NSPA & ACP THROUGH THE DECADES

< YEARBOOK EXPERT ON RADIO

Yearbook expert C.J. “Chief” Medlin, Kansas State College, now Kansas Sate University, Royal Purple adviser, discusses high school yearbook publishing in five broadcasts over AM radio station KSAC.

Adviser Short Course A Success

Approximately 95 advisers from 22 states attend the first short course for advisers held at the University of Minnesota and hosted by the Minnesota School of Journalism, the National Association of Journalism Directors (now JEA) and NSPA. The short course offered an intensive week of instruction for both newspaper and yearbook advisers.

A second adviser short course was held in Minnesota in 1949, but did not attract as many participants. By the early 1950s, adviser courses were being offered at existing journalism workshops across the country, offering training closer to home.

1951

< TOWLEY NAMED ASSISTANT DIRECTOR

Carl Towley, Hopkins High School (Minnesota) journalism teacher, is named assistant director of the organization and editor of Scholastic Editor, after the departure of Otto Quale.

In 1952, Towley resigns as assistant director and returns to Hopkins High School, while he continues as editor of Scholastic Editor and works at NSPA during summers.

In 1954, the National Association of Journalism Directors (now JEA) then housed with NSPA/ACP, hires Towley as executive secretary, a part-time position.

Towley suffers a fatal heart attack at school shortly after learning his yearbook staff dedicated the 1959 yearbook to him. He dies on May 18, 1959, at age 53.

1953

< SANDERSON JOINS NSPA/ACP

Arthur “Sandy” Sanderson is named assistant director NSPA/ACP. “In my planning of the ACP convention, one of the first things that came to mind was to schedule special sessions exclusively for the advisers,” Sanderson wrote in a history of the College Media Association published in 1994. “At our 1954 Washington D.C. convention, some of us got the idea of forming an (adviser) association and laid the groundwork.”

Fall Convention Shifts To August

Instead of a Thanksgiving-weekend convention, NSPA convenes a late August convention, Aug. 26-28 at the University of Minnesota.

“A summer meeting is certainly an adventure into the unknown for NSPA and its members,” director Fred Kildow writes in a letter to advisers. “Your delegates will be able to use all they learn at the conference all year, instead of only part of a year as in the past.”

The annual summer conference continues through 1960. It was on campus at the University of Minnesota (1953, 1954) and the University of Michigan (1956), as well as hotels in Chicago (1955, 1957, 1960) and Washington, D.C. (1959).

In addition to its traditional fall conference in Chicago, ACP offers a sectional meeting in Los Angeles for West Coast colleges and universities.

HIGH SCHOOL NEWSPAPERS provided war coverage and published special editions. (top) At Garfield High School, Seattle, Washington, the Messenger demonstrated the power of the press by publishing a War Bond Extra that helped the school raise $15,943 more than its $150,00 quota. (left) The Totem staff, Lincoln High School, Seattle, Washington, assembles its special 20-page Service Roster issue containing the name, rank, branch of service and date of graduation of all alumni serving in the armed forces.

Editorial Leadership

With the next deadline quickly approaching, the editors of The Russ, San Diego High School, consult the previous edition of the award-winning newspaper as they brainstorm timely story assignments for the present issue.

Adviser Short

COURSE

NSPA director Fred Kildow (center) prepares to award diplomas. Advisers from across the nation attended the course sponsored by NSPA, the University of Minnesota and the National Association of Journalism Directors. Instructors included Edna Gercken, Albert Lea High School (Minnesota); Thomas Barnhart, University of Minnesota; Otto Quale, assistant NSPA director; Maude Staudenmayer, NAJD president; A. L. Terlouw, Eastman Kodak Co.; Carl Towley, Hopkins High School (Minnesota); Dolores Merchant, editor of Scholastic Editor and C.J. Medlin, graduate manager of publications, Kansas State College.