Central Normal Bulletin Now Online

by Clarrissa Klein

At Central Michigan University, the document known as the “Bulletin” brings to mind a course catalog with descriptions of academic programs on offer. But from 1905 to 1919, there was another “Bulletin” – the Central Normal Bulletin. The Central Normal Bulletin was the earliest school newspaper and it contains a lot of CMU history. Once a month, the Bulletin was published and it updated the campus and alumni about news from campus, news from alumni, and short essays by Central faculty about a wide variety of subjects. Now, we have added this great asset to our CMU History document repository, part of the CMU Digital Collections.

The project to put the Central Normal Bulletin online required a great deal of scanning and even involved taking photographs of pages that were too hard to scan because the 100+ year old bindings were too delicate. With the work of other students in the Clarke and our colleagues in New Zealand, who host our document repository, we were able to produce high-quality images of the Central Normal Bulletins and upload the files to the CMU history website. Now, over 5,000 pages of CMU history that were only available to those who visited the Clarke Historical Library in person, are accessible to anyone with an internet connection.

The Bulletins are a good source of information about past students and staff members, and many Bulletins have fun stories about CMU. One story that I personally love and find to be outrageous comes from November 1912. In October that year, Central lost a football game by a score of 0-106 to Alma! The story puts the loss in the best light possible, pointing out that Alma had practiced three weeks more than Central and the Alma team “outweighed us fifteen pounds to a man.” Also, Alma had an fantastic season, already beating Olivet 58-0 and Kalamazoo 54-0 before the Central game. Because of this loss and other reasons, for the next three years there was no football team-- only soccer.

Another fascinating story comes from July 1907. During the commencement program for the 1907 class, seventeen girls in white dresses performed a beautiful dance to add to the ceremony. They captured the audience by using colored lights and “charming steps of dance.” According to the Bulletin, it was a highlight for the ceremony. Professor Maybee’s choir might have been a highlight as well, but the article simply reads, “[his] success in getting music out of his choir is too well known to Central Normalites to need comment.” These mentions are found in the four-and-a-half-page article recounting the commencement events in detail. The news about commencement today is nothing like this.

These stories are just the start of the vast amounts of information found in the pages of the Central Normal Bulletin. We invite you to step back over 100 years in Central’s history and find your favorite – it can all be accessed via this link.

Commencement Speakers of Years Past

by Casey Gamble and Bryan Whitledge

Students celebrating
commencement, 1984

For anyone who has had the opportunity to enjoy sitting through lengthy commencement ceremonies, you understand how nice it is when a prolific orator can deliver a speech that imparts wisdom and inspiration and entertains at the same time.

CMU has had a host of great speakers over the years. Many of the speakers have been university presidents, politicians, and business leaders in Michigan. We took a look at some of the speakers of CMU Commencements-Past. Some highlights have included CMU alum and actor, screen-writer, and play-write Jeff Daniels (2000). Francis B. Molson, a beloved professor of English and Clarke Historical Library benefactor, spoke to graduates in 1994. And in 1997, CMU invited attorney F. Lee Bailey.

Bailey is known as being the criminal-defense lawyer for O.J. Simpson, Patty Hearst, Dr. Sam Sheppard, and the Boston Strangler. In the "Our Voice" section of the CM Life posted several days before Commencement, it was expressed that some people did not feel that Bailey was someone who should be delivering to them their final words of wisdom before they dispersed into the world. "Name recognition is an excellent quality to have in a commencement speaker, but quality of character is another" (CMLife, December 8, 1997, p. 4).

Commencement in Finch Fieldhouse, ca. 1950s

But one speaker that Central was certainly proud to invite to commencement spoke in December 1981. CMU alumnus and NBC reporter, Lem Tucker, returned to his school to deliver a speech that he planned on being better than your ordinary "hard work pays off" theme. As a man who had seen a lot in his career, he felt he needed to be more honest with the students, in the sense that they were heading into a competitive world, and "like heavy cream, the survivors will rise to the top" (CMLife, December 7, 1981, p. 1).

Whether a commencement speaker ignites controversy or is universally loved by the grads, we hope that with each commencement ceremony, the graduates leave feeling like they have gained something that will help them turn the page to the next chapter of their lives.

This weekend, the CMU commencement speakers include  

• Joseph S. Francisco, dean of the college of arts and sciences at University of Nebraska-Lincoln
  Melanie Bergeron chairperson at Two Men and a Truck
• Thomas Morgan, documentary filmmaker who uses his documentaries to increase people's understanding of important social issues such as homelessness, youth incarceration, and abuse and neglect.

Historic Central Commencement Brochures

by Casey Gamble

At last, the time has come for summer fun for Central Michigan University students. Classes are over, the weather is warming up, and Mission Street already seems mysteriously more manageable. But there’s one more important event left to be taken care of before we can say the semester is officially over -- Commencement! We thought we’d take you through some of the historic Commencement brochures that the Clarke keeps in its holdings, and show how much things have changed and how our school has grown over time.

1894 Commencement Brochure for the Conservatory

Central Michigan University started out as Central Michigan Normal School and Business Institute in September 1892. Pictured here is the 2nd commencement booklet from 1894, 120 years ago! In the 1890s, each document had a unique design, from the list of music conservatory graduates to the dinner invitations.

1893 Recital Brochure

1898 Commencement Brochure

1930 Commencement Brochure

Upon entering the 1900s, the number of students graduating from Central increased immensely. The brochures were designed in a more minimalist fashion, but they still managed to sneak in some bright colors on the dinner invitation, as pictured here in this 1930 Commencement booklet.














Shortly after the 1930s, most of the brochures were designed to be simple and to the point, with an interlude in the late-1960s to early-1970s when the brochures were splashed-up with earth-toned covers, like those seen here.

Commencement Brochures ca. 1968-72

By the 1990s, the brochures turned back to the modest feel, which has lasted through to today with slight changes. It’s a classic business-professional look and focuses the attention on the content of the brochures rather than the aesthetics. What’s most important to remember about Commencement is the progress our students have made, and that we are celebrating their steps into an exciting new chapter of their lives.

1998 Commencement Brochure

2012 Commencement Brochure

This year, around 3,000 students will be graduating and the Clarke will be sure to keep a copy of their 2014 Commencement brochure. We look forward to seeing it featured in a 2064 blog post about historic Commencement documents found in the CMU Archives of the Clarke Historical Library.