Looking Through the Hourglass

By: Lily McElroy, Staff Writer

The third floor of the Harvey A. Andruss Library is home to the Bloomsburg University Archives.  This semester, BU archivist Robert Dunkelberger has created an exhibit on the Bloomsburg State Teachers College. 

In 1927, a few months after being granted permission to earn bachelor’s degrees, the Bloomsburg State Normal School became the Bloomsburg State Teachers College. The display, which is located on the third floor of the library directly in front of the main staircase, presents “treasures from the archives” commemorating the years when the university was a state teachers college. The difference between the campus then and the campus now is vast. Junior Alicia Heller was surprised by the differences. 

“It’s not something you really think about, but you know that the school didn’t always look like this,” said Heller. “It is still incredible to see the difference between how it was then and how it is now. It look’s like a totally different place.” 

In front of the archives department, inside the large glass cases and on the wall behind them, students can view pictures of the campus and buildings to see how much it has changed over the years. Onlookers can see which school buildings, such as the Haas Center for the Arts, Bakeless, and Sutliff are named after people by the pictures provided of these presidents and faculty members. Student handbooks, pictures of student life, songs, hats, trophies, and other special artifacts are also included in the exhibit 

The display also provides visitors with an idea of what the campus was like during World War II, when Bloomsburg provided military training. The campus had two navy programs, a V-5 and a V-12 program. Navy Hall was given its name during this period.

This exhibit is the second in a series of which Dunkelberger has created, the first being a display of the Bloomsburg State Normal School, which was shown last year. Dunkelberger hopes his future projects will consist of an exhibit on the Bloomsburg State College and Bloomsburg University eras.

“It is part of our history,” Dunkelberger said. “We were Bloomsburg State Teachers College at one time and it is important to let students know campus wasn’t always like this.”

Anyone can view the exhibit by going to the library or by viewing the university archives website at library.bloomu.edu/Archives/exhibits.htm. The exhibit is on display until Sept.14, 2012.