By Josh Hughes
This year marks Western’s 118th year as a collegiate institution, meaning the school is verging on its twelfth decade of history. In turn, the Special Collections Library on the 6th floor of the library has updated its Tableaux: Redux exhibit, a retrospective photo gallery encompassing Western’s entire history as a school. Attempting to “reflect campus and community history through the present date”, the gallery lines the walls of the Special Collections floor, which is only open to the public from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on weekdays.
Walking inside the 6th floor of the library, there’s not much to distract students from walls covered in bits of memorabilia–students aren’t even supposed to study up in the Special Collections unless they’re there for some other reason. Instead of a slew of heads buried in schoolwork, however, the Special Collections floor gives off an unparalleled feeling of calm and quietness. Students are instead welcome to peruse through the photos and documentation to get a brief but telling glimpse into Western’s history as a school.
Starting with an 1899 photograph of “The Grand Celebration”, or the moment when Bellingham (then called New Whatcom) granted enough funds to New Whatcom Normal School, the Tableaux: Redux showcases important events from Western’s history as well as generations of candids and photos of casual school life.
Through the exhibit, one learns of everything from the school’s origins as a teacher-training institute with its eight person, all women first graduating class, to its first years of computer technology in the early 90s. Other photos document the growth of campus, with a particularly striking photo of Old Main standing tall above grassy fields and “Kibbe’s Pond”, where parts of Edens now stand.
ABOVE: This display case houses work by Western faculty and alumni. Photo by Ricky Rath // AS Review.
While the exhibit doesn’t give an in depth look at the entire page by page history of the school, the excerpts and vignettes that have been chosen aptly help define the changes throughout the school in its 118 years. A photo from 1947 of Veterans’ Housing on campus, complete with a smiling Lyle Messinger holding a “No Thru Traffic Sign”, shows a side of campus long gone due to the ever changing sociopolitical norms that have dominated universities throughout the country; later in the exhibit there is another powerful photo of Western Students protesting the Kent State and Jackson State killings of the early 70s.
Ever wanted to see what a group of Huxley kids from the 80s hugging each other looks like? Been curious about the 60s origins of Fairhaven College or how and when the Associates Students started on campus? Tableaux: Redux gives students and the community at large a chance to indulge in these curiosities about campus history in its concise, chronological gallery space.
The exhibit, which can only be accessed during the Special Collections’ hours, will run until June 9, at the very end of Spring quarter, perfect for a fifteen minute study break when you’re on your fifth consecutive hour in the depths of Wilson library and curious about how Western got to be how it is today.
Featured photo by Ricky Rath // AS Review.