Curious about what was trendy on campus in years past? Why not check out a yearbook! Yearbooks have always served to memorialize a milestone year to graduating students, so it’s easy to see what was important to them by flipping through the pages.

Title page of the Cupola, 1988

While scanning through issues of the Cupola, Western New England University’s yearbook, I learned something rather interesting about the class of 1988 – they were really into ALF. For those of you too young to remember, or those of you old enough to want a walk down memory lane – check out ALF’s IMDB page, which sums it up best – “A furry alien wiseguy comes to live with a terran family after crashing into their garage.”

The puppet centered sitcom starring the Alien Life Form (ALF) was a bit hit in the late 1980s, but likely hasn’t been on anyone’s mind in quite some time. So it was interesting to see that this character had enough of an impact on Western New England students to be featured multiple times in their yearbook!

You can follow ALF’s journey through campus as documented in the 1988 Cupola with the pictures below – click on each picture to see a larger version. Enjoy!

And did you know the Archives is in the process of digitizing all of Western New England University’s yearbooks? We’re already into the 1980s, so stay tuned to find out when and where you’ll be able to see them online, all the way back to 1949!

While much work is going on behind the scenes during the long summer months, the campus feels very quiet and peaceful right now. But one of the big summer events is fast approaching, and the campus won’t feel so empty – SOAR! The Summer Orientation and Registration Program originated as a way to get much of the administrative duties of orientation (hence the “R” for registration) out of the way so freshmen could focus on their social and academic life come the fall, and has been going strong for 33 years!

So with the first SOAR around the corner, we thought we’d share some pictures from some of the first SOARs. And be sure to check out the Western New England University Archives online exhibition about the Freshmen Experience for a more information about SOAR, and other programs and events for incoming freshmen over the years.

An incoming freshmen and her mother look over their respective schedules for SOAR, circa 1980s.

Student and faculty advisors hand out the all important paperwork out to freshmen, circa 1980s.

Two students available for help during SOAR 1989.

Did you know D’Amour Library has a blog, too? D’Amour You Know is where you’ll find loads of information about the library, including staff bios, programming and events information, book recommendations, database spotlights, and more! Currently, the blog is showcasing work done by our summer student employees, and one of their current projects is with the archival material.

Check out the post to see the great work the students are doing for the archives!