NSPA & ACP THROUGH THE DECADES

⊲ WORLDWIDE

1935 Italy invades

Ethiopia, and Germany builds its military.

1936 Margaret Mitchell publishes “Gone With the Wind.”

1937 Disney releases “Snow White,” its first featurelength cartoon.

1938 Chester Carlson produces the first xerographic copy.

1939 Germany invades Poland and launches World War II.

1940 Germany invades Denmark, Norway and Holland.

1941 Japan attacks Pearl Harbor, and the U.S. declares war.

1942 Nazis begin the systematic murder of Jews in gas chambers.

1943 Germany’s Sixth Army surrenders to the Russians.

1944 U.S .troops are on every front, and the Allies launch D-Day.

1945 U.S. atomic bombs obliterate Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan.

1947 Jackie Robinson breaks the color barrier in Major League Baseball.

1949 George Orwell publishes “1984.”

1932

YEARBOOKS BECOME A BIG BUSINESS

Scholastic Editor advertisements reflect a highly competitive yearbook industry, with more than eight companies competing for business. At the time, schools contracted with engravers, printers and cover manufacturers rather than a single company that handled all aspects of yearbook production, thus making project and business management more complex.

1933

ASSOCIATED COLLEGIATE PRESS FORMED

Responding to strong interest from collegiate advisers for a separate organization, director Fred Kildow leads the formation of Associated College Press as a division of NSPA, and ACP quickly parallels NSPA in services. In February 1933, ACP has more than 150 member institutions, and NSPA reports 2,000 members.

1934

THE PIC: INNOVATIVE NEWSPAPER INSERT

The Pic, an eight-page supplement for the high school newspapers and magazines, is heralded as an innovation in high school journalism. Conceived by NSPA, the publication is available without cost for distribution by high schools with their regular issues.

KEYS MARK 15TH NSPA ANNIVERSARY

To mark its 15th birthday, NSPA presents gold service keys and pins to faculty advisers who had served 15 years. Eight of 52 recipients were present at the Milwaukee convention. Also honored are George Greene, one of the organization’s founders as a University of Wisconsin student Wisconsin, and Grant Hyde, director of the Wisconsin journalism school.

1940

NEW OFFICES MEET LONG-TERM NEEDS

NSPA/ACP relocates from Pillsbury Hall to five groundfloor rooms in William J. Murphy Hall, the new $275,000 journalism building at the University of Minnesota.

1941

WAR CANCELS NSPA CONVENTIONS

War put high school conventions on hold from 194145. Scholastic Editor publishes articles on how high schools and colleges could continue publication in spite of wartime shortages, and encouraged scholastic journalism to continue, as it aided national morale and fought Nazi propaganda.

“This is your invitation to attend NSPA’s war-time convention — to be held within the pages of the Scholastic Editor’s December Convention Issue,” the magazine announced. “Until peace comes, national high school meetings are suspended, so instead of going to convention, let convention come to you. It’s complete with round table discussions, and helpful ‘talks’ on your current journalism problems.”

ACP continues to meet. At the 1941 convention in St. Louis, Missouri, a panel discussion is offered — “Shall College Students be Drafted?” The discussion was broadcast over CBS radio from station KMOX.

From The President

A highlight of the NSPA 1939 banquet in Chicago was the reading of a congratulatory wire from President Franklin Roosevelt by director Fred Kildow. “It gives me great pleasure to send cordial greetings to all those who attend the eighteenth annual convention of the National Scholastic Press Association with best wishes for a successful meeting and one which will promote the highest interests of scholastic journalism,” Roosevelt said.

Suite Surprise

Frank Wirth and William Moran, convention delegates from Harlan, Iowa, found they had no reservations upon arrival at the 1938 NSPA Des Moines convention. Remembering that Iowa Gov. Nelson Kraschel came from Harlan, they phoned him and were welcomed by his wife, Alice, in the governor’s hotel suite.

WHEN THE NEW $275,000 University of Minnesota journalism building opens in 1940, NSPA/ACP moves from Pillsbury Hall to five ground-floor rooms in William J. Murphy Hall “We’re proud of our new quarters because they’re up-to-the-minute as the spirit which animates the members of NSPA,” director Fred Kildow said. “Our new offices are designed with us — with our future needs specifically in mind.” Murphy Hall houses the organizations until 1974.

“LADIES OF THE STUDENT PRESS”

Sexist by current standards, a 1941 Scholastic Editor page features “Ladies of the Student Press” with the subheadline “picture proof of lovely feminine charm that brightens six publications offices.” The page presents photos of girls working on publications.

1943

< NSPA WELCOMES “YOUNG EXECUTIVE”

After serving as assistant director for 15 years, Lucille Kildow steps down.

Glenn Hanson, 22, becomes assistant director and the organization’s youngest executive. Kildow continues as an adviser.

Hanson, a University of Minnesota graduate, was active in scholastic journalism since he was a student at Central High School, St. Paul, Minnesota, where he was art editor of the literary arts magazine and editor of the yearbook and weekly newspaper.

After leaving NSPA, Hanson was an associate professor of journalism at the University of Illinois, Urbana and continued to contribute to association publications including editing “The Now Look in Yearbooks,” a highly popular guidebook published by NSPA in 1971.

1945

KILDOW TAKES LEAVE TO TEACH ABROAD

Director Fred Kildow obtains a one-year leave of absence to teach journalism at the Army’s University Center No. 1, Shirenham, England. Lucile Kildow serves as acting director.

1946

< QUALE BECOMES ASSISTANT DIRECTOR

A 28-year-old journalist just returned from the Army, Otto Quale is named the assistant director. In 1949 he was also named executive secretary of the Minnesota High School Press Association. Quale leaves in 1950 to manage Jostens yearbook division, then called American Yearbook Co., and he returns in 1968 as NSPA/ACP director.

1947

< NSPA UNVAILS MODERN EMBLEM

Modern in spirit and clean-cut in design, the newly adopted NSPA emblem represents a sharp break from the old insignia which has been used for more than two decades, reports Scholastic Editor magazine. Members received the insignia to display in their 1946-47 publications.

The drawing of a piece of type is symbolic of journalism. The “N” is in 48-point Caslon. The design and lettering are executed with sharp contrasts of lights and darks to harmonize with the spirit of modern typography.

Shortages Threaten Yearbooks

A post-war boom for printed materials threatens the timely production of 1947 yearbooks. Paper mills, engravers, printers and cover manufacturers can’t keep up with demand

⊲ WITH LOVE FROM JEFFERSON HIGH

LEARNING FROM THE PROS

Journalism students from Polytechnic High School, Los Angeles, study metropolitan newspapers to keep abreast with the times. They relate war news to their school environment, Scholastic Editor reports.

HOSPITAL WITH A HEART, Margaret Ethel West Weaver writes in Scholastic Editor magazine —“The Monticello yearbook, Thomas Jefferson High School, San Antonio, actually went to war one full year before Pearl Harbor, and it’s staying in this war until the very moment of final victory.” For several consecutive years, the yearbook’s theme focuses on war and service. The 1944 theme, “Hospital With a Heart,” engages the student body as the yearbook staff encourages student groups to visit wounded veterans at nearby Brooke Army Medical Center. From music in the surgical ward, to delivering gifts and valentines, the yearbook captures the visits in photos.

Current Events

Servicemen stationed on the Northwestern University campus, Evanston, Illinois, enjoy reading the Daily Northwestern, student newspaper. Daily Northwestern editors make it a policy to produce content of interest to all reader groups.

FRONT-PAGE NEWS — The South Dakota Collegian published a “Special Invasion Issue” reporting on D-Day and its importance to South Dakota State College, Brookings, students. Comprehensive coverage of the end of the war was published in a special “Victory” edition of The Cougar, University of Houston.