Back at St. Olaf

A large, wooden bowl. About the size of your head. It’s well worn – scuffed white in some places, and stained dark brown in others. There are three holes drilled around the rim, with thick metal wire tied through each. The wires meet above the middle of the bowl, where they hang a metal device. The wire isn’t quite straight, and the device isn’t quite level. The device is a microphone. The bowl is a reflector. The sound of a speaker’s voice reflects off the inside of the bowl, concentrates at the microphone in the center, and is converted into an electric signal. The electric signal is converted into a radio signal, and broadcast across the Upper Midwest. It’s heard as far away as Lawrence, Kansas, 400 miles south. This is Back at St. Olaf, I’m Elliot Gengler, and these are stories from the hill.

Transcript and bibliography

Pea soup, rice mush, fish omelet, rhubarb lemon pie. These are some of the recipes taken from the Phi Kappa Phi cookbook, which was the key to an especially important recipe for St. Olaf: the right for women to have higher education, specifically the right to their own dorm. Let’s get cooking!

Welcome to Back at St. Olaf. I’m Kathryn Looney, and these are stories from the hill.

Transcript and bibliography

Kristiansund, Norway, July 12, 1906. A photograph on a postcard shows a large crowd greeting an arriving vessel, whose passengers are standing on the deck. Some, surprisingly, are holding instruments. They are, in fact, the 48-member, all-male St. Olaf College Band, who are in the midst of an immensely popular month-long tour of Norway, which served as a homecoming for both band members and the college itself. Welcome to Back at St. Olaf: I’m Evan Atchison, and these are the stories from the Hill.

Transcript and bibliography

I’m looking here at an old program for St. Olaf’s 52nd founder’s day celebration and dedication of their new music hall. It’s not particularly long, only 3 single pages after the cover, and is discolored from years of wear. Inside are listed several events to celebrate the anniversary, which I’ll touch on later. Looking back from St. Olaf College’s sesquicentennial, which is a fancy word for 150th anniversary, I can’t help but wonder. How big of a deal was 50? Did they have all the same pomp and circumstance which we partake in today? How did Oles get down a century ago? Let’s find out. 

Welcome to Back at St. Olaf. I’m Will Christensen, and these are the stories from the hill.

Transcript and bibliography

Coming soon: episodes from the St. Olaf History Department students!