The collection, 1939, 2003, and undated, includes photographs, photograph albums, scrapbooks, and plaques. The scrapbooks, 1939-1970, document campus activities and events and the student union when it was in Powers Hall/ Keeler Union. The scrapbooks consist of CMLife clippings on acidic pages. The rest of collection documents the staff, students, and events in the Bovee UC, including the period right after it was built. This information was generated by CMU staff and students. The 40th anniversary of the UC is documented in the Photograph Album, 2000-2003.
Overall the collection is in good physical condition, except for the scrapbooks, which are acidic and several of two of which, 1953-1959 and 1964-1970, have broken or loose covers.
The collection is organized by size and format and then chronologically.
Organizational History:
There have been two student unions at Central Michigan University (CMU).
The first student CMU student union, Powers Hall, was built as a men’s residence hall and student union. It opened in September 1939 and cost $265,000. It held a 90-bed dormitory and the student union, in the wing facing Ronan Hall. Union was not ready for use until November 1939. In 1960 the building was renovated for the then Music Department. The Music School moved into its new building in 1997, and the History Department moved into Powers. Powers Hall was named for Professor Powers. Keeler Hall was named for Professor Fred L. Keeler, the head of the Dept. of Science, 1895-1908.
The second CMU student union, the Bovee University Center, commonly called the UC, was built in 1960. It opened on October 9, 1960 and cost $2.1 million to build. Prior to that Powers Hall had served as the Union. On September 15, 1984, the UC was dedicated in honor of Norvall C. Bovee, a long time CMU administrator who served as the chief financial officer at CMU, 1956-1970. (This information is from the Clarke historic CMU buildings webpage, accessed in Dec. 2016.)
