In a day and age focusing so heavily on progression, planning for the future has consumed our thoughts, our actions and our Facebook feeds. While all of these movements for advancement in society are inspiring, we must take the time to look back and learn some history; gain some perspective on how far we’ve come and just learn a little about the people who came before us.
With UNH celebrating 150 years of education, moments of university history has been dug up and shared with the community. We at The New Hampshire have jumped aboard this days- of-old bandwagon, starting with a history of UNH and TNH timeline published in one of the first issues of the academic year, and have featured many TNH alumni in the “TNH alumni series,” which today can be found on A1. Over the past few months, we have learned so much more about our own organization and school than ever before, digging through our archives and reading history books on Durham, and we urge all students to learn a little about the history of our university.
From 1919 photos of campus to the best student pranks of all time, unh.edu has highlighted some of our university’s most interesting moments in history. One story any Wildcat could relate to is the history of the Wildcat itself. We could have been the Durham bulls, huskies, eagles or unicorns, but, in 1926, the beloved Wildcat was voted the official mascot. In 1927, a few students purchased a wildcat that a farmer captured in the town of Meredith. They named this ‘Cat Maizie, and she made her UNH debut at the 1927 Homecoming game. You can still see Maizie on display on the first floor of Dimond Library.
Learning about the university and hearing stories from students’ past can be intriguing, but making sure we archive our own history while living in Durham is just as important. In a digital age, all of our photos and videos that spark memories of times in college are stored online or on our laptops. Advancements in technology and developments in social media, hard drives, clouds and other digital archives can keep our memories alive. But, what happens if your main digital storage becomes obsolete? Gets hacked? Goes missing?
Nothing can replace the sentimental value of a printed photo album with written memories. We are urging students to take the time and develop photos alongside written memories for your very own Durham archive. Four years may fly by, but the legacy of your UNH story should live on forever.
