New Beginnings

Well ladies and gentlemen, it’s that time of year again to whip out your tissues and get ready to send our lovely seniors into the real world to make us all very proud. As they walk the Laurie Auditorium stage on May 18, 2013, they will be ending one adventure and starting a new one (cheesy...I know). One of our very own down here in Special Collections, Faith Bradham, will be starting her new life in August at Indiana University, attending graduate school to become a librarian and spreading her love of books to everyone she can. Your Special Collections family is very proud of you, Faith-- now go do awesome things and never forget that we’ve always got your back!

Trinity University diploma from the Waxahachie campus

Although the beginning and ending ceremonies are held in Laurie Auditorium both freshmen and senior year, it was not always this way. Previous ceremonies on the Skyline campus were held in the Sunken Gardens, located directly across the 281 highway and walking distance from campus.

Trinity University Spring Commencement at the Sunken Gardens

Due to lack of space (and probably the unbearable Texas heat), the ceremonies were eventually moved inside. Because, lets be honest, who wants to sweat up a storm under one of those polyester graduation gowns in the 100 degree temps? Not me. However, that has never stopped friends and families from enjoying the outdoors as they take photographs outside by the Miller Fountain and the Trinity Tower to commemorate this important day.

Trinity students have been known to add a personal touch
their graduation day attire

In addition to walking the stage on graduation day, graduating seniors also have the opportunity to leave their mark on Trinity, specifically on the iconic Trinity Tower. As wide-eyed first years, students climb the Trinity tower, taking photographs at the top with the University’s president. When graduating, students climb the tower once more, this time signing a brick at the top (which will cost $20.13 this year--see what they did there?). Therefore, while graduating, seniors participate in similar ceremonies as they did four years ago, this time transitioning out of college life and into a new phase in their lives.

As we creep closer and closer to graduation, seniors are getting closer to holding that much deserved diploma. Just as those who walked across the stage at the Sunken Gardens in the 1950s before their friends and family, 2013 seniors will walk (or stumble) across the Laurie Auditorium stage with the support of all their friends and family. The seniors of 2013 will be dearly missed next year, and campus will definitely not be the same without them. Congratulations friends, and never forget that your Triniland family is here cheering you on!

Oh, and try not to trip...

--Angeline Bottera '15

Theatre

It’s no secret that I’m an enthusiastic thespian. I talk (read: complain) about rehearsal far more than I talk about anything else, and I complain (read: brag) about all the hours that I spend in the theatre building to most everyone. So it should come as a surprise to no one that when I’m at work in Archives, and I have completed all of my tasks, I flip through the card catalog, searching under all possible terms for information about the theatre department. Most recently I came across some very exciting photos of our building right after its construction in 1966. I marveled at how much the same certain things looked but even more at how different others looked. Most astonishing were the pictures of rooms and places that I could not identify, like a huge and mysterious tech booth, the location of which I could not fathom:

If actors were actually astronauts...

The theatre was remodeled in 2000, so the Stieren house and stage look strikingly different.

The space that we misleadingly refer to as “The Café Theatre” was clearly an actual café at one time:

We're all pretty upset we lost this classiness.

One change that has been enormously positive has been in how we use our lobby. I think any Trinity student knows that when you want to find a theatre student, the first place to look is in the lobby of the Ruth Taylor building, but this wasn’t always the case. Our lobby used to look like this:

Foyer 1966

Apparently, the department was very strictly against students lollygagging about in “The Foyer,” and instead students could use a green room off the Stieren (that no longer exists). Personally I could not imagine our building without at least three or four students diligently doing homework (read: gossiping unashamedly) in our space. Still, though almost fifty years have passed since these pictures were taken, I don’t feel so distant from them. It’s the faces that all seem the same. The spirit hasn’t changed at all.

TUPS Meeting

--Kate Cuellar '15, Special Collections and Archives Student Assitant

Cloud Nine

This is the last weekend of Trinity University's production of Cloud Nine. Ticket information is available on the theatre website. Make sure you check it out!

It turns out that Trinity University performed this play back in 1985, just a few years after it was written. After seeing the two posters created for the 2012 production I wondered how the Theatre Department advertised for the previous iteration of the production. So, from the archives, the program for Trinity University's production of Cloud Nine in 1985:

Also, here's the review of the play from the Trinitonian in 1985:

Stratton, Sean. Everything's different on "Cloud Nine." (1985, October 25). Trinitonian, pp.7-8.

 

--Amy Roberson, Special Collections and Archives Librarian, Assistant Professor

An Ode To Moody

This blog will also feature entries about the history of Trinity University as told by the items accessible through Special Collections and Archives. We will introduce the various types of materials we have as well at the tools you will need to locate (and even view!) some of those items.

As noted in a recent press release from University Communications, the William L. Moody, Jr. Engineering Science Building will be demolished in the near future. Special Collections and Archives recently received a new addition to our collection, a t-shirt celebrating Moody and engineering at Trinity University.

Trinity University Engineers T-Shirt

In fact, we have a number of t-shirts in our collection, from organizations such as Alpha Phi Omega, Phonathon, and more for your viewing pleasure. During the school year, we are open Monday-Friday, 1:15pm to 5pm. Check the Special Collections and Archives website for exceptions to those hours.

-Amy Roberson, Special Collections and Archives Librarian, Assistant Professor