Northwestern University Centennial Celebration Records

As Northwestern University approached its centennial year of 1951 plans were begun for both a celebration and a fund-raising campaign. Specific work on the Centennial Celebration was initiated early in September 1949, when University President J. Roscoe Miller appointed A. C. Van Dusen (Associate Professor of Psychology and Director of the Summer Sessions) as Assistant to the President for the Centennial Celebration. The University formally announced the Centennial Campaign at the end of October 1949.

This drive for $8,250,000, under the direction of Jay J. Gerber, Vice President and Director of Public Relations, was the first major fund-raising activity by Northwestern since the campaign in the early 1920s for the Chicago Campus. The Board of Trustees appointed a Centennial Committee to act as liaison for the planning.

Office space at 1815 Orrington Avenue was assigned for the Assistant to the President, the Executive Secretary, and other personnel for the Centennial Celebration. At the end of October Van Dusen left for a two-week trip to the East to discuss centennial and other celebrations with administrators of various universities and colleges that had already held such events.

Plans were developed to involve faculty members, students, alumni, and members of the Evanston community. A Coordinating Committee was established to facilitate the effective functioning of all of these groups.

The general objectives of the Centennial, which evolved out of these early meetings, included:

1. Reviewing the progress and educational achievements of Northwestern during its first century;

2. Evaluating the record of the past as the first step toward identifying and planning the goals of the University;

3. Providing a year of memorable educational experience and cultural opportunities for the various publics of the University;

4. Promoting the active interest of all those persons and groups who have been, or should be, associated with Northwestern;

5. Raising funds to provide the facilities for enabling Northwestern to meet its responsibilities for tomorrow – chief among these facilities were two buildings (a class-room building to be known as Centennial Hall, and a building for convocations and indoor sports events to be known as Memorial Hall) on the Evanston Campus, and one (an Evening Study Hall) on the Chicago Campus.

The Centennial Celebration consisted of five formal convocations, six academic conferences, and a wide variety of other events and meetings more or less directly concerned with the University. Founders' Day, January 28, 1951, was the opening event of the Centennial and the first formal convocation. The first academic conference, “International Understanding,” followed immediately on January 28-30. The next three academic conferences focused on “Science, Technology, and World Resources” (Feb. 28 - Mar. 2), “The Arts in Modern Society” (Apr. 16-17), and “Problems of an Aging Population” (June 7-8, held on the Chicago Campus). The second formal convocation, the Centennial Commencement, took place on June 11.

The new academic year saw the third formal convocation, October 1, which honored the exiled publisher of La Prensa (Buenos Aires), Alberto Gainza Paz. The fifth and final academic conferences on “Communications” and “The Individual, Group, and Government in the Modern Economy” were held on October 11-12 and November 14-16. The fourth and most widely publicized formal convocation, held on December 2, featured the presentation of “Centennial Awards for the Northwest Territory” to 100 outstanding men and women from the six states of the Northwest Territory, the area from which the University had taken its name. The Centennial Celebration came to its official closing on January 27, 1952, with the final formal convocation, Founders' Day. At this convocation the announcement was made that the Centennial Campaign had collected over $8,400, 000, about $200,000 beyond its goal.

The other events and meetings directly concerned with the University ranged from a Tree Planting (May 13) to a Special Transportation Lecture (Nov. 1). A highlight was the program on February 4 honoring John Evans (a founder of the University).

The major event not directly concerned with the University was the Centennial Jubilee (June 7-9), which was organized and managed by the City of Evanston. Several meetings of learned societies were held on the campus or in Evanston or Chicago.

Several commemorative articles were produced for the Centennial. The two most popular were a large copiously-illustrated book, “A Pictorial History of Northwestern University”, and an attractive Centennial Medallion.

The responses to both the celebration and the fund-raising facets of the Centennial suggest that the year-long program achieved its objectives.