The Asian Student Union

On July 11, 2023July 11, 2023 By umdarchivesIn Campus History, Student Life, Student Publications, Updates1 Comment

By: Eleena Ghosh

Black and white clipping of a newspaper. At the top it says "The Asian Voice", the article is titled "ASU 101: An Introduction to Asian Unity". Below that is a black and white photo of four Asian students sitting outside of a building. They are smiling and looking at each other.

The first issue of The Asian Voice, September 1991.

Officially recognized in Spring 1991, the Asian Student Union came together to give a voice to Asian students and address their concerns about campus policies. It worked as an umbrella group to other Asian student groups, like the Korean Student Union, Filipino Culture Association, Hong Kong Club, Indian Student Association, and more. In just one semester, the group gained 100 members.

Eventually, it also became a way for Asian minority student groups to work together and organize rallies, especially after the Asian Culture Club faced harassment and mistreatment at the 1992 Homecoming. It was the first year Asian culture clubs had participated, but the experience was marred when members of the Homecoming committee and Greek Life shouted slurs at their tables. Later that night, a member of the Chinese Culture Club had his gym bag and sweatshirt smeared with dog feces.

Afterwards, the ASU really shifted their focus towards racism on campus; throughout the 90s and 2000s, the ASU and eventual other AAPI student groups rallied against other incidents of racism and hate on campus, as well as to give each other the support and resources they needed. The ASU also started “The Asian Voice”, where they talked about the things they felt needed to be talked about more. The ASU has been disbanded since 2009, but many of the smaller groups underneath ASU have continued to this day.

Black and white clipping of a newspaper. To the left is an article titled "ASU Officers Meet with President Kirwan". To the right is a photo of two Asian students looking at the camera. Below that is an article titled "Underrepresentation of Asian Faculty and Staff."

ASU Officers Meet with President Kirwan, The Asian Voice, October 1991.

Black and white news article. The title reads "Racism Marks Homecoming / By Jean Hwang"

Racism Mars Homecoming, The Asian Voice, November 1992.

Eleena Ghosh is a graduate student assistant in University Archives, pursuing a Master’s of Library and Information Sciences from the University of Maryland. She is interested in museum studies, creating more inclusive archival records and spaces, anthropology, and figuring out how to combine all of her different interests.

How Student Activists Paved the Way for ADA: A Short History of Disability Activism at UMD

On July 6, 2023July 7, 2023 By umdarchivesIn Campus History, Exhibits, Updates1 Comment

By: Eleena Ghosh

July is Disability Pride Month, celebrating the passing of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), which was signed into law in 1990. ADA was monumental for many reasons, but mostly because, before it, there were virtually no protections against discrimination against individuals with disabilities. But the fight for ADA began long before 1990, and disability activists are the reason it exists, including activists at UMD.

Before 1977, there were no real resources for students with disabilities at UMD. There was a 1968 state law requiring “all new construction to be accessible to the handicapped” but it was rarely enforced.¹ In a 1974 protest rally, student speakers took over the steps of McKeldin Library to voice their frustration and anger over being denied their basic right to an education and demanded action from the university. Mike Taft took the stage to say “we should be able to go to movies, ball games, the bathroom and college just like everybody else.”²

Black and white photo of student protesters. One man in a wheelchair is being carried down a large step. There is one man holding his wheelchair by its handles, by the man's head, and another man is at his feet, lifting the wheelchair's wheels up. Behind them, students walk past. One student is standing beside the group looking out.

Handicapped hold protest rally, The Diamondback, April 26, 1974.

September of 1977 is the first mention of a new “disabled services office” on campus, which eventually transitioned into a more official office named “Disabled Student Services” (DSS). This office wouldn’t have existed at all if it weren’t for the perseverance and hard work of student activists on campus. Before it was adopted by the university, Disabled Student Services was an “unofficial network of students and counselors who work with the handicapped”, who fought for accessibility on campus and fairness for disabled students.³

Article in a newspaper. The article is titled "Bicycles blocking ramps create growing problem/By Hubert Neely". Below that, the article is in two long columns. To the right of the columns, there is a black and white photo. It is a close up photo of a bicycle locked to a ramp, with a slip of paper on the ramp handle, right next to the bicycle, that reads "Does this look like a bike rack?"

Bicycles blocking ramps create growing problem, The Diamondback, September 27, 1988.

Students took on professors, administration, university officials, and even the Board of Regents to fight for their rights, force them to face their discrimination, and make amends. In 1977, four students gave a presentation to the Board of Regents’ Student Relations Committee, demanding they support their students with disabilities and prioritize increasing accessibility on campus (to which the board asked them to create a list of the most necessary changes).⁴

Later that year, the Disabled Services Office transitioned into the Disabled Student Services and began to receive adequate funding, meaning they could begin to truly provide the resources students needed to be independent and advocate for themselves and their right to an education in the classroom. In 1988, acting president William Kirwan created the President’s Commission on Disabled Persons (later named the President’s Commission on Disability Issues), which showed some progress and movement in the right direction. However, progress was stunted by the still-looming issue of a lack of state and federal protections.⁵

It wasn’t until 1990 that the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) passed in the federal government, finally protecting Americans with disabilities from discrimination and creating programs/services with their needs in mind. Before ADA, “no federal law prohibited private sector discrimination against people with disabilities, absent a federal grant or contract.”⁶ ADA could only have been created and passed because of the work of disability activists in educating the general public on their struggles and perils, and demanding that they be heard by people in power. The fact that basic education on disabilities and accessibility was the difference between life and death sometimes was difficult for individuals without disabilities to understand; ignorance and a lack of regard towards individuals with disabilities meant many died before they could see this bill passed.

The fight towards ADA and disabled rights did not begin in 1990, at the signing ceremony at the White House; it didn’t even begin in 1988 when it was first introduced into Congress. It began decades and decades earlier, with individuals like these UMD students, who demanded visibility and acknowledgement and fought hard for it. The fight is far from over, but it’s also important to take a moment to remember where it started, and who it started with.

Black and white photos from a newspaper article. There are three photos. The right column is a photo of a young Black woman walking in the street, holding a sign that says "Ronnie Hood: Steals from the poor and gives to the rich". She is wearing a sailors hat and an American flag dress. To the left, in the upper section is a square photograph of a woman in a wheelchair in the street. In her right hand she is holding the leash of a dog and in her left, she is holding a protest sign. Below that is a small photo of three people walking in the street, smiling and looking straight ahead.

Thousands of protestors take to the streets…, The Diamondback, September 21, 1981.

Disability activism on the UMD campus is part of University Archives upcoming exhibition, Rising Up! 100 Years of Student Activism at the University of Maryland, which will open this fall in Hornbake Library. You can see the history of disabled Terps’ activism, and much, much more this October!

Works Cited

1 Lewis, Lee. “Handicapped hold protest rally”. The Diamondback, April 26, 1974.

2 Lewis, Lee. “Handicapped hold protest rally”. The Diamondback, April 26, 1974.

3 O’Malley, Sharon. “Campus tries to assist handicapped.” The Diamondback, March 17, 1976.

4 Quinter, Rebyn S. “Regents face disabled students.” The Diamondback, September 8, 1977.

5 Neely, Hubert. “Bicycles blocking ramps create growing problem.” The Diamondback, September 27, 1988.

6 Mayerson, Arlene. “The History of the Americans with Disabilities Act. A Movement Perspective.” Disability Rights Education & Defense Fund, 1992. https://dredf.org/about-us/publications/the-history-of-the-ada/#:~:text=Before%20the%20ADA%2C%20no%20federal,a%20federal%20grant%20or%20contract.

Eleena Ghosh is a graduate student assistant in University Archives, pursuing a Master’s of Library and Information Sciences from the University of Maryland. She is interested in museum studies, creating more inclusive archival records and spaces, and figuring out how to combine all of her different interests.

100 Years of Athletes Helping Athletes

On June 15, 2023June 15, 2023 By umdarchivesIn Anniversaries, Athletics, Campus History, Sports, Student LifeLeave a comment

By: Anne S.K. Turkos

On this day in 1923, as part of the Re-union Day festivities, former University of Maryland athletes gathered to create something very special for their alma mater—the M Club. The group selected Harry Clifton Byrd, Geary F. Eppley, H. Burton Shipley, William G. Morris, George F. Pollock, William B. Kemp, and Burton A. Ford as the Founding Committee, and these seven men immediately set to work to create an enduring network of support for University of Maryland athletics and former athletes.

In Eppley’s Alumni Column in the Diamondback two days earlier, he noted that,

“Practically every institution has an organization composed of men who have won their letters in athletics and these organizations play an important part in the further development of new athletics. An “M” Club at Maryland will do a great good for the University.”

And the M Club has done so throughout its 100-year history.

The group held its first major event a little over five months later, on November 24, 1923, a day filled with a whirlwind of activities that is now recognized as the university’s first Homecoming. Highlights of the day included the dedication of the new football stadium, located where Fraternity Row now stands, a “pep” meeting to create more spirit for the afternoon’s football game against Catholic University, and a dance in Annapolis Hall, the new gymnasium that was erected on the site of the current Annapolis Hall.

This day also saw the first official meeting of the M Club, where the charter members adopted their constitution and bylaws, elected officers, and presented gold M insignias to each club member.

^{Geary Eppley’s copy of the original M Club Constitution and Bylaws. Source: Papers of Geary Eppley, Series II, Box 6, folder: M Club, 1929-1947}

As noted in Article II of the constitution, the original object of the M Club is to:

“[M]aintain the highest ideal of amateur sport in the University of Maryland; to promote the development of physical education; to encourage the standardization of the rules of all athletic games,; to urge competition and participation of all students in athletics.

Furthermore, it stands for a high sense of honor, fair-play and courtesy, on the part of the participants and hosts to guests, officials and spectators. It stoops to no petty technicalities to avoid the rules, or to take unfair advantage of opponents.

It recognizes the marked influence of athletics in developing organic vigor, physical fitness, intellectual efficiency, moral qualities and social habits; also the need of wise organizations and supervision of athletics and cooperation in making these efficient.”

Full membership was initially open to male athletes only, although female athletes, of whom there were only a handful at this time, could become associate members. This provision in the constitution was eliminated in 1925, and the women founded their own M Club on May 26, 1926.

^{Girls M Club—Source: 1927 Reveille yearbook, p. 137}

This organization appears to have ceased to function by the later 1930s, and women are now eligible for full membership in the M Club. Margaret Guy Schmidt, Class of 1958, was the first female athlete at the University of Maryland to earn an “M” and to join the previously all-male M Club. Miss Schmidt was recognized for her accomplishments on the rifle team.

Among its many tasks in the early days of the club was the maintenance of student decorum at games. The Diamondback of October 30, 1923, noted that,

“Last week, the M Club had its first chance to do its prescribed duty according to the proposed constitution. At the V.P.I. game the cheering of our student body was marred somewhat by thoughtlessness on the part of a few. There was unfavorable comment. The committee sent a representative to speak to the students and as true Maryland men, which they are, they accepted the suggestion with the result that the cheering section was above reproach and are to be congratulated on their good work last Saturday. It added more glory to our victory over North Carolina.”

Hard to imagine that happening these days, but times were different then….

The M Club got off to a fast start, and by the time of its third annual meeting in October 1925, President Burton Ford was able to report that there were 140 dues-paying members and that 250 more former UMD athletes eligible for membership had been located. Now, 100 years after its founding, the club has nearly 1000 active members and a staff of two who collaborate with the M Club Board, which includes representatives from each of the Terrapins’ teams.

Throughout its history, the M Club has a stellar record of achievements, including:

Providing scholarships to outstanding student-athletes
Donating hundreds of thousands of dollars to support athletic facilities for UMD and student-athlete academic achievement
Awarding letter sweaters or jackets to athletes who are completing their eligibility

^{Example of an M awarded to varsity letterwinners, c. 1930s. Memorabilia #1883, from the Cobey Family Collection. // Group of letterwinners in their new jackets, fall 2022. Courtesy of the M Club.}

Maintaining a network of former Terrapin athletes to facilitate alumni engagement and help mentor current students
Partnering with the university’s Department of Intercollegiate Athletics to establish an Athletic Hall of Fame and conducting the annual/biennial induction ceremonies for honorees
Enhancing the university’s reach and reputation with the induction of such honorary members as former U.S. President Gerald S. Ford, former Supreme Court Justice Byron White, broadcasters Vince Bagli, Walter Cronkite and Howard K. Smith, and former Maryland Governors William Donald Schaefer, Robert Ehrlich, and Marvin Mandel
Sponsoring promotional events for the university, including a basketball game between the Harlem Globetrotters and a college all-star team and concerts by Elvis Presley in Cole Field House (now Jones-Hill House)
Organizing the annual Letterwinners Day each fall and promoting linkages between current teams and their alumni

The University of Maryland’s M Club is recognized as the fourth oldest letterwinners organization in the United States, and all Terrapins, not just those who have represented UMD in athletic competition can be justly proud of all that this very loyal and active group of supporters has accomplished in its first century of existence! Happy 100^th birthday, M Club, and best wishes for many, many more years of success!

Sources Used:

Papers of Geary Eppley, Series II, Box 6, folder: M Club, 1929-1947
Student Newspapers database: https://digital.lib.umd.edu/student-newspapers
University Publications Collection, M Club, call number: UPUB M1. Includes banquet and other event programs, member directories, newsletters, bylaws, invitations, tickets to events, and brochures.
M Club 100 Years email from former M Club executive director David Diehl, November 30, 2022

Anne S.K. Turkos is the University Archivist Emerita for the University of Maryland and a proud honorary member of the M Club. She has been a part of the staff of the UMD Libraries’ Special Collections and University Archives since January 1985. Before retirement in July 2017, she worked with campus departments and units, student groups, and alumni to transfer, preserve, and make available permanent university records. She continues to support the Archives through her work on special projects and fundraising. Follow Anne on Twitter at @AnneTurkos.

HAPPY 90th BIRTHDAY, TESTUDO!

On June 2, 2023June 2, 2023 By umdarchivesIn Anniversaries, Campus History, Testudo2 Comments

By: Anne S.K. Turkos

Today, June 2, marks the 90th anniversary of the dedication of the original statue of Testudo, which originally stood in front of Ritchie Coliseum.

Testudo, a live diamondback terrapin, reveals the statue of its likeness during the dedication ceremony. Senior class president Ralph Williams shakes hands with university president Raymond Pearson. At left is assistant to the president Harry Clifton Byrd.

The ceremony was the highlight of Class Day for the 268 members of the Class of 1933, who had gathered enough funds for the sculpture by holding their prom on campus, rather than in a fancy hotel in downtown Washington, contributing their profits from the 1932 Reveille yearbook, cancelling the publication of the Old Line magazine, and collecting other donations. Senior class president Ralph Williams then took a live terrapin overnight on the train to Providence, Rhode Island, to be captured in bronze by sculptor Aristide Cianfarani and the Gorham Manufacturing Co., which cast the statue. Upon its return to campus, that same terrapin helped unveil the statue. Following its demise, this terrapin was taxidermied and mounted on a board and today holds a place of honor in a custom-designed display case in the University of Maryland Archives.

Although not a light-weight at 300 pounds, the original statue was subject to capture by students from rival schools, usually before major athletic contests. One of the most memorable such incidents occurred before the Maryland vs. Johns Hopkins national lacrosse championship game in 1947. A group of Hopkins students kidnapped Testudo and carted him off to Baltimore, where they buried him for safekeeping. They then prepared their Alumni Memorial Residence for battle by stringing barbed wire and laying in a supply of fire hoses and soap chips. When the contingent of approximately 250 University of Maryland rescuers arrived at 2 a.m. on the morning of the game, they were soaked by the fire hoses, and those Terps that succeeded in entering the dormitory slid all over the soap-slicked floors. Over 200 Baltimore policemen
fought for almost two hours to control the chaos, in the process arresting eleven students, three from Hopkins and eight from Maryland, for disorderly conduct. Hopkins dean G. Wilson Shaffer finally put an end to the battle by ordering the excavation and return of Testudo before the opening face-off of the big game. The Hopkins students complied, but painted a large, blue “H” on him before his trip home. Some of the Maryland students later shaved the heads of the Hopkins offenders as punishment.

To avoid a repeat of such incidents, campus officials later filled Testudo with cement and steel rods, bringing his total weight to approximately 1,000 pounds, and permanently attached him to his base. They also decided to move Testudo to a more secure location, and, after several shifts, positioned him in front of McKeldin Library in 1965, where he remains to this day.

The tradition of rubbing his nose for good luck has given Testudo quite a sheen since 1933! More recently, beginning in the early 1990s, students have begun to leave Testudo offerings of any imaginable kind–food, cigarettes, soda, beer, poems, computer discs, candy, flowers, coins–at final exam time.

*Testudo statue in front of McKeldin Library surrounded by gift offerings placed there by students for good luck, a University of Maryland tradition, circa 1998.*

*University of Maryland student Marc Morgan rubs the nose of Testudo’s statue in front of McKeldin Library for good luck, April 14, 1994.*

So strong is his power that five exact copies of the original statue have been installed on campus: outside the Xfinity Center, inside the Stamp Student Union, one on either side of the Gossett Football Team House, and outside the Samuel Riggs IV Alumni Center–to spread his magic. An additional Testudo, which is not an exact replica of the original, was installed in the courtyard of Van Munching Hall in April 2018. Thank you to the Class of 1933 for creating such a powerful symbol of the University of Maryland spirit 90 years ago!

And long live Testudo!

Anne S.K. Turkos is the University Archivist Emerita for the University of Maryland. She has been a part of the staff of the UMD Libraries’ Special Collections and University Archives since January 1985. Before retirement in July 2017, she worked with campus departments and units, student groups, and alumni to transfer, preserve, and make available permanent university records. She continues to support the Archives through her work on special projects and fundraising. Follow Anne on Twitter at @AnneTurkos.

University Archives Exhibit: Forming Fauna

On May 15, 2023 By umdarchivesIn Exhibits, TestudoLeave a comment

By: Maureen Jones

Interested in learning more about the way animal models have been used by the University of Maryland throughout its history? Forming Fauna, a new installation by Master of Library and Information Science Class of 2023 student and University Archives Graduate Assistant of three years, explores just that! From May through June, you can stop by the Maryland Room in Hornbake Library to see 150 year old paper mache silkworms, two different taxidermy turtles, and more! Stop by any time during business hours, Monday-Friday, 10am-4pm.

Inside the Maryland Room at Hornbake Library. The camera is angled outwards, through glass gallery walls and towards Hornbake Plaza. There is a student with dark hair sitting at a desk in the back right, through glass doors. Inside the Maryland Room are five exhibit cases, three wooden and two minimalist silver, alternating. The cases, from left to right, are wooden with a taxidermy Hawksbill Sea Turtle inside it, minimalist silver with several images in it that are unclear, wooden with a taxidermy turtle of unspecified species in it, minimalist silver with two more unclear images in it, and wooden with anatomical models of two silk moths and one silk worm, plus one black and white image.

Maureen Jones is a graduate student pursuing a Master’s of Library and Information Science from the University of Maryland iSchool as well as the Museum Studies and Material Culture Certificate. She is interested in museum studies, reparative justice in archives, taxidermy, and hockey.

Turtle Bookmark Palooza!

On April 28, 2023April 28, 2023 By umdarchivesIn Anniversaries, EventsLeave a comment

By: Anne S.K. Turkos

On April 29, 2023, the University of Maryland will be celebrating the 25^th anniversary of Maryland Day, a campus-wide open house full of fun and learning for the whole family. Maryland Day is the brainchild of former UMD president Dan Mote, who created a similar event while vice chancellor at University of California, Berkeley. On that first Maryland Day, Mote promised the crowd assembled on McKeldin Mall for his presidential welcome that “We’ll make this one of the biggest rituals in the history of the university,”¹and so it has come to pass. Often more than 75,000 visitors flock to the university to enjoy hundreds of events across campus on Maryland Day, and the UMD Libraries are active participants each year.

This year the Michelle Smith Performing Arts Library will be showcasing their exhibit Edward MacDowell: An American Composer’s Legacy and hosting a poster/printmaking workshop in the piano room there at the library in the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center.

Visitors to the Libraries’ Special Collections and University Archives in Hornbake Library can enjoy:

Book Petting Zoo to learn about books and book-making throughout history and handle specially selected items
University Trivia
Self-guided or curator-led exhibition tours of Get Out the Vote: Suffrage and Disenfranchisement in America
Filipino-American community archive, hosted by community organizer Rita Cacas
Katherine Anne Porter Room Open House
Tour of Hornbake Digitization Center
Take a Terrapin Home

This last activity is where the Turtle Bookmark Palooza part comes in! Over the years, I have made thousands upon thousands of crocheted turtle bookmarks in a rainbow of colors. My annual goal was 1,000, but I usually ended up with 700 to 800. Well, when the pandemic hit and shut down Maryland Day 2020, Maryland Day 2021 was virtual only, and bookmark bins did not emerge for Maryland Day 2022, so the bookmarks started piling up, since I didn’t stop crocheting them…why would I stop? I love making and giving them away, so I wanted to see if I could hit my 1,000 goal for 2023. Lo and behold, when I counted what I had on hand earlier this year, I had 1,786, so I thought to myself, why not make 70 more and end up with 1,856 to match the founding year of the university. Piece of cake!

Anne Turkos, former University Archivist, University Archivist emerita, with 1856 crocheted bookmarks she created to gift on Maryland Day 2023 at Hornbake Library.

So stop by Hornbake Library on Maryland Day and check out all the fun things to see and do, and pick up your very own terrapin to take home! You will then be part of a record-breaking Turtle Bookmark Palooza! Very doubtful that I will ever have that many in one place at one time again, but I haven’t stopped making them…already started for Maryland Day 2024!

Know how to crochet or are just beginning? You, too, can make the bookmarks. Patterns are available for beginner and advanced crocheters– find them below.

Enjoy and Happy Maryland Day!

Works Cited

“Events: Activities, venues showcase campus life,” Diamondback, April 26, 1999, p. 2.

Anne S.K. Turkos is the University Archivist Emerita for the University of Maryland. She has been a part of the staff of the UMD Libraries’ Special Collections and University Archives since January 1985. Before retirement in July 2017, she worked with campus departments and units, student groups, and alumni to transfer, preserve, and make available permanent university records. She continues to support the Archives through her work on special projects and fundraising. Follow Anne on Twitter at @AnneTurkos.

Finding Your Nest: Gwendolyn Betts on being Black at UMD

On April 17, 2023April 17, 2023 By umdarchivesIn alumni, Reparative Histories Intiative, Student Life, The Black Experience Project, UpdatesLeave a comment

By: Eleena Ghosh

“The positive part was the way we fought. We stayed together as a people, as a group.”

Betts’ yearbook photo, The Terrapin 1970.

Growing up, Gwendolyn Betts’ (1966-71) father used to take Route One into D.C., and every single time, the College Park campus mesmerized her. She used to “live in a world of fantasy books”, and the campus reminded her of the beautiful landscapes they would conjure up. Betts was in the top 5% of her high school class- she remembers her counselor telling her she could probably go to Morgan or Coppin for free, but she had her sights set on Maryland; it was the only school she was going to attend, so it was the only school she applied to. Her mother used her last $25 for the application, and the rest is history.

One of her very first experiences on campus was meeting her freshman roommate and her family in their dorm room, both of them excited to start a new chapter together. It turned out to be a short-lived experience, though, after the roommate and her family immediately began packing her stuff again and left the room after seeing Betts was Black. She remembers her mother coming back and claiming she was “assigned to the wrong room” and had to leave, but it was clear to Betts that she just refused to live with a Black person. Unfortunately, the rocky start didn’t get better as classes started. In fact, it got worse.

A color photograph of Wicomico Hall. The hall is in the center of the photo, the bottom left is slightly covered up by a bus standing on the road. Next to the bus, there are two people walking, each with a suitcase in hand. Next to the building are other dormitories.

Wicomico Hall dormitory, 1959, University AlbUM

Betts was the only Black person in most of her classes, and it was clear that “they tried to flunk [her] out… It was very difficult.” Whether it was her classmates or her professors, most were “very, very prejudiced.” At first, it was hard for many to even believe that she was Black- “they assumed Black people were on television and that we all looked alike and didn’t come in different shades, or different perspectives or anything.” For Betts and her Black friends, it was a near-constant barrage of questions and thinly veiled suspicion– “why are y’all here? Why do y’all always sit together?” Once, she was walking across campus and somebody threw water on her.

Not only did she have to deal with that outside of class, but within class, it could be just as bad and sometimes worse. She has countless memories of professors belittling her in class, particularly in her foreign language classes. They would say she was “tone deaf” and she was this and she was that. Proclaiming in front of everyone “oh, somebody’s gonna say this wrong… it’s probably you [Betts].” For Betts, “the hardest part was the teachers and how they treated you in the class.”

But, that’s not to say there weren’t good things happening too.

Betts saw the University through a lot of changes; some of which, she had a hand in. She was part of the group that started Black Student Union in 1968; she was also part of the protests that started the groundwork on creating Black sororities and fraternities, after a less-than-ideal experience with one her freshman year. She was invited by a sorority to meet the members, but arrived to shocked faces. They didn’t realize she was Black. “They were very polite”, but she, of course, was not invited back after. She was also there when both the basketball and football teams were first integrated. By the time she graduated, she had protested and advocated around Black student retention, Black student recruitment, fair housing, and segregation– in Betts’ mind, “the world doesn’t change by you sitting [at] home. Being an activist started there [at Maryland]. The positive part was the way we fought. We stayed together as a people, as a group.”

And in their downtime, “[they] had great parties. One person will have a car and all piled in… it wasn’t all gloom and doom. We did have fun.” She also often found solace in the dining hall, where she could go after a hard day and “all the Black people hugged.” She learned pretty quickly that in difficult situations, you learn to find a space that makes you comfortable; you find your spaces and you find “your nest of people.”

A black and white photo of a line forming at the door of a dining hall. There is a door and in front of it, a man sitting at a small desk, against the wall to the right of the door. On the left side of the desk, a line forms and there are four people standing. A lunch lady is standing next to the line wit her hand out, as if she is waving the next person in line forward. Behind the lunch lady, a man is walking past, exiting the doors to the dining hall.

Line at the dining hall, 1975, Diamondback Photos, Box 156, item 17205

Being at Maryland was difficult, yes, but everybody formed a reality that worked for them. Some dropped out, some decided to commute, and some stayed on campus full-time. “Each of us had a different experience, but we survived it and we’re proud.”

Born out of the need to address gaps in archival records, the Reparative Histories Initiative seeks to document the voices and stories of underrepresented minorities at the University of Maryland, from the past to the present.

Part of that initiative is the Black Experience at UMD Oral History Project– here, we aim to directly address the under-documented existence of Black students on campus & capture their stories and experiences so that we can slowly piece together a more nuanced and comprehensive picture of the university’s story. You can read more moments of difficulty, perseverance, and joy in Betts’ oral history, along with many others’, here.

Eleena Ghosh is a student assistant pursuing a degree in Environmental Science & Policy with a concentration in Anthropology. She is interested in museum scholarship, creating more inclusive archival records and spaces, and figuring out how to combine all these different interests.

Great Egg-Spectations: Chicken at UMD

On April 12, 2023April 12, 2023 By umdarchivesIn UpdatesLeave a comment

By Maureen Jones

This month’s #ArchivesHashtagParty was #ArchivesBirds, and as a former agricultural college, there is one bird we have in abundance: the noble chicken. The Poultry Department dealt with all manner of chicken, from cochins to wyandottes, and oversaw instruction for animal husbandry students and local Marylanders who took courses at the Cooperative Extension Service (CES). Poultry was one of the earliest fields of study at the Maryland Agricultural College, which perfectly aligned with the institution’s aim to educate the next generation of agriculturists.

A list of the specializations offered at MAC in 1916, all of which fell under the umbrella of ‘Agriculture, Horticulture, Science, Engineering and Rural Social Science.’

An early ad in the March 29, 1919 edition of MAC Weekly, which showcased the school’s curriculum and pricing.

Education in this field was varied and diverse, including conducting egg quality judging, bird health and disease mitigation, chicken rearing and breeding, laboratory interventions, poultry marketing and consumption, and training on cutting edge machinery. Throughout its tenure, the Poultry Department maintained the most modern of machines, such as an incubator with a capacity of 3000 eggs and a “coal heated colony brooder’ in 1918.² Here is some of that cutting-edge equipment in action:

A woman wearing a white smock and cap surrounded by full buckets of eggs. In front of her is a contraption that has several empty bucket-shaped components, likely where the separated yolks and whites are deposited. The woman is about to place an egg between two parts of the machine, the bottom part of which has a hole in it, where the liquid inside likely will flow out.

“Fig. 169: A mechanical apparatus for breaking eggs and for separating yolks and whites,” and “Combination Cyclo-Matic Picker,” Department of Poultry Science Records, Acc. 74-18

A large, square machine that resembles an industrial stand mixer.

“Combination Cyclo-Matic Picker,” Department of Poultry Science Records, Acc. 74-18

A worker with their back turned lifting a tool that picks up several dozen individual eggs at once using vacuum components, each of which resemble tiny plungers. The worker is midway through setting those eggs down on a platform in front of them, which has a small divot in it to hold each egg.

Worker using a vacuum to move eggs from cases from trays to sorting, Department of Poultry Science Records, Acc. 74-18.

Two male workers operating a complex conveyer belt to pack cartons of eggs into boxes labeled 'eggs.'

Workers packing eggs, Department of Poultry Science Records, Acc. 74-18

Much of the Poultry Department’s work was undertaken at CES, the services of which were available to all people across the state, not just students. As such, the Poultry Department was very involved in agricultural fairs, shows, and 4H clubs, all of which supported outreach for their programs and provided access to those who may have been unable to pay to attend the college. The department put on exhibits at state poultry shows, oversaw budding 4H club members as they reared flocks, and emphasized marketing and salesmanship to encourage students to succeed in the business.³

The Poultry Department staff and faculty were as much academics as they were farmers, and made considerable contributions to the field. Dr. Morley Jull, one-time department head, was particularly active. He gave a lecture about bird efficiency in the face of economic depression in 1947, was a chairman of the International Poultry Review, and even acted as chairman of the National Turkey Department. ^3,4,5 His specialty was poultry breeding, and aside from contributing greatly to the expansion of the department, Jull executed a number of experiments on shipping hatching eggs by plane, allowing countries with high poultry production, such as the United States, to export viable eggs to countries in need of sustenance.⁶ His contributions to the University were immortalized in 1954 when Jull Hall, the new poultry science building, was dedicated. The building houses the Institute of Applied Agriculture, among other bodies.

Dr. Jull, a middle aged man with a mustache, in a posed portrait. He is sitting diagonally, slightly turned to stage left, and is wearing a light-colored suit and tie.

Dr. Morley Jull, Head of Poultry Department, 1936-1956. Cooperative Extension Service records, Acc. 2006-69.

Naturally, when mentioning great Poultry Husbandry department contributions, we cannot omit Dr. Mary Shorb. As one of only three female Poultry Husbandry faculty members in the 1940s, Shorb’s mere presence in the department was a landmark accomplishment. In 1948, Shorb further made history by discovering and isolating Vitamin B-12 when researching poultry nutrition, specifically the bacteriological uses of liver extract. This discovery not only revolutionized the treatment of anemia, but provided more rounded nutrition to vegans everywhere.⁷ Her impact is such that the College of Agriculture and Natural Sciences Mary Shorb Lectureship, which provides scientists the opportunity to give talks on their work in nutrition.⁸

Dr. Mary Shorb, a middle aged woman with short curly hair, wearing a white lab coat. She is holding a test tube up off the table, at about face level, and is using a pipette to drop something into the test tube. In the foreground of the image are racks full of test tubes.

Dr. Mary Shorb with Test Tubes, ca. 1941-1950. Mary S. Shorb Papers, Acc. 72-14.

Two circles viewed through a microscope. One is labeled C-2 4 and the other is labeled C-3 4. Inside each circle are five smaller, darker circles with a white ring around each.

Symposium on Liver Factors and Pernicious Anemia, First International Congress of Biochemists. Vitamin B12. Silver “L” Assay Plate. August 19, 1949. Mary S. Shorb Papers, Acc. 72-14

Following the model of the Dairy Department, the Poultry Department was integrated into the Department of Animal Science to form the Department of Avian and Animal Sciences in the late 1990’s.⁹ Perhaps one of the most understated and impactful tasks undertaken by the Poultry Department was their role in educating the public, not just students, through CES and 4-H programs. Here are a few images of poultry outreach in action, including expositions, contests, and members of the public undergoing CES training:

“Club members receiving training in egg grading and judging- Harford County Club Camp- July 1925.” Morely Jull papers, 0256-UA.

A group of around 10 young boys, many in white button up shirts and round caps, standing around small chicken coops. They are analyzing chickens, with some of the boys holding chickens and others watching.

“County Judging Contest at Harford County 4-H Camp, July, 1926. Such local contests have served as a means to select county teams to compete in the State Contest,” Morely Jull papers, 0256-UA.

Three people are in frame, one young woman and two men in hads. One man and the woman, Edith Hobbs, are sitting on top of a wooden cage, presumably intended for chickens. They are each holding one side of a large book and appear to be reading it. The third man is standing over them, presumably also reading. There is a blurry black chicken running past the front of the frame.

“Conferences of County Agent, local leaders, and club members (Edith Hobbs) facilitate organization and well-directed effort in 4-H Poultry Club club work,” Morely Jull papers, 0256-UA.

A table laid out with science materials, similar to a table at a science fair. In the back there is a sign titled 'Selection and Care of Hatching Eggs,' and then lists different factors that affect egg quality. On the table are a few graphs, as well as bowls with three eggs each in them. The bowls are labelled with things that affect the quality of the eggs, such as 'odd shape.'

Miniature demonstration groups prepared by 4-H Poultry Club members attracted considerable attention at the 1947 Maryland Poultry Products Show January 5, 6, 7. The above exhibit by Smithsburg (Washington Co.) 4-H Poultry Club was judged the best of the 1947 exhibits,” Morely Jull papers, 0256-UA..

Finally, we can’t talk about chickens without actually showing you some chickens: from farm…

A very fluffy, medium-toned chicken. The edges of the feathers are lighter than the body of the feathers. The chicken's face is barely visible from underneath the fluffy crown of feathers on it head. This chicken looks very round overall, and is shaped like a classic chicken.

“Buff-faced Polish female,” Morely Jull papers, 0256-UA.

A chicken with extremely long legs standing atop what appears to be a wooden barrel. The chicken is primarily white, with a few dark spots on its wing and the back of its neck. this chicken is not fluffy, but is rather streamlined, with just a few slender feathers on its tail and no crest on its head. Overall, the chicken has kind of awkward energy, mostly because its legs are at least as tall as the neck and body.

“Figure 9: Red Pyle Bantam Male,” Morely Jull papers, 0256-UA.

An extremely fluffy white chicken, with feathers so airy that they resemble down, but this is an adult chicken. Its face is hard to distinguish from the background, as they have a similarly dark coloration. The chicken's legs are feathery as well.

Morely Jull papers, 0256-UA.

Two chickens with a sheet as the background. On the left is a crowin rooster. It has a classic rooster appearance, with medium-toned feathers, a crown, and a long tail. Next to him is a nondescript hen, which is squatted slightly with a bowed head, as if she is about to go to sleep.

Long-tailed Brown Chabo from Japan,” Morely Jull papers, 0256-UA.

… to table.

A plate of chicken wings. They are matte in color, giving the impression that they lack oil and are likely quite bland. The plate is set on a placemat with a bit of a floral design, and there is a sugar bowl off to the side.

A proposed preparation for chicken, Morely Jull papers, 0256-UA.

A glass plate. The outermost part of the plate is a ring of thick tomato slices, lettuce leaves, and cherry tomatoes in a circle. Then, there is a ring mold full of pureed meat, with slices of deviled eggs around it. In the center of the ring is more lettuce.

Kathryn Bele Niles’ ring mold egg salad, 1941. Morely Jull papers, 0256-UA.

Relevant Collections

Mary S. Shorb Papers
Morely Jull Papers
Clyne S. Shaffner papers
Dept of Poultry Science Records
Cooperative Extension Service (CES) Records

Works Cited

Maryland State Weekly. “Poultry Department.” May 22, 1918, sec. Farmers Day Thursday, May 30th, 1918.
The Diamondback. “Poultry Division Presents Exhibit at Food Display.” October 25, 1940.
The Diamondback. “Poultry Dep’t Head Reorganizes Journal.” December 25, 1940.
The Diamondback. “Dr. Morely, Poffenberger Participate in Exposition.” October 3, 1947.
The Diamondback. “Dr. Jull Appointed Committee Head.” April 4, 1947.
The Diamondback. “Eggs, Chicks Make Money Poultry Researcher Attests.” October 10, 1947.
Wages, Stacy. “Noted Female Scientist Receives County Honor.” The Diamondback, April 20, 1988.
Stephanoff, Jonathan. “2021 Mary Shorb Lecture in Nutrition.” Department of Avian and Animal Sciences. College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, November 10, 2021. https://ansc.umd.edu/news/2021-mary-shorb-lecture-nutrition.
Zielke, Kate. “Animal Science, Poultry Departments to Merge.” The Diamondback, October 5, 1995.

Tales from the Vault: I’m Not Saying Anything Against Bertolt Brecht

On April 3, 2023April 3, 2023 By umdarchivesIn Tales From the VaultLeave a comment

By: Maureen Jones

On this installment of the Tales from the Vault Series, we look deeper into the materials from the John Fuegi papers that we keep under lock and key. You may recall this collection from our post about Fuegi’s Danish Emmy award winning film, “Red Ruth: That Deadly Longing,” which explored the life of Ruth Berlau, who was the mind behind some of playwright Bertolt Brecht’s most well-known works. As a scholar of Brecht’s, Fuegi’s collection contains some very interesting, and rare, materials that he has collected at various points during his illustrious career.

Perhaps the most standout example of the uniqueness of the collection is a death mask of Bertolt Brecht, which you may have seen on display in the 2022 Special Collections and University Archives exhibit, “Mysteries, Monsters, and the Macabre.”

A white plaster mask on top of a plain black backdrop. The mask is a casting of Bertolt Brecht’s face, and captures the tiniest texture, from beard stubble to wrinkles.

Brecht death mask, John Fuegi papers, acc. 2006-103

A death mask is a replica of the face of a deceased person, created through first taking a negative mold of the face. Brecht’s mask was made by Fritz Cremer, and he produced at least two copies following the playwright’s unfortunate demise at 58 years of age.¹ One is in the Fuegi papers here at UMD, but there is another at the Kunstsaamlungen & Museen Augsburg’s Brechthaus in Germany. One thing that sets the mask in our collection apart is a unique, but highly unfortunate, missing piece. Brecht’s nose is notably missing a large chunk, which is likely from an accident before it was added to our collection.

A thick, yellowing booklet of court proceedings on a black background. The cover describes the technical details of the suit, which can be found in the image caption.

“United States District Court/Southern District of New York/Stefan Sebastian Brecht, Plaintiff, against Eric Bentley, Lee Paton, David Brooks, Robert Welber, and Katina Paxinou, Defendants. Exhibit 6 of Plaintiff’s Affidavit in opposition to defendant Bentley’s motion for summary judgment,” John Fuegi papers, acc. 2006-103

This document is indicative of the intricacies of intellectual property. The affidavit is a portion of the suit Brecht v. Bentley, which was heard by the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. Much discourse unfolded over copyright of Brecht’s works, as versions of his plays in different languages were copyrighted individually, the rights to some of which were not held by Brecht or his descendants. In Brecht v. Bentley, Brecht’s son, Stefan Brecht, sued American Theatre Hall of Fame member and author of Bentley on Brecht Eric Bentley, as well as a number of his colleagues. Action was taken when Bentley and colleagues attempted to produce a showing of Brecht’s “Mother Courage” in the German language. Bentley had copyrighted an English translation of the piece, but Stefan Brecht seems to have held copyright for the specific edition of the German translation that Bentley and his colleagues hoped to produce. It is unclear what the results of the suit were.

A yellowing newspaper, folded in half horizontally on top of a black background. The paper does not lie flat, as there is a vertical fold that has become somewhat permanent due to age and brittleness. The paper is in cyrillic, with a photograph of Stalin’s state funeral across the top.

Moskovskaya Pravda, March 9, 1953. John Fuegi papers, acc. 2006-103

This 80 year old paper is the March 9, 1953 edition of Moskovskaya Pravda, or Moscow Truth, Moscow’s oldest daily paper.² This issue has particular historical importance: it details the proceedings of Joseph Stalin’s state funeral. In the cover image, Stalin lays in his casket, with party members Vyacheslav Molotov, Kliment Voroshilov, Lavrentiy Beria, Georgy Malenkov, Nikolai Bulganin, Nikita Khruschev, and Lazar Kaganovich (left to right).³ Though this paper appears to be unrelated to Brecht on the surface, it does outline a strong current in the playwright’s life. He and the aforementioned Ruth Berlau were placed under FBI surveillance when they arrived in the United States due to their Marxist leanings. Their movements were monitored closely, and their every step was recorded- where they lived, where they worked, and who they surrounded themselves with. To support his scholarship, Fuegi was even able to access Berlau and Brecht’s declassified FBI surveillance logs, copies of which are located in our collection.

Works Cited

Parker, Stephen. “Diagnosing Bertolt Brecht.” The Lancet 377, no. 9772 (April 2011): 1146–47. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(11)60453-4.
Wikipedia. “Moskovskaya Pravda,” April 27, 2022. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Moskovskaya_Pravda&oldid=1084932867.
Translation provided by Dylann Loverro.

Add Some Terrapin Pride and Pizzazz to your Snail Mail

On March 13, 2023 By umdarchivesIn UpdatesLeave a comment

By: Anne S.K. Turkos

The corner of a white envelope with the Eugenie Clark forever stamp on it. The stamp is an abstract underwater scene. On top of the abstract background is a large shark and a photo of Eugenie Clark with wet hair and a snorkel and goggles on her head.

Eugenie Clark Stamp, courtesy of the United States Postal Service

The United States Postal Service released a commemorative stamp honoring the late University of Maryland professor Eugenie Clark on what would have been her 100^th birthday, May 4, 2022.

Dr. Clark, known around the world as the “Shark Lady,” taught at UMD in the Department of Zoology from 1968 to her retirement in 1992, continuing to lead some graduate classes into the late 1990s.

Her life-long interest in fish led her to bachelor’s (Hunter College, 1942), master’s, (New York University, 1946) and doctoral (New York University, 1950) degrees in zoology. She began her career as a research assistant at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla, California, from 1946 to 1947. There she learned to dive with gear that later became known as scuba, a skill that served her well in the 72 submersible dives as deep as 12,000 feet she made throughout her lifetime.

In 1955, she founded the Cape Haze Marine Laboratory, which evolved to become the world-renowned Mote Marine Laboratory, now based on City Island in Sarasota, Florida. Clark and her growing team of researchers collected and studied hundreds of fish species off the Florida coast in the lab’s early years. She served as its executive director until 1967; that year it was renamed the Mote Marine Laboratory.

Her accomplishments were legendary. She was credited with being the first person in the U.S. to execute successful artificial insemination experiments on fish. She taught lemon sharks and other shark species to push on a target in order to receive food; this research contradicted the long-held belief that sharks lacked intelligence. She also discovered that some shark species do not have to swim continuously to breathe and that whale sharks give birth to live young. Her studies of shark behavior led to her work to improve the image of sharks in the public eye and her lifelong efforts to preserve the marine environment.

Eugenie Clark is facing away from her desk, which is covered in stacks of papers, holding a shark mouth and her glasses in her right hand. She is wearing a dark, button-up shirt with a collar and has short, dark hair.

Professor Emerita Eugenie Clark with a large shark jaw, University of Maryland, circa 1991-2000

Over the course of her career, Dr. Clark completed numerous expeditions to shark habitats around the world. Her research led to the publication of over 160 research papers and over 50 books, including her memoir of her research in the largely unexplored waters of the Red Sea, Lady with a Spear, published in 1953, and The Lady and the Sharks, about the joys of diving, exploring, and discovering the world that lives beneath the sea and the birth and growth of the Mote Marine Laboratory, published in 1969.

According to the Mote Marine Laboratory press release at the time of her death in 2015 , Dr. Clark received three honorary degrees (University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth; University of Guelph, Ontario; and Long Island University, New York) and numerous awards including The Explorers Club Medal; the Medal of Excellence from the American Society of Oceanographers; The NOGI award in Arts from Underwater Society of America; the Dugan Award in Aquatic Sciences from the American Littoral Society; a Gold Medal from the Society of Women Geographers; the Distinguished Fellow Award from the American Elasmobranch Society; and the Franklin L. Burr Award from the National Geographic Society. Several fish species were also named in her honor: a goby, Callogobius clarki, a clinid, Sticharium clarkae, a barred triplefin, Enneapterygius clarkae, and a sciaenidae, Atrobucca geniae, as well as a new species of shark, Squalus clarkae.

Eugenie Clark, “The Shark Lady” and Biology professor, holding one of her children’s books
Eugenie Clark, “The Shark Lady” and Biology professor
Eugenie Clark, “The Shark Lady” and Biology professor, holding nurse shark jaw

This beautiful stamp, designed by Amanda Phingbodhipakkiya, may be available at a post office near you, but you can also order it online. Show your Terrapin Pride and add Dr. Eugenie Clark and some pizzazz to the next piece of snail mail you send!

P.S. You may be wondering if Dr. Clark is the only Terp who has ever been honored on a postage stamp. She is not. Two alumni preceded her. The first alumnus to be featured on a stamp was Jim Henson (Class of 1960). Henson, the creator of the world-famous Muppets, joined Kermit the Frog, Miss Piggy, Rowlf the Dog, Fozzie Bear, and several of his other early characters on commemorative stamps issued by the United States Postal Service on September 28, 2005, in Los Angeles, CA. Alumna Judith Resnik, one of the astronauts killed in the 1986 explosion of the space shuttle Challenger, appeared on stamps in Guyana, Guinea-Bissau, and Central Africa and on a number of first-day covers.

Sources used:

Rutger, Hayley. “Remembering Mote’s ‘Shark Lady’: The Life and Legacy of Dr. Eugenie Clark.” MOTE Marine Laboratory and Aquarium, March 5, 2015. https://mote.org/news/article/remembering-the-shark-lady-the-life-and-legacy-of-dr.-eugenie-clark.
National Ocean Service. “Dr. Eugenie Clark (1922-2015).” National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Department of Commerce, n.d. https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/news/may15/eugenie-clark.html.