[SOA] OSU illustrated history appears

[Bain, George]

The following story appeared in the Sunday Columbus Dispatch (page E4):


History hits home
Former archivist tells story of Ohio State with many newly published photos
Sunday, June 26, 2011  03:11 AM
By Steve Stephens
The Columbus Dispatch
The women's championship basketball team (1919) The library in University Hall (1889) A protest by female students (1970)
The women's championship basketball team (1919) The library in University Hall (1889) A protest by female students (1970)
The women's championship basketball team (1919)
The women's championship basketball team (1919)
The library in University Hall (1889)
The library in University Hall (1889)
A protest by female students (1970)
A protest by female students (1970)

   When he began teaching a course at Ohio State University about the school's history, professor Raimund E. Goerler was struck by the lack of a comprehensive book on the subject. The last single-volume history of the university had been published in 1952. So Goerler, who served as university archivist from 1978 until his retirement last year, stepped into the breach. Six years in the making, The Ohio State University: An Illustrated History will be released on Tuesday.  

   "The need for this kind of one-volume work was pretty obvious," said Goerler, who has a doctorate in American history.

   The college's archives, including a vast collection of university-related photographs, proved a rich resource.

   "We have nearly 2 million photographs here, dating back to the beginnings of the university in the 1870s," said Michelle Drobik, photos curator for the OSU Archives and one of many staff and faculty members who assisted Goerler.

   "There's so much here (in the archives) that people don't get to see," she said.

   (A link to OSU Archives photo galleries is available at  www.   library.osu.edu/find/   collections/the-ohio  state-university-  archives/photo-  archives .)

   Ohio State "was the first or second university to teach photography," Goerler said. "We have probably the largest collection of photographic archives of any university."

   Many of the more than 300 historical photos in the book hadn't been published.

   But the volume isn't just a picture book - it's an illustrated history in the best sense of the term, one that includes chapters on OSU's earliest   days, university presidents, turning points in OSU history, student life through the years, traditions, athletics and 25 of the most illustrious people associated with the university.

   Plenty of trivia is also included. The reason   Mendenhall Laboratory was set out of line with adjacent buildings, for instance, was because the head of the Physics Department wanted the sun's rays to shine on him when he lectured.

   And serious topics, including student protests   during the Vietnam War, are explored.

   "I think this book is significant for a number of reasons," said Tamar Chute, university archivist.

   Not only is it the first comprehensive history of OSU published in many years, but the book also tries to put that history into context and show why and how the university became the institution it is today, she said.

   Understanding such history is valuable for every Ohioan, Chute said.

   "I think it's important that people understand our mission as a land-grant institution - the idea that the university is a service to the people of the state." sstephens

   @  dispatch.com 


Here is the link to see the illustrations: http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/arts/stories/2011/06/26/history-hits-home.html

A colleague, George