Southern Illinois University - Obelisk Yearbook (Carbondale, IL)

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Aboul This oo 4 On The 'following pages, The ediTor and sTaTT of The I949 OBELISK have endeavored To preserve The life and Times oT The sTudenTs aT SouThern Illinois UniversiTy during The pasT year. ln so doing, Three main obiecTives guided The ediTing and publishing oT This book. ForemosT among Those aims was ThaT of producing The annual in Time Tor commencemenT in June. Real- izing ThaT ediTors of recenT years have been plagued wiTh sTril4es, shorTages of maTerials, insuTFicienT budgeTs, and a myriad of oTher obsTacles, Those concerned wiTh This issue began The designing, layouTs, and oTher non- seasonal worlc as early as May, l948. By doing This, iT was hoped ThaT The deadline oT June l could be meT. Good phoTography was second in im- porTance. Advanced planning, iT was ThoughT, would eliminaTe overbur- dening OT campus and sTaTT phoTographers so ThaT more and beTTer pic- Tures could be obTained. ThereTore, much deTailed scheduling and a sem- blence of order' was mainTained. And Tinally, There was The desire To malce This issue of The OBELISK as represenTaTive and all-inclusive as possible. To do This, iT was necessary To add some sevenTy-Tive or eighTy pages. WiThouT doubT, There are some organizaTions, acTiviTies, and individuals, who, Tor one reason or anoTher, were slighTed or omiTTed. The TaulT Tor This may be ThaT oT The sTaTT, or any oi a dozen diTTerenT processes involved in The publishing oT The boolr. Be ThaT as iT may, The sTaTT members have sTriven earnesTly To presenT a record oT The year's evenTs ThaT will meeT The demands oT an ever-increasing sTudenT body and a consTanTly expand- ing universiTy. 4

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Ihlisloviccll Slselch olf 'SOUIIIWQPH In This Diamond Jubilee year, The UniversiTy loolcs back in reTrospecT To The progressive sTages of iTs developmenT wiTh ever widening horizons Trom small beginnings To greaT TulTillmenT. The Normal School oT sevenTy-Tive years ago had iTs incepTion in The greaT need Tor Trained Teachers Tor The common schools OT Illinois. The Normal school movemenT came wesTward Trom Massachu- seTTs To Illinois in The mid-years oT The lasT cenTury, and was parT oT The educaTional renaissance in Illi- nois which saw The TormaTion oT The Illinois Educa- Tional AssociaTion, The publicaTion oT an Illinois school iournal, The creaTion oT The oTTice oT STaTe SuperinTendenT oT Public lnsTrucTion, The TirsT law providing Tor a sTaTe sysTem of Tree schools, and The esTablishmenT oT The Illinois Normal UniversiTy aT Normal, Illinois, in I857. Twelve years aTTer The TirsT Illinois Normal school was creaTed on The model of The Horace Mann sys- Tem oT Teacher Training, The urgenT need oT SouTh- ern Illinois resulTed in The creaTion oT a similar school aT Carbondale, wiTh The high sounding name, SouThern Illinois Normal UniversiTy. MeeTings oT educaTors and public spiriTed ciTizens aT Salem, aT Carbondale, and aT CenTralia during The summer oT l868, broughT eTTecTive pressure Tor The creaTion oT such a school. Ably assisTed by STaTe SuperinTend- enT NewTon BaTeman and PresidenT Richard Ed- wards oT Old Normal, The cause was won when The Illinois General Assembly passed The CharTer AcT which was signed by Governor John M. Palmer on April 20, I869. UniversiTy, as iT appears in The charTer name oT Old Normal and SouThern, was added To The TiTle To enable The Normal schools To share The public land or seminary Tunds. The TirsT board of Tive TrusTees, appoinTed by Governor Palmer, was conTronTed wiTh The diTTiculT Taslc oT Tinding The besT locaTion Tor The newly au- Thorized Normal and To carry Torward The erecTion of a building. The locaTion problem immediaTely became a conTroversial issue among several rival bidders, resulTing in much biTTerness which persisTed as a handi- cap Tor many years, in The early his- Tory of The school. Even yeT one hears repercussions oT ThaT heaTed conTesT. Carbondale secured The coveTed prize, ouTbidding oTher claimanTs by an oTTer oT Sl50,000 in bonds as well as giTTs oT land. ConsTrucTion was sTarTed in The auTumn oT l869, buT misTorTunes delayed iTs progress. The accidenTal deaTh oT The conTracTor, OLD NORMAL SouThern's TirsT building desTroyed by Tire. I874-l883 J. M. Campbell, ne- cessiTaTed a reor- ganizaTion OT The proiecT and addi- Tional Tunds by leg- islaTive appropria- Tion. Finally, a beau- Tiful Three - s T o r y sTrucTure, a model Tor iTs Time, was dedicaTed July I, I874, and immedi- aTely opened iTs doors Tor sTudenTs. This TirsT hisToric session oT SouThern Illinois Normal Uni- versiTy was a sum- mer insTiTuTe, wiTh a TirsT TaculTy oT nine members and an en- roIImen+ oT TiTTy- Three sTudenTs. EirsT regular session of The school began on SepTember sixTh. Dr. RoberT Allyn, a New Eng- lander and MeThodisT minisTer, who had previously held Three college presidencies, was called Trom The presi- dency oT McKendree College To head The school. Dr. Allyn had a compeTenT TaculTy and an eager sTu- denT body, buT iT is diTTiculT To comprehend how greaT was The problem conTronTing him. To creaTe a college of high scholasTic sTandards ouT oT The raw maTerual aT hand, required The paTience and ripened wisdom oT a sTaTesman in educaTion such as Dr. Allyn proved To be. An ambiTious classical curriculum of ThaT Time had To waiT Tor preparaTory Training oT a mulTiTude of SouThern Illinois youTh, whose meager preparaTion in common branches was hardly suTlicienT Tor admission To a modern accrediTed high school. The school had been broughT inTo being primarily To Train Teachers Tor The SouThern Illinois common schools, and This Taslc PresidenT RoberT Allyn I874- I 892