Thomas Library Blog

For most students, summer represents a break from exams, homeworkÉand books. As a student pursuing a MasterÕs of Business Administration, I certainly empathize with needing a break from rigorous study. But did you know you can borrow popular books, DVDs and graphic novels both from your public library and from OhioLINK over the summer? I encourage you to find your local public library and talk to a staff member to learn about everything they have to offer. In addition to summer reading programs (that usually offer prizes Ð even for adults!), public libraries often host events including crafts, musical guests, speakers or computer skills classes. Many public libraries also have a wide selection of audiobooks and ebooks that you can load onto your portable devices for summer vacations. You also have access to OhioLINKÕs pickup anywhere option Ð as long as you are a current Wittenberg employee or student (i.e. registered for fall classes at Witt or are taking Witt summer classes). This service allows you to request books or DVDs from OhioLINK and have them delivered to whichever OhioLINK member library is closest to you! For example if you live in Westerville, Ohio, you can request an item from OhioLINK using your Witt ID and select Otterbein University as your pickup location. Pickup anywhere is available to any current faculty, staff or student all year round. For help finding a public library near you or to learn more about pickup anywhere, contact a Wittenberg reference librarian (phone: 937-327-7511 or email: refdesk (at) wittenberg (dot) edu).

Alma Mater Day at Wittenberg University [caption id="attachment_505" align="aligncenter" width="640" caption="June of 1925, Alma Mater Elsie Roth sits on her throne."][/caption] For many years Wittenberg University used to have a unique celebration called Alma Mater Day.Ê Now essentially a lapsed tradition, this elaborate pageant seems to be exclusive to Wittenberg.Ê One of the most interesting features of this event is that it was entirely planned and enacted by female students.Ê Initially conceived of in 1918 as a celebration of spring (sort of a May Day Fete), the female student body planned a pageant and crowned a May Day queen with accompanying dances and celebrations.Ê However, by 1920 the May Day Queen morphed into the Alma Mater, a more serious and symbolic honor.Ê Rather than simply celebrate spring, the event became a commemoration of the women of Wittenberg.Ê Only women could plan the event, choose the Alma Mater, and participate in the festivities. [caption id="attachment_538" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Alma Mater photos from the 1950's showing women dancing as part of the celebration."][/caption]The pageant centered on the crowning of the Alma Mater, the figurative representative of the spirit of Wittenberg and learning.Ê The Alma Mater would be selected through a vote of the female student body, who were supposed to select a junior class woman who possessed Òscholarship, character, general attitude, poise, and service to the campus.ÓÊ Each year the festivities would also have a theme.Ê In a 1939 article on Alma Mater day, student Mary Jane Shatger described the 1935 celebration: This pageant, which was entitled ÒThe Awakening of KnowledgeÓ, portrayed the awakening and expansion of knowledge through the ages from the primitive to civilized times.Ê The pageant starts with a processional, is led by the dancers and symbolic figures, and finally Alma Mater and her court.Ê The procession winds over a hill, along the ridge and drops down into a lovely hollow while the orchestra plays ÒPomp and Circumstance.ÓÊ The dancers take their places to one side and the Alma Mater is invested in a royal purple academic gown and cap, at the center of the hollow, by the Alma Mater of the preceding year.Ê As Alma Mater and her court make their way to a terrace on one of the hillsides, all the spectators rise from their places on the surrounding hills and join in singing WittenbergÕs Alma Mater.Ê The dancers dressed in bright colors chosen to harmonize with the beautiful green of the background, then pay homage to Alma Mater in a series of symbolic dances. [caption id="attachment_517" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Alma Mater photo circa 1935 showing the pageant procession."][/caption] In this specific set of dances, a dancer representing knowledge slept in the grass until the dancers representing fields of learning such as Architecture, Poetry, Rhetoric, Literature and Geography came to awaken her. Staging such elaborate theatrics necessitated extensive planning and five departments were involved in organizing Alma Mater Day: English, Education, Home Economics, Physical Education and the School of Music. I havenÕt found any evidence of an Alma Mater day at any other school, at least not one with the same thematic and symbolic rationale.Ê I find this event very compelling, not only because of the beautiful pictures and obviously painstaking preparation, but because it was entirely planned and executed by women.Ê Indeed, the ethereal essence of Wittenberg as an institution is corporeally manifested as a woman.[caption id="attachment_526" align="alignright" width="300" caption="June 1925, to right, Alma Mater of 1924 Elizabeth Lasimer, to left, Alma Mater of 1925, Elsie Roth."][/caption] I canÕt help but speculate about the fact that the emergence of this pageant of women coincides with the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment.Ê The amendment first passed Congress in 1918, and was ratified after acceptance by all the states in 1920.Ê The preliminary ÒMay DayÓ was first proposed at Wittenberg in 1918, and assumed its final form as Alma Mater DayÑa spiritual celebration of college and knowledge enacted by womenÑin 1920. Today we still have an Alma Mater, and moreover we also have an Alma Lux.Ê The days of pageants seem to have receded; replaced by more calm and sedate gender equality.Ê Alma Mater or Lux, itÕs still an honor. Can't we at least have a parade though? [caption id="attachment_529" align="aligncenter" width="640" caption="Alma Mater Ceremony June 3, 1939"][/caption]

Millions of AmericanÕs tuned in to the Super Bowl, not to watch a football game, but to enjoy the million dollar ads.Ê Two books dealing with the subject of advertising recently hit the library new book shelves. Street-Smart Advertising: How to Win the Battle of the Buzz ÒÉa savvy primer replete with the back stories of the most successful ad slogans of all time, like NikeÕs ÒJust do it.Ó How Cool Brands Stay Hot:Ê Branding to Generation Y TodayÕs young consumers are a generation even more aware of marketing ploys and commercial advertising targeting them.