Happy Thursday D’Youville! #throwbackthursday
#TBT @ D’Youville — September 12, 2013
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#TBT @ D’Youville — September 4, 2013
For this week’s #throwbackthursday post we have a dynamic ‘action shot’ from a 1964 DYC women’s basketball game. The official title is “1964 the Rosary Hill Game with Dottie Cirelli after the ball”. Happy Thursday!
*Every Thursday we will be posting our newest #TBT here and on the library twitter page @dyclibrary
#TBT @ D’Youville — August 29, 2013
Happy first Thursday of the new semester! To celebrate here is a photo of what dorm rooms looked like at DYC back in 1968. #throwbackthursday
Welcome back!
Welcome back D’Youville Students! To celebrate the start of a new semester here is a photo of D’Youville students returning to school in 1953.
War Bonds
While I was in the process of organizing the collection of DYC dance cards, I came across something I had never seen before. On the second page of the 1941 Junior Prom dance booklet was a brightly colored page with the words “United States Defense Savings Bonds”, what I quickly learnt is that they are more generically known as “War Bonds”. I did some research and discovered that War Bonds were a way for civilians to race capital so as to finance the military during war, in this case WWII. The particular bonds found in the dance card were Postal Savings Plans Bonds. Essentially people that found it difficult to purchase a bond outright would buy ¢10 savings stamps to add to their book. Once the booklet had been filled they would have enough stamps to purchase a bond. You can read a lot more about War Bonds in this wikipedia article.
Below is a video clip of FDR encouraging the American public to purchase these bonds for the good of the nation.
#TBT @ D’Youville — August 15, 2013
This is an image of the class of 1948 as freshmen. And 60 years later the freshman class of 2018 will be arriving on campus soon!
Belated #TBT @D’Youville — August 8, 2013
It’s Thursday again… whoops! No it’s not. I guess this week’s #tbt is a day late. Sorry everyone! Here is this week’s belated #throwbackthursday post!
Catherine Gildner’s memoirs capture local history in these two colorful books…
“Welcome to the childhood of Catherine McClure Gildiner. It is the mid-1950s in Lewiston, New York, a sleepy town near Niagara Falls. Divorce is unheard of, mothers wear high heels to the beauty salon, and television has only just arrived. At the tender age of four, Cathy accompanies Roy, the deliveryman at her father’s pharmacy, on his routes. She shares some of their memorable deliveries-sleeping pills to Marilyn Monroe (in town filming Niagara), sedatives to Mad Bear, a violent Tuscarora chief, and fungus cream to Warty, the gentle operator of the town dump. As she reaches her teenage years, Cathy’s irrepressible spirit spurs her from dangerous sled rides that take her “too close to the Falls” to tipsy dances with the town priest.” www.goodreads.com
These two books follow the fascinating, and at times astonishing, childhood and young adulthood of Catherine Gildner. Gildner grew up just a few miles from D’Youville in Lewiston NY. She describes what it was like to grow up in Western NY in her relatively eccentric family during the 40’s, 50’s and 60’s. Her tales take you through many Buffalo area landmarks and various historical happenings including; Love Canal, The Albright-Knox, Amigone Funeral Home, Amherst High School and an encounter with Marilyn Monroe during the filming of Niagara (1953). They are both highly recommended reads for anyone interested in a fun and intriguing narrative describing day-to-day life in the Buffalo area during the mid century, or perhaps just looking to step back in time for a little while.
You can find several copies of Too Close to the Falls in the DYC library. Here is a link to the Too Close to the Falls catalog record. After the Falls has not yet been added to the collection but you can read more about it here.
#TBT @D’Youville — August 1, 2013
This week’s #tbt photo: DYC students laughing and/or yelling (?)…at least we can tell they are having a good time!
D’Youville College — Breaking traditions since 1951
While poking around the archives I came across an interesting newspaper clipping from 1951. The clipping is titled:
D’Youville Graduates a Bride As Tradition Loses to Romance:College Comes to Rescue of Student After Army Upset Plans to Wed Office Candidate
I was immediately intrigued… tradition vs romance? Sounds dramatic. Tell me more!
According to the article a student by the name of Nancy, was to be married two weeks after she graduated from D’Youville. Unfortunately, her soon-to-be husband was notified that he had to report for military duty the Monday after Nancy’s graduation. What was Nancy to do? No married woman had ever graduated from D’Youville before! Fortunately the Grey Nun’s ‘came to the rescue’ and allowed her to break tradition. She was married the Friday before her graduation. She even attended her Class Day Exercises in her wedding dress!
It’s interesting how traditions have changed drastically over the past 50+ years. Regardless, I still found this to be a fun and interesting piece of D’Youville College history.