Posted 1:50 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2013
Professor Emeritus Leslie Crocker will unveil his book on the history of UW-L during a presentation at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 1, in the Cleary Alumni & Friends Center.
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This image of UW-La Crosse cheerleaders from 1949 is one of more than 220 that will appear in a new history book about UW-La Crosse.[/caption]
A new book will cover the visual history of the first 55 years of the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse.
“We've Hung the Lantern” will review more than just the first half century of the institution that opened its doors in 1909. The nearly 200-page book will include the periods of 1909-26 when the institution was known as the La Crosse Normal School; 1927-1950, when it was La Crosse State Teacher's College; and 1951-1964, when it was Wisconsin State College. The visual history of the campus, students and faculty — along with three educational formats and 18 buildings — will be detailed in 224 historic images.
Professor Emeritus Leslie Crocker will unveil his book during a presentation at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 1, in the Cleary Alumni & Friends Center. Crocker will answer questions from those attending and sign books. This will be the first time the book will be offered for sale. Eventually, it can be purchased atPearl Street Books and at lacrossebuildings.com. The program is free and is sponsored by the UW-L History Department and the department’s honorary organization Phi Alpha Theta, the Area Research Center, the Art Department and the Alumni Association.
While Crocker calls the book a "visual history," he says it’s much more than a picture book. Because of his interest in architecture, the book began as a history of campus buildings. “However, the buildings are only a small part of the history,” explains Crocker. “What happened within those buildings is the real core of the story. Over 260 images show how students lived, while the text connects the separate images and provides context for the story.”
Crocker expects people to view the book in different ways, depending on their connection to the institution.
“Alumni will see the volume in a framework of memories. Even though they weren't here in 1909, they can relate their own memories and experiences to the memories they see in the book,” he says. “Faculty and administration will see a comparison of how things were ‘back then,’ while dorm residents can find out who ‘Hutch’ was and how Reuter brought additional strength to the physical education department.”
Crocker says few consider how a university develops. For most people, UW-L is here, it's always been here, and will always be here, he explains. But, the historian looks into the past and sees that the university did not always exist.
“It came about because of a need in society, because some politicians thought it would get them votes, because some businessmen thought it would bring more money to the town, and for a variety of other reasons,” notes Crocker. “I think it is important to understand why something as important as UW-L came into being. It's important to see how the school changed over time. It's important to understand that the school could cease to exist if the needs of society change.”
Crocker says the past predicts the future. “We don't know what lies ahead, but we can look back and see what worked, or didn't work, in the past,” he says. “The past provides comparisons and contrasts with what exists now, and helps us separate the nonsense from the sense.”
The book is one of two planned by Crocker on the history of the campus. A second volume, expected to be called “The Lamps are Lit,” will cover the campus from 1965 to the present. The provisional title is based on four-armed lampposts outside Graff Main Hall, two on the south side, two on the west and one on the east. They are the "riverside" model, produced by the George Cutter Co. of South Bend, Ind. Other than the building’s exterior, the lampposts are the oldest structures on campus. The second book will continue the theme from the first volume, describing the symbolism of lantern as light and knowledge in the university’s history.
This isn’t the first book about UW-La Crosse. History Professor George Gilkey authored “The First Seventy Years: A History of the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse 1909-1979” in 1981 shortly before the university’s 75th celebration.
Associate Professor of History James Longhurst expects the new book to be well received by alumni, students and others. “The university has more than a century of history to tell now, and this book is the first of what I hope will be several different inquiries into that past,” he says.
If you go—
What: Presentation and book signing on “We've Hung the Lantern,” a visual history book about UW-La Crosse from 1909-1964
Who: Professor Emeritus Leslie Crocker
When: 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 1
Where: Cleary Alumni & Friends Center
Admission: Free
About the author:
Leslie F. Crocker, a native of Memphis, Tenn., earned a bachelor’s in English literature with minors in history and anthropology at Memphis State University in 1964. He earned a master’s in art history in 1966 at the University of Missouri-Columbia with a thesis on Holly Springs, Miss. He earned a doctorate from the University of Missouri-Columbia in 1970 with a major concentration in European and American Art 1750 to 1850, and a minor concentration in Renaissance Italian Art.
His dissertation, Historic Architecture of the Middle South, 1750-1900, defined the cultural and stylistic interrelationships of the domestic architecture of Tennessee, northern Mississippi and northern Alabama.
Crocker taught at UW-L from 1969 until retiring as professor emeritus of art history in 2001. Along with serving as Art Department chair, he taught at the University of Wisconsin Copenhagen, Denmark, campus and at Viterbo University. He served as president of the La Crosse County Historical Society and was a founder of the La Crosse Area Society for Historic Preservation, now the Preservation Alliance League. He served as local host for a statewide convention of preservationists sponsored by the Wisconsin State Preservation Office.
Crocker has written various articles, reports and surveys of La Crosse architecture and given many talks on the subject to community groups, as well as advising several city council committees. Find his work at www.uwlax.edu/murphylibrary/authors/2013/Crocker_authors_places.html and http://lacrosse-buildings.com/.
As part of the Speakers Bureau of the Wisconsin Humanities Council for nine years, Crocker has presented discussions and walking tours on Wisconsin architecture statewide.
He and his wife live in an 1877 farmhouse near Houston, Minn.
This image of UW-La Crosse cheerleaders from 1949 is one of more than 220 that will appear in a new history book about UW-La Crosse.[/caption]
A new book will cover the visual history of the first 55 years of the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse.
“We've Hung the Lantern” will review more than just the first half century of the institution that opened its doors in 1909. The nearly 200-page book will include the periods of 1909-26 when the institution was known as the La Crosse Normal School; 1927-1950, when it was La Crosse State Teacher's College; and 1951-1964, when it was Wisconsin State College. The visual history of the campus, students and faculty — along with three educational formats and 18 buildings — will be detailed in 224 historic images.
Professor Emeritus Leslie Crocker will unveil his book during a presentation at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 1, in the Cleary Alumni & Friends Center. Crocker will answer questions from those attending and sign books. This will be the first time the book will be offered for sale. Eventually, it can be purchased atPearl Street Books and at lacrossebuildings.com. The program is free and is sponsored by the UW-L History Department and the department’s honorary organization Phi Alpha Theta, the Area Research Center, the Art Department and the Alumni Association.
While Crocker calls the book a "visual history," he says it’s much more than a picture book. Because of his interest in architecture, the book began as a history of campus buildings. “However, the buildings are only a small part of the history,” explains Crocker. “What happened within those buildings is the real core of the story. Over 260 images show how students lived, while the text connects the separate images and provides context for the story.”
Crocker expects people to view the book in different ways, depending on their connection to the institution.
“Alumni will see the volume in a framework of memories. Even though they weren't here in 1909, they can relate their own memories and experiences to the memories they see in the book,” he says. “Faculty and administration will see a comparison of how things were ‘back then,’ while dorm residents can find out who ‘Hutch’ was and how Reuter brought additional strength to the physical education department.”
Crocker says few consider how a university develops. For most people, UW-L is here, it's always been here, and will always be here, he explains. But, the historian looks into the past and sees that the university did not always exist.
“It came about because of a need in society, because some politicians thought it would get them votes, because some businessmen thought it would bring more money to the town, and for a variety of other reasons,” notes Crocker. “I think it is important to understand why something as important as UW-L came into being. It's important to see how the school changed over time. It's important to understand that the school could cease to exist if the needs of society change.”
Crocker says the past predicts the future. “We don't know what lies ahead, but we can look back and see what worked, or didn't work, in the past,” he says. “The past provides comparisons and contrasts with what exists now, and helps us separate the nonsense from the sense.”
The book is one of two planned by Crocker on the history of the campus. A second volume, expected to be called “The Lamps are Lit,” will cover the campus from 1965 to the present. The provisional title is based on four-armed lampposts outside Graff Main Hall, two on the south side, two on the west and one on the east. They are the "riverside" model, produced by the George Cutter Co. of South Bend, Ind. Other than the building’s exterior, the lampposts are the oldest structures on campus. The second book will continue the theme from the first volume, describing the symbolism of lantern as light and knowledge in the university’s history.
This isn’t the first book about UW-La Crosse. History Professor George Gilkey authored “The First Seventy Years: A History of the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse 1909-1979” in 1981 shortly before the university’s 75th celebration.
Associate Professor of History James Longhurst expects the new book to be well received by alumni, students and others. “The university has more than a century of history to tell now, and this book is the first of what I hope will be several different inquiries into that past,” he says.
If you go—
What: Presentation and book signing on “We've Hung the Lantern,” a visual history book about UW-La Crosse from 1909-1964
Who: Professor Emeritus Leslie Crocker
When: 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 1
Where: Cleary Alumni & Friends Center
Admission: Free
About the author:
Leslie F. Crocker, a native of Memphis, Tenn., earned a bachelor’s in English literature with minors in history and anthropology at Memphis State University in 1964. He earned a master’s in art history in 1966 at the University of Missouri-Columbia with a thesis on Holly Springs, Miss. He earned a doctorate from the University of Missouri-Columbia in 1970 with a major concentration in European and American Art 1750 to 1850, and a minor concentration in Renaissance Italian Art.
His dissertation, Historic Architecture of the Middle South, 1750-1900, defined the cultural and stylistic interrelationships of the domestic architecture of Tennessee, northern Mississippi and northern Alabama.
Crocker taught at UW-L from 1969 until retiring as professor emeritus of art history in 2001. Along with serving as Art Department chair, he taught at the University of Wisconsin Copenhagen, Denmark, campus and at Viterbo University. He served as president of the La Crosse County Historical Society and was a founder of the La Crosse Area Society for Historic Preservation, now the Preservation Alliance League. He served as local host for a statewide convention of preservationists sponsored by the Wisconsin State Preservation Office.
Crocker has written various articles, reports and surveys of La Crosse architecture and given many talks on the subject to community groups, as well as advising several city council committees. Find his work at www.uwlax.edu/