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Item set Class of 1892 Photograph Collection--World's Columbian Exposition
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61 items

  • Old Main North Elevation (Reconstruction)
    This north elevation of the Old Main building drawn by Ypsilanti architect E. P. Rorison was part of the Michigan State Normal School exhibit at the 1893 World’s Fair. The label in the bottom right corner reading “Michigan Public Schools 946” confirms that this drawing from the University Archives is the actual document exhibited in Chicago. This elevation depicts Old Main’s original 1852 section (rebuilt after a fire in 1860), the front addition (1878), the rear addition (1882), and the north wing (1888). The College’s original building, Old Main stood where the Boone / Ford / Pierce Quadrangle is today. Digitally repaired image.
  • Old Main South Elevation (reconstruction)
    This south elevation by Rorison was likely the other elevation drawing of Old Main included in the MSNS exhibit. This elevation shows the original 1852 section (rebuilt after a fire in 1860), the front addition (1878), the rear addition (1882), and the south wing (1888). The exhibit also included four floor plans of Old Main, but we have not been able to identify them. Digitally repaired image.
  • Olympic Society 2nd Floor - Room 38.
    This image depicts a meeting of the Olympic Society, which was one of four literary societies referred to as the “Lyceum Societies.” The Olympic Society was the successor to the Riceonian Literary Society which was started by a group of twelve students in the summer of 1875. The original motto of the Riceonian was “True culture, self-culture,” and the society’s constitution declared that its purpose was to reflect true culture by means of “contact with the thought of the good and the great” (Putnam, 227). The name was changed to the “Olympic” society shortly after 1880 when the Lyceum was reorganized into four literary societies under a single constitution (228).
  • Physical Science Laboratory
    This image depicts students working in one of the school's Physical Science laboratories, likely conducting experiments for one of the Chemistry courses offered by the Normal. As noted by the Normal school register, “in addition to general demonstration work, about one hundred experiments are conducted by the students at their tables.” The chemistry laboratory had thirty stations prepared for student use, stocked with enough equipment for independent experiments.
  • Physical Training Basement - Room G
    This image depicts a group of male students participating in a Physical Training session, which was held in the basement of the Old Main building. In the winter of 1892-93, when this image would have been taken, Austin George urged the State Legislature to appropriate funding for a gymnasium building. After Professors Sill, Barbour, and George took several trips to Lansing to pitch their idea to the Legislature, $20,000 was appropriated for the construction of the building which was dedicated on May 18, 1894 (Putnam). The Normal School was the first college in the country to offer teacher training in physical education courses.
  • Physical Training Basement - Room G.
    This image depicts a group of female students participating in the Physiology and Hygiene Course that was developed by Lucy Osband in 1886. Osband taught this course in addition to Natural Science courses, but received no extra pay for doing so. In the basement room in the Old Main, Osband’s program included military marching, pulley weights, and “Swedish Routine Movements,” which involved the use of the dumbbells depicted in the photograph. Physical Culture classes had to be held in the basement due to the fact that the campus gymnasium had burned down in 1873. (Pedersen. Article in photo sheets).
  • Physics Lab E.A. Strong.
    This image depicts Physics class being led by the head of the Physical Sciences department, Edwin Atson Strong (seated at the back right corner of the table). Strong’s father was an abolitionist, which allowed Edwin to meet important Black historical figures, including Frederick Douglass, and become familiar with the operations of the Underground Railroad. After working as both a Principal and Superintendent in Grand Rapids, MI, Strong joined the Physical Science faculty at the MSNS in 1885. Strong prioritized his humanitarian efforts over his work in the science department, and worked hard to ensure that his students would live their lives with “profound conviction” (Putnam, p.186).
  • Physiological Lecture Room 3rd Floor - Room 57
    This image depicts a Physiology Lecture being given by the head of the Natural Sciences (Systematic Botany and Physiology) department, Lucy Osband. One of the main things that this academic department hoped to achieve was instilling a love for scientific truth within Normal students through the help of lessons that focused on utilizing logical reasoning and implementation of the scientific method. Physiology was considered to be an advanced course for senior study, with students having been expected to have learned the basics of the subject in high school. The chalkboard contains evidence that students are being taught about nerves, which indicates that this class is occurring early in the semester when the Physiology curriculum focused on rapid review of the subject with an emphasis on nutrition and the nervous system.
  • Prof. Barbour English Class.
    This image depicts an English class being taught by the head of the English Language and Literature Department, Florus Barbour. Instruction in English Language and Literature focused on three sections: Grammar, Rhetoric, and Literature.
  • Professional Lecture in Geography.
    This image depicts a large group of students attending a Geography lecture, as evidenced by the 9 students who are practicing drawing various continents, as well as the state of Michigan on the chalkboard. Professor Austin George can be seen standing in the back of the lecture room watching over the students. Three additions were made to the Old Main Building, front addition in 1874, rear addition in 1881, and third addition in 1883, to expand the schools available facilities, such as the creation of large lecture rooms to accommodate the Normal’s fast-growing student population. The original lecture rooms on campus only had enough space to house about 60 students.
  • Students working in a science laboratory.
    This image depicts students working in one of the Michigan State Normal School physical science laboratories. Due to the presence of vials, beakers, and other jars containing labeled liquids, the students are likely participating in a standard Chemistry class. Within this class, students gained experience with chemical manipulation and experimentation, while being instructed in the properties of carbon compounds. The Advanced Chemistry course also involved the use of the laboratory, but took “the form of individual practice in Chemical Analysis”.
  • Table II - MSNS enrollment records 1854-1893
    We have not been able to locate the four statistical charts Included in the exhibit, but fortunately Principal Sill reproduced one of these charts in his 1893 report to the State Board of Education. This chart from Sill’s report, “prepared for the Columbian Exposition with laborious care by Professor Austin George,” shows attendance and number of graduates from 1854 to 1893. This chart demonstrates the tremendous growth in attendance and number of graduates during Sill’s administration (1886-1893).