{"id":64558,"date":"2019-03-28T09:33:18","date_gmt":"2019-03-28T13:33:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/?p=64558"},"modified":"2019-03-28T09:33:18","modified_gmt":"2019-03-28T13:33:18","slug":"strolling-down-memory-lane","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/2019\/03\/28\/strolling-down-memory-lane\/","title":{"rendered":"Strolling down memory lane"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Gary Barlow, one of the first two faculty members to arrive in 1964 at what would become Wright State University, is supporting the Discover Your Story campaign to create a new home for the university’s priceless Archives.<\/p><\/div>\n

As he pored through newsletters, yearbooks, old issues of The Guardian \u2014 and even sketches of the first Wright State University logo that he helped design \u2014 memories of the university\u2019s earliest days flooded Gary Barlow\u2019s mind.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt really is phenomenal,\u201d Barlow said as he sat at a table in Special Collections and Archives<\/a>, where Wright State\u2019s history has been carefully preserved for decades. \u201cIt\u2019s very emotional too.\u201d<\/p>\n

Barlow first arrived in Dayton in the early 1960s. As a faculty member at Miami University, he oversaw the school\u2019s art education program and supervised Miami\u2019s student art teachers in the Dayton area.<\/p>\n

When the opportunity came about to help build the Dayton Campus of Miami University and Ohio State University, Barlow jumped on board. In 1964, he was one of the first two faculty members to arrive on the campus of what would later become Wright State University.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a big, exciting, really scary challenge,\u201d he recalled.<\/p>\n

Barlow fondly remembers teaching his first art education class<\/a> in Allyn Hall as workers on big scaffolding were putting up the ceiling.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy class came in, and they were hammering on the ceiling,\u201d he recollected. \u201cSo, I made a deal with the guys who were working that they could work for 10 minutes then I could teach for 10 minutes.\u201d<\/p>\n

During one of his 10-minute teaching sessions, Barlow posed a question to his class. \u201cOne of the workers,\u201d he said, \u201cwas sitting on the scaffolding eating a sandwich. He raised his hand, I called on him, and he answered the question. The whole class applauded.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Barlow, all of those memories come to life once again when he visits Special Collections and Archives.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Archives help to revitalize our history,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Whether taking a trip down memory lane to the earliest days of Wright State or looking at the world-renowned Wright Brothers Collection, Barlow always discovers something new in the Archives.<\/p>\n

\u201cArchives can be full of surprises,\u201d he said. \u201cI come over here and I learn things I never knew.\u201d<\/p>\n

For example, Barlow didn\u2019t realize that Special Collections and Archives houses the personal collection of Walter \u201cMatt\u201d Jefferies, the art director for the original “Star Trek” television series. Jefferies, who designed the famed Starship Enterprise, donated boxes of Kodachrome slides with images of the first few “Star Trek” episodes to Wright State, along with thousands of aviation photographs and books \u2014 some even autographed by actor William Shatner, who portrayed Captain Kirk in the series.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Discover Your Story will transform the former corporate headquarters of the Wright-Patt Credit Union at 2455 Presidential Drive into the new home of Special Collections and Archives.<\/p><\/div>\n

A political aficionado, Barlow is especially fond of the many photographs of former presidents and cabinet members in the Archives.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can look at those newspapers and photographs,\u201d he said, \u201cand I\u2019m suddenly right there with them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Barlow has long understood the importance of documenting history. Along with the late Lew Shupe, professor emeritus in the Department of Communication, he worked on the Wright State University Retirees Association Oral History Project interviewing many of Wright State\u2019s founding faculty and staff.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis became a really exciting venture,\u201d said Barlow. \u201cAs I sat here interviewing people with a Wright State past, it expanded the view that I had.\u201d<\/p>\n

When the university announced in October 2017 that it was launching Discover Your Story: The Campaign for the Wright State University Archives Center<\/a>, Barlow knew this was a project he had to support. The $6.5 million fundraising campaign will transform the former corporate headquarters of the Wright-Patt Credit Union at 2455 Presidential Drive into the new home of Special Collections and Archives.<\/p>\n

The Archives Center<\/a> will almost triple the space for the university\u2019s world-renowned collections \u2014 from 12,000 square feet scattered across two buildings to nearly 30,000 square feet in one central location.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wouldn\u2019t want to see all of this important and exciting information documented and then no place to put it,\u201d Barlow said. \u201cI know how important that is to so many people. Not to live in the past, but to respect the past so we know where we\u2019re going.\u201d<\/p>\n

In appreciation of his gift to the Discover Your Story campaign, one of the rooms in the Archives Center will be named the Dr. Gary Barlow Conference Room.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s kind of humbling,\u201d said Barlow. \u201cBut to be very honest, I didn\u2019t make my gift to have my name there. I teased Dawne (Dewey, head of Special Collections and Archives) that \u2018I want to buy your conference room, so I\u2019m there forever with you.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI like the people here so much,\u201d he added, \u201cand I just wanted to be a part of that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even though he retired from Wright State in 1993, Barlow remains engaged with the university through his involvement with the Retirees Association and the Friends of the Libraries board.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s like I never left, in a way,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Artist rendering of part of the reading room and help desk.<\/p><\/div>\n

As he shared his final recollections on his personal history with Wright State, Barlow added, \u201cI wouldn\u2019t change it for a minute. It\u2019s been such a journey. For half of the journey, we didn\u2019t know where we were going. We just knew we were going someplace.\u201d<\/p>\n

Barlow can rest assured that the history of the university he helped develop \u2014 and document \u2014 as a founding faculty member will live on for generations to come in the Wright State University Archives Center.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In appreciation of his gift to the Discover Your Story campaign, one of the rooms in the Archives Center will be named the Dr. Gary Barlow Conference Room. Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":64582,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[722,2104,2023,2040,744,725,2114,715,2118],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-64558","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-academics","category-teacher-education","category-faculty","category-giving","category-education-human-services","category-home-news-sidebar","category-libraries","category-news","category-special-collections-and-archives"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64558","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=64558"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64558\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":64598,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64558\/revisions\/64598"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/64582"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=64558"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=64558"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=64558"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}