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from the issue of February 14, 2008
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Site offers history of campus buildings
BY TROY FEDDERSON, UNIVERSITY COMMUNICATIONS
More than 100 years of campus architecture history is now available via the click of a mouse.
| | ARCHITECTURE HISTORIAN - Kay Logan-Peters stands next to an early 1900s campus photo and the original door handle to Richards Hall. After more than 10 years of work, Logan-Peters has created a Web site that features the history of campus buildings. The site, http://historicbuildings.unl.edu, will be available Feb. 15. Photo by Troy Fedderson/University Communications.
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Developed by Kay Logan-Peters, professor and chair of access branch services for the University Libraries, the Web site, "An Architecture Tour of Historic UNL," is available Feb. 15 at http://historicbuildings.unl.edu.
"This whole project was inspired by students," Logan-Peters said. "Back in the mid-1990s we had a number of students coming in and asking for information about buildings on campus.
"That kind of information is not always easy to find. And, their questions got me thinking."
She initially planned to compile the information in book form. But, while attending a conference, a colleague suggested the project would be better presented on the Internet - which was just growing into use in the mid-1990s.
"I had realized that my audience for this kind of book would be pretty small," Logan-Peters said. "And, the Internet allows you to include so much more information, particularly pictures and architectural drawings, than a book."
Logan-Peters spent two six-month sabbaticals gathering information for the project - first in 1996, then in fall 2007.
"I basically spent a year in the Archives, photocopying Regents minutes and digging up photos," Logan-Peters said.
Three UCARE students helped her gather the information and develop the Web site. Stacey Rickel, system administrator and programmer for the University Libraries, served as technical director on the project.
The site is divided into City and East campus tours. Buildings are divided into three time periods - 1896 to 1914, 1915 to 1927, and 1928 to 1965.
"We will be adding information about the modern buildings," Logan-Peters said. "Information about the modern structures isn't as well documented, basically because they are not historic yet.
"But, that's the nice thing about presenting this on the Web. We can go in and add to it or change information whenever we need to. It's very organic."
For images, Logan-Peters said she tried to find the earliest photos taken of each building. She has also included the original architectural drawings - if they were available.
Along with getting a better understanding about the growth of campus, Logan-Peters has also learned a few things about building politics.
For example, when Brace Labs was originally proposed, it was to have a rectangular footprint. However, the northwest corner would have taken a bite out of the original NU football field.
"The Regents wanted the south walls of Brace and University Hall to line up, and the only way to do that was to take a piece of the football field," Logan-Peters said. "C.R. Richards was the head of the football committee at the time and he protested the plan."
As a compromise, DeWitt Bristol Brace, chair of physics at the time, opted to give up square footage and cut the offending corner out of the construction plans.
"The funny thing was, three years later in 1908, Richards got his building and put it right in the middle of the football field," Logan-Peters said. "Of course, that was when the university was expanding to the north. Still, it was interesting to see that football was important even back then."
GO TO: ISSUE OF FEBRUARY 14
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