Somethin' to Write Home About · Somethin to Write Home About: NIU Writes · Somethin' to Write Home About

Somethin to Write Home About: NIU Writes

Item set

Title: Somethin to Write Home About: NIU Writes
Description: Northern Illinois University was chartered in 1895 as Northern Illinois State Normal School. Letters exchanged between President Cook and students during NIU’s early years demonstrate that although more than a century has passed, the correspondence is similar to that sent by today's students, faculty, and staff. The authors of these century-old letters wrote of weight loss, relationships, and receiving money from parents. The campus is much different now--Northern has progressed from being a college with an enrollment of just 173 students to a university with over 23,850 enrolled students—but the topics of conversation continue to have abiding themes.

Items

Advanced search

Audio Visual Collection, UA 11, Series III, map cabinet drawer 7
Edna Fitzgerald, 1913 Norther yearbook
Postcard Collection, RC 199, Box 1
N.I.S.N.S. student Edna May Fitzgerald sent a postcard to her mother in Bozemon, Montana. She briefly informs her mother of a received letter and money order as well as what she was doing that day. Although the correspondence is short and a bit terse, the simple card was a way for Edna to quickly communicate home. Dear Mamma, Rec’d your letter and the money-order today, O.K. Have just come home from school and am going to take my laundry now to the woman. Only had this card. Bye-bye Edna
Audio Visual Collection, UA 11, Series VI, Subseries A, Box 2, Pins and Rings
1904 Norther yearbook
Yearbook photopraph of Dora Alice Bardmas, later called Alice B. Ayers
President's Papers, UA 4, Box 1B, Folder 8
Alice B. Ayers (Dora Alice Bardmas) contacted Dr. Cook and sent him her alumni dues along with a letter updating him on her life after graduation. She wished that she could visit, but her work as a teacher in Bonner’s Ferry, Idaho has kept her very busy. The 13 children she teaches are well disciplined and the board of trustees granted her a raise. She and her husband get along well and he is prosperous in his job. Alice’s mother continues to teach despite her and her husband’s request to cease. She wishes Dr. Cook and the Northern Illinois State Normal School well. Dr. Cook replied to Alice excited to hear that she was in good health and good spirits. He was pleased to read that she was able to balance her home life and work and would like the opportunity to be acquainted with her husband. He informs her that he had visited Idaho and searched a map for her place of residence. He found that Alice lived far north in the state and he would not be able to visit. His nephew lives in Idaho as well as his granddaughter who teaches with another woman who graduated from N.I.S.N.S. He thought it was wise of Alice’s mother to keep her teaching job because of the sense of independence and occupation of time it gives to her.
Dr. John Cook, Castle on a Hill, Chapter 2
Pendant N.I.S.T.C. UA 11, Series III, map cabinet drawer 7
A pendant from Northern Illinois State Teacher's College (later renamed Northern Illinois University)
President’s Papers, UA 4, Box 2, Folder 3
The first president of the Northern Illinois State Normal School (Northern Illinois University), Dr. John Cook, writes to a man named Fred. This unique letter shows a more personal side of a prestigious figure. He wrote to his friend about being busy on Saturdays preventing him from visiting family and friends. Although this would be the longest time he had waited to see them he assures Fred that he has put forth effort to faithfully visit since moving to DeKalb three years ago. “You see that I have been fairly faithful to mother and the rest.” Dr. Cook goes on in the letter notifying Fred of his efforts to lose weight: I am adhering to a careful diet but it gives me but little inconvenience. I have lost a few pounds but seven or eight will hardly count where one has so much to lose as I have. I feel so much improved that I am trying to speculate as to what I should do if I could manage to drop twenty-five. Obesity is one of the diseases of civilization…There is only one time of day when I can fast in the requisite manner and that is just after I have had a good meal. Dr. Cook also provides a contrasting view of the agriculturally-based DeKalb of today. He noted that new houses were “Springing up like mushrooms,” and that the steel mills were desperately looking for qualified help. “It is an odd sort of a town, at least to me. I never before lived in a manufacturing community. After so long a residence in an agricultural district I find the contrast striking.”