UNEARTHED from the archives A dress and a handbook

By James Hibbard, University Archivist

The university archives have a myriad of irreplaceable materials, from early student newspapers, letters, and diaries to yearbooks, catalogs, and university papers. While it is special to see these items, the only way to truly appreciate them is by researching the persons who originally owned them and the context in which they were used. To illustrate this point, let us look at two items in the archives, a dress and a handbook.

Alvena Schroeder’s 1864 commencement dress

In the reading room of the archives, a dress form holds Alvena Schroeder’s dress that she wore to the Platteville Academy’s June 1864 commencement. The dress is olive green with pleats. It still contains 17 of its original 18 buttons. It was not manufactured, but rather made by a local seamstress. To give some idea of the size of the dress, it only fits on a small, antique dress form.

Who was Alvena Schroeder? Alvena was born in March 1849 in Hanover, Germany. Her father was Hinrich C. D. Schroeder, a carpenter. Her mother appears to have died in Germany, for her name was not found in the records. In 1854, Hinrich packed up his family, Alvena and three other siblings, and immigrated to America, arriving in Platteville by 1855. Alvena, who clearly had a desire for education, was fortunate. Not only did she attend the Platteville Academy in the early 1860s, but she also had the opportunity to participate in the academy’s June 1864 commencement exercises. Being a special event, Alvena wore this dress. Two years later, in 1866, Alvena furthered her education by becoming part of the first class to attend the new State Normal School. In 1869, she graduated with the first Normal School class.

After earning her teaching degree, Alvena taught in the Platteville public schools into the early 1870s. Sometime before 1880, Alvena set aside her teaching career to assist her elderly father at home. She never returned to teaching. After her father died in the early 1890s, Alvena lived in Platteville until the late 1920s, when she moved to California to live with her niece in Los Angeles, where she died in April 1930.

Nancy Morrow’s handbook

Entitled Handbook of Mineralogy, Blowpipe Analysis and Geometrical Crystallography, the book, published in 1918, is small, 4” x 7” x 2,” heavily dog-eared, and, at first glance, unremarkable. Upon closer examination, however, the book has a unique signature. On the top edge of the pages is printed in ink: “NANCY MORROW.” The book was once owned and used by Nancy Morrow (Mining School class of 1938) for her studies at the Mining School.

Who was Nancy Morrow? Born in 1918, Nancy was the fourth of five children of Blanch and Homer B. Morrow, the Director of the Mining School from 1920–41. Like Alvena, Nancy also lost her mother, who passed away in 1926. Growing up with two older brothers who attended the Wisconsin Mining School and an older sister who attended the State Teachers College, Nancy chose her own path by becoming the first female student, along with Fay Bible, to attend the Mining School from 1935–38. As she later explained, “all her life she had been associated with engineers, as her father and two older brothers are of the profession. Thus, it seemed only natural for her to lean toward the engineering profession.”

Nancy, who took journalism classes at Platteville High School, continued along this line at the Mining School by becoming a journalist for the W.M.S. Geode. As noted in the Geode, for three years, both Nancy and Fay worked in the “stench of the chemical laboratory,” drew engineering projects on “drafting boards,” and worked with

THE FRONT INSIDE cover of the handbook shows the name Jack H. Morrow (Nancy Morrow’s younger brother, class of 1942) on the left side. The right side shows Frederick O. Anderson (Nancy’s son on address label); Joseph Kluck, Ernest Ovitz, Arnie Frey, and Richard Richards (Nancy’s classmates); and Jack H. Morrow (upside down) on the right side.

“ore-dressing machinery.” When not in class, Nancy and Fay worked as reporters and then as advertisers for the Geode. Along the way, one of Nancy’s male classmates admitted, Nancy “tried to make gentlemen out of all of us.” Five of those “gentlemen” signed Nancy’s handbook.

After Nancy graduated in May 1938, she married fellow classmate Oliver Anderson that fall. By 1940, Oliver was employed by the Mahoning Mining Company in Rosiclare, Illinois. Over the course of their marriage, Nancy and Oliver had several children. Both Nancy and Oliver lived the rest of their lives in Rosiclare, Oliver dying in 1972, Nancy dying in 1976.

As to Nancy’s handbook, in addition to her classmate’s signatures, it has the signature of her younger brother, Jack H. Morrow (Mining School class of 1942), and it has an address stamp of Frederick Anderson, her son. Hence, it appears Nancy let Jack borrow it for his studies and it eventually ended up in her son’s possession.

Alvena and Nancy’s stories are just two of many, but knowing their stories add context and breathes life into an old dress and a dog-eared book that otherwise would be just two intriguing items in the archives whose stories were unknown.