University of Pittsburgh - Owl Yearbook (Pittsburgh, PA)

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 P I T T S B U RGH E SQU K P I T T S B U R G H E S Q U E Imagine a copy of an American college annual dropped on Mars and picked up by a young Martian. As he turns its pages what vision would he construct of an American University? What would he learn about the University of Pittsburgh from this copy of the 1930 Owl? Me would sec buildings and grounds, some of them of appealing beauty . . . He would see rows and rows of faces of persons manifestly young, attractive, healthy, well-groomed, happy, and more or less intelligent.... He would sec scores of groups of these young people, and would be assured of their passion for fellowship and association. . . . He would see thousands massed in the Stadium, to cheer the spectacle of a few engaged in combat . . . From cartoons and sketches he would glimpse something of the humor and joy of life on this planet.. .. The young Martian would doubtless rejoice in these things as we do. But, mirror as it is of student life and activity, the typical college annual would hardly reveal to the stranger the true purpose of a University, for the University exists mainly, of course, for a purely intellectual purpose. Its greatest effort and justification are to initiate each new generation into the thought and intellectual tradition of the race—its literature, its art, its science. Truly the pictures in the usual annual would not serve as a fitting introduction to the soul of the University—to its laborious quest towards a larger and better knowledge of the world; the insights gained through rigorous application and discipline; the masterful and creative use of the intellect, warmed and expanded by moral enlightenment. Such triumphs of the University cannot be revealed by the pictures in any book. . . . W e have tried, in the 1930 Owl, to reveal just a little more of the true message of the University to Mars than is usual in a year book of this type. Here in the “Pittsburghesque” section, in particular, we have striven to reveal not only the physical beauty of the campus, but the beauty of mind, the beauty of achievement, the beauty of social contact, and, too, we have attempted to embody the beautiful ideals which will be a part of our Cathedral of Learning. Here, we have mirrored the life at the University of Pittsburgh at its very best, as it is lived in the activities and associations of the campus. If the Martian can read from these pages Pitt life as we live it and feel it, then the Owl can hoot with happiness—his purpose has been accomplished. Pagr 9