Sean Montgomery / The Clarion Call
Throughout history many events have taken place to lead to the creation of the United States. Wars have have fought to bring Americans the freedom they have today.
Just as history has formed the country, it has also affected the stories and facts behind Clarion University.
The Clarion history project looks into the past of the college and preserves the history part for future students.
Clarion University is full of stories that many students may not know.
The Clarion History Project is designed to look into these stories and collect artifacts to prove they really happened.
The main goal of this project is to remember the past document the present so future students can continue the work.
Dr. Todd Pfannestiel, associate professor of history, started the project three years ago.
“The idea is to preserve the history of the university, but not only to preserve it but to help students research it,” said Pfannestiel.
Pfannestiel said, the Clarion History Project began unofficially three years ago due to of pure personal interest. Pfannestiel said he began the effort of the project because he wanted to know more about the history of the university.
“…As students began to find out more and more about my interest, they developed an interest as well. So, over the past year, I’ve had more students volunteer their time in the project,” he said.
Student effort for this project has ranged from cataloging artifacts, researching a specific piece if they find it interesting, writing full reports on the information they found to be placed on their Web page and displaying the articles they have collected.
Pfannestiel does not consider himself an advisor to the group because he does more than give direction.
Since he has such an interest in the topic, he prefers to be more hands- on as the project continues to move forward.
Most of the artifacts the group has found so far have been sent to them after being found in storage or during construction.
Some of the items in this collection of Clarion memorabilia have been donated by Alumni, such- as yearbooks, flags and club jackets.
Pfannestiel said, every aspect of Clarion University history deserves to be preserved.
One of the more interesting pieces that has been discovered was an old flag found six months ago that was created by the female students during World War I.
Each blue star on the flag represented a male student who left to fight in France. If that student died, they would replace his blue star with a gold one.
The flag grew so big that they had to make another. That second flag from 1918 was found in storage.
“It was about to be thrown away because no one knew what it was… It was almost lost if not for this project. Because people knew about the project, we now are able to appreciate this symbol of that time,” Pfannestiel said.
Pfannestiel’s goals for the project are to display the articles the group has found, write a book based on the information they have researched and get student involvement and interest in trying to find a better way to be remembered for being a Clarion student transcripts.
The idea is to allow future students of Clarion University to find out what happened while we were here.
And now for the challenge: why is the University address is 840 Wood Street?
“I challenge any student to tell me where we get the number 840 for our street address,” said Pfannestiel.
“There is actually a building on this campus… that if you look close enough, you will find the original number on the building 840.”
This challenge applies to present and future students alike.
Thanks to Pfannestiel and the team of students, the future generation of Clarion University will be able to appreciate the efforts of students today to be remembered.
