Northwestern University - Syllabus Yearbook (Evanston, IL)

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NorThwesTem's firsT yeorbook, on onnuol colled The Pondoro, oppeored in 1884. Published by The senior closs, The 1241-poge volume wos filled wiTh group picfures of greeks, professors ond clubs. Eoch closs submiTled essoys of iTs yeorly goings-on. Filled wiTh ployful boosTs, The pieces demonsTroTed The sTrong closs rivolry ThoT wos much o pori of NorThwesTern's eorly doys. The froTemiTies published The 1885 volume, renomed Syllobus. Creofive differences prompTed The resignofion of Two ediTors-in-chief before The nexf onnuol wos published. ln 1886, The yeorbook cosT 50 cenTs. The Syllobuses of The loTe 1800s looked much like The Pondoro. Supporied by odverTising revenue, The volumes were crommed wiTh ods for everyfhing from hoir Tonics To cIoThing. Closs rivolries coniinued To monifesT Themselves in The poges of The yeorbooks, ond upper closses oTTen submiTTed clever poems ond limericks in puT-downs of freshmen ond sophomores. ln Those doys, NorThwesTern enrolled only obouT 100 sTudenTs, ond privoTes jokes obounded. ln 1894 The junior closs Took over yeorbook dufies. Syllobus become o biT sTodgier, ond foculfy, sTudenT ond curriculum direcTories reploced mony of The poems ond closs essoys. AIThough They did noT conToin orficles of The yeors' evenTs, The Syllobuses of The Teens begon To copfure The compus' sociol climoTe in closs essoys. The joke secTion in The 1911 book conToins The following: 'Winifred Goodsmifh spends on hour ond o holf in Deon PoTTer's office exploining why she come in oT 3 o.m. from TheTo formol . . ond 'Chorley HiITon comes To closs wiThouT o collor. He exploins ThoT he hod To coll I-TER up ond forgoT oll obouf iT. The books of The '20s ore Thick volumes, often running over 600 poges. lvluch like eorlier onnuols, The books do liTTle more Thon coTolog sTudenTs ond professors. TrodiTionol conTenTs refleciing o conservoTive sTudenT body, These yeorbooks conToin sconf hinT ThoT This wos o decode coiled The Roofing TwenTies. The yeorbooks of The loTe '30s ond eorly '40s ore works of orf deco, eloborofely odorned wiTh gilT ond lovish color drowings. They ore opT represenToTions of o sTudenT body eoger To Throw off The shroud of The Depression ond geT bock inTo The swing of Things. lvlimicking New Yorker-like prose ond corloons, The

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annuals contain parodles of lnstltutlons from greeks to classes One rs tltled Oswald Schmalze s Manual on Fratemltres An excerpt from the Phu Kappa Ps: passage reads Drs assemplage rss amongst der finest on der campus Dey are uf such a flneness as to be aurte unnotloed By the mud 1940s the campus was embrolled ln WWII efforts and the 1945 46 books were published erratlcally Social consclence peeklng through the surface the books of the late 40s dwelled somewhat on tryrng trmes The followrng IS excerpted from a recap of the war years ID the 1946 Syllabus There was a bug annlversary of the 15th brrthday of the Chicago Campus and a few of our class were rnvrted to spend a year In the army W worked hard wlth Joe Levy making the defense commlsslon the best organlzed rn the country Then CRUNCH luke a bolt from the blue Jap planes attacked Pearl Harbor Northwestem and the rest of the Unlted States was at war Everybody huddled around the radro looklng scared Many of the boys Junlor prom then a Junlor prom ln the Gym then flnally no Junlor prom The yearbooks of the 1950s are stereotypical paragons of the soclal conscrousness of the decade Thelr pages pay homage to fraternity and sororlty formals athletic endeavors and mrlltary balls Captlons tell of organlzatron successes but fall to mentlon the strrrrngs of student unrest It would not be untrl the late 1960s that yearbooks would begun to chronicle controversy and changlng times at Northwestern The books of the late 60s revlew the years through photo essays and Include shots of Evanston and Chlcago In 1970 the Syllabus staff broke wlth tradrtlon and published the yearoook as three magazlnes ID a sllpcase Volumes were relegated to greeks actrvrtles and random photos ln the late 70s a newsprlnt section was added and Dally Northwestem staffers wrote articles hrghllghtlng the years mann events Syllabus present deslgn based on grlds and lrnear decoratlon keeps pace wrth the hugh tech 1980s Recent yearbooks combrne the best of old and new and blend tradltlon wrth experlmentatlon Trtle pages from each book appear atop pages 7 31 ' e left First a Junior prom then no