Vol. 18, No. 4	Sept. 24, 1998

Artistic signage highlights building's past and future

One of the panels recalls days when The Scrounge was in Memorial Hall.

When is a construction fence more than a construction fence? When it's also a history lesson.

Employees, students and visitors to the campus Mall will notice artistic additions gracing the protective construction fencing surrounding the renovation of Memorial Hall.

Last weekend, 14 rectangular panels-each 4 feet high by 10 feet wide-were installed on the fencing. The copy and color illustrations- including architectural drawings and historic and recent construction photographs-provide viewers with highlights from the building's history, use and its future.

Beginning on the north Mall, in the front of Memorial Hall, a panel dated 1917 shows a design of the campus and the central portion of Memorial Hall's massive rotunda that was "the unifying structure between Delaware College and the Women's College."

Heading west, toward Hullihen Hall, the next panel spotlights three individuals who played major roles in the birth of the structure as a library-President Samuel Chiles Mitchell, who envisioned the new library as a memorial to Delaware's World War I dead; President Walter Hullihen, who initiated the statewide campaign on behalf of the building; and H. Rodney Sharp, who was leader of the fundraising campaign committee for Memorial Hall.

The next panel points out that "small contributions from school children were sought" to raise money for the building.

The 11 remaining panels extend along the west side of the construction area and conclude at the south end of the Mall, near the walkway leading to Morris Library.

Passersby will read about:

• The Dec. 11, 1923, groundbreaking, when administrators and faculty pitched in to the excavate the basement of the new building;

• The pomp and circumstance, with flags waving and soldiers marching, that marked the building's May 23, 1925, dedication;

• The long-time custom of honoring Delaware's war dead from the First World War;

• The 1937 flood that destroyed books and documents;

• The look of The Scrounge in 1950, when it was located in the basement of Memorial Hall;

• The birth of the carillon in 1959; and

• The transfer of 300,000 volumes to the Morris Library in 1963.

Barbara Broge, media services, who worked on the project for over a six-month period, said she found it both fascinating and a challenge. In preparing the copy, she researched the history of Memorial Hall, using books by noted UD historians John Munroe and Carol Hoffecker, as well as information and photographs from the University and state archives.

Many of the older pictures were in black and white, and she colored them to make a uniform presentation of the project and enhance the images.

"I learned a lot about Memorial Hall and its history. It was a very satisfying project," Broge said, "and it was fun to do. I was involved from start to finish and did the research, writing and artwork. One interesting aspect is that all the work was done on the computer."

Broge said the usual size of an image she works on is about 5 megabytes. Each of the 14 Memorial Hall panels was 170 megabytes.

Color Reflections in Philadelphia produced the color graphics and affixed them to sheet metal surfaces. UD carpenters used plywood backing to attach the signage to the fencing.

The panels were in place in time for Newark Community Day, when Broge and her husband, Jay Lundgren, first saw the installation.

"Others were looking at the signs, too," Broge said. "That was very satisfying. Later, I was standing in front of one, and Jay was taking a picture, and at that moment, I felt very proprietary."

-Ed Okonowicz
Photos by Robert Cohen