In 1950, Nathan M. Newmark began work on perhaps the most important project of his career—the design and construction of the earthquake-resistant Latino-Americana Tower in Mexico City. This was to be no ordinary building, however, given the difficulties of construction on the city’s unique geological strata prone to seismic activity. As Professor of Civil Engineering, Newmark had been at the University of Illinois since 1930, first as a student and then as a faculty member since 1937. Having a reputation as a brilliant researcher, Newmark’s expansive knowledge of structural engineering earned him many accolades. Shortly after the 43-story building was completed in 1957, a 7.9 magnitude earthquake struck Mexico City. Amid the destruction, the Latino-Americana building remained standing and intact, “as a symbol of the value of painstaking attention to detail in aseismic design.”[1] Continue reading “Capturing and Preserving Engineering’s History”
Category: New in the Archives
Student Life, 1934
The Louis and Ruth Wright Papers span a mere .5 cubic feet in the Archives, but located within these personal papers are invaluable records of student life in the 1930s. Three amateur silent films give a glimpse of campus during the early Twentieth century.
Until recently, the only way to view these films was to visit the University Archives. Thanks to the Library’s media preservation office, they are now available to anyone with an internet connection.
Working for the University Archives
Hello, my name is Zaynaib Giwa but everyone calls me Ola for short. I just started my stint at the University Archives during the beginning of this fall semester. I was entrusted with the task of organizing and converting the University Board of Trustees (BOT) meetings into PDF/A documents.
Who are BOT? Continue reading “Working for the University Archives”
Christmas Comes a Caroling
Forty years after the School of Music and the Office of Public Information recorded a Christmas program for a television-viewing audience, it is again available to the general public just in time for the holiday season!
John Philip Sousa hits the beach at new exhibit!
Sousa hits the beach as part of our new exhibit “America and Sousa’s Band Through the Photographic Lens of Charles Strothkamp”
Charles Strothkamp (1896-1983) was born and raised in Manhattan, New York. At the age of fifteen he began studying clarinet, and nearly fifteen years later joined the Sousa Band as fourth clarinet for its 1926 tour which included extended performances at Atlantic City’s Steele Pier, Philadelphia’s Willow Grove Park, and concerts throughout the New England, Midwest and Mid-Atlantic states. After Sousa’s death in March 1932, Charles went on to study stenography and typewriting at New York’s Drake School of Business and eventually took a position as railway postal clerk with the United States Postal Service. He remained with the postal service for thirty years and retired in 1965.
Throughout his music and postal careers, Charles was an avid amateur photographer who chronicled his travels with the Sousa Band, his parents on summer trips, and everyday life in New York City. As he travelled with the Sousa ensemble his camera meticulously documented the candid off-stage life of his colleagues between 1926 and 1930. This exhibit explores the humorous exploits of the Sousa Band as it travelled across America at the close of the roaring twenties and the beginning of the Great Depression.
The exhibit is part of the Sousa Archives and Center for American Music‘s American Music Month Celebration and it’s located in the Harding Band Building, 1103 S. Sixth Street, Champaign, IL.