A mutual interest in the history of the community brought both campus and town leaders together on Oct. 9 in Shippensburg University’s Memorial Auditorium.
Reproduction posters of “John McCune’s Legacy: a shared heritage between school and town,” were unveiled in the auditorium for attendees to take a look at SU’s detailed past and its founders.
SU President Laurie Carter opened the program and talked about the impact the collection makes, as she and past presidents have faced challenges connecting with the community.
“Shippensburg University — what was Cumberland Valley Normal School then — made a true effort to forge a bond with the Shippensburg community,” Carter said.
She went on to praise the past SU and community leaders who helped bridge the gap between the institution and town shown in the archival documents, and how she and Mayor Kathy Coy have been working to authentically strengthen those connections.
Christy Fic, SU archives and special collections librarian, announced that the reproduction posters would be the first exhibit displayed to begin American Archives Month, themed “power of collaboration.”
She explained how the collection clearly showed the town and school working together, and how the archives located in Ezra Lehman Memorial Library serve as an institutional memory that tells Shippensburg’s story, Fic said.
Coy described how the documents preserved were found and purchased by SU professors, administrators and community members.
Coy recounted that 58 parties came together and raised $13,000 in pledged funds to buy the documents that were set aside for historical records dating back to the founding of the Cumberland Valley Normal School.
Through reading the research, Coy became nostalgic of her kind memories and ties to SU.
“The bridge is there, we just need to walk it,” Coy said.
SU library technician Melanie Reed then talked about her two-and-a-half years studying the collection and some of the interesting findings she discovered about SU founding father John McCune.
Reed said the collection was in mostly good condition, and that retired SU history professor Charles Loucks cleaned the documents that were slightly damaged.
She explained that the collection provides evidence of the founding of the school, the first board of trustees and how they dealt with financial issues of that time.
The collection is open for research, and Reed believes interesting topic points could be gender equality, race relations, tuition costs and energy sources.
Reed learned about John McCune, the first secretary of the SU Board of Trustees, and an attorney and family man who never shied away from a glass of whiskey.
She said McCune made sure to be transparent by holding town meetings and special events for the community to learn about the progress of the school.
Reed said Loucks researched the genealogical history of many of the people mentioned in the documents for three years, and that his comments will be added to the collection.
“Only a few didn’t agree with the school and it was for traffic reasons,” Reed said while explaining how the town had great sentiment for the institution being built.
The most interesting thing she found from her research was a letter from a lawyer in Baltimore representing clients sent to McCune who expressed interest in buying SU due to its embarrassing financial woes.
The board of trustees “struggled to keep the school afloat” at one point in time, Reed said, “but if John McCune were here today he would be proud.”
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