History Seniors Win Awards

Our history seniors received important recognition for their hard work and excellence during their studies at St. Bonaventure!

1. Wheeler Award: Amber Cheladyn; Lauren Perkins and Diana Phalon, Co-Honorable Mention

2. Political Science Award: Paul R. Bremmer

Amber Cheladyn also won the "General Excellence Award for a Transfer Student"

New History Club Officers!

The History Club has elected new officers for the 2012-2013 academic year:
President: Max Schneller
Vice President: Mariah Wolford
Secretary: Chelsea O' Connor- Rosiek

The club also added the position of historian whose job is to take photos of events and create a Facebook group. Sarah Southwell will be the first person in this position. She will also be in charge of posters and flyers to bring awareness to the Bona community about the activities of the club.

The History Club is open to anyone with an interest in history. Contact any of the officers for more information!

History is Everywhere!

Recently my husband and I took our son to look at Vanderbilt University, where he was considering going to graduate school. It is located in Nashville, TN, and although he has chosen instead to attend Syracuse University, his Dad and I played while he toured the school.

First we went to Andrew Jackson’s plantation, the Hermitage, just about 15-20 minutes east of downtown Nashville. It was very interesting to see, and impressive to me since they actually do incorporate slaves into the experience. Slave cabins survive and you can go inside. They are part of the museum exhibit and of the audio tour. Some of the cabins still had furniture, which was acquired quite late, sometimes after the Civil War when some of the freemen elected to stay.

In this sense it was far more impressive than George Washington’s Mount Vernon. The last time I went to Mt. Vernon they had not been so successful in including slaves into the picture. I will be going there again in the next few years, and I hope this aspect has improved. Someone else I spoke to who had just been to Mt. Vernon last year said that they had not seen much regarding the slaves at all. So the historians at the Hermitage are more sensitive in this regard. The film about Jackson involved some mild whitewashing of the man, but the speaker at the end made a point of saying that Jackson did a good job of representing the people he cared about – the “common man” of the era, whom we know was white and, of course, male. Andrew Jackson and his wife Rachel actually built their big house in their middle-age, and prior to that had lived in a much more modest two floor log cabin. It survives in a one-story incarnation. It was interesting to stand on the ground, look at the cabins in which Jackson and his slaves lived, and try to imagine life as it was then, still frontier when he arrived as a young man.

SBU HISTORY NEWSLETTER YEAR 17, NO. 10 30 APRIL 2012

SBU HISTORY NEWSLETTER

YEAR 17, NO. 10   30 APRIL 2012

BY DR. THOMAS J. SCHAEPER

Pictured above are two things that graduating seniors will be seeing in less than two weeks. One is the university mace. Since the Middle Ages every university has had its own distinctive mace, a symbol of dignity and scholarship. It is carried in the procession at commencement. The other item is a copy of St. Bonaventure’s commencement program from 1869. If you enlarge it you will be able to make out the writing.

This leads me, on behalf of all my colleagues, to wish graduating seniors success and happiness in their future lives.

HONORS TO HISTORY MAJORS

Congratulations are in order for senior Amber Cheladyn. At the upcoming commencement she will be presented the Fr. Roderick Wheeler Award for having the highest GPA among graduating History majors. Fr. Roderick was a longtime member of our department and a noted expert in Latin American history.

Recognition is also due for several other History majors. In a ceremony to be held later this week they will be inducted into Phi Alpha Theta, the international honor society in history. These students include Colin Bearer, Emily Becker, Anthony Burke, Paul Bremmer, Gregory Carney, Amber Cheladyn, John Gattuso, and Bella Quijano.

THIS DAY IN HISTORY

When you need a moment’s amusement or perhaps a little refresher in history, check out this site: http://www.thisdaytrivia.com/ . You can click on any day of the year and find out what big and little things happened on that date throughout the centuries. Perhaps, like me, you will click on your birthday to see if you are important enough to be included in the list.

GOOD IDEAS

I wish to thank St. Bonaventure University and Dean Wolfgang Natter for awarding the Department of History a Good Ideas Grant this past semester. Funds from this grant have been used in a variety of ways: purchasing a high-quality camera that interns in the university archives will employ for web digitization; outfitting a seminar room in the library that will be used often by the department; attending seminars led by national experts on the use of digital media in the classroom; hiring several students who have worked as research assistants for professors. Finally, this grant will enable three students to have off-campus internships this coming summer. They will be working at the Theodore Roosevelt Inaugural National Historic Site in Buffalo, at the Genesee Country Museum in Mumford, and at the World War II Museum in Eldred, Pennsylvania.

THOUGHTS TO REMEMBER AS WE HEAD INTO SUMMER

Coca Cola originally was green.
The State with the highest percentage of people who walk to work: Alaska.
The percentage of Africa that is wilderness: 28%.
The percentage of North America that is wilderness: 38%.
The average number of people airborne over America in any given hour: 61,000.
The first novel ever written on a typewriter: Tom Sawyer.
If the statue in the park of a person on a horse has both front legs in the air, the person died in battle.
If the horse has one front leg in the air, the person died of wounds received in battle.
If the horse has all four legs on the ground, the person died of natural causes.
Honey is the only food that never spoils.
　
Best wishes for a fun and safe summer.

Phi Alpha Theta Ceremony on May 2, 2012

We will have eight new inductees for Phi Alpha Theta, the National History Honor Society: Colin P. Bearer, Emily A. Becker, Anthony J. Burke, Paul R. Bremmer, Gregory T. Carney, Amber Lynne Cheladyn, John J. Gattuso, and Bella A. Quijano. The induction ceremony will be held on Wednesday, May 2, 2012 at 7 PM, in the Honors Seminar Room in Plassmann. Please join us at the ceremony to support our new inductees!

Summer Job Opportunity for SUSI Institute

St. Bonaventure University, through a grant from the U.S. Department of State, will again host a five-week summer program for 20 students from Venezuela, Colombia, and Ecuador. The program will introduce participants to American history, government, politics, and culture, providing them with the skills and experiences necessary to understand American society. The program runs from July 7 to August 11. Mentor training will take place several days prior to the start of the program.

The mentors serve as role models and educators. It is crucial for the staff to function effectively as a team to facilitate educational, cultural, personal development, and social activities for participants.

Responsibilities include, but are not limited to: participate fully in academic, leadership, and social activities; facilitate the participants’ transition into the program; display a high level of motivation; maintain a positive and mature attitude; function well in a structured, fast-paced environment; assist in planning social activities; respond to the needs of the participants. Some travel is required.

SBU History Newsletter no. 9 (Year 17)

SBU HISTORY NEWSLETTER

YEAR17, NO. 9 15 APRIL 2012

BY DR. THOMAS J. SCHAEPER

"Griff" –Another Bona Legend

Every day throughout the school year most Bona students pass by a portrait of Griff. But how many of today’s students have any idea who he was? His name was Francis Griffin, but everyone called him "Griff." He is perhaps the only person ever associated with our campus whose portrait is hanging on public display in not just one, but two, locations. The portrait that most people see hangs on a wall in the RC Café. The other one is near the steps leading to the lower level of the library. St. Francis would probably be pleased to know that Griff is honored in two places, for Griff was one of the "little people." He was born in Allegany in 1900 and died in the friary’s infirmary in 1978. From the 1930s to the 1970s he was a member of the campus maintenance staff. He worked on the campus farm, which was located where the McGraw-Jennings field is today. After the farm closed he used a team of horses to pick up trash around campus. He became a beloved fixture. Every spring he said he was preparing the horses for the Kentucky Derby. In his retirement years he continued to come to campus each day. At lunchtime he would sit in the RC Café, and students would compete to get a chair near him. He lived in an old farmhouse across from campus–where the Uni-Mart sits today.