Some people talk in their sleep, others sleep walk, I’ve been “sleep processing.” In my waking hours I didn’t feel like I was obsessing about the collection, but as soon as I closed my eyes I was surrounded by 36+ record carton boxes and I was looking through files and files of Evening College materials. “Who made this banner?”, “Why did the Drexel Wives Club use this gigantic background for this tiny pin?”, “How do you pronounce Gwiazda?”.

In real life, processing the Evening College records with Eric has been a great experience. While becoming familiar with the collection we uncovered many significant events in the program’s history.

The Evening College is one of Drexel University’s original programs and still exists today. The program went through several changes as it progressed from simply offering coursework at night, to offering vocational certificates, then diplomas and through much effort the program became accredited to award bachelors degrees in 1950. The alumni wanted the courses to either be transferable towards a degree or become an official degree program. The faculty and alumni worked very hard to make this a reality. The Evening College administration put a lot of effort in easing the transition which was the most difficult for previous graduates.

One piece of interesting ephemera was a twenty year long history of the career of Howard W. Benfield who was head of student activities. Benfield’s written account covers the Evening College history from 1950 through 1970, which is when a bulk of the materials within the collection were created. Benfield also provides detailed information about the Evening College’s active student life, of which he oversaw and his experience as a counselor during the significant transition from a diploma school to awarding degrees.

Among the neat finds was a large Banner for the Evening School, which Drexel tradition leads me to believe hung in the Main Building as part of the “Banner Drop” ceremonies; the official announcement of the school colors on May 20, 1937 on a note card with swatches; and a letter from Mr. Rogers Neighborhood expressing that Mr. Rogers would not be able to go to the Evening College’s Christmas party in 1977, but perhaps Mr. McFeely or the Purple Panda might be able to attend.

Because of this project, the collection was immediately accessible and useful for the Drexel University Archives. Two folders of news clippings included information about Evening College students who fought in World War II. Among the news clippings was a program for a memorial service held by Drexel, news clippings about the memorial service and several letters addressed to Dean Campbell from the families of those being honored. The correspondence expressed appreciation to Dean Campbell for organizing the Memorial Service and how many tickets they would like. One letter stated that their son was very proud to be a student at Drexel. A few of these letters, the service program and the newspaper clipping were included in a recent exhibition in honor of Veterans Day.

I think the materials that interested me the most and slowly solidified my waking life obsession with the collection were the various materials related to the 1956 Tidewater Granary explosion that destroyed the Student Union Building. The explosion occurred at 8:03 p.m. while Evening College courses were in session. 1800 students and 78 faculty were evacuated from the building, although there were several injuries sustained by Drexel affiliates, none were serious. However, the loss of the building meant the college needed a new place for student activities and classes. The Student Union Building was owned by the Day College and access for the Evening College was rather limited. The Evening College actively participated in the planning of the new building. In 1962 the Drexel Activities Center opened and was later renamed the Creese Student Center. When the Drexel Activities Center was completed the Evening students were given space for the Evening College’s Student Council and for the Evening College student newsletter publication Drexel Evening Dragon.

It was amazing to see the development of the collection from an unknown pile of boxes to an organized series of materials that tell a story. The collection is a great addition to preserving the institutional memory of Drexel University.