On June 24th, Grand Valley State University welcomed back members of its first graduating class. Members of the Class of 1967 returned to campus over the weekend to celebrate the anniversary of their graduation 50 years ago.
The Class of 1967 took a chance on the “college in the cornfields.” The 138 students who made up the class (including “pioneer” members who enrolled in the very first year, rather than transferring in later) knew a very different campus from today’s. While the Great Lakes Plaza remains a central academic hub, the size and scope of campus has greatly expanded.
As part of the weekend’s festivities, Special Collections and University Archives toured groups of the alumni through Seidman House.
Archivist for Collection Management, Annie Benefiel, displayed notable items from our collections, while Archivist for Public Services and Community Engagement, Leigh Rupinski, showed them an exhibit of 1960s photographs and documents.
Alumni were particular interested in the changes to Seidman House itself. Back in 1967, Seidman House was the “Collegiate Center”. It served as a student union, complete with bookstore downstairs. Although the “pit” (where performers like Arlo Guthrie entertained student crowds) remains, its primary purpose now is as a quiet study space for students. Instead of a bookstore, the downstairs houses our climate-controlled stacks.
In the evening, staff attended the “Hootenanny” (party), where we manned a table of 1960s memorabilia drawn from the Archives. Items included yearbooks, student handbooks, the 1967 Commencement program, and course catalogs. Alumni eagerly flipped through memory books to help us identify unnamed faces in our photograph records.
We were thrilled to be a part of the Reunion festivities!
GVSU Special Collections & University Archives 