Ever wonder what it was like to be a college student 100 years ago? Where did they live? What did they study? How did they unwind after a long week of lectures? Published by Stanford University in 1939, Diary of a student of the University of Wisconsin, 1886 to 1892 recounts the experiences of Waukesha native and UW Madison student, Sidney Dean Townley, through his six years on campus.

http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/UW.StudentDiary

From his very first day on campus, Townley shares his daily experiences at UW Madison, providing detailed and often humorous commentary on his fellow students, courses, faculty and surroundings. For example, Halloween hi jinx are nothing new to campus. Back in '87 (as in 1887), this time-honored campus celebration included ducks, guns and spontaneous serenading of professors living on campus. Oh those naughty undergrads!

Equally important, Townley provides an in-depth first hand account of literary society debates, campus lectures and courses taught by UW Madison's founding faculty including Bascom, Chamberlain and others. He shares detailed information about campus housing, his mandatory military training, social activities, athletic events, campus traditions (including "taking over the fence" on Bascom Hill!), local politics and the city of Madison environs during this period. Townley received his BS in 1890, his MS in 1892, taught Mathematics and worked for the Washburn Observatory on campus. He went on to hold positions at the University of Michigan and the University of California. By 1939, he was Professor of Astronomy and Geodesy, Emeritus, at Stanford University. He published this diary while at Standford University.

(photo from UW Madison Class Album, 1890)

This weekend, we honor Wisconsin veterans by sharing one of our more recently completed and most captivating collections: World War II Veterans of Mount Horeb.

This project, completed in partnership with Mt. Horeb Public Library in 2008, presents digitized photographs, oral history interviews and memorabilia that document the myriad wartime experiences of six Mt. Horeb natives: Florian Stamm, Willis Martinson, Pat Hitchcock, Ray Cunneen, Wesley Field and Clarence Thronson. Their stories are compelling and serve to remind us of the sacrifices made by service men and women throughout the ages.

Happy Memorial Day and thank you, vets.

Well this is it. We all survived mifflin and made it to that time of year when libraries get the most attention and students get the least amount of sleep... finals. Student diets include large amounts of coffee and there is enough stress in the air to power a small town.

But just around the corner is summertime. We all just need to calm down and think that this could be us soon...

Good luck with finals everyone, and stay sane! See you back here in the fall!

School is coming to a close and for some that means it is time to graduate. Whether it is graduating to a higher grade level or moving on to the real world graduation is a time for celebration.

Our collections have images of graduations of all kinds. The image on the left shows soon to be UW Madison graduates on Bascom Hill ca. 1920s.

The image on the right shows girls Dancing at Graduation in the Sande Society. The image is from Liberia in West Africa.

We have images of graduations from high school, military school, etc. Every one with it's own traditions of celebration.

We hope that those graduating this year find the right way to celebrate!

This Saturday, May 1st, is the much anticipated Mifflin Street Block party. Although students from all over come to party not many of them know the history behind this event.

It all started as a street protest in 1969 against the Vietnam War. The event arose as part of a continuing conflict between students and police in the "Miffland" area. The image on the left is from the Wisconsin Badger of 1977. It gives a nice description of "Miffland Days" and the Block Party.

Then in 1996 riots broke out after students started throwing bottles at a fire truck putting out a bonfire that the students had started. The image on the right shows some of the after effects of that year's party.

The Mifflin Street Block party had 20,000 attendees in 2002. After that year the police started making strict laws to keep the party under control.

The Mifflin Street Block Party is legendary and the people attending should know a little bit of the history behind the chaos.

Take a look though our Badger yearbooks and UW-Madison collections and party like its 1969 tomorrow!

Alright all you Civil War enthusiasts , summer is just around the corner and its time to get ready for reenactments. Our collections have tons of Civil War materials but one in particular that I wanted to highlight is the Civil War Band Collection: 1^st Brigade Band of Brodhead, Wisconsin.

In 1857, a group of citizens of Brodhead, Wisconsin, decided to form a brass band. They purchased a set of brass instruments and became known as the Brodhead Brass Band, or "B.B.B." Under that name, they performed at the debate between senatorial candidates Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas on August 27, 1858 at Freeport, Illinois.

The musical legacy of the 1st Brigade Band presented here consists of a set of twelve, leather-bound partbooks (although one of the twelve has lost its leather cover and some pages) and seven envelopes of other music manuscripts. The partbooks contain about 55 numbered selections and several unnumbered tunes. About half of the pieces in this collection are identified as quicksteps.

This collection has lots of interesting information for anyone who loves Civil War history.

This year marks the 100th anniversary of Lathrop Hall. In 1910 the building opened its doors as the Department of Physical Training for Women. According to University News, the original Lathrop Hall had a bowling alley, cafeteria, laundry, theater, three-story gymnasium with a running track, swimming pool, dressing rooms with lockers and showers, club rooms, social lounges, kitchens, reading rooms, home economics laboratories, classrooms and faculty offices.

Our Cultural Landscape of the UW-Madison Campus Collection contains images of Lathrop around the time it first opened.

The Cultural Landscape of the UW-Madison Campus image gallery was developed as a research tool to support a two-year effort to inventory and assess cultural landscape resources on the University of Wisconsin-Madison main campus.

Take a look at our historic images and come out to celebrate Lathrop's anniversary. For a list of events see this University News Article.