MacMurray College - Tartan / Illiwoco Yearbook (Jacksonville, IL)

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' helfand }nCoiragemenf of B.L., Phi Nu, and Dr. Marker, the tivo infants soon grew -iip to take their place in the campus ivorld. ' development of the modern college woman in the past century has been fjikAed by a mounting interest in athletics. Our Alma Mater has been no exception. %hat a great gidf between the hoop-skirted, hoop-tossing young ladies of 1860 and 0 r modern hockey enthusiast! By the turn of the century, the idtra-conservative knd very proper dumb-bells and dainty promenades had given way to a ivell-de fined athletic program. Favorite activities were basketball and tennis, both of ivhich stim- ulated lively competition. Hiking and track also became popular with 1. W. C. ' s bloomer girls. World War I brought to the college a vigorous new interest in ath- letics, with emphasis upon physical fitness. Backbone of this enthusiasm, the Athletic Association, founded in 1908, has worked energetically to keep the spirit of good- sportsmanship thriving. In 1945 the A. A. became knoxvn as the Recreational Asso- iation. But as these fragments of the past are revealed, our curiosity takes us back to tloe very beginnings. If an I. C. F. C. girl of the fifties could appear among us again, how surprised she ivould be! She ivould hardly believe her eyes ivhen she saw us arrive ,at our beautiful campus in automobiles or busses, enter our modern dormitories, flick a switch for light or a thermostat for heat, stroll unchaperoned into town, select our studies from a seemingly endless list, engage in a rousing game of hockey, or compete briskly in campus elections. Then she ivould tell us of her college life. Ihivin in a heavy wagon with her hair covered trunk and perhaps a feather bed roped in behind the seat, she approached the center of her new opportunity with awe. Here she found herself living with two or three other girls in a bare little room. Page Ten

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r: made its mark in campus life, eventually to become a part of an hiternational or - ' j. - ganization. Of its varied and growing services we are perhaps most familiar with its oldest traditions — the annual party for new ' girls, the Christmas bazaar, an. Christmas caroling. Mirrors of student life are the Greetings and Illiwoco. f ar e ' ti ' nfp jq LF.C. ' s fiftieth commencement in 1897, the first Greetings appeared as an alumnae news letter, produced by Dr. Marker and an alumna. Enthusiastically received, the publication continued in this vein until ambitious seniors of 1904-1905 took the reins. Under this new and capable management, the Greetings became the organ of campus activity, as it is today. The annual publication produced by the Junior class received its unique and appropriate title, Illiwoco, in 1913 and first appeared as a yearbook in 1917. Our four upperclass literary societies have played an integral and noteworthy part in MacMurray ' s history. It all began with Belles Lettres, noiv a veteran of ninety-five years ' service to the cultivation of literary taste. Phi Nu followed in 1853. Tagged by B.L. ' s as Trundle Beds, they dubbed their friendly superiors The Fossils. Although all records and possessions of the two groups were destroyed in the fire of 1861, they carried on energetically, inspired by the spirited competition of the Illinois College literary societies. Ambitious literary and artistic meetings and exhibi- tions were held in spite of tragic fires and the struggle for halls in which to meet. The latter campaign continued for several years supported by plays, candy -pulls, sales, and entertainments. By 1912 the college ' s population had grown so that new societies tvere needed. Out of this necessity were created Theta Sigma and Lambda Alpha Mu. Twenty representative girls %uere chosen by the administration as founders and divided into the two equal groups according to a balance of lities With (he Page Nine

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Looking around, she saw the wood stove — that winter morning tyrant — the strip of molding with nails that answered for a closet, the bed with the welcomed storage space beneath, and the table on which was placed one lonely candle. During the days of her college career she concentrated on her classes in such abstruse subjects as natural philosophy, Butler ' s Analogy, natural theology, or moral science, with a dash of Latin, botany, geometry, history, domestic economy, and similar courses. Particular attention was of course paid to composition, penmanship, and the art of being decorous yotmg ladies. A full schedule! Then at her candle- lighted table in the evening she endeavored to master the learning of the day. In the life of a genteel female of the fifties there was little place for play. Disgraceful athletic impulses were to be repressed. However, calisthenics with wands and dumb-bells, walking, or perhaps a game of Poor pussy wants a corner were con- sidered proper. Indoors, charades and tableaux were popular. Social highlights of the year were the spring picnic and a mid-winter reception, called the President ' s levee. The girls of these early years spent nine and a half months of the year under the school ' s protecting wing. Discipline was parental but strict and each young lady found herself under the close observation of her teachers. These first alumnae tvould be amazed and perhaps pleased to review the striking though gradual evolution through which our codes of conduct have passed. T hey would observe the fusion of good sense and consistency with the times which has always existed. And they would applaud the gradual swing of the pendulum toward a balance between the academic and social