Monthly Archives: January 2014

Chinese New Year-The Year of the Horse

On my calendar, January 31, 2014 is Chinese New Year. I thought I would take this time to note some of the items that are in the archives that have a Chinese influence. The most notable is the 1933 Tower yearbook, the entire edition has a Chinese theme. What has got me really puzzled is “Why?”  Most of the other yearbooks do not seem to have much in the way of a theme the way this one does. As far...

Ski Club at University of Detroit 1951-1973

According to the Varsity News, the UD Ski Club was first formed in October 1951. The skiing was done at Cadillac, Michigan, Pontiac Ski Club, Snow Valley at Boyne Mountain, Caberfae and West Branch. They even had an occasion to travel outside of Michigan to Aspen, Colorado, Blue Mountain Ski Resort near Collingwood, Ontario for a four day ski trip and Mount Tremblant located in the Laurentian Mountain range, Quebec, Canada. All students regardless of experience could join the club....

Dudley Randall’s Centennial Birthday

Dudley Randall, poet, publisher, editor and also a librarian at the University of Detroit (1969-1975) where he was also the poet-in-residence, was born on January 14, 1914. He worked at a foundry, Ford Motor Company and in the post office and saw military service during World War II. He earned degrees in English (1949) and Library Science (1951).  Throughout his life and his many travels to such place as as the Soviet Union and Africa, he found inspiration for his...

50 Years Ago-Beatlemania at UD

By 1964 the “fuzzy unkempt mops and unsyncopated sounds and gyrations” of The Beatles had invaded the United States. Judging by the Varsity News Editorial, not everyone thought they were going to be the standard that future bands would be measured against. With the likes of Miley Cyrus twerking across the video screen, the Beatles look pretty boring now. Pat Higo, Archives and Special Collections Librarian...