Box 1 and 2 consist of many different blueprints for various classrooms in Brooks and Dow halls. There are photographs in Box 1 of the cornerstone ceremony in 1964 with Judson Foust, Kendall Brooks, and Faith Johnston. There are also around 30 photographs of different staff members and students who were a part of the Biology Department. Two staff members who stood out were Faith Johnston and Ray Hampton. Their folders include news articles and photographs. Faith Johnston’s folder includes a cassette on her seminar from February 2nd, 1978. There were also news articles and photographs from Central Michigan University’s Biological Station on Beaver Island. Finally, in Box 1 “News Articles April 2003- May 2007” there is a CD on Gil Stark’s and Doug Valek’s retirement party at Neithercut Woodlands, April 22nd, 2006.
Boxes 3 and 4 consist of various ideas, designs, plans, and inventory request for the new Science II Building Project.
There is also a Box of 255 slides on various Biology Department field trips or research in Michigan. These slides consisted of Big Creek Drain Study, Consumers Power Study, Faith Johnston, and different studies on lakes in Michigan.
There are two super 8 color, silent films, undated, of the Biological Station at Beaver Island, both 50 feet, of staff and students eating and relaxing (Film # 74212-1) and relaxing, cooking, and listening to a lecture (Film # 74212-2).
There is one oversized scrapbook, that is acidic containing various newspaper clippings and photographs on different programs, research, and staff members from the Biology Department, 1946- 1970.
There are two oversized blueprints of the Freshman Laboratory, 1966, drawn by B.D Job, No. 22, 514, for blue-line plans of lab desks.
Processing Note: Items that were acidic, fragile (onion paper), on wax paper, and damaged were copied and withdrawn. Approximately .5 cubic ft. Documents were withdrawn from the collection.
Organizational History:
The Department of Biology was established at the Central Michigan Normal School in 1912 with Mae K. Woldt as the department head (and only staff member). BY the late 1950s, the department had expanded greatly and planning began on the construction of a new biology hall. The ceremonial cornerstone was laid in 1964 by Mr. Kendall P. Brooks and President Judson Foust, and was dedicated to Mr. Brooks in 1965. Because of the continued growth of the school’s attendance rates, the building underwent renovations only four years after it was completed thanks to a $2.5 million grant from the Herbert and Grace Dow Foundation.
In 1984, meetings among the science department heads discussed growing needs of the department in light of continued student rate increases. This resulted in the construction of the Dow Science Complex, built between 1989 and 1992.
For additional information Mr. Kendall P. Brooks, please refer to the Clarke Historical Library’s hall dedication resources. For more information on Faith Johnston, please refer to the Clarke’s other historical resources. Ray Hampton (1934-1994) served for 24 years in CMU’s Department of Biology and produced several publications.
(Information on Brooks Hall and the Dow Science Complex found at the Clarke Historical Library’s CMU Existing Building page.)
