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Showing 31 - 35 of 35 Records

The Gadfly: a UVM student newspaper
    • Date Created: 1985-1997
    • Description: The Gadfly, a University of Vermont (UVM) alternative student newspaper, was published by a nonhierarchical collective from 1985 to 1997. The Gadfly Collective, a recognized student club, was part of the Union of Concerned Students, which served as a coordinating group and resource center for progressive student groups at UVM. A quote from Plato on the masthead explained the paper’s title and mission, “I was attached to this city as upon a great noble horse, which was somewhat sluggish because of its size and needed to be stirred up by a kind of gadfly.” The paper’s frequency varied from semi-weekly, to monthly and then quarterly. After a 16-month hiatus beginning in late 1994, The Gadfly reappeared in March 1996 “to educate, uncover lies and invoke action.” The last issue appeared in February 1997. The Gadfly challenged the UVM community by presenting alternative viewpoints about issues on campus, in Burlington and Vermont. It also addressed national and international areas of concern. The paper published articles, commentaries and essays, interviews, art, letters, poetry and announcements about community events. Members of the collective and the community contributed content, but The Gadfly also reprinted articles from other publications. As a forum for debate, The Gadfly tackled controversial campus issues such as divestment, racism and diversity, military recruiting, policies and decision making, labor, and student activism.


    Out in the Mountains
      • Date Issued: 1986-2007
      • Description: Out in the Mountains was the only LGBT focused newspaper in Vermont from early 1986 to January of 2007 when the last issue was released. The newspaper provided a forum for a diverse LGBT community to stay connected, covered issues facing the community such as violence, isolation and HIV, and discussed policy and organizing efforts to battle discrimination against LGBT people in Vermont and in the United States as a whole. Some significant milestones for LGBT rights in Vermont covered by Out in the Mountains include the passage of Civil Unions and the Vermont Employment Non-Discrimination Act. The newspaper featured ongoing advice and dating column, a series of coming out stories, a column for youth writers, LGBT cartoonists including Alison Bechdel, and profiles of prominent community members. The newspaper refused to print advertisements for alcohol or cigarettes, and ran advertisements for safer sex practices. Out in the Mountains ceased publication due to financial difficulties.


      Maple Research Collection
        • Creator: Proctor Maple Research Center, Vermont Agricultural Experiment Station.
        • Date Created: 1890-1988
        • Description: This collection documents the history of maple research at the University of Vermont. Included in the collection is a selection of photographs from the archives of the Proctor Maple of Vermont (UVM), and the first permanent maple research facility in the United States. The photographs, taken between 1948-1957, document the construction of the field station’s first sugarhouse, as well as the PMRC sugar bush and early maple experiments. Also included in the collection are the published University of Vermont Agricultural Extension bulletins on maple research (1890-1988), taken from both the Proctor Maple Research Center archive and the University of Vermont Libraries Department of Special Collections. Maple research in Vermont has a long history, dating back to the early 1890s, when C. H. (Charles Howard) Jones, head of the UVM Agricultural Experiment Station and a prominent early maple sugar chemist, conducted seminal research on the biology of maple trees to better understand the sap flow mechanism and its dependence on meteorological changes, as well as the considerable variance in sap sugar content. In 1946, James Marvin and Fred Taylor founded the Proctor Maple Research Center with a donation by Governor Mortimer Proctor of the former “Harvey Farm” in Underhill Center, Vermont, to UVM. For the first year of operation, research on sap flow, maple tree physiology, and the economics of maple production were conducted in an 8’ x 12’ shed. In 1948, the first sugarhouse was constructed to allow research on syrup production techniques, followed several years later by the C.H. Jones Laboratory (which served as the primary research laboratory until it burned down in 1998). Through the years, the PMRC has had its fair share of prominent maple researchers, scientists and educators, including Frederick Laing, whose research helped develop and improve methods of installing plastic tubing and directed improvements in using vacuum pumps to increase sap yields, and Mariafranca Morselli, who brought a greater understanding to the role of microorganisms in determining syrup grade, as well as developing methods to detect adulteration of maple syrup by adding other sugars. In 1999, the PMRC was named to the National Register of Historic Places, and today houses facilities that include an 8,000 square foot laboratory and a demonstration and research sugarhouse, as well as the original research shed.


        Kake Walk at UVM
          • Date Created: 1896-2004
          • Description: The Kake Walk at UVM collection documents a racist event held at the University of Vermont that was the highlight of the campus social calendar for over eighty years. Annual Kake Walk performances featured fraternity brothers in blackface and kinky wigs dancing to the tune of "Cotton Babes." The items in this digital collection were selected from holdings in the University Archives in 2010 by Robin Katz, Digital Initiatives Outreach Librarian, and Dr. Brian Gilley, Anthropology Professor and Director of the ALANA US Ethnic Studies Program. They are presented here to acknowledge and shine a light on a painful part of the University’s past and to highlight the protests which eventually resulted in its termination. In 2010, while the digital collection was being developed, students enrolled in Katz’s and Gilley’s ALANA US Ethnic Studies course, "Curating Kake Walk: Race, Memory, and Representation," contributed to this collection overview. In a statement reflective of class discussions and opinions, one group wrote that the Kake Walk at UVM materials "should be seen not as encouraging racism, but as an opportunity to learn from insensitivities from the past that can help us build a more unified future.”

            Kake Walk History

            UVM's Kake Walk dates to the early 1890s when it resembled the popular American minstrel show. A dance known as the cakewalk, by then a standard act in minstrel theatre, originated on plantations as a competition among slaves. The pair that most entertained their white owners would be awarded cake. The cakewalk later evolved into a refined social dance whose accompanying music was a predecessor to ragtime. UVM's Kake Walk departed from these styles, however, to become its own unique tradition. Early Kake Walks featured a pair of men in costume (one in drag) wearing blackface. In addition to the "a walkin' fo' de kake" competition, the event included grotesque stunts and a peerade; skits were soon added. In the 1930s and 1940s, the Winter Carnival weekend grew to include the election of a King and Queen and a snow sculpture competition. After World War II, male walkers wore suits in the colors of their fraternity known as "silks." The judging was codified as the high-stepping dances became more and more stylized. By the 1960s, the three-day festival also included a ball, a jazz concert, and winter sporting events. Local merchants benefited from the influx of returning alumni and visiting guests, and the organizing committee made significant profits. Kake Walk was governed by fraternity brothers known as Directors, as well as a female student appointed Secretary. Professors James Loewen and Larry McCrorey date dissent concerning Kake Walk to as early as 1954 when Phi Sigma Delta first refused to wear blackface. Various statements opposing Kake Walk were printed in the student newspaper The Vermont Cynic, published in local papers, and delivered at public events; two students picketed the last performance. In 1963, the Interfraternity Council (IFC) voted to eliminate blackface in favor of light green makeup but to continue using dialect. In 1964, due to audience complaints, the makeup was changed again to a darker green which, in black and white photographs, is impossible to distinguish from blackface. In 1969, due to successive decisions by a student-faculty committee, the Student Association, and the IFC, Kake Walk was officially eliminated from the Winter Carnival weekend.

            Detailed Description of Collection

            This digital collection contains a selection of records from the University Archives such as event invitations, recruitment flyers, documentation of ticket requests, press releases, financial records, committee minutes, and director's reports. There are several representative examples of correspondence from alumni and community members responding to the discontinuation of Kake Walk. Some notable records include the 1964 document "A New Face," which announces the switch to dark green makeup after one year of light green; the results of the 1969 student opinion poll on the future of Kake Walk; the October 31, 1969 announcement eliminating Kake Walk from the Winter Carnival weekend; and a 1977 letter describing the Greek and Panhellenic vote to oppose any Kake Walk revivals. Fourteen student newspapers from the University of Vermont are included in this collection. Every year, The Vermont Cynic produced a Kake Walk special edition. A sampling of papers from 1923 - 1977 were selected for this digital collection, as well as an article from 2004. The Cynics include some advertisements and articles unrelated to Kake Walk, but the majority of the papers' contents document Winter Carnival planning, activities, and participants. Some of the later newspapers, such as the 1954 Cynic, include debates around Kake Walk and voices of dissent. Twenty-one Kake Walk programs ranging from 1898 to 1970 document the increasingly well-designed and expensively-produced publications. The programs contain information about winter carnival events, judges, committee members, participants, scorecards, royalty candidates, and awards. The programs include advertisements from local businesses, photographs of activities and participants, and various accounts of the history of Kake Walk. Blackface first appeared on a program cover in 1938 and was depicted on subsequent publications, with varying degrees of realism, until the last performance in 1969. Researchers will notice two parody programs: a 1922 publication imitating a Communist "rag" and a 1924 program entitled “The Bohemian Meow.” The program for the 1970 film festival which replaced Kake Walk is also included. More than one hundred photographs taken during the last decade of the University of Vermont's Winter Carnival are available in this collection. The photos were most likely taken by staff and student enthusiasts to document and publicize the committee's production work, Winter Carnival events, and Kake Walk performances. In some cases, professional photographers may have been hired. This collection also includes many non-traditional archival formats. Starting around 1912, all Kake Walkers choreographed their high-stepping dances to the syncopated tune of "Cotton Babes." A 10 inch 78 rpm record of this signature musical piece has been digitized and made available online. Originally composed by Percy Weinrich, this version of the song was arranged by UVM Band Director Joseph Lechnyr. A bronze Kake Walk trophy and fraternity drinking souvenirs such as a metal cup and a ceramic jug represent the many artifacts associated with this event. In 2004, the Howe Library held an exhibit entitled "UVM's Past: The Legacy of Kake Walk." This collection makes available exhibit materials archived at UVM, including newspaper articles which may have been on display, draft exhibit labels, and a notebook containing visitor comments.

            Processing Information

            Undergraduate and continuing education students enrolled in the summer 2010 ALANA US Ethnic Studies course "Curating Kake Walk: Race, Memory, and Representation" contributed to this collection overview and provided subject headings describing many of the collection's digital objects. They also developed several criteria in order to select the original collection image thumbnail. In a statement reflective of class discussions and opinions, one group wrote that the Kake Walk at UVM materials "should be seen not as encouraging racism, but as an opportunity to learn from insensitivities from the past that can help us build a more unified future.”

            Suggested Readings

            For more information about the Kake Walk tradition at UVM and this digital collection, see the following: Katz, Robin M. “Teaching Cultural Memory: Using and Producing Digitized Archival Material in an Online Course” in Past or Portal? Enhancing Undergraduate Learning through Special Collections and Archives, edited by Eleanor Mitchell et al. Association of College & Research Libraries, 2012. Loewen, James. "The Black Image in White Vermont: The Origin, Meaning, and Abolition of Kake Walk" in The University of Vermont: The First Two Hundred Years, edited by Robert Daniels et al. University of Vermont: Distributed by University Press of New England / University of Vermont, 1991. This chapter is included in this digital collection. At the time this collection launched in 2010, it was the only known scholarly work on Kake Walk. McCrorey, H. Lawrence. “The History of Racism at UVM: the Vermont Paradox,” speech given on February 19, 2004 in the University of Vermont’s Bailey/Howe Library. University Archives, Record Group 53: Fraternities and Sororities, Series: Kake Walk. This speech is included in this digital collection. Spees, Emil R. "Kake Walk Data" in University Archives, Record Group 53: Fraternities and Sororities, Series: Kake Walk. This document, which compiles minutes and published information on committees, judges, programs, receipts, rules, and walkers, is included in this digital collection. Tunc, Tanfir Emin. “Kake Walk on Kampus: Ritualizing Racism or Commemorating Tradition at the University of Vermont?” in We are what we remember : the American past through commemoration, edited by Jeffrey Lee Merriwether and Laura Mattoon D’Amore. Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2012

            Updates

            Collections description, thumbnail image, banner image, and suggested readings updated in April 2025 by the Silver Special Collections Library’s reparative description working group.