Events in Special Collections & Archives
Free admission. No registration required. For information contact SC&A at (860) 685-3864 or sca@wesleyan.edu.
Exhibition: Wes Meets East: The Freeman Asian Scholars Program at Twenty
Olin Library, East Corridor exhibit cases
Opening May 20, 2015
This exhibition commemorates the twentieth anniversary of the Freeman Asian Scholar Program, which has provided full scholarships for outstanding students from 11 countries and regions in East Asia to earn a bachelor’s degree at Wesleyan. Founded in 1995, by Houghton “Buck” Freeman ’43, Doreen Freeman, Hon. ’03, and Graeme Freeman ’77 in honor of Mansfield Freeman ’16, the program seeks to promote cross-cultural understanding between the United States and East Asia.
WESeminar: How Does Your Garden Grow?
Friday, May 22, 2015, 2:00-3:00 pm
Davison Rare Book Room
Suzy Taraba, Director of Special Collections & Archives, will present highlights from Wesleyan’s rich and varied holdings of books about gardens and gardening. Among those on display will be Thomas Hill’s The proffitable arte of gardening (1568), Henry Bacon’s early 20th century European landscape scrapbooks, and modern artists’ books with botanical themes.
Exhibition: How Does Your Garden Grow?
Olin Library, East Corridor exhibit cases
Opening summer 2015 – date to be announced
Harsh winters can end in spectacular flowers, live or in print. This exhibition presents examples from Wesleyan’s superb collections of garden books of all varieties.
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Related Events
WESeminar: Only Yesterday? Wesleyan in Sixties
Saturday, May 23, 2015, 9:30 am
Hansel Lecture Hall, Public Affairs Center (PAC 001)
Wesleyan’s sixties were a pivotal decade in its history. As in the 1870s and again during the World War I decade, a new definition of institutional identity began to emerge. Investment returns peaked in the sixties and quickly created unprecedented prosperity. African American enrollments and a return to coeducation contributed major elements of diversity to the student body. Campus architecture announced the arrival of a “little university.” Almost a half-century later, how can historical analysis help us understand why the major events of this transforming decade occurred and with what consequences?
Introduction: Jim Dresser ’63, Hon’13, P’93, Chairman Emeritus, Wesleyan Board of Trustees
Presenter: Dave Potts ’60 is a Harvard-trained historian of American higher education. In addition to his service as a professor of American history and dean of faculty at three liberal arts colleges, he has authored books, chapters, and articles on the histories of Harvard, Yale, and liberal arts colleges scattered throughout much of the nation. His prize-winning first volume on Wesleyan’s early history has just acquired a worthy successor, Wesleyan University, 1910-1970: Academic Ambition and Middle-Class America. (See flyer below.)
Note: Book signing will follow the WESeminar.
WESeminar: The Transition to Coeducation at Wesleyan: What has changed and what has stayed the same?
Saturday, May 23, 2015, 11:00 am
Powell Family Cinema
Wesleyan’s return to coeducation beginning in 1968 changed the University forever. At a time when the women’s movement was national news, many formerly all-male colleges and universities began to admit women. Wesleyan’s experience both mirrored widespread trends and also presented a different approach. By expanding the student body towards greater socio-economic and ethnic diversity while phasing in coeducation, Wesleyan grew dramatically in many directions at once. A panel of faculty and alumni who lived through the early years of coeducation and some of whom are engaged in current research on the transition to coeducation at Wesleyan, will share their reflections on what happened then and how it made Wesleyan the institution it is today. What has changed? What has stayed the same? Join us for a lively discussion about coeducation then and now.
Presenters: Jeanine Basinger, Corwin-Fuller Professor of Film Studies; Phyllis Rose, Professor of English, Emerita; Paul Schwaber, Professor of Letters, Emeritus; and Elliot Daum ’70, Superior Court Judge, Sonoma County, CA, exchange student at Connecticut College 1969.
Moderators: Diana Diamond ’70, Professor of Psychology, City University of New York; Weill Cornell Medical College, and Suzy Taraba ’77, Director of Special Collections & Archives.