Newman senior and University Archives Lead Student Intern Diana Stanley works with the treasures of Newman University and is also helping with the archive’s move to its new home in the basement of Sacred Heart Hall.
Stanley explained that the archives “moved for a couple of different reasons. First, our archives are outgrowing this space. If you had seen what our archives looked like before, we literally were running out of places to put our boxes. This entire space was filled! We jut didn’t have any more room. (Secondly,) it’s a nicer space. Additionally, because of the timeline for the new science building, they actually need this room over the summer and maybe for a little bit of the fall semester because this room used to be a classroom.”
The plan for the last several years has been to move the archives to a larger location. “The big major plan was always to move this downstairs, which has a lot more space as well as some room to expand a little bit should we need to in the future,” said Stanley. “We will have more space to work with and we will also be in a space that we will be able to get better environmental controls to preserve artifacts better, so that’s obviously beneficial.”
Stanley went on to explain, “We will also have a space where we can lock some of our older and valuable, in terms of heritage, things. It will be an actual room that can be locked, which is easier than it being stored in a couple different places that can be locked on campus. It will be nice just to have ready access to all of our stuff.”
There are so many amazing, interesting, historical things you can find in the archives. One such item is the key to the City of Wichita which was given to the President of Sacred Heart College at the time, Sister Sylvia Gorges, ASC, on April 6, 1967.
Venture further into the archives and one can find the headpiece of the first university mascot, old mailboxes, and a copper shoe trophy for Newman University Homecoming Fun Run Winners.
“I have so many favorites it’s like asking a parent to choose a favorite child,” Stanley said. “I’ve got a soft spot for the very first basketball from our very first intercollegiate game. I also really like the quilt that was made for the 50th anniversary. It was actually made to help raise the English endowment.
It was one of their things that they did to help raise money. They would auction off quilt blocks and (the buyer) could sign it in exchange for 20 or 50 dollars, and then they would sew it. It’s actually part of the Kansas Quilt Project, which is a Kansas Heritage project run by the historical museum. And we have it, which is pretty cool.”
“History cannot give us a program for the future, but it can give us a fuller understanding of ourselves, and of our common humanity, so that we can better face the future.” -Robert Penn Warren
