Welcome

Rather than write a final research paper or take a final exam, both of which only their professor would see, students from ANTH-A 390 The Story of Stuff curated this exhibit. They each collected or created an object that represented their campus to them, and they are sharing their story with you.

We believe IU South Bend is an important part of South Bend’s past, present, and future. We hope you feel the same way.

Read more about each object in this exhibit catalog (blog).

Special thanks to IU South Bend's archivist Alison Stankrauff, Kristi Dunn at the Center for History, and the Schurz Library staff. Without the help of those generous folks, as well as the friends and family that loaned items, we would not have been able to put together this exhibit.

Dance Shoes

En Pointe

Chloe Woggon

The title of this exhibition piece is En Pointe. It represents a pair of pointe shoes that were worn for the IUSB Dance Company’s presentation of Swan Lake, performed July 12, 2013 at the Lerner Theater. The shoes are a part of this exhibit documenting the history of IUSB campus because they are artifacts from the dance program, a program that has only recently grown in its development at IUSB. Dance is offered as a minor, requiring 18 credit hours, and just this past year expanded to offer a concentration in dance under theater studies. It is hoped that sometime in the future the university will offer a major in dance studies as well.

IUSB Dance Company first performed Swan Lake to live music by the IUSB orchestra in the Raclin School of the Arts Auditorium in November of 2012. Each summer the theater and dance department takes shows to the Lerner Theater of Elkhart, and so Swan Lake was performed a second time, this time to a soundtrack. This is the pair of pointe shoes I wore for the second performance, and they were purchased two weeks before the show. This is a relatively short amount of time to break in new shoes before a performance, but the pointes on my previous shoes were too soft. The shoes were last worn at our summer performance at the Lerner this past summer, August 7, 2014, and are now too exhausted for further dancing.

I chose these shoes because not only have I completed a dance minor here at IUSB, but dance is the reason I originally enrolled at the university. As a transfer student who had taken some time off from studies, I missed dancing—an activity I grew up doing but had not done for five years. I was also very interested in choreography and decided to become a part time student to take some dance courses. After one semester I became a full time student again, resuming my major studies in anthropology. Dance has been a big part of my life while at the university, and I have been a company member since my enrollment, rehearsing two to four days a week for a few hours. The program has also helped me realize a personal passion, and pushed me to express myself in a new way. I am now even inspired to incorporate dance into my anthropological studies and work in the future.

The title En Pointe is the French expression for dancing “on pointe”. I decided to use this expression because I am also a French major, thus encapsulating two of my interests: dance and French. In addition to this, however, ballet was originally codified internationally in France during the reign of King Louis XIV, and thus the vocabulary used in ballet studies across the globe is French.

Clock

Time Well Spent

Emily Weidler

When I was first asked to come up with an object that represents what IUSB means to me, I found it difficult answering this question. I pondered this for a few days, while at school, at, home and even at work. I couldn't think of anything and I felt like I was wasting time choosing an object because with the busyness and fast pace of all my classes, I knew this project would be due before I knew it. Then it hit me: To me, IUSB means time. Time in the classroom, time studying, time doing homework, I spend all this time trying to ace my classes and overall work toward my degree. Then I realized there was no better thing to turn this concept into a tangible, material object than a clock. I started putting this idea to life by purchasing an old clock from a local Goodwill store. 

To make this clock better represent time that fellow students and I spend at IUSB, I personally added the IUSB logo in the center of the clock. I cut this logo out from an old IUSB folder that I got from freshman orientation, where my college career began and my time started to be consumed with my schooling. It wasn't until after I added the logo to the middle of the clock that I realized the brilliance of its placing. My time revolves around my schooling at IUSB, just as the hands of the clock revolve around the IUSB logo. I also wrote my current fall semester schedule around the inside of the clock to display the time I spend on campus, in the classroom. 

Like I mentioned before though, the time spent on IUSB is not only on campus. Countless hours of homework and studying take place off campus so my fellow students and I can earn our degrees. College not only consumes time on a daily basis, but it also often takes us many years of revolving our time around school to reach our goals of graduating college and entering the professional work force. Speaking from personal experience, spending so much time in the classroom and working on homework outside the classroom doesn't always seem ideal, but when I reach my goal, and earn my degree it will become more clear that this was time well spent.

Parking Ticket

IUSB Parking Ticket

John Schirripa

When I think of Indiana University South Bend, a few things come to mind right off the bat. The first thing that I think of is the student life. Although not a very large school, the amount of interaction between students, especially in the student activity center, is astounding. Right behind the student life, the second major thing that comes to mind when I think of IUSB is parking. When it comes to parking, I think about the first week of school and how it is a frenzy and how finding a place to park is near impossible. This is why the artifact that I chose to display was an Indiana University South Bend parking ticket.

To me the idea of the parking ticket represents more than just its obvious meaning. In my opinion it does a few things to help understand some of the history behind IUSB. For one it helps to denote that IUSB is a commuter campus, meaning that the majority of its students do not live in campus housing and in turn live in their own homes. Another aspect of IUSB that the parking ticket helps to describe is the constant struggle to find a parking space. Since this is a commuter campus, the pace at which the lots fill up is rather quick and getting a decent spot is near impossible, especially during the middle of a school day. Another aspect of the university’s history that this object displays, is that this campus has its own law enforcement. Since this ticket is issued by the IUSB Police Department, it shows how our university has progressed over the years and expanded enough to have its own police department. The final, which I believe to be the most important, is that the ticket shows the diversity amongst the people here at Indiana University South Bend. On the ticket it shows the specifications of the car, from this we can often gather a sense of economic status which can show the differing groups of people here on campus.

Although the ticket is not an overly-extravagant piece of art, the materials which it is constructed with also tells us about the history of Indiana University South Bend. The ticket is made of three-ply paper and an attached envelop for your payment. From the low-quality and relatively easy production of the product, it is safe to say that cost was a factor in making these tickets. This tells us that IUSB is not an extremely wealthy campus and is in turn the cheaper alternative to many flagship universities. However, this does tell us that the university is concerned with the rights of people who pay to go to this university and allows them first priority parking on campus.

Pig's Head

Pig’s Head

Sabrina Lute

My relationship with IUSB has existed since the early to mid-1990’s. As an John Adams High School student, our neighbor to the south was like an extension to our campus. One could argue that Adams High School was a feeder school for IUSB. For example, Adams had open-lunches and many of us would frequent the Grille in the Administration Building and spend our time on campus. Adding to the relationship between the two schools, Adams band, orchestra, and choir would use the Campus Auditorium for large concerts and special events.

Backstages are mystical, magical places, however, given that they are usually pitch dark, they can also seem terrifying. Curtains hang, heavy and thick drowning out light and sound. As you look up the walls you see staircases and catwalks, but as you drag your eyes up further, everything disappears into an endless abyss of nothing. Spend a moment or two alone in that environment and you begin to doubt reality. Welcome to the theatre: anything can happen.

As with any performance, it was necessary to have ample rehearsal time. It was during my first rehearsal as a freshman that an upperclassman asked a small group of us, “Would you like to see a pig’s head?” I cannot speak for my cohorts, but the words “pig’s head” triggers images of gruesomeness and slaughterhouses. Reluctant, but curious, we agreed to see this pig’s head. We were led further backstage. Our guide pointed a shadowed finger up past the first set of stairs and catwalks. We struggled to adjust our eyes in the dim light. My eyes climbed higher until I saw it.

The large cartoon-like pig’s head hung 30-40 feet above the stage on a wall. For my recollection, I estimate that the original was approximately three to four feet wide and likely no thicker than a foot. This simple prop, became our “urban legend.” We travelled back across the street, sharing the story of the pig’s head to the rest of the school. We omitted the cartoon-like aspect and let imaginations run rampant. Until three weeks ago, I didn’t know that it was simply a remnant prop from a production of Charlotte’s Web. Having the mystery, having a legend was fun.

The connection I bridged with IUSB occurred because as an institution, IUSB doesn’t feel exclusive and closed off from the city. I was invited into the mystery and have added to the legend. I’ve experienced a sense of engagement to the campus. This city is fortunate to have IUSB in the neighborhood.

Masonry Trowel

The Building Blocks of IUSB

Carly Baker

The masonry trowel has been used for years to aid in building brick or block buildings. It is used for cutting brick and spreading cement or mortar to hold each brick together. The campus of Indiana University South Bend began construction in 1958. It was at this time that the university started to purchase some of the buildings that started IUSB. Before this, some of these buildings were owned by other companies or corporations. The administration building, for example, originally was a part of the Associates Insurance Corporation complex. The trowel represents each brick that was laid. It shows the life of the brick; how it began as one thing and is now a part of our beautiful campus. It shows the history of the campus and how it has evolved and grown with each generation. 

The beauty and appreciation of brickwork often goes unseen, however when we recognize it as a piece of history, we begin to see it in a completely different way; as art. We see it not as the building as a whole, but each individual brick and how all together they make-up the building itself and likewise how each building makes up the campus. With the use of the trowel, the creation of the campus was made. Each brick is a building block of IUSB, just as each individual student of IUSB is a building block to the university. Together we stand, united we fall.

Wiekamp Hall

Wiekamp Hall

Vianca Montes De Oca

I chose to do my project over Wiekamp Hall for a couple of reasons but the main one is because I am a psychology major and Wiekamp Hall is where most, if not all, of my psychology classes take place. Therefore, I will spend most of my college career in Wiekamp Hall. It was also the first building I toured when I was first deciding on whether to attend IU South Bend or not. Wiekamp Hall is also the only building where I use the lounging areas, even if I have a class in another building. 

I believe this project goes well with the exhibit because Wiekamp is a big part of the IU South Bend campus. It was one of the first buildings to exist and it was constructed in order to build more classrooms for our students. It was also the first purpose-built classroom facility to be added to the campus in over thirty years. One interesting fact that some students may not know about Wiekamp is that it was originally a coca cola bottling factory, but it was torn down in order to add onto the IU South Bend campus in 1994. 

Wiekamp Hall was made possible through the great donation from Dorothy and Darwin Wiekamp, who the building was named after as most students can see on the first level of the building. This building is one of the largest for the campus containing several computer labs, many classrooms, and some lounging areas. Wiekamp Hall is also attached to the only parking garage that the campus owns. IU South Bend purchased the previous Coca-Cola bottling factory to add Wiekamp Hall and the parking garage. While Wiekamp Hall was paid for by donations, the parking garage was paid for through faculty, staff, and student parking fees. Since the parking garage is connected to Wiekamp, most people who park in the garage usually walk into Wiekamp to avoid the weather outside. 

I believe that Wiekamp Hall will always be a big part of the IU South Bend campus because of all the purposes the building serves. I would find it hard to believe that there is an attending student that has not been inside this building. I can proudly say that I am happy I chose IU South Bend to continue my education and I am looking forward to the two or more years I have left here on this campus.