The Well House Reader: Students Reflect on Indiana University Bloomington through the Years.

by Donald Gray (Editor)

Overview

What did generations of Indiana University students think about their years on campus—the faculty, courses, administration, pressing social issues, and each other? Through student writings and art featured in The Well House Reader, the Bloomington campus across the years vividly and sometimes whimsically comes to life.

Featuring selections from more than 150 years of student writing, The Well House Reader, edited Donald J. Gray, demonstrates how students voiced their views and opinions through their contributions to campus magazines and yearbooks. From the use of satiric couplets to ridicule university president Cyrus Nutt in 1872, parody and caricature to mock the Ku Klux Klan in 1924, and long form essays to complain about the university administration in the 1960s, IU students always made their opinions clear. They wrote burlesques to mock their teachers, essays to honor them, and short stories about the satisfaction and sadness of graduation and departure from their beloved alma mater.

Poignant and revealing, The Well House Reader offers unforgettable glimpses of Indiana University through the eyes and experiences of its students across the decades.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780253063915
Publisher:	Indiana University Press (Ips)
Publication date:	12/06/2022
Series:	Well House Books
Pages:	216
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.49(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Donald J. Gray is Culbertson Professor of English Emeritus at Indiana University. He has served as editor of College English and Victorian Studies. At Indiana University, Professor Gray received the university's Distinguished Teaching Award, its Distinguished Service Award, the President's Medal of Excellence, and the Bicentennial Medal for his distinguished service to the university.

Table of Contents

Introduction
Part One: The Campus and the Town
"To Kirkwood Hall," Arbutus 1895
From A Hoosier Holiday, Theodore Dreiser 1916
"The Atmosphere of Indiana University, by Two Overseas Men," The Hoosier 1920
"It's in the Air," Ernie Pyle, Indiana Daily Student 1922
From The Stardust Road, Hoagie Carmichael 1946
"Visions at Midnight," Ed Savola, Folio 1945
"The Mighty Jordan," Martin Kinman, Folio 1946
"Bloomington – A Sketch," Louise Foster, Folio 1939
"Dundee of Bloomingshire," The Date 1947
"Hiawatha 1948," The Crimson Bull 1948
"Rats, Waterbuckets, and Screaming," Bob Towns, The Date 1946
"Yank on Bloomington Square," Hargis Westerfield, Folio 1947
"Small Town Hippie Comics," art by R. T. Reece, The Spectator 1969
"A Block Away From There," Erin Chapman, Canvas 2009
"Parking Lot at the Student Union," Steven Johnson, Canvas 2016-17
"Frigid Venus" Gemma Lad, Labyrinth 1992
Part Two: Students
"Extracts from a Student's Diary," William Hicks, Folio 1936
"The Simple But Touching Ballad of the Farmer Lad Who Changed," The Hoosier 1919
From Initiation, George Shively 1925
"The End of the Very First Week," Roselda Zimmerman, Folio 1937
"I Hate College Boys; I Love College Girls," The Vagabond 1924
"The College Student, Juvenile Sophisticate," Nathan Davis, The Vagabond 1926-27
"Woiking Goil," Elizabeth Flora, The Bored Walk 1931
"Won'erful Nell," Frank Smith, The Vagabond 1925
Cover, The Bored Walk, art by Shannon M. Johnson 1935
"Grasping Their Hard-Earned Sheepskins," The Bored Walk 1933
"Taking Aim," Meredith Morgan, Labyrinth 2005
"New Pens, Check," Adriana Valtierra, Collins Columns 2012
"The Best Time of My Life," Mary-Katherine Lemon, Collins Columns 2012
"Entirely Too Much Personal Information,"' Allison Neal, Collins Columns 2019
Cover, "Books That Shaped Us," art by Margaret Schnabel, Collins Columns 2019
"Books, Babes, and Best Sellers," Margaret Schnabel, Collins Columns 2019
Part Three: Faculty and Courses
"Departments," art by George Brehm, Arbutus 1903
"A Skinner Box Named Meyer," The Crimson Bull 1954
From College Humor, Don Herold 1929
"But Ted, I Didn't Know." Cover of The Bored Walk (March 1940), art by Normabelle Heiman
"Carl Eigenmann," art in Arbutus 1899
"Textbooks Unbound," Mike Schwimmer, The Crimson Bull 1954
"The Physics-ical Side of Love," Myrtle V. Schneller Folio 1944
"A Geometry Test," Sieglinde Lim, Collins Columns 1994
"Precipice," John W. Stein, Folio 1939
"25 Reasons Why You Should Attend Summer Sessions," ad in The Crimson Bull 1949
"This Is What I Do in Class." From Collins Columns, Feb. 15, 2012, art by Emily Francisco
Part Four: Romance and Sex
"For Man Is a Giddy Thing," Grace Smith, Arbutus 1903
"At the Well House," Gilbert Swaim, The Bored Walk 1932
"So Then I Said," art by Doan Helm, The Crimson Bull 1948
"Instant Idyll," Garry Emmons, Quarry 1972
"Just Friends," Tim Dohrer Labyrinth 1990
"Bloomington Lawyer," Betsy Tandy Quarry 1974
"One Night Stand," Collinda Taylor, Labyrinth 2007
"Yes, These People Exist," Emily Francisco, Collins Columns 2012
Part Five: Protests
"Our President's Origin," The Dagger 1875
"The Klu Klux Klan," The Vagabond 1924
"Dirge for the Khaki Youth," The Bored Walk 1940
"No!" Richard Reed, Folio 1939
"Education or Mass Production," Albert C. Loshe, Folio 1942
"Tolerance: Will It Be Future Perfect?" Jayne Walpole. The Date 1946
"Concerto," Bernice Cohen, Folio 1944
From The Translator, John Crowley 2002
"Oh No! CRUD Strikes Again," The Spectator 1970
Cover, The Spectator, art by R. T. Reese 1970
"Voice," Jim Carr, Quarry 1973
"The 60s in the 80s – Almost," Dave Bender, Arbutus 1987
Part Six: Departures
"Sea of Life," art by Don Herold Arbutus 1911
"On Entering the Campus," Arbutus 1915
"There's Another Side of College," Robert Smith, Arbutus 1983
"The Bird," John Shuster, Labyrinth 2000
Appendix: Student Magazines at Indiana University Bloomington
Acknowledgments

What People are Saying About This

J. Terry Clapacs

Culbertson Professor of English Donald J. Gray is the perfect IU Historian to collect, edit, and present student essays, both humorous and serious, from the 1800's to today. This book provides the reader with a unique understanding of events and traditions that make Indiana Universitythe special place it is.  A must read for anyone with a connection to IU. 

Paul Gutjahr

The heart of every university is its students, and yet too often their voices are lost when a school's history is told. Don Gray's The Well House Reader corrects this silence by offering reflections on IU by famous and little-known alumni.  In it, Gray offers a rich diversity of student voices from 1895 to the present day, giving the reader a glimpse of Indiana University's story as told by over a century of its students.

James H. Capshew

The Well House Reader gathers an eclectic mix of collegiate writing, providing unique perspectives on the evolving culture of Indiana's flagship campus. Selected by English professor and literary scholar Donald Gray, a sensitive observer of IU student behavior since the 1950s, the book engages themes such as student identities, friendship and romance, faculty stereotypes, politics and protests, and meditations on time's passing. A singular contribution to IU history, The Well House Reader furnishes a treasury of student lore as well as a survey of university heritage.

Scott Russell Sanders

Here is a fascinating, students'-eye-view of life, love, and learning at Indiana UniversityBloomington over the past century and a half. By turns comic and romantic, lyrical and satirical, these student writings carry us through the tree-shaded campus, to Dunn Meadow for protests, to the Well House for courtship, to the Book Nook for music, to a limestone quarry for skinny dipping, and to other favorite haunts—even, occasionally, to classrooms for enlightenment. The selections also register the impact of greater social upheavals, such as the two world wars and the struggle for racial and gender equality. Meticulously edited by renowned English professor Donald Gray, this anthology will come as a gift to anyone who has spent memorable time in this place.

Editorial Reviews

"The heart of every university is its students, and yet too often their voices are lost when a school's history is told. Don Gray's The Well House Reader corrects this silence by offering reflections on IU by famous and little-known alumni.  In it, Gray offers a rich diversity of student voices from 1895 to the present day, giving the reader a glimpse of Indiana University's story as told by over a century of its students."—Paul Gutjahr, Ruth N. Halls Professor of English, Indiana University

"Here is a fascinating, students'-eye-view of life, love, and learning at Indiana University Bloomington over the past century and a half. By turns comic and romantic, lyrical and satirical, these student writings carry us through the tree-shaded campus, to Dunn Meadow for protests, to the Well House for courtship, to the Book Nook for music, to a limestone quarry for skinny dipping, and to other favorite haunts—even, occasionally, to classrooms for enlightenment. The selections also register the impact of greater social upheavals, such as the two world wars and the struggle for racial and gender equality. Meticulously edited by renowned English professor Donald Gray, this anthology will come as a gift to anyone who has spent memorable time in this place."—Scott Russell Sanders, author of Small Marvels

"Culbertson Professor of English Donald J. Gray is the perfect IU Historian to collect, edit, and present student essays, both humorous and serious, from the 1800's to today. This book provides the reader with a unique understanding of events and traditions that make Indiana University the special place it is.  A must read for anyone with a connection to IU."—J. Terry Clapacs, Vice President Emeritus, Indiana University

"The Well House Reader gathers an eclectic mix of collegiate writing, providing unique perspectives on the evolving culture of Indiana's flagship campus. Selected by English professor and literary scholar Donald Gray, a sensitive observer of IU student behavior since the 1950s, the book engages themes such as student identities, friendship and romance, faculty stereotypes, politics and protests, and meditations on time's passing. A singular contribution to IU history, The Well House Reader furnishes a treasury of student lore as well as a survey of university heritage."—James H. Capshew, University Historian, Indiana University

From the Publisher