Bears Breaking Ground: A History of Construction, Destruction, and Renovation at Ursinus College aims to educate the public about the history of Ursinus buildings. The group decided to pick three buildings that are personally connected to our lives on campus. The three buildings are currently known as Myrin Library, Bomberger Memorial Hall and the Berman Museum of Art. The project is just the initial step in creating a full history of the buildings on campus. Although each building was built at a different time in the college’s history, two major dates of renovation have emerged through our research, the 1970s and the mid 2000s. 

Myrin Library was built in 1970. It stands where Freeland Seminary, later Freeland, Stein and Derr Halls, stood. Freeland Seminary was built in 1848 and was incorporated into Ursinus’s space after its founding in 1871. Stein and Derr Halls were added later to include dormitory and cafeteria space on campus. In 1965 the building was declared to be a fire hazard, no longer big enough to house the student population of Ursinus and infected with different types of vermin. It was destroyed that same year. Since Freeland Hall and Myrin Library are geographically related, they have been placed first since Freeland Hall was the oldest building (of our three) to be associated with Ursinus. Under the Freeland Hall and Myrin Library tab, there is information about Freeland Seminary, Freeland Hall, Myrin Library’s construction, the Book Walk, and Myrin Library’s dedication.

Bomberger Memorial Hall is still the same building under the same name, though it is generally shortened to Bomberger Hall. Built in 1891 from a generous donation by Robert Patterson, it is named in memory of one of the college's founders and the first president of the college, John Henry Augustus Bomberger. It is the oldest building still in use on campus, with the exteriors integrity being kept in its signature Romanesque architectural style. It has undergone renovations on its interior in the 1920s and 1970s to keep the building useable and up to the building code of the time. The only major and visible exterior renovation Bomberger has had was in 2006, with the north entrance being changed to a handicap accessible entrance/exit and offices for Career and Professional Development and the Education Department. Under the Bomberger Memorial Hall tab, there is information about the construction of Bomberger Hall, a few prominent rooms of the building, particularly its main chapel, the various renovations that have been done in its interior and exterior, and the organs of Ursinus College.

The Berman Museum have been known by three different names. It was initially built as the Alumni Memorial Library (AML) in 1921 to honor the Ursinus students killed during World War II. In 1973, the building transitioned for a short time into being the College Union. By the gift of Philip and Muriel Berman, the Berman Museum was established 1989 and lives on this campus to this day. It is still the original building built in 1921, but has had extensive renovations additions over the last 95 years. Under the AML, College Union, and Berman Museum of Art tab, there is information about fundraising to build the AML, the AML itself, the College Union, and The Philip and Muriel Berman Museum of Art.

Each section holds specific details about each building’s evolution in the last 123 years of Ursinus history and include pictures from various decades, newspaper articles from The Ursinus Weekly/The Grizzly, and articles from The Ursinus Bulletin. All this information and originals can be found in Ursinusiana. The hope is that the project will be continued by future students and will include a history of all buildings on campus.

We would like to take a moment to extend our gratitude to all the people who have helped us through this project. Thank you to the U-Imagine Center, Dr. Susanna Throop, Dr. Kara McShane, Mrs. Carolyn Weigel, Mr. Andrew Prock and everyone else who has given us advice on our journey through this project. We greatly appreciate all your support. 

All pictures and articles are from Ursinusiana, the Ursinus College Archive, and the Ursinus Digital Commons. They are free to private and educational use.

What is social life, who it has involved, and how have these social interactions changed over time at Ursinus College? This project specifically explores the reasons for the shift to coeducation, how and why women carved out their own spaces on campus, and finally the ways in which both men and women did and did not coexist in their social lives between 1880 and 1907. Materials from the Ursinusiana Collection and the Ursinus Archives, especially yearbooks, newspapers, and photographs, reveal the early years of social life at Ursinus for women. In particular, this project shows that women joining a newly coeducational school not only had to prove their academic worth, but also navigated the difficulties of social life by joining established spaces or creating their own through clubs, organizations, sports, housing, and other interactions. Hopefully, this project is not an end in itself, but rather, the beginning of further dialogue about our students’ diverse backgrounds and the ways that these backgrounds manifest in social experiences at Ursinus College.

I would like to thank all the people who have helped me through this summer fellows project. Thank you to Dr. Susanna Throop and Dr. Kara McShane for being wonderful advisors and all the work they have done to make this project the best it could be. Thank you to Mrs. Carolyn Weigel and Mr. Andrew Prock for their amazing help in the archives and digitizing everything. And thank you to everyone else who have guided this project or assisted me in any way shape or form on this project. I appreciate all that you've done!

Welcome!

Bears With Booze: A History of the Creation, Enforcement, and Reformation of Alcohol Policies at Ursinus College is a student-created and organized digital exhibit archiving the history of Ursinus College's tumultuous relationship with alcohol laws, customs, and culture.

From its creation, Ursinus College has maintained a controversial reputation in Montgomery County as an icon of liberal reformation in an demographical ocean of deep political and religious conservatism. Ursinus grew out of a period of intense theological discussion, debate, and change. The progressive and reformative ethics, opinions, and operations of the original benefactors and creators of the Ursinus identity - reconstructionist members of the Mercersburg Seminary - have endured history, and have reflected directly into the aura of determination, nobility, and extraordinary democracy in which Ursinus resides today.

Our website is organized into four separate categories:

1. The Historical Narrative: A navigatable library of various media, all together illustrating and narrating the events of most tumultious and formative era of Ursinus history.
   
   
2. The Modern Perspective: A navigatable library of various media, all together illustrating the state, style, and method of today's substance administration on the Ursinus campus.
   
   
3. Photo galleries: High-resolution navigatable galleries of historically significant photographs and documents.
   
   
4. Interactive features: Engaging, interactive exhibits for if you want to take a deeper delve into the complexities of Ursinus College's alcohol policy!

Credits

Dan Berger, Kasey Chatburn, Sam Mamber, & Alessandra Psomaras

Reading Between the Letters is an Ursinus digital history project that records the inclusion of marginalized groups within Greek Life from the 1970s to present day. During this time frame, values of diversity and inclusion began to gain momentum on a national scale with the civil rights and feminist movements. Our research seeks to understand how Ursinus was affected by and responded to the national discourse on diversity and Greek life.

Our research question is: How inclusive has Greek life on campus been of marginalized groups, including women, people of color, and the LGBTQ+ community?

Our primary sources include Ursinus' newspaper articles, especially opinions and editorial pieces, to understand overall inter-fraternity and sorority policies and broader student body responses. We also use photos from the yearbooks of Greek organizations to complement our findings from the newspapers. Our exhibit presents and compares articles about greeks, faculty, and the student body as a whole to gage the way racial and gender inclusivity has played a role in Greek life. 

The sections of this project include:

The History of Ursinus' Greek Life: a timeline of the complete history of Greek organizations at Ursinus and overview of the past conflicts about pledging between administration and Greek life.

Gender Segregation and Inclusion in Greek Life: a discussion on critiques of Greek life's gender segregation and information about the four gender-inclusive Greek organizations in Ursinus' history.

Racial Diversity and Inclusion in Greek Life: Ursinus has had Greek organizations on campus for the past 110 years, but the campus only saw organizations focused on racial diversity and inclusion starting 25 years ago. This section will focus on why these racially diverse organizations were present and how Ursinus responded to this. 

The Crigler Institute is the namesake of the first African American graduate of Ursinus College, William Robert Crigler. The summer program invites first-year students from underrepresented backgrounds to campus for intensive academic training and a chance to become acquainted with the campus. Students are also given a chance to explore the campus, ultimately the mission is to set underrepresented students up for social and academic success.