From summer 2017 to December 2019, I worked on the digitized news reel collection from local television station WTAR (now WTKR). During this time, I viewed and edited footage, as well as entering metadata to describe these digitized news reels and clips dating from the 1940s-1980s. A good portion of these digitized reels had no audio to accompany them. In order to create a more detailed narrative for these silent stories, I had to find the “who, what, and where” regarding them. In order to do this, I entered or “Googled” street names, names of places, and even names of people if featured. I even looked in the city directories located in the third-floor stacks, to find information. In some cases, I came up empty handed. In others, I found a trove of information, some it very interesting and fascinating. I have one example of a silent digitized clip in which I did some sleuthing and entered, or should I say “Googled” a name found on a residential mailbox and was very surprised to find who this person was.
Here is the back story-somewhere in 2018, I first viewed a brief 45 second clip that was filmed in December of 1960, in which I saw a group of men paying a visit to a suburban ranch house where the family of P. A. Jensen, Jr. resided (the family’s name is on a mailbox). Opening the door, is presumably Mrs. P. A. Jensen, Jr., who is all smiles. The visitors come with a holiday present for Mrs. Jensen, she even poses for a picture with the visitors whose identities are unknown. I needed a better description than “footage of Mrs. P. A. Jensen, Jr. receiving a holiday gift from unidentified visitors,” so I decided to do some sleuthing. At first, I went out in the third-floor stacks area to look at the Hampton Roads city directories, to find out the full name of P. A. Jensen, Jr. and possibly his wife, as well as where he lived. From looking at the 1959 and 1960 Norfolk city directories, I found the full name for P. A. Jensen, Jr., which was Pierce A. Jensen, Jr., who lived in the Princess Anne County area, now Virginia Beach, Virginia. Next, I returned to my workstation and typed in (Googled) “Mrs. Pierce A. Jensen, Jr.” and I was very surprised to find the results-very surprised. It turns out that Mrs. Pierce A. Jensen, Jr. was Patricia Priest Jensen, who is a very famous and well-known person. She was the daughter of Ivy Baker Priest who was Treasurer of the United States from 1953-1961. Patricia was the first International Azalea Festival Queen (crowned in 1954), but she was better known for her role as Marilyn Munster on the cult comedy television show “The Munsters.”
Patricia Priest as the Azalea Queen of 1954, Norfolk, VA
In 1955, Patricia Priest married Naval officer Mr. Pierce A. Jensen, Jr. and resided in the Bayside area of Princess Anne County, until 1962 when her husband was transferred to California. It was there that she gave acting a try, using the name of Pat Priest. After several small roles on television and a few commercials, she got the part of Marilyn Munster, the teenage niece in a family of monsters. She was the second actress to play Marilyn, replacing Beverly Owen, and starred on the series from 1964-1966. After the “The Munsters,” Priest continued to appear on television and film into the late 1960s and 1970s, including “Easy Come, Easy Go” with Elvis Presley, but she retired from acting in the 1980s and currently resides in Idaho.
One of the most memorable collections I’ve worked on since I’ve worked in ODU Special Collections has to be the George Conoly Phillips Papers. It was one of my early collections and may have even been the very first archival collection I ever organized.
Conoly Phillips was extremely active in politics, religion, and civic organizations in Norfolk, the Tidewater region, and Virginia, but in my opinion, those aren’t the most interesting parts of his collection. To me the most interesting parts of his collection relate to Conoly Phillips’ car dealership.
In 1956, Conoly and his brother Tench opened the Phillips Brothers Automoville used car dealership in Norfolk. The following year they entered into an agreement with Ford Motor Company to sell imported Ford vehicles. By 1960, the brothers had also acquired a franchise with Rambler and formed “Phillips Brothers Rambler.” After much business success, Tench negotiated with the Oldsmobile Division of General Motors to open an Oldsmobile franchise in Norfolk. The franchise was awarded under the condition that Tench divest of his interests in Phillips Brothers Rambler, and his separate Oldsmobile franchise was begun in early 1965. For his part, Conoly moved on from the Rambler business and became an authorized dealer for Ford Lincoln’s and Mercury’s in 1967. The dealership initially held the name “Tench Brother’s Lincoln-Mercury.” By the 1970s, the business became known as “Conoly Phillips Lincoln-Mercury.” Conoly retired from the daily management of the business in 1999. At that time, his company merged with Freedom Automotive, and Conoly Phillips remained a partner in the company.
The materials in Conoly Phillips papers relating to the car dealership include contracts, financial statements, correspondence, board minutes, policy and procedure manuals, and a host of other business materials. They also contain advertising and marketing materials, artifacts, and scrapbooks from the dealership.
Among the marketing and advertising materials are newspaper advertisements; yellow pages ads; press releases; and scripts for radio and television commercials. Phillips also took part in promotional events such as the 1972 Mid-Atlantic Auto Show at the Norfolk Scope. The collection contains information on several models of cars including the Rambler, Capri, Cougar, Fiat, Daimler, Lincoln, and Mercury. There’s even a children’s coloring book with pictures of 1969 Ford car models to color in.
Artifacts include Phillips Brothers emblems and stickers, some promotional pens for the business, an auto show emblem, aerial photos of the Lincoln-Mercury dealership, a license plate, and a set of Phillips-Lincoln Mercury keys.
Scrapbooks feature newspaper clippings about the dealership, advertisements, an overview of the business for the 1964 Rambler Retailer of the Year contest, and a plan for a Women’s Automotive Resource Center.
Conoly Phillips graduated Maury High School in Norfolk with honors in 1949 and received his bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from the University of Georgia in 1953. He also served for two years as a Lieutenant in the U.S. Air Force. Later, Phillips earned his MBA from Old Dominion University in 1976. Conoly married Charlotte Baird Ferebee and the two had three children together.
Conoly was involved in a number of civic and community organizations for business, personal, religious, and philanthropic reasons. These included the Better Business Bureau, Norfolk Chamber of Commerce, the Norfolk Symphony, the Norfolk Rotary Club, the United Community Fund, the Union Mission, the United Drug Abuse Council, and many others.
Phillips was a religious person belonging to First Presbyterian Churches in Norfolk. Phillips served on the Norfolk City Council from 1976 to 1980 and was reelected to the Norfolk City Council in 1986. In 1978, he ran unsuccessfully for a U.S. Senate seat.
George Conoly Phillips passed away, April 22, 2020, at the age of 88.
Collection Guide for the George Conoly Phillips Papers: https://archivesguides.lib.odu.edu/repositories/5/resources/307.
Photo Captions:
Phillips Brothers Automoville, 1st Military Highway location at corner of Johnston Road, 1961 (MG 15, Box 33, Folder 8)
1971 Billboard. “A very simple business” was the dealership’s advertising slogan in the early 1970s. (MG 15, Box 1, Folder 4)
Phillip Bros Cougar Girl Coloring Book from the early 1970s. (MG 15, Box 1, Folder 1)
By Lara Canner, Curator of Music Special Collections
As Taylor Swift once sang “I think he did it but I just can’t prove it…”, true crime and music go hand in hand. There are hundreds of ballads based off horrific crimes: Nirvana’s “Polly”, the Smiths “Suffer Little Children” and Sarah McLachlan’s “Possession”, to name a few. Music invites passion, heartbreak, darkness, and yearning. It is no wonder that musicians have found a font of inspiration from terrible crimes and their instigators. Yet, not only has music immortalized tales of the horrific, but musicians are also the victims of true crime stories and the initiators.
True crime storytelling is having a cultural moment, but where do you think the researchers for the multitude of podcasts, books, and documentaries have gotten their information? Enter archives: the keepers of knowledge. Special Collections and archives are responsible for preserving and making accessible historic record, ranging from newspapers, court documents, organizational records, oral histories, and even films from television stations. Without an archive there would not be documentation for amateur investigators to pour over, map and theorize. There are so many in fact that archivists from the University of North Texas created an entire series called “True Crime in the Archives.”
If you are searching for your music true crime fix (featuring archives!), here is a list of podcasts, books, and documentaries to checkout.
Ladies and Gentlemen, the Bronx is Burning by Jonathan Mahler
BMF: The Rise and Fall of Big Meech and the Black Mafia Family by Mara Shalhoup
Lords of Chaos: The Bloody Rise of the Satanic Metal Underground by Michael Moynihan and Didrik Søderlind
Hit Men: Power Brokers and Fast Money Inside the Music Business by Fredric Dannen
Notorious C.O.P.: The Inside Story of the Tupac, Biggie, and Jam Master Jay Investigations from NYPD’s First ‘Hip-Hop Cop’ by Derrick Parker and Matt Diehl
CrimeSong: True Crime Stories From Southern Murder Ballads by Richard H. Underwood
Unprepared To Die: America’s Greatest Murder Ballads And The True Crime Stories That Inspired Them by Paul Slade
Party Monster: A Fabulous But True Tale of Murder in Clubland by James St. James
Helter Skelter: The True Story of the Manson Murders by Vincent Bugliosi and Curt Gentry
The Axeman of New Orleans: The True Story by Miriam C. Davis
Documentaries:
The New York Times Presents: Framing Britney Spears on Hulu
FYRE: The Greatest Party That Never Happened on Netflix
I Called Him Morgan on Netflix
Surviving R. Kelly on Netflix
ReMastered: The Two Killings of Sam Cooke on Netflix
Music can inspire intense feelings causing us to cry, sigh, and dance for joy. Intense feelings can inspire music creating songs of sadness, love, and hope. Archives that specialize in music are filled with songs of terrible heartache and stories yet unsung. Even Old Dominion University Special Collections holds secrets too if you are willing to look.
In December 1977, the Norfolk Unitarian-Universalist Gay Caucus (UUGC) undertook what may have been the first survey of the LGBT community in Hampton Roads. The survey was not intended to be a complete profile of the local gay community as those surveyed tended to be either bar goers or those active in the local Gay and Lesbian community. Questions pertaining to the local Trans community were virtually non-existent. Surveys were distributed in local gay bars including the Cue, the Nickelodeon, the Late Show, the Ritz, and at UUGC meetings. The results of the survey were released in the January, February, March, and April 1978 issues of Our Own Community Press. The January issue gave an overview of results. The February issue featured the results as they pertained to women / Lesbians who took the survey. The March issue shared results pertaining to gay and bisexual men. The April issue highlighted comments made by survey respondents.
According to the February 1978 issue of Our Own, “The typical woman who filled out one of the UUGC questionnaires… is between 18 and 24 years old, lives in Norfolk, is registered to vote, Protestant, makes between $5-10,000, rents, has some college education, considers herself exclusively gay, attends a gay bar once a week, and always feels good about her sexuality.” A total of 86 women responded to the survey.
Older women were not well represented in the survey. 69% of the women surveyed were under the age of 24, and an additional 29% were between the ages of 25 and 34. Only 2% of the women were over the age of 34. Half of these respondents were from Norfolk, and the rest were from other cities in Hampton Roads with ten respondents from outside the area. Two thirds of these women were registered to vote. Political affiliation was not reported, but religious affiliation was. Nearly half of the respondents identified as Protestant. Nearly a third were Catholic. A smaller number identified as Jewish, not religious, or other (including two who identified as witches). 48% of respondents had an annual income between $5,000-10,000, 29% had an income less than $5,000 a year. Very few respondents made over $15,000 a year. Only 14% of these women owned their own home; 68% rented, and 18% lived with parents, with a lover, or had other living arrangements. Only 14% of these women had college degrees, 43% had completed some college, 35% had only graduated high school. A very few women had advanced degrees or had not completed high school at all. The highest number of these women (20%) worked in service and blue-collar industries. 17.5% of respondents were students and another 17.5% worked in government jobs. Other jobs included healthcare, education, management, clerical jobs, merchandising, and artists. Very few women surveyed were lawyers, journalists, engineers, or housewives. 8% of those women surveyed were unemployed.
Of the women surveyed, 8% claimed to be exclusively heterosexual, 44% considered themselves exclusively homosexual, and others claimed varying degrees of bisexuality. Most of these women (84%) always or usually felt good about their sexuality. 14% had mixed feelings about their sexuality, and only one woman usually felt bad about her sexuality. No one claimed to always feel bad about their sexuality. 36% of the women surveyed went to gay bars once a week, 28% went to bars only once a month, and 25% went to gay bars more than once week. Only 22% of these women belonged to gay organizations, while 28% belonged to social groups; 20% to professional groups; 15% to political groups; 38% to special interest groups; and 13% to religious groups. 26% of the women surveyed did not belong to any organization at all.
Popular LGBT publications among women were Our Own Community Press, The Advocate, Gay Blade, and Gay Community News. Only a small number read Lesbian publications such as Lesbian Connection or Lesbian Tide.
A total of 440 men answered the survey. This was over five times the response rate for women. The typical profile for men answering the survey was very similar to that of the women. The typical man answering the survey lived in Norfolk, was between the ages of 18 and 24, was registered to vote, rented their housing, had some college education, was Protestant, had an annual income of $5,000-10,000, considered themselves exclusively gay, and always felt good about their sexuality.
While the “typical” snapshot of respondents was similar, actual percentages varied and there were some differences between the men and women surveyed. The typical male (49.2%) went to gay bars more than once a week whereas the largest number of women (36%) only went to bars once a week. There was a larger number of men than women over the age of 24 who responded to the survey. There were more men over the age of 35 and even some over the age of 50. Men were less likely to have a religious affiliation at all, or if they did – to have a non-Christian affiliation (Jewish, Humanist, Buddhist, Moslem, B’ai H’ai, etc.). Twice as many men than women had completed college, and men generally had higher incomes. Women were slightly more likely be registered voters. Men were more likely to consider themselves “exclusively” homosexual than women, but women tended to overall to feel better about their sexuality. Men were more likely to belong to a gay organization or conversely to no organization at all than were women.
As for men’s statistics, 51.5% of men lived in Norfolk. 34.5% lived in other Hampton Roads cities. The remainder came from other places in Virginia, Washington DC, or from out of state. 54% of men were aged 18-24; 34% were 25-34; 9% were 35-49; and 1.5% were over age 50. 45% of male respondents identified as Protestant; 25.5% as Catholic; 15.0% as none; 7.0% as other; and 4.5% as Jewish. The highest percentages of men worked in either government or service jobs (16.2% and 16.4% respectively). Other higher percentage occupations included students (9.7%); management (7.7%); healthcare (7.4%); merchandising (7.4%); and other professionals (7.0%). Only 4.9% of men surveyed were unemployed. 65% of male respondents were registered to vote. 37% of those men surveyed had annual incomes between $5,000-10,000; 23.3% had annual incomes of $10,000-15,000; 17% had incomes over $15,000; and 20% had incomes under $5,000. 29.8 percent of the men surveyed had college degrees; 35.6% had some college; 27.8% had only graduated high school; and 5.9% did not have a high school diploma. 52.5% of men rented their housing; 21.0% owned their own home; and 23.5% had other living arrangements.
Of the men surveyed, 43.6% identified exclusively homosexual; 1.6% claimed to be exclusively heterosexual; and the rest claimed varying degrees of bisexuality. 79.6% of the men always or usually felt good about their sexuality; 18.7% felt both good and bad about their sexuality; and only 1.1% usually or always felt bad about their sexuality. Nearly half the men surveyed (49.2%) visited gay bars more than once a week; 25.5% visited gay bars weekly; 18.2% visited gay bars once a month or less; and of these only .7% never visited gay bars. 26% of the men surveyed belonged to gay organizations; 37.3% belonged to no organizations at all. Men also took part in professional organizations (27.3%), social organizations (26.2%), political organizations (14.1%), religious organizations (18.0%), and special interest groups (24.4%).
Popular publications among men included Our Own Community Press, The Advocate, In Touch, Gay Blade, Blueboy, Cruise, Gay Community News, Christopher Street, Gay Times, Eagle, GPU News, Drummer, Mandate, Playgirl, and After Dark.
While the demographics created a snapshot of LGBT bar goers and those active in the local LGBT community in 1977, the most revealing and sometimes entertaining portion of the survey were open-ended responses to the questions “What do you see as the greatest need of the lesbian/gay community of Tidewater?” Overall themes to these questions included the need for unity and a sense of gay community; gay and straight education on gay issues; politics and legislation for gay rights; acceptance and understanding; more and better bars; and social outlets other than the bars.
Comments included practical suggestions for the community – a Lesbian bar, live gay/lesbian music events, a gay military organization, a gay bookstore, a gay business association, an organization for aging gay men, a gay community center, and a gay church. All of these things have come to pass in Hampton Roads (at least at some point) since the 1977 survey. Some comments were idealistic like this one. “For them to learn to live together. To be friends no matter what color the person’s skin might be or what sex the person might be. To be openminded with everything, because being gay is hard enough without fighting each other.” Other idealistic responses included developing a unified gay/lesbian political philosophy, or ending division and labels within the community. Some comments focused on educating the public on gay/lesbian issues, helping gay and lesbian folks to feel better about themselves, and helping folks come out of the closet. There were also a few colorful comments by folks who obviously weren’t comfortable with segments of the gay/lesbian community at the time. “The flaunting of homosexuality is the major problem. The super “fags’ and ‘butch’ are what gives the rest of us bad names.” Another respondent suggested, “More Gay Bars!… Make anyone over 40 stay out! And have a special bar just for trolls.”
Since 1977, hopefully at least some things have changed for the better in the Hampton Roads LGBT community. Gay bookstores have come and gone, as have Lesbian bars. LGBT military organizations have formed, especially at the height of the gay military ban and “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” We have an organization for aging Gay men, an LGBT business organization, and an LGBT community center. There’s an LGBT church, and even room at the annual Pride month Interfaith event for non-Christians and LGBT folks involved in non-traditional religions such as Wicca and Paganism. We have an LGBT Pride organization, an annual Pridefest, a Pride Boat Parade, and even a whole month of local Pride events. While not well represented in the 1977 survey, we now have organizations and events for Trans folks in our community too.
While we may have lost some things this past year or more due to Covid, this Pride month consider all that we have gained and learned since the early days of the Hampton Roads LGBT community. What will the Hampton Roads LGBT community be like 44 years from now?
You can browse the issues of Our Own Community Press mentioned in this blog post, as well as all other issues of Our Own, in our digital collections: https://dc.lib.odu.edu/digital/collection/ourown
The Records of the Virginia Symphony Orchestra in the Old Dominion University Library’s Special Collections and University Archives document the history of the Virginia Symphony from its first concert in 1921 up to the present day. These records include concert programs from that first concert through 2019. Other materials in the collection include newspaper clippings; newsletters; marketing; fundraising and membership campaigns; finances; correspondence; contract information; board of directors and executive committee information; meeting agendas and minutes; and by-laws. Multimedia are also included in the collection. These include audio cassettes, CD’s, VHS tapes, and DVD’s of various concerts, interviews, and promotional materials. There are even Betamax tapes, audio reels, old film reels, and other media. There are also photos, slides, scrapbooks, posters, and other memorabilia. New programs and other materials are periodically added to the collection.
Over the years, the Symphony played at number of local venues. These venues have included the Armory auditorium, Blair High School Auditorium, Norfolk Center Theater, Harrison Opera House, Chrysler Hall, Norfolk Scope, Virginia Beach Pavilion Theater, Portsmouth Performing Arts Center, the Sandler Center for the Performing Arts, the Ferguson Center for the Arts at Christopher Newport University, and the Norfolk State University Performing Arts Center, among other venues. The Blair High School Auditorium was chosen in the 1930s to help save costs during the Great Depression. The Symphony played at the newly created Center Theater beginning in 1943, and this became a regular venue for Symphony Performances beginning in 1947. The Center Theater was renovated and renamed the Harrison Opera House in 1993. The Symphony moved performances to Chrysler Hall in 1972 and this has become its permanent home.
Early conductors for the Symphony included Walter Edward Howe, W. Henry Baker, Bart Wirtz, Arthur Fickenscher, and Frank L. Delphino. In 1934, Henry Cowles Whitehead, son of Symphony founder, Dr. Robert C. Whitehead, became conductor. After Henry Whitehead’s death in 1948, Edgar Schenkman became conductor from 1948 until 1966. In 1966, Edgar Schenkman resigned as conductor of the Norfolk Symphony in order to devote his full attention to the Richmond Symphony which he’d also conducted since 1957. In 1966, Russell Stanger came on as conductor and he held the position until 1980. Richard Williams, previously conductor of the Cedar Rapids Symphony, replaced Stanger as conductor from 1980 to 1986. Winston Dan Vogel conducted from 1986 to 1990. JoAnn Falletta was appointed conductor in 1991 and she remains with the Virginia Symphony 30 years later in 2021. Falletta is stepping down at the end of the current season in May.
The Symphony has performed under several names over the years and its history has included mergers with other local symphonies, choral associations, and other musical organizations. The Symphony started out under the name Norfolk Civic Symphony Orchestra in 1920. The Norfolk Civic Symphony Orchestra became the Norfolk Symphony Orchestra in 1930. In 1949, the Orchestra merged with the Civic Chorus and became the Norfolk Symphony and Choral Association. Other mergers in the late 1970s included mergers with the Peninsula Symphony Orchestra and the Virginia Beach Pops Symphony Orchestra. For a time, the group was known as the Virginia Orchestra Group, the Virginia Philharmonic, and a few other names, before finally settling on the Virginia Symphony Orchestra in 1990.
Besides the Symphony proper, a number of supporting groups and organizations formed over the years. The Civic Orchestral Association organized in 1921, but was not chartered until 1931. The Norfolk Orchestral Association was formed in 1922. The Women’s Committee of the Orchestral Association was formed early in the Symphony’s history. This committee organized the first Symphony membership campaign in the mid-1930s. The Women’s Committee was later renamed the Women’s Auxiliary of the Norfolk Symphony and Choral Association in 1953. It became the Norfolk Symphony Association Auxiliary in 1977. Later supporting groups include the Virginia Symphony Foundation and the Virginia Symphony League which hold fundraising activities to help fund the Symphony. The Virginia Symphony Society of Greater Williamsburg encourages support and enjoyment of the Symphony in the Williamsburg area. The Virginia Symphony regularly collaborates with other arts organizations including the Virginia Opera, the Virginia Arts Festival, and the Richmond Ballet.
The milestones and notable achievements of the Symphony are many.In May 1924, the Orchestra performed their first choral work, Mendelssohn Symphony, No. 2, Lobgesang. The Orchestra began charging admission to concerts in 1929, and it is believed that no musicians were paid before that time. The cost of admission in 1929 was 50 cents for adults and 25 cents for children. The first Young People’s Concert was performed in 1936. These concerts continued until 1942, when they were interrupted by World War II. Youth concerts resumed a few years after the war, and in 1953 the Women’s Auxiliary founded a Youth Orchestra. The Symphony published the book “Song in their Hearts, 1920-1960” in 1961. The book was written by Grace Shepherd Ferebee. The year 1966 brought racial integration to the Symphony. James M. Reeves, a bass player, became the first Black orchestra member. Reeves went on to become a faculty member at Norfolk State University in 1974, and he served as head of the music department from 1979 until he retired int 1984. In 1979, the Symphony performed under Russell Stanger with pianist Shura Cherkassky at Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. In 1997, the Symphony performed at Carnegie Hall in New York City under the direction of JoAnn Falletta.
The Virginia Symphony has grown and changed over the last 100 years – from a small group of amateur and professional players into an organized, full-time, professional organization supported by yet other organizations. It has thrived during good times and survived challenges. Here’s hoping for another great 100 years of the Virginia Symphony!
By Lara Canner, Curator of Music Special Collections
Photographed here is student Jordan Staten drawing an archeological depiction of a vase from Bronze Age Cyprus
Early last spring, Special Collections and University Archives happily hosted Dr. Jared Benton’s Ancient Art History class. Using Bronze Age pottery from the island of Cyprus donated to ODU in the 1960’s, the students took photographs and created archaeological sketches of the vases. Later, this work would be turned into digital 3-D models and in-depth research papers. The results of their studies were impressive, so much so that Dr. Benton believed that their work should be presented at Old Dominion University’s Undergraduate Research Symposium. The program gives a platform to ODU student researchers, from various disciplines, to present papers, or posters examining their scholarship. I must have been impressive too since Dr. Benton also asked if I would be interested in partnering in assisting his students with the symposium. (I was delighted to help!)
With campus remaining closed over the course of the summer, Zoom became the main means of communication between the students, Dr. Benton, and myself. Together, we formulated the design of a virtual poster, showing how the class created their digital representations of the Cypriot vases. Meeting with those more interested in presenting papers, advice was shared on best research practices, edits were made to their original papers and possible ways to introduce the student’s themes were explored. Overall, a very productive summer, but the fact of the matter was, to create the greatest possible poster and research presentation, the undergraduate scholars would need to view the vases again.
So here we are, adapting to the need for social distancing, but still providing access to our collections. Updated policies, such as granting appointments for ODU students and staff, wearing a face mask at all times and Archives staff disinfecting prior and after each appointment are just a few ways Special Collections and University Archives are creating a safe and healthy environment for our researchers. Only one patron and one staff member are allowed in Special Collections for appointments, meaning that for Dr. Benton to help guide our student through the creation of detailed drawing and building the 3-D model, he would have to utilize Zoom to communicate in real time. When problems arose, or just making sure we were on the right track, Jordan would have to hold her paper up to a laptop screen. Complicated to say the least…
Watching an archaeological rendering as a bystander is fascinating, but now I had to become an interpreter of the professor’s instructions and at times a fellow teacher of Bronze Age Pottery. Not exactly my field of expertise. However, this was a session not only a lesson in primary source instruction, but active learning. Together, Jordan and I talked through the best ways to capture the vase’s decorations, worked through mismeasurements, and inspected the vase from every possible angle. And, the results were incredible, just look:
Two of Dr. Benton’s students will be presenting their research at the 2021 ODU Undergraduate Symposium on March 20, 20201! Registration is free and open to the public: https://www.odu.edu/honors/research/symposium
I recently received the following question for my “Ask the Archivist” column in the ODU Alumni News: “February Is Black History Month, Can You Tell Me Some Little-Known Facts in ODU’s History Involving African American Students?”
While folks may already know about the groundbreaking achievements of Ronald Horne, Margaret Simmons, and Arthur “Buttons” Speakes, there are some other achievements of African Americans at ODU that people may not know about. During segregation in the 1950s and 1960s, while other schools in Virginia denied admissions to African Americans, there were several instances where African Americans were able to take classes at the Norfolk Division campus. While not officially admitted to the division, as we understand it today, African Americans were able to take classes if they were not offered at area African American institutions such as what would become Virginia State University and Norfolk State University.
In 1968, Jackie Bryant (pictured) became the first African American to rush a sorority, and Bill Forbes became the first African American to win a bid from a fraternity at ODU. It would be another six years before the first African American sorority, Delta Sigma Theta in 1974, and fraternity, Kappa Alpha Psi in 1975, would be established. In 1972, Jerome Nixon became the first African American Battalion Commander of the ODU ROTC.
Our Own, January 1995, page 8: https://dc.lib.odu.edu/digital/collection/ourown
The Breaking the Ice Gay and Lesbian Pride Festival was first held February 2, 1991 in ODU Webb Center. It was sponsored by the ODU Gay and Lesbian Student Union (GLSU) and the Hampton Roads Lesbian and Gay Pride Coalition (HRLGPC). The event was envisioned as a winter pride event to supplement the annual Out in the Park pride picnic held each summer. It was also a fundraiser with proceeds going toward Breaking the Ice expenses and toward the summer picnic. The main event took place from 9:30am to 5pm and was followed by the play “I’m Positive” at 8pm and a dance in Webb Center from 10pm to 1am. Daytime events included a showcase of vendors and organizations, as well as workshops “on healthy gay and lesbian relationships, being single, addiction, political activism, coming out, minorities, and the dilemma of gay men and lesbians in the military.” Guest speakers that year included Robert Bray of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force (NGLTF) who led a workshop on “The State of the Gay and Lesbian Nation: 1991” and Kate Dyer, an aide to U.S. Representative Gerry Studds (D-MA) who led a workshop on gays in the military. Tickets to the main event were $5 in advance and $7 at the door. Attendance to the evening play and the dance were free.
The format stayed fairly consistent in subsequent years, though there were some changes. The daytime hours shortened to 11am to 5pm the following year and by 1997 the main event ran from 12noon to 5pm. Admission costs were lowered to $3 general admission and $1 for students, and only went up by $1 by the late 1990s. Early evening events varied year to year. Some years featured plays, most years an evening film festival, and a few years featured other entertainment. 1997 featured one act plays by ODU students, followed by country dancing performed by the OtherSiders country dance troupe, and music by local singer and songwriter Julie Clark. 1998 featured Lesbian comedian and musician Lynn Lavner and music by the Hampton Roads Men’s Chorus. The late evening dance in Webb Center remained a fixture each year. In 1997, there was an “All Faiths” continental breakfast held in Webb Center before the day’s other activities.
Breaking the Ice 1995 Workshop Schedule from the ODU Gay and Lesbian Student Records, Box 2, Folder 1: https://sites.wp.odu.edu/oduwiki/2018/06/25/gay-and-lesbian-student-union-glsu/
A number of prominent guest speakers were featured over the years. Guest speakers often represented current events related to the LGBT community. The 1992 guest speaker was Karen Thompson who had recently been awarded guardianship of her lover Sharon Kowalski in the Minnesota Appeals Court. Kowalski had been “severely disabled” in a car accident in 1983. Guardianship had initially been awarded to Kowalski’s parents who barred Thompson from visiting. After nine years of court battles, Thompson finally won custody in December 1991. The 1993 guest speaker was Crae Pridgen — a gay man who had been beaten outside a gay bar in Wilmington, North Carolina by three Marines in January 1993. This happened only a week before his appearance at the 1993 Breaking the Ice. In 1995, Rev. Mel White of the Metropolitan Community Church was guest speaker. White had been an Evangelical writer who ghostwrote autobiographies for televangelists such as Jerry Falwell, Sr., Pat Robertson, and Billy Graham. White came out as gay in 1994, transferred his credentials to the gay-affirming Metropolitan Community Church, and devoted himself to serving gay Christians. The week following the 1995 Breaking the Ice, White led a peaceful protest on Pat Robertson’s Christian Broadcasting Network in Virginia Beach. White had requested a meeting with Pat Robertson to discuss how the televangelist’s anti-gay rhetoric was harming gay people “in the name of God.” Robertson refused the meeting and White was arrested for trespassing. White refused bond and fasted three weeks in the Virginia Beach City Jail until Robertson finally agreed to meet with him on March 8. At that time, Robertson dropped the charges against White. Guests speakers for other years included Mandy Carter of the Human Rights Campaign Fund (HRCF); Barbara Grier, CEO and Founder of Naid Press; Kerry Lobel of the National Gay and Lesbian Taskforce (NGLTF); David Perry of Virginians For Justice, and Lesbian comedian/singer Lynn Lavner.
A variety of workshops were held at Breaking the Ice with some themes remaining consistent over the years. Given the huge military presence in Hampton Roads, it’s not surprising that “gays in the military” was a frequent workshop theme. Coming out was also a frequent theme, as were Lesbian and Gay relationship issues, LGBT affirming-spirituality (including alternative spiritual beliefs like Wicca), and LGBT politics and activism. Other topics included LGBT youth, bisexuality, diversity within the LGBT community, addictions, safer sex, Lesbian and Gay Unions, LGBT legal concerns, finances, child custody, Lesbian and Gay literature, and dealing with grief.
Breaking the Ice Photo with Caption, Our Own Community Press, March 1991, Page 1 : https://dc.lib.odu.edu/digital/collection/ourown
Each year ODU’s Webb Center cafeteria was filled with LGBT vendors and organizations. Vendors included bookstores such as OutRight Books, Phoenix Rising, Lambda Rising, The Tidewater Women’s Bookshelf, White Rabbit Books and Things, and others. Other vendors sold pagers, candles, clothing and jewelry, health products, and Pagan spiritual supplies, among other things. Organizations included political and activist organizations like the Human Rights Campaign Fund, Virginians for Justice, and even People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA). Local service organizations included Tidewater AIDS Crisis Taskforce, AIDSCare, Full Circle Hospice, and American Red Cross. LGBT-affirming religious organizations were represented. These included New Life MCC, All God’s Children, Dignity (Catholic), Honesty (gay Baptists), Unitarian-Universalists, Integrity (Episcopal), and Presbyterians for Lesbian and Gay Concerns. Support, social, and recreational organizations with tables at the event included Youth Out United, Transgender Pride, Gay Games, Mid-Atlantic Amateur Softball Association, Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays, Primetimers, Lambda Car Club, Gay Men’s Chorus, and Tidewater Bears.
Breaking the Ice couldn’t happen without the support of its sponsors and those organizations that provided volunteers and workshop facilitators. The two main co-hosts for Breaking the Ice were always the Hampton Roads Lesbian and Gay Pride Coalition and the ODU Gay and Lesbian Student Union (later renamed ODU Gay Lesbian Bisexual Students and Allies). Over the years other community sponsors and supporters included: Mandamus Society, Hershee Bar, Coral Sand Motel, Don’t Tell Mama restaurant, New Leaf / Quarberg Gallery, Mitch’s Cut-ups, OutRight Books, Out of the Dark, Out and About, Out in Virginia, Our Own Community Press, New Life MCC, Mac Graphics, Virginian’s for Justice, Youth Out United, Bi-Choice, All God’s Children Church, the Unitarian Church of Norfolk, Tidewater AIDS Crisis Taskforce, Tastebuds Supper Club, Taylor Rental, B&B Exxon, and many others.
Breaking the Ice continued at ODU through the late 1990s, and possibly into the early 2000s. The exact date of the last classic Breaking the Ice is unclear as our primary sources for the festival in the ODU Special Collections and University Archives only go up to 1998. ODU Sexuality and Gender Alliance (SAGA) brought Breaking the Ice back to ODU in 2019.
by Kathleen Smith, Special Collections Metadata Specialist
Interview with Norfolk music teacher Leah O’Reilly who became disabled due to being stricken from polio. The interview also includes a tour of her home which has been designed to accommodate her disability: https://dc.lib.odu.edu/digital/collection/wtar/id/647/rec/4
Today the world has been greatly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic which has infected millions of people world-wide. Scientists are exploring the origins of this virus and what causes it to thrive in order to develop vaccines or even develop forms of treatment (i.e. plasma therapy). Until there is a cure or a way to treat COVID-19, measures such as vaccination, washing hands, wearing masks, practicing social distancing, is the only way to fight it.
There was a similar deadly virus which killed and crippled people-mostly young worldwide, this virus was known as poliovirus which caused a disease known as poliomyelitis or called by its shorter form-polio. Poliomyelitis was an infectious disease that was spread through contaminated food and water, causing varying damage to the muscles of the head, neck, and diaphragm, as well as spinal damage. Paralysis, muscle deformities, and breathing difficulties were the effects left on those who were infected.
Even though poliomyelitis existed back into ancient times, the first reports of polio were recorded in the latter half of the Nineteenth Century, which included an on outbreak in Vermont infecting 132 people and killing eighteen. In the summer of 1916, a major polio epidemic broke out in the United States, starting in Brooklyn, which infected 27,000 across the United States, along with 6,000 deaths (2,000 of the deaths were in New York City). As a result, affected families and individuals were quarantined, movie theaters and swimming pools were closed, public gatherings were a rarity, and young people were told to avoid drinking from water fountains and to not to go to the beach. After the 1916 outbreak, there would be a polio epidemic each summer with the most serious cases occurring during the 1940s and 1950s. The worst known outbreak was in the United States was in 1952 with 57,628 cases which resulted in 3,145 deaths and 21,269 with mild to severe paralysis.
“Polio and Children,” features children being treated at DePaul Hospital and the hospital’s campaign to fund those treatments. In the segment one can see a very ill young man being treated in a “rocking bed” in order to improve his breathing and a very young girl in an iron lung to help her breathe: https://dc.lib.odu.edu/digital/collection/wtar/id/1988/rec/1
Over the years efforts would be made, such as improvement of sanitation practices, trying to finding a vaccine, as well as an developing an array of treatments to treat the effects of the virus such as the iron lung, the rocking bed, antibody serum treatment, splints, and hot compresses. A breakthrough came in 1952 medical researcher Jonas Salk developed an injectable vaccine containing a dose of killed poliovirus. The vaccine was put in use worldwide in 1955. The number of polio cases went down dramatically in the United States: 35,000 in 1953; 5,600 in 1957; 161 in 1961. An equally successful oral vaccine developed by Albert Sabin in 1957 and licensed in 1962, used a live but weakened virus, and gradually replaced the Salk vaccine due to it being easier to administer and less expensive in cost. Today there are fewer than 1,000 cases in the United States and the world. I hope the same can be done for COVID-19.
In the 1950s polio greatly affected the local Hampton Roads population young and old. A news show airing on the fledgling television station WTAR-TV, called “Tidewater Viewpoint” featured stories/segments on those who were affected by polio in Hampton Roads. These segments are part of the WTAR News Collection in the ODU Libraries Digital Collections.
by Madeline Dietrich, Music Special Collections and Research Specialist
I am pleased to announce the publication of a new digital exhibition, Russell Stanger: Portrait of an American Conductor, and I’d like to take a moment to offer some background on the project. It began in 2018 with the charge to identify correspondence and photographs from the Russell Stanger Papers documenting Maestro Stanger’s friendship with Leonard Bernstein in celebration of the latter’s 100th birthday. It turns out the collection contains only a few items directly relating to Stanger and Bernstein’s relationship, however, as I pored through the collection it became clear that there was more than enough material to create an exhibition focused solely on Russell Stanger.
The Russell Stanger Papersis a large collection, consisting of over 75 linear feet of materials including manuscripts, conducting scores, original works, photographs, correspondence, sound recordings, and ephemera from Stanger’s long career as an internationally known conductor and composer. Due to the constraints of the physical space designated for the exhibition I selected only visual materials (photographs, newspaper clippings, program covers) and omitted any multi-media objects (sound recordings, video footage). Further, I wished to target a general audience and thus I avoided inclusion of esoteric materials (for example, items consisting of notated music).
The physical exhibition was installed in the Diehn Building at ODU during the fall of 2018 and remained in place for 18 months. It was arranged chronologically and covered Stanger’s young adulthood through the time he was hired by the Norfolk Symphony Group in 1966 and was intended to showcase Stanger’s credentials as a conductor and why he was hired to lead the Norfolk Symphony as music director. At the outset of the Covid-19 pandemic it was decided to digitize the exhibition and expand it to include Stanger’s entire career through his retirement in the late 2000s, and this online exhibition is the result.
In keeping with the original intent, the exhibition focuses solely on Stanger’s professional life, omitting materials relating to Stanger’s personal life and focusing on visual materials. Additionally, there is little attention in the exhibition relating to Stanger’s significant contributions as a composer. Despite these omissions it is my sincere hope that the items displayed here are sufficient to give at least a basic account of Russell Stanger’s career as conductor, orchestra-builder, and Maestro.
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