed to house the mechanical engineering and electrical engineering departments which were established at RPI in 1907. So, this is the one hundredth academic year for those departments.

There were a lot of changes to the Rensselaer campus during the 1907-1908 academic year. A new Student Clubhouse was finished that year. This club house was designed to be the center of student extracurricular activity and was located at the west end of the 86 Field. A new power plant was under construction to supply more power to an expanding campus. The Institute also acquired more property which doubled the size of the existing campus. Ten acres from St. Joseph’s Seminary, along with several other small parcels of land from other neighbors, were purchased to extend the campus from 8th Street to 15th Street. Avenue B (now known as Sage Avenue) was constructed to allow passage from one end to the other. Notice that the southern boundary ran just past the football field and the Carnegie Hall roadway. 1909 Campus Map