Bloomsburg University's Harvey A. Andruss Library

Library Exhibits


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3RD FLOOR EXHIBIT

The Great Depression at Bloomsburg, 1934-1942:
New Deal Building Projects that Reshaped the Campus
 

 
A December, 1934 view taken from Ben Franklin of the open land purchased six years before by the Bloomsburg State Teachers College and soon to be leveled off into an athletic field.  As can be seen from the slope of the land a great deal of rock and earth would need to be moved.  Shown in the background at far left is the Dillon House, torn down in 1970 in order to build the Waller Administration Building; a barn located at the current site of the library and patio in front of Starbucks; and to the right of it the house still at the corner of Chestnut Street and Swisher Circle.  The house in the foreground was removed in 1967 before construction began on the Hartline Science Center.


            The Great Depression that began in 1929 was a time of poverty and misery in the United States, with unemployment reaching nearly 25% by 1933.  The Federal Government instituted numerous programs to combat the lack of jobs, and by 1934 these began to impact the campus of the Bloomsburg State Teachers College.  On December 3, 1934, 75 years ago, the first one began as work commenced on a new recreation field for athletics thanks to money provided by the Federal Emergency Relief Administration.  This was on land purchased in 1928, and the field occupied the area where the Warren Student Services Center and Bakeless Center are currently located.  In addition tennis courts were laid out, centered in the space between Sutliff Hall and the Hartline Science Center.

            This was just the beginning though, and in 1935 a formal request was made for over $1,000,000 to build a new gymnasium, junior high school, men's dormitory, auditorium, library, and other campus facilities.  In 1937 an application was sent to Washington for funding, and that fall it was announced that nearly $600,000 had been approved by the Public Works Administration for construction.  Higher than expected bids though meant only the gym, junior high, and several smaller projects could actually be completed.  Groundbreaking occurred in January, 1938 and by May of 1939 the work was nearly done.  Delays occurred in providing electrical lines to the new gymnasium, as money still needed to be allocated for that work.  Finally in 1942 the gym was completed and dedicated on May 23 as Centennial Gymnasium, named in honor of the college's 100th anniversary which had been celebrated three years before.  Federal money would prove to be a help to the college in other ways besides construction, which included funding writing and research projects and work-study jobs for students.

            The exhibit is currently installed in the flat cases on the third floor of the Andruss Library, and includes photographs, drawings, programs, newspaper clippings, magazines, correspondence, minutes, reports, plans, maps and blueprints.  The display will be in the cases until March 26, 2010.

VIRTUAL EXHIBITS

The University Archives periodically creates online or 'virtual' exhibits to highlight the Archives' collections and the history of Bloomsburg University. The first such exhibit is Bloomsburg State Teachers College in 1959. This is a pictorial look at the campus of 40 years ago, complete with historical and current information on all campus areas that existed at that time. The second online exhibit by the University Archives is entitled A Gallery of Presidents and History of Bloomsburg University, an in-depth look at the history of the University with detailed biographical information on each of its presidents.  The third exhibit is Views of the Bloomsburg State Normal School, 1921-1923, a look at the state normal school using photographs and information from the course catalogues.  The fourth exhibit is the 1919 War Hero Memorial Pinery, which examines the history of the World War I memorial located near Carver Hall, and provides biographical information on the 16 students who are remembered there.  A fifth online exhibit is The Maine Experience: Bloomsburg State College Summer Art Classes at Moosehead Lake, 1975-79, which remembers the summers during the 1970s that art students from Bloomsburg went to the wilds of Maine to paint, draw, learn their craft and experience life.  The sixth is A Legacy of Champions: The Story of Wrestling at Bloomsburg University, which documents the history of the wrestling program at the University from its founding in 1930 to the present day, featuring many of our individual and team champions from over the years.  The most recent one is The Navy V-5s at the Bloomsburg State Teachers College, telling the story of the naval flight instructors who trained in Bloomsburg during World War II.

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Updated 11/19/09