The first National Coming Out Day was organized by the Human Rights Campaign on October 11, 1988. Philadelphia activists celebrated on October 22 with a day-long series of performances and workshops.

Click the image below to read the Triangle’s 1988 report on the event, and read about the history of National Coming Out Day from the Human Rights Campaign.

Wonder why Google’s homepage doodle featured a barcode today?  October 7 is the anniversary of the first patent for a barcode, awarded to Drexel alumni Bernard Silver ‘47 and Norman Joseph Woodland ‘47.

See their patent for a Classifying Apparatus And Method on Google patents.

For more information about N.J Woodland, see this article from the May 8, 2000 Hagerty Library newsletter (pdf).

Thanks to John Wiggins for the tip.

Constantine Papadakis (1946-2009) served as president of Drexel University from Aug. 1, 1995, until his death on April 5, 2009.  He presided over Drexel’s growth into the realms of medicine and law, doubled undergraduate enrollment, and increased the endowment from $90 million to $650 million.

~Shaun Kirkpatrick

Constantine Papadakis

Friday will be the last day for you to see the exhibition The Past Personified: a Presidential History of Drexel.  Come downstairs in Hagerty and check it out, a new exhibition begins on Monday!

Join us for a reception TODAY from 4 to 6 p.m in W.W. Hagerty Library (33rd and Market Streets) on the lower.  It is open to all and includes complimentary homemade refreshments.

Richard David Breslin (b. 1937/38) served as president of Drexel University from Sept. 1, 1988, until 1994, including its centennial year of 1991.

~Shaun Kirkpatrick

Richard Breslin

The Past Personified: a Presidential History of Drexel, a exhibition of notable documents and photographs are on display downstairs in Hagerty.

Join us for a reception for this exhibition on Wednesday September 23rd from 4 to 6 p.m in W.W. Hagerty Library (33rd and Market Streets) on the lower.  It is open to all and includes complimentary homemade refreshments.

William S. Gaither (b. 1932) served as the president of Drexel University from May 1984 through his resignation on Oct. 21, 1987, a period of difficulty but also of Drexel growth as a research university and as a residential campus.

~Shaun Kirkpatrick

William Gaither

The Past Personified: a Presidential History of Drexel is on display on the lower level in Hagerty.

Join us for a reception for this exhibition on Wednesday September 23rd from 4 to 6 p.m in W.W. Hagerty Library (33rd and Market Streets) on the lower.  It is open to all and includes complimentary homemade refreshments.

William Walsh Hagerty (1916-1986) served as president of Drexel from September 1, 1963, to his retirement in 1984 — at nearly 21 years, Drexel’s longest presidency.  Like his predecessor James Creese, Hagerty also oversaw a long period of expansion for Drexel; most notably, the school’s transformation from an institute of technology into Drexel University in 1970.

~Shaun Kirkpatrick

William Hagerty, 1983

Come and learn more about Drexel’s Presidents through an exhibition  The Past Personified: a Presidential History of Drexel, on display in the lower level of Hagerty.

Join us for a reception for this exhibition on Wednesday September 23rd from 4 to 6 p.m in W.W. Hagerty Library (33rd and Market Streets) on the lower.  It is open to all and includes complimentary homemade refreshments.

James Creese (1896-1966) presided over the Drexel Institute of Technology from December 1945 to September 1963 — Drexel’s second-longest serving president.

~Shaun Kirkpatrick

James Creese

See the exhibition The Past Personified: a Presidential History of Drexel on display on the lower level of Hagerty.

Join us for a reception for this exhibition on Wednesday September 23rd from 4 to 6 p.m in W.W. Hagerty Library (33rd and Market Streets) on the lower.  It is open to all and includes complimentary homemade refreshments.

George Peters Rea (1894-1978) presided over Drexel Institute of Technology from August 1, 1942, to August 31, 1944, during the worst years of World War II.

Robert C. Disque (1883-1968) served as the most frequent temporary head of Drexel Institute of Technology, as the chair of interim administrative committees after the deaths of Kenneth Matheson in 1931 and Parke Kolbe in 1942, and as interim president after the resignation of George Rea in 1944.

~Shaun Kirkpatrick

George Rea

The Past Personified: a Presidential History of Drexel, can be seen on display in the lower level of Hagerty.

Join us for a reception for this exhibition on Wednesday September 23rd from 4 to 6 p.m in W.W. Hagerty Library (33rd and Market Streets) on the lower.  It is open to all and includes complimentary homemade refreshments.

Doctor Parke Rexford Kolbe (1881-1942) served as president of Drexel Institute from 1932 until his death in February 1942, guiding the school through the Great Depression and the start of World War II.

~ Shaun Kirkpatrick

President Kolbe with Archduke Otto of Austria, 1941

The Past Personified: a Presidential History of Drexel is an exhibition currently on display downstairs at Hagerty.

Join us for a reception for this exhibition on Wednesday September 23rd from 4 to 6 p.m in W.W. Hagerty Library (33rd and Market Streets) on the lower.  It is open to all and includes complimentary homemade refreshments.

Hollis Godfrey (1874-1936) served as president of the Drexel Institute of Art, Science, and Industry from December 1, 1913, to October 1, 1921, transforming it into a formal collegiate institution.

~Shaun Kirkpatrick

Hollis Godfrey, 1914

Learn more about Mr. Godfrey and other Drexel Presidents downstairs in Hagerty where this month’s exhibition at the Archives is The Past Personified: a Presidential History of Drexel.