For CMU history questions, there’s always the Clarke

When Tim Otteman wanted to organize the Finch Fieldhouse 75th anniversary celebration, he knew his first stop to get the building’s history: CMU’s in-house history detectives at Clarke Historical Library.

Students in the Recreation, Parks and Leisure Services Administration program had just worked with staff from the Clarke to put together a permanent interpretive trail in Finch using QR codes for a project in a class taught by RPL faculty Jordan Bruursema.

It made for a natural new collaboration, one that the Clarke contributes to regularly with people on and off CMU’s campus. It also left Otteman, chairman of the RPL department, a bit surprised.

“While I had admired at the work that the Clarke does on campus with displays and programs, I truly had no idea of the amount of resources that were available,” he said. “After working on this project, I jokingly say, although totally true, that Bryan Whitledge is the smartest person I know. The staff at the Clarke have been incredible to work with.”

“We get quite a few CMU history requests, multiple each week,” said Bryan Whitledge, public services librarian for the Clarke.

Institutional pride fuels requests

Requests often come from academic and support departments celebrating anniversaries, promoting their unit or requests on behalf of alumni donors. But, they also come as a matter of institutional pride.

“Sometimes, it is CMU staff asking about different episodes in history simply to satisfy their curiosity,” Whitledge said. “Like, when did we start using maroon and gold?”

For a building about to turn 75, history is a pretty big part of the story.

Otteman and Bruursema brainstormed ideas on how to bring the building’s storied past to life, Whitledge said. The Clarke’s staff researched to find old photos and to make sure the history was factually accurate.

You can’t celebrate an academic building’s big birthday without the people who made it special, and Whitledge said he worked with Otteman to help support the event by providing photos to Centralight and the alumni relations office.

Library’s holdings tell CMU’s story

Some of the resources at the disposal of the Clarke’s staff include every yearbook, editions of Central Michigan Life and other student-led publications, master plans, budgets and other reports, he said.

There were also athletic programs, media guides and other documents related to CMU athletics. Those took on a special significance for the Finch celebration. Finch’s name, of course, was synonymous with CMU Athletics for much of its history.

Relatives of some of CMU’s past coaches plan to attend the celebration, as will faculty who worked in Finch, Otteman said.

The celebration will take place from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., Saturday, March 22. While much of it will take place in Finch 113, in the building’s northeast corner, the first thing that will greet attendees in the lobby are the starting points for the Finch interpretive trail.