Looking for some new reading material to get you through the rest of winter? Check out our newest collection in the Archives’ Digital Collections!

Many graduates of Western New England like to keep abreast of the goings-on at the University after they’ve left. One way alums have kept these ties strong over the years has been the alumni newsletter turned alumni magazine, The Communicator.

The publication began as a short mailing, typically 4-8 pages, detailing new appointments on campus, class notes, donor information, sports schedules, Greek news, and other noteworthy topics. In the 1990s, the publication got a makeover and was elevated to something more akin to a magazine publication than a newsletter.

The earliest issue we have in the archives is from the Fall of 1968. Although according to the masthead, this issue is Volume II, Issue I, which means the first issue was presumably Fall 1967. If any readers out there have a box of WNE memorabilia with copies of The Communicator from 1967, let us know!

You can currently view issues from 1968 – 1983 online now. Keep checking back as the collection grows, and also keep an eye out for the Law School alumni magazine, Perspectives, which will be making its digital debut soon!

It’s a messy day here at WNE, with snow, rain, and lots of wind in the forecast. But despite the gray skies, the campus certainly looks beautiful with a fresh coat of snow.

Many students have yet to return from their winter breaks, but fortunately, photographers on campus over the years have loved to capture the snowy landscape. So we’ll share some winter images of the past today so everyone who isn’t on campus can still enjoy the scenery.

Stay safe out there everyone!

With snow in the forecast today here at Western New England University, we’re in the mood for some fun winter activities! WNE has seen many events and traditions come and go (let’s bring back the snow sculpture contest!), but one was so fleeting it lasted only one season and appears only once (as far as we could find) in our records.

Back in 1980, when the Plymouth residence halls were still a new addition to campus, the land in front of the complex was used as an ice skating rink! For a mere $500, the land was filled and leveled, and the rink was constructed. According the The Westerner, the rink took over a month to be installed, filled, and frozen.

However, the ice skating rink didn’t have a happy ending. By the time it was frozen, students were leaving for winter break, and it had thawed and been vandalized by the time they returned. The newspaper article states that the rink was repaired and refrozen in January, but seeing as there is no more mention of the rink in the student newspaper, it is unknown how long the rink lasted.

Who wants to see another ice rink on campus? And what other winter tradition or activity would you like to see return? Let us know!

In the 1960s and 1970s, students at Western New England would be counting down the days to Thanksgiving break this time of year, as most of us are surely doing. However, they would also be counting down to another momentous occasion on the school calendar – the day the freshmen could be rid of their beanies.

A tradition adopted by many colleges and universities in the mid 20th century, beanie wearing by underclassmen was seen by some to be a way to instill class spirit and school pride in the new additions to the student body, and by others as a hazing ritual. Whatever the motive behind it, the tradition was rampant on college campuses in the middle of the century, and Western New England was no exception!

Many school put their own spin on the tradition, and Western New England certainly made it their own, as well. The annual rope pull – a tug of war contest over a muddy pit between the freshmen and sophomore class – played a crucial role in WNE’s beanie tradition. If the freshmen beat the sophomores, they no longer had to wear their beanies. If the freshmen lost to the sophomores (as was usually the case), they had to wear their beanies until Thanksgiving break.

So as you’re getting ready to perhaps leave campus, or enjoy a long break from classes, be thankful that finding a place to store your beanie is not on your to-do list this break!

Most of what we share on this blog is drawn from the physical collection of the University Archives. This includes everything that is up in our storage room on the third floor of the library – yearbooks, newspapers, course catalogs, photographs, even the beloved Golden Bear mascot costume is up there! There are also, fortunately, digital versions of many of these items (check out the University’s digital collections!), so the physical items can be preserved even longer. This duality of both the physical and digital copy is one that archives have been handling for quite some time now. As long as the physical copies are stable, the digitization process can be done in a planned, orderly manner, and can take however long it needs.

However, within the past 20 years or so, archives (or any record creating institution for that matter) are facing the problem of born digital materials – information that is created digitally and has no physical copy. Sure, if pressed you can print every email you send, every paper you write, but what about larger institutions and all of the day to day work done digitally? What about dynamic files, music and film files, digital artwork, large interconnected databases? Additionally, technology is fleeting, and formats and access change at lightening speed, leaving many digitally created files in the dust (looking at you, 3 1/2 inch floppy disks).

One such type of born digital material we’ve been thinking about have been websites. It’s impossible to capture the dynamic nature of a website on paper, with links, and hierarchy, and interactive elements just to name a few things that need to be contented with.

But any web history enthusiast is probably familiar with the amazing Way Back Machine. The web crawling tool has been roaming and snapping shots of the internet since 1996. The service, owned and operated by the Internet Archive, provides useful, insightful, and usually very entertaining glimpses into websites of the past. And it provides a solution for archiving the history of the internet by preserving websites in their original, dynamic form.

And fortunately, the Western New England website has been snapped many times since the late 1990s. We’ve always enjoyed a good scroll through the University’s website circa 1998, and love visiting the D’Amour Library page of the same year to see how much the resources have changed!

You can go directly to the Western New England page of January 1998 here. We’ve shared it on this blog before, but it’s always worth sharing again! And because the Way Back Machine crawls into websites and snaps subpages, the webpage is still dynamic. You can follow links and explore the website in its entirety.

If you’re ever interested in the history of websites, the internet, or a specific institution, check out the Way Back Machine! It’s guaranteed to be a walk down memory lane.

With the arrival of the fall comes the return of so many wonderful traditions – homecoming weekend, parents’ weekend, and Halloween parties galore! It’s also a good time to look at some older, forgotten traditions. Whether you’re looking for ideas for a new tradition, or you want to resurrect an old one, looking at past traditions is also a great way to learn more about the University, and how the community has changed over the years.

Until around the 1970s, the majority of activities for students on campus were organized and sponsored by the fraternities and sororities on campus (if you would like to know more about what Greek Life on campus used to look like, check out the Archives’ online exhibition!) From the inter-fraternity football league, to the winter ball, Greek Life was responsible for providing the fun, social aspect of college life.

One such fun student activity held in years past was Harvest Weekend. A weekend separate from other fall weekend activities such as Homecoming, Harvest Weekend involved the election of a Harvest Queen (later called Miss Pumpkin!), hayrides, and apparently plenty of pumpkins (some of which were donated to children at Holyoke Hospital).

The event was later renamed Harvesters Weekend in 1970, but mention of the event disappeared from the newspaper after that year. 1977 saw a Harvest Moon Ball at Homecoming weekend, and the ball appeared again in 1983 as part of The Community Festival. Fall weekend activities have evolved many times over the decades, and if any readers out there have a favorite memory or activity from their days on campus, please let us know!

So which of these fall activities would you like to see come back to campus? Our vote is for the giant pumpkins!

Welcome back to all returning students, and welcome to all new students! And also, welcome back to our beloved Golden Bear!

If you’re just joining us now, here’s the story.

About five years ago, a generous alum donated the original mascot costume of our Golden Bear from their personal collection to the University Archives. It was an incredibly exciting donation! It represents the first time the Golden Bear appeared in mascot form on our campus. The costume dates to 1970, which is when intercollegiate football first came to WNE, so it makes sense that a mascot would appear at this time.

Long thought to be handmade by a student’s mother, the costume actually bears the tag of “Broadway Costume”. The Boston shop, which only recently closed its doors, was a staple in costuming and mascot needs in the area. However, the origin story isn’t completely debunked – perhaps the mother of a student actually worked at the costume shop!

When the costume arrived it was musty and in need of some TLC. Thanks to a generous grant from the Alumni Association, our Golden Bear was sent out to New York for professional conservation treatment this past spring.

The Golden Bear returned to us just last week, spot cleaned, vacuumed, stitched up, stuffed, and boxed in custom made archival boxes. It is also smelling much better too. If you’re interested in the art of textile conservation, check out the great work of the conservator who fixed up our bear!

The costume will soon be on display in the exhibit case at D’Amour Library. So keep an eye out, and say hello to the original Golden Bear!

Even though it’s summer, and it is relatively quiet, groups of students are happily making their way around campus. Our incoming first year class is taking part in SOAR (our Summer Orientation and Registration program), and it’s been lovely seeing their interest and enthusiasm about the adventure that awaits them in the fall!

Started in 1984, SOAR was designed to get much of the administrative duties of students’ initial arrivals in the fall out of the way so they can instead focus on their social and academic life when they begin their first semester.

One of the biggest tasks SOAR was meant to accomplish was registration, which is such an important part of the academic experience, but before SOAR, was also a complicated and stressful one for newcomers. There was the thrill of picking new classes, but there was also the anxiety of not getting the classes you need, and the headache of navigating the process.

Furthermore, if we think registration is a headache now, imagine going through registration when there wasn’t a technological system to support the complicated process. Imagine the difficulty of managing enrollment numbers, schedules, classroom spaces, students needs, and instructor needs, all without the assistance of technology. The paperwork involved in early college registration processes must have been a nightmare! Also imagine a process that needs to begin at the same moment for every student happening in a physical location, not online. Chaos!

As you think about your courses for the fall, and gear up for registration, check out these photographs and newspaper articles about what registration used to be like here at Western New England. There were long lines, waits, crowds, and bad feelings all around during the event.

We are certainly thankful for SOAR, and for our current registration system!

Our Golden Bear is still in the midst of getting pampered at the conservation spa. We’ve recently received some pictures showing the progress, and it’s looking good!

And while the bear has been away, we’ve been looking more into where our bear came from. Our conservator, Gwen (check out her blog!) sent along a great shot of the label on the inside of the body suit.

After a little digging, it looks as though Broadway Costume went out of business just a few years ago, but had been a favorite, well established costume shop in Boston since 1964. The shop made high-end, quality costumes, and not just Halloween costumes. Broadway Costumes outfitted theater companies, advertisements, and even local school plays. And of course, they created made to order mascot costumes! The folks down at Boston Costume were very helpful in our search, and pointed us to an article about Broadway Costume from 2004. Check it out if you’d like to learn more.

If there was any type of WNE tie to Broadway Costume, such as an alum or family member connected to the shop, we don’t know. If any readers out there have a piece to the puzzle, let us know! And stay tuned for more updates!

Congratulations to all of the seniors that made up this very special class of 2021! And also to all of the graduate students that finished up their studies during this challenging year! While graduation was not the same as it always has been, what matters is all of the hard work you have done to get to this momentous occasion.

Check out some of the graduation photos from years past, and remember – future generations of WNE students will be looking back at your graduation, and will likely consider it the most unique and memorable of them all.