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Attention, students of Art, Japanese Studies and World History! Drexel's Japanese art book collection now ready for viewing in the Drexel University Archives!

On April 19, 2008, the Drexel University men’s crew team came in 1st place at the 51st annual Kerr Cup, a regatta with special ties to Drexel, as it is named in honor of the founder of the university’s crew team, Dr. Thomas Kerr. To commemorate his efforts and the fiftieth anniversary of the team he founded, the Drexel University archives takes a look back at Dr. Thomas Kerr.

Despite a predominant focus on science and industry, Drexel has long had a vibrant writer’s community. To celebrate Drexel's Week of Writing, the Drexel University Archives takes a look at the history of Maya, Drexel’s long-running literary magazine.

In the early twentieth century Drexel participated in training for nurses. At that time nursing was primarily a female profession. There were Nurses Training Schools throughout the country, including Philadelphia. Drexel began offering new scientific classes for nurses which would supplement their regular training. Drexel did not intend to simply offer scientific courses; instead they wanted to help the student be an all around better nurse. The curriculum would therefore include English Language and Literature to ensure proper writing skills. They would also take classes in Vocal Expression. Students in the nursing program would have access to public lectures and the library from Drexel. It is unclear if this program was implemented at Drexel at this time.

The Sarah van Rensselaer Dormitory was the home of female students at Drexel for many decades. In promotional pamphlets Drexel accentuated the educational and social aspects of college life for female students. There were three main tracks for undergraduate female students, Business Administration, Home Economics and Engineering. The Women’s Student Government Association was a crucial part of student life because of its direct connection to dormitory life. Students were required to live in the dorms if they did not have parents or an aunt or uncle who could house them while at Drexel.
Dorm rooms were similar to dorm rooms today. However more furniture was provided by Drexel than is usual for college students today. Drexel students had beds, mattresses, lamps, rugs, glass curtains and other furniture in their rooms when they arrived. Students were told to bring towels, sheets, and blankets, similar to today’s students. The rooms had hot and cold running water, but bathrooms and showers were available on each hall.

The growth of the School of Engineering at Drexel is evident in a program for the Federation of Engineering Societies, Engineers’ Day held at the Drexel Institute of Technology in 1952. While none of the speakers were from Drexel, except for Dr. Robert C. Disque, who made the Summary speech of the day, there were a large variety of speakers from all facets of academia and industry. The speakers spoke on subjects of vital interest to both engineers and to society in general. The inclusion of metallurgical engineering in the program is evidence of the growing strength of the engineering department at Drexel during the1950’s. This department was not added to the curriculum until the 1950’s.

To browse the records of the Office of the President during the tenure of Dr. James Creese is to gain an understanding of the Institute’s place in the world as much as it is a view to the development of the Institute itself. Creese sat on the boards of many prominent local institutions and served on numerous government committees at both the state and local levels. On January 11, 1961, Creese presented a statement before the Joint Committee on Unemployment of the Senate and House of Representatives of the Legislature of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

In 1966, Drexel celebrated its seventy-fifth anniversary with its Diamond Jubilee. The theme was “The Responsible Man in a Free Society of Exploding Technology”, which amply illustrated Drexel’s history and the current goals of that time period. The president of Drexel was William Walsh Hagerty, who was the eighth president of Drexel, serving from 1963 to 1984. He was educated as an engineer at the universities of Minnesota and Michigan. Prior to his presidency of Drexel he was the dean of the college of engineering at the University of Texas. The brochure produced at the time of the anniversary demonstrates the tremendous growth of the school and the specific time period in which it was produced. The theme illustrates how conscious Drexel was of events in the world, such as the atomic bomb and the environmental hazards of the war in Vietnam, both of which were directly connected to scientific research.

Ardenia Chapman wrote a memorandum to the Council of Deans on the place of women in higher education in 1960. It is a very enlightening look at how one woman viewed the position of women in society prior to the second wave of feminism in the 1960’s and 1970’s. She linked the uncertainty over the status of women in general society with the debate on how women should be educated above the high school level. Chapman wrote that Drexel had always seen women as having three primary functions in society “the role of a thinking individual; the role of a homemaker and citizen, and a wage-earning role.” Chapman stated that Drexel educated women for all three functions and that these were not contrary roles to that of men in society. She also wrote that any differences that did exist between men and women were decreasing. One recommendation that Chapman made was to have a public meeting on Drexel’s role in society. The purpose was to show how Drexel had historically helped women’s education. It was specifically stated that the speakers should be anyone, regardless of gender, who is an expert and could reliably speak about their views. The meeting’s purpose was to support the idea of women as citizens and that every citizen needed to have an education.

A little over sixty years ago, The Triangle presented this article by Edward Miller unveiling, “The New Drexel.” This was the beginning of Drexel’s first master plan, often referred to in the records as the Expansion Plan, and was estimated at a cost of $5,000,000 (roughly $46,000,000 in today’s dollars). Conceived and expanded under the leadership of Drexel Institute president Dr. James Creese, this was the beginning of an incredible period of growth for the Institute, not only physically but also in the cultivation of donors that would make such tremendous expansion possible.