Category Archives: Just for Fun

From Our Collections, Just for Fun, Students and Interns, University Archives

Assistant Coaches as Style Icons

1 Comment

Or, A Sartorial Look at the Sports Information Office Records

For the last two months, I have been processing a large accession of materials from the Duke Sports Information Office. The vast majority of the accession consists of photographs and negatives from Duke football teams, served with a side of basketball and seasoned with photos of other teams and individual athletes. As you can imagine, I have gone through many generations of athletes, coaches, and of course, fashion trends. This post is dedicated to a few assistant football coaches who weren’t afraid to show add some fashion flair to their official photos.

Assistant Football Coach John Guy
Assistant Football Coach John Guy shows us his kitchen style. The no-apron look was very in that season.

 

I should also say outright: I love sports, particularly college athletics. I did my undergraduate work at a football school. I have free t-shirts from at least a dozen other athletic teams at my undergrad school. My graduate degrees are from . . . well, another school in the Triangle with a basketball team. As a result, processing this collection has been a lot of fun for me.

 

Assistant Football Coach David Holton is a man who is not afraid of mixing patterns and textures in his outfits. Stripes, plaid, and corduroy: very boho-chic.

During my time processing the Sports Information Collection, I’ve noticed something about the coaching staff photos: although the head coaches by and large have fairly tame outfits, the assistant coaches most certainly do not. Perhaps they want to ensure that players can see them on the sideline/courtside? Maybe they just love mythologically-inspired ties? We’ll probably never know for sure!

 

The Ties of John Gutekunst

The photos above showcase the ties of Freshman Football Coach John Gutekunst. I’ve taken the liberty of calling out the patterns on both so that you can see in better detail. Clearly, Gutekunst stayed with the animal theme over the course of his career—by the later picture, he even ventured to wear a butterfly shirt with the mythological tie!

To close out this post, I think we should all tip our hats to the adventurous styles of these assistant football coaches. They have showed us how to look cool on the sidelines, in the kitchen, and in your formal yearbook photos. Keep up the great work!

Now tell me: who’s your style icon? Are you channeling Guy’s daring “no-apron” look, Holton’s mixed patterns and textures, or Gutekunst’s animal-themed accessories?

Post contributed by Maureen McCormick, Drill Intern for the Duke University Archives.

From Our Collections, History of Medicine, Just for Fun, Rare Books, Renovation

Feeling hot, hot, hot

Image

Happy Friday! Preparing for our upcoming renovation continues at the Rubenstein. This book’s title made us giggle, especially considering the high temperatures we’ve been facing lately in Durham. If you’d like to learn more about Spontaneous Combustion: A Literary Curiosity, you can check out the catalog record. It is a 1937 medical publication discussing cases of spontaneous combustion in literature.

For more photos of our favorite renovation discoveries, visit the Rubenstein’s Flickr page.

From Our Collections, Just for Fun

John Wetmore Hinsdale, Heartthrob

1 Comment

Every generation has its heartthrobs.  Think Justin Bieber, Robert Pattinson, Tristan Wilds, and Chris Hemsworth. History junkies realize that handsome dudes are nothing new, as demonstrated by the tumblr site My Daguerreotype Boyfriend.

Those of us in the Rubenstein find our own John Wetmore Hinsdale pretty irresistible. In 1861 he left The University of North Carolina to enlist in the Confederate Army and served with distinction under Generals Holmes, Pettigrew, Pender and Price before being elected colonel of the Third Regiment Junior Reserves.

Daguerreotype of John Wetmore Hinsdale
John Wetmore Hinsdale, Hunk. Click to enlarge!

He went on to attend Columbia University Law School, pursue a successful legal career, and serve as president of the North Carolina Bar Association. John Wetmore Hinsdale was clearly more than just a pretty face.

My thanks to Walter Hilderman, for bringing this photo to my attention.  Mr. Hilderman is in the final stages of his Lieutenant General Theophilus Hunter Holmes, C.S.A., forthcoming from McFarland Publishers in late 2013.

This photograph is from the Hinsdale Family Papers.  We’re submitting it to My Daguerreotype Boyfriend, and we hope to see it there soon!

Post contributed by Elizabeth Dunn, Research Services Librarian.

From Our Collections, Just for Fun, Renovation, Technical Stuff

Dispatches from the Newspaper Project

1 Comment

One of our many renovation-related tasks involves re-foldering and re-boxing our fragile newspapers. The Rubenstein Library has thousands of American newspapers, dating from the Revolutionary War through the early twentieth century. Here is one of the highlights, from The Daily Express of Petersburg, Virginia, 1858 Dec.:

Part 1 of An Interesting Divorce Case: Beautiful Wife Prays to be Separated from Ugly Husband.
Part 2 of An Interesting Divorce Case features laundry, father-in-law insults, attempted poisoning, corn-and-beans throwing, dirty carpets, and Niagara Falls dunking.

Post contributed by Carrie Mills, Holdings Management Assistant in the Rubenstein Library’s Technical Services Dept.

From Our Collections, Just for Fun

Duke’s Olympic Coaching Legacy

1 Comment

If you have a TV, you’ve probably been tuned in to the 2012 Olympic Games in London. In the first week of action, Duke coaches Mike Krzyzewski (basketball) and Drew Johansen (diving) led Team USA to impressive victories on the court and two medals in the pool.

George Lyon, professional trapshooter.

But did you know that Duke’s tradition of Olympic coaching excellence dates back at least 100 years? George Leonidas Lyon, a Durham native and grandson of Washington Duke, coached the U.S. Trapshooting team to both team and individual gold medals in the Games of the V Olympiad held in Stockholm, Sweden in 1912. Lyon was a three-time trapshooting world champion and turned professional in 1910 under the sponsorship of the Remington Arms Company. Because of his professional status, Lyon could not compete in the 1912 Olympic Games, but he coached the U.S. Trapshooting team to victory by a considerable margin over Great Britain and Germany.

Judges at the Stockholm Olympics, 1912.
George Lyon coaching a pupil in shooting.

In addition to his celebrated shooting career, Lyon was an influential figure in the Durham business community, which earned him the nickname “Chief Bull Durham.”  He reportedly owned the first automobile in Durham. Despite his business acumen, Lyon continued shooting professionally until he contracted tuberculosis in 1916 at age 35 and died after a short convalescence in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Upon his death, Sporting Life, a prominent Philadelphia newspaper, recognized Lyon as “one of the greatest trap shooters that ever stepped to the firing line.”  A special trapshooting cartridge, the George Lyon Load, was named after him and in 1976 Lyon was inducted into the Trapshooting Hall of Fame in Vandalia, Ohio.

The Rubenstein Library’s George Leonidas Lyon Papers document Lyon’s career as a professional marksman, along with his relationship to the Duke family and Durham.

Post contributed by Noah Huffman, Archivist for Metadata and Encoding in the Technical Services Dept.

From Our Collections, Hartman Center, Just for Fun

Looking Back: Happy Birthday SPAM!

2012 marks the 75th anniversary of everyone’s favorite processed meat: Spam. In the frontispiece of Time in late 1936, Hormel Foods announced the introduction of two new canned meats: a spiced ham and a spiced luncheon meat. The name Spam was inaugurated the following year, putting this canned meat on the road to becoming the most memorable of Hormel’s product lineup of soups, chili con carne, and flavor-sealed chicken and ham. Spam, which now comes in 12 varieties, has sold over 7 billion cans worldwide. To celebrate this anniversary, Hormel is introducing its first spokescharacter, Sir Can-A-Lot.

Advertisement for Spam from Time Magazine, June 20, 1938

Early advertisements for Spam called it a “tempting new miracle meat of many uses for many occasions,” specifically suggesting that Spam & Eggs would be “grand on Sunday mornings,” that Spam & Salad would make for “a cool, inviting luncheon,” and that Baked Spam could provide “a distinguished main course in only 20 minutes.” Copy highlighted Spam as the choice of a thrifty household, claiming that Spaghetti with Spam could serve four for only a dime each. All the advertisements took care to emphasize that Spam did not need refrigeration, which made it perfect for picnics or to feed unexpected guests. “SPAM’s always ready for action – morning, noon and night,” the ads proclaimed.

Post contributed by Jackie Reid Wachholz, Director of the John W. Hartman Center for Sales, Advertising, and Marketing History.

From Our Collections, Just for Fun, University Archives

Doodle-Bug-Dumplings

This weekend, many folks will celebrate Father’s Day.  I recently processed the personal papers of A. Hollis Edens, Duke President from 1949-1960, and was left teary-eyed by letters written between him and his only child, Mary Ann.  The letters demonstrate such a strong father-daughter bond and provide insight into a closeness that spanned into her adulthood.  So, in honor of the fathers out there and in memory of those who are no longer with us, please enjoy the following exchange between President Edens and his “Doodle-bug-dumplings.”

Click images to enlarge!

Mary Ann Eden’s letter (dated August 6, 1945)
“Since you’ve been gone I’ve prayed every night in the hopes that God will keep you safe and sound and bring you back soon.” Mary Ann Eden’s letter, page 1.
Mary Ann Eden’s letter (dated August 6, 1945)
Mary Ann Eden’s letter, page 2
Eden's letter
“Honey, I want to tell you it helps a lot to have my little girl pray for me.” President Eden’s Letter, page 1.
President Eden’s letter, page 2.
President Eden’s letter, page 2.

Post contributed by Kim Sims, Technical Services Archivist for the Duke University Archives.

From Our Collections, In the Conservation Lab, Just for Fun, New Finding Aids, Technical Stuff

A Home for our Dragons (and Ghosts, and Bunnies…)

2 Comments

One of my ongoing processing projects for the past year was to arrange and describe the Edwin and Terry Murray Collection of Role-Playing Games, a vast collection with thousands of books, boxed games, miniature pieces, card sets, magazines — all relating to the world of RPGs. Most of these items received individual attention. For example, each volume in the collection has been described at an item level, including its title, publisher, and year, to better help our patrons browse across the various game worlds and decades of RPG publishing. Users can download a spreadsheet from the finding aid and search and sort the materials to their heart’s content. Since these materials are all stored offsite, I also included each box or volume’s barcode to speed the recall of these materials to the reading room.

Cart of RPG books, ready to go offsite
Cart of RPG books, ready to go offsite

One of the best parts of working with RPGs was the fact that they contain such colorful and imaginative artwork. Even if I didn’t have any interest in playing the game, the covers of the many volumes or boxes easily grabbed my attention. Some of the highlights? For me, the movie-based games were always fun to find.

Who You Gonna Call? Ghostbusters!
Who Ya Gonna Call? Ghostbusters, of course.

I also enjoyed learning more about the many, many variants and knock-offs of Dungeons and Dragons — why reinvent the wheel when you can just change the words around a bit? But the funniest, in my opinion, were the games that clearly tried to reach new audiences — like these two games aimed at people who liked bunnies.

Wabbit Wampage RPG
Wabbit Wampage and Bunnies and Burrows: 2 different RPGs featuring scary smart rabbits.

You may remember our blog posts about the Rubenstein Game Night, celebrating the opening of the collection last winter. Since then, we received another very large addition, and we needed to work closely with our Conservation Department to figure out how to house the hundreds of hand-painted figurines and miniatures that arrived with the collection. I think they had as much fun as I did down in the lab. Check out this post from Preservation Underground to learn more about stabilizing and housing the tiny dragons and other creatures that make up the Miniatures, Props, and Pieces Series. And, be sure to view the photo essay on Flickr for detailed shots of the pretty and gruesome monsters in the collection.

Post contributed by Meghan Lyon, Accessioning Associate in the Technical Services Dept.

From Our Collections, Just for Fun, University Archives

Historical Duke Squirrels

6 Comments

As we rush headlong into exams, we at the Duke University Archives thought everyone could use an entertaining diversion. So we’re embracing the Duke Squirrels meme, and adding a historical perspective—courtesy of our collections!

Pee Wee the Squirrel Visits the East Duke Building

In the 1930s, Pee Wee the Squirrel was a frequent visitor to the offices of the Duke University Press (when it was based in East Duke Building). Exie Duncan, a longtime employee of the press, snapped this picture of Pee Wee having his mid-day snack.

The squirrels had many favorite eateries on West Campus, too. (This is before Armadillo Grill, so they had to make do with something other than queso!)

A Squirrel Visits a Trash Can outside Old Chem

When they weren’t busy snacking, the Duke squirrels occupied themselves with photobombing would-be-charming photos of campus buildings. We imagine this photo below (of the Bryan Center walkway) never made it into a Duke promotional brochure.

Squirrel on the Bryan Center Walkway

Following those brief adventures, the squirrels went right back to eating. Our favorite find was an August 11, 1966 letter from Security Division chief W. C. A. Bear to director of operations Henry F. Bowers. The letter is a carbon copy, so it’s tricky to read (click on the image to enlarge it)—but well worth it!

Letter about Vending Machine Theft by Squirrel, August 11, 1966
(click to enlarge)