Category Archives: Uncategorized

Past Coffee Mugs (or Tea Cups) at University of Detroit Mercy

Starting to feel the winter chill in the air? A recent request by the Fitness Center for current or historical UDM coffee mugs started me to go through the archives to see if there were duplicate mugs we might have in the collection that could be donated. Didn’t have much, but check through the pictures of the ones we do have and if you see one you have sitting unused in your cupboards, send it on over to the UDM...

Happy Halloween!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN! New on the library Special Collections page is a section on the University of Detroit Chorus. In addition to photos of their many performances, are some of the lighter activities such as Halloween parties and picnics for the members of the chorus. But my favorite part of the collection are the recordings that you can listen to on your own computer. Check it out and enjoy!...

1965 Model United Nations at UD

In 1948, the United Nations General Assembly declared 24 October, the anniversary of the Charter of the United Nations, as which “shall be devoted to making known to the peoples of the world the aims and achievements of the United Nations and to gaining their support for” its work. In the 1960′s, the University of Detroit Student Council sponsored an annual meeting of the Model United Nations. More than 600 high school students from Michigan and Canada would meet for...

Fisher Fountain Dedication

The Fisher Fountain is a memorial to Charles T. Fisher,Jr., a prominent and active businessman and civic leader in the city of Detroit. He graduated from the University of Detroit High School and at the time of his death was President of the National Bank of Detroit. He was also a member of the Board of Directors of General Motors, American Airlines, Cunningham Drug Stores, Detroit Edison and Michigan Bell. The dedication ceremony, held October 21, 1960, was attended by...

An Astronomical Hope….

Back around 1927 to 1930, when the University of Detroit had just started to develop the McNichols campus, there was a plan to build an observatory. Astronomical equipment valued at $25,000, enough to outfit a complete observatory, had been donated to the University of Detroit by William A. Fisher, president of the Fisher Body corporation in 1927. The instruments were purchased from the Rev. Anton Petrarjis, who had to give up his hobby of studying the stars because of ill...

1966 UD Town & Gown Series: Fiesta Mexicana

HISPANIC HERITAGE MONTH SEPTEMBER 15 – OCTOBER 15, 2015 As part of the University of Detroit Town and Gown Celebrity Series, a program “Fiesta Mexicana”, a company of 30 of Mexico’s top singers, dancers, and musicians gave a performance at the Memorial building (now Calihan Hall). The company had performed all over the world including London, Milan, Paris, Berlin, and Tokoyo. The performance covered Mexican culture from the pre-Hispanic Aztec and Mayan civilizations to modern times through folk and popular...

Banned Books Week: The Freedom to Choose or Express an Opinion

While this may be a little off the premise of this blog, it can be argued that it will be about “Special Collections”. For years the American Library Association have published a list of books that have been challenged and/or banned that range from Ulysses, by James Joyce, burned in U.S. (1918), Ireland (1922), Canada (1922), England (1923) and banned in England (1929) to  And Tango Makes Three, by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell in 2014 because it is anti-family, has...

Celebrating the 50th Anniversary of Broadside Press

Dudley Randall was the poet in residence as well as a librarian at the University of Detroit Mercy. He founded the Broadside Press in 1965 as a venue to publish and promote African American poets and writers. The works of Sonia Sanchez, Nikki Giovanni, Gwendolyn Brooks and many others that were mainly Detroit natives had their works published by Randall’s Broadside Press. Dudley Randall passed away August 5, 2000, but his legacy has continued through the publications of the Broadside...

Celebrate Spirit!

The University of Detroit Mercy started a new tradition in 2000 to celebrate the beginning of the new school year. Celebrate Spirit! the official welcoming event for all UDM faculty staff and students, is part of a long tradition dating from the founding of the great European universities in the Middle Ages. The occasion welcomes new members and invites them to commit themselves to UDM’s mission. As part of the celebration, a mass is held in Calihan Hall followed by...

Page 9 of 25...7891011...20...