Pieces of UMD

By Karen Shih ’09 Feb 06, 2014

Did you know that the university once had a working dairy? Or that the bronze Testudo in front of McKeldin Library is modeled after a real terrapin (now preserved)? Or that maids used to clean students’ dorm rooms? You can learn all that, and more, by clicking on the images from the University Archives, which holds hundreds of important, fun and quirky items from UMD’s history:

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These booklets, offering guidelines on behavior for female students, were distributed by the Maryland Women’s League around 1940. Helpful tidbits include: “Be a good sport about sitting where the head waiter places you. You may discover that the meek little fellow on your left is a potential Prince Charming.” Credit: John T. Consoli

On Sept. 29, 1858, Charles Benedict Calvert, founder of the university, sent a letter to Baltimore businessman J.C. Nicholson describing his vision for the new Maryland Agricultural College. “We expect to teach everything that is taught in the best Universities,” he wrote, “and in addition to those branches we shall require every student to learn Scientific and practical agricultural and mechanics.” Photo courtesy of University Archives.

Cole Field House was the home of Terps basketball from 1955 until 2002. It was the site of many significant games, including the 1966 Final Four, in which all-black starters for Texas Western took on all-white starters from Kentucky; the first televised women’s basketball game in 1975, when Maryland played Immaculata; and many epic UMD battles against rivals, including Maryland’s 87–73 defeat of Duke in February 2002 en route to the Terps national championship. Many pieces of the floor were sold as part of a fundraiser for the athletics department, and today, Cole has indoor turf that’s used for soccer, field hockey, ruby, Ultimate Frisbee and more. Credit: John T. Consoli

This cornerstone box was salvaged from the ruins of the Barracks in the aftermath of the Great Fire of 1912, which burned down the heart of the campus. Photos courtesy University Archives.

University Archives Curly Byrd Whiskey 4967 0

Harry Clifton “Curley” Byrd was president of UMD from 1935-1954. This whiskey was distilled by the James Distillery, Inc. and the Baltimore Pure Rye Distilling Company, both in Baltimore, likely during the 1950s. It was donated to the Archives by the family of William Cobey, UMD athletic director from the mid-1950s to around 1970, an acquaintance of Byrd’s. Credit: John T. Consoli

This jersey belonged to Geary F. Eppley ’20, for whom the recreation center is named. The football and track star-turned-professor, coach and administrator guided the development of the student union and Memorial Chapel and managed the influx of students after World War II. Eppley photo courtesy University Archives.

E. Joseph Lamp ’71 donated the gas mask, which his father bought for him to carry in his backpack during the tumultuous Vietnam War era. The National Guard was deployed to campus three times for protests each spring semester from 1969–71. The most violent occurred in 1970 in opposition to the U.S. invasion of Cambodia. Thousands of protestors occupied and vandalized the Main Administration Building and the ROTC offices, set fires around campus and blocked Route 1. The National Guard used tear gas on the students, who snagged the canisters in lacrosse sticks to hurl them back at the troops. Lamp wasn’t part of the protests, but bystanders could still be caught in the gas, so he had the mask as a precaution. Credit: John T. Consoli

These models were purchased by the Maryland Agricultural College around 1891 for entomology instruction. They were created in the workshop of French anatomist and naturalist Louis Thomas Jérôme Auzoux, who developed a papier-mâché technique to produce anatomically correct models that could be opened up for examination. Photos courtesy University Archives.

The Challenger space shuttle disaster occurred on Jan. 28, 1986. On board was Judith Resnik Ph.D. ’77, one of the first women to go into space (on the Discovery in 1984). A campus memorial was held on Feb. 10, and an editorial in the Diamondback said: “We honor her for her courage and her willingness to discover the unknown.” Today, there is a lecture hall in Glenn L. Martin Hall named after her, as well as the Judith Resnik Memorial Fellowship Fund for engineering graduate students. Credit: John T. Consoli/University Archives

This cadet’s uniform and sword are from the 1890s. The Morrill Land Grant Act, signed by President Abraham Lincoln in 1862, mandated military training at the schools that received this federal funding. This training largely consisted of marching in formation, listening to lectures on tactics, and shooting rifles and was first mentioned in the 1865–66 course catalog. This eventually morphed into mandatory enrollment in ROTC for male students, which ended in 1965. Credit: John T. Consoli

This milk bottle came from the Dairy, which opened in 1925. For many years, the campus kept cows and produced butter, cheese and ice cream from their milk. Today, UMD produces ice cream with milk from other sources, since only a few cows are left on campus. You can try Dairy ice cream at the Stamp Student Union. Credit: John T. Consoli

These favors from the 1920s include a compact, comb and cuff. Prom was held in the spring and was the capstone of the social season. Each class had its own prom, making it more of a class celebration than a campuswide event. Credit: John T. Consoli

Rifle was the only intercollegiate sport offered to UMD women in the 1920s, and the team was outstanding, winning numerous intercollegiate championships from 1922 to 1941. This target belonged to individual champion Irene Knox. Courtesy of University Archives.

This is the original Testudo, which helped unveil the first statue on Class Day in June 1933. It died shortly thereafter and was stuffed. Today, it’s kept in a custom-designed display case at the Archives at Hornbake Library. Just ask to see it! Historical photo courtesy University Archives.

In the 1930s, women were required to take six credits of physical education, while men were required to take military science. There were a couple of intramural teams for women, including volleyball, basketball and field hockey. The baggy nature of the gym uniform conformed to the standards of the time, when it was considered unladylike to compete intensely and sweat. Courtesy of University Archives.