Once the building has been completed
the materials currently located in East Hall will be transferred to
the new facility. This will undoubtedly necessitate a temporary
cessation of research, but I'm sure the wait will be worth it.
So what will be the fate of East Hall
you may wonder? Last October, WMU announced that it is looking to
turn the East Campus into a mixed-used development. According to the
proposal, East Hall would house a boutique hotel, conference center
and health club. [4] Other buildings on East Campus would be
converted into office space and condo/apartment units. A parking
structure would be built into the side of the hill and disguised with
vegetation. The character of East Hall will be maintained and in
fact, several columns that were previously removed are slated for
re-installation to bring the historic building, the first one built
on the campus, back to its earlier appearance. [4, 5]
(from
Wikipedia, This file is made available under the Creative
Commons CC0
1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication )
The second announcement was no less
thrilling than the first. The entire archive of the Kalamazoo
Gazette was donated to WMU by the MLive Media Group. [6] This
collection contains approximately 1,500 cubic feet of material. [6]
According to Lynn Houghton, curator at the WMU archives “the
collection includes 66 shelves of bound volumes of the Gazette dating
back to 1934; 41 drawers filled with 4 inch by 6 inch photo
negatives; 30 to 40 boxes of photo negatives; a large number of
cartons filled with newspaper clippings; 40 cabinets filled with
clippings; 98 card-file boxes; about 70 boxes of photos; numerous
three-ring binders filled with photo negatives and a collection of
microfilm of the Gazette’s pages from as far back as the 1830s when
the newspaper first began publishing.” [6]
The Gazette archive is presently
located in the old Kalamazoo Gazette building on Burdick street, but
will begin the move to East Hall in June 2012. [6] The staff of the
WMU archives will then begin the laborious task of cataloging the
materials, a process that is expected to take months. Once
cataloging is concluded the collection will be opened to the public.
Those items anticipated to be the most popular will be housed in East
Hall, with the remaining materials located off-site.
I don't know how easy it will be to
find any particular item in the collection once it is available, but
it is never too early to start working on your wish list. I know I
have a few things that come immediately to mind. The count-down has
begun.
For more on this story see: Groundbreaking for WMU Archives.
For more on this story see: Groundbreaking for WMU Archives.
- Rex Hall Jr. Groundbreaking for new Western Michigan University archives building set for July. Published 5-29-2012. MLive.com.
- Anthony Smigiel. Western Michigan University unveils concept plans for $10 M archives building, starts fundraising. Published 3-9-2011. Mlive.com.
- Ursula Zerilli. Noble Lodge to be demolished at Western Michigan University. Published 5-30-2012. Mlive.com.
- Paula Davis. New life for East Campus? 10-1-2011. Kalamazoo Gazette.
- Jeanne Baron. Restored grandeur, adapted use planned for East Campus. Published 2-13-2012. WMU News.
- Rex Hall Jr. MLive Media Group donates Kalamazoo Gazette archives to Western Michigan University. Published 5-29-2012. Mlive.com.
This IS great news. As a WMU alumni I was so afraid they would demolish east campus. I am glad to hear they will maintain most of it.
ReplyDeleteI think the University feels the same way. Maintaining the historical character of the buildings was very important, though probably not every structure will be saved. If they can raise the necessary funds (twice what it would cost to start from scratch) they would like East, North and West Halls to be developed for the hotel and residences. The Speech and Hearing Center would be for commercial use. Now they just need to raise the money.
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