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Depression Era Exhibit Main Menu "Even the Familiar Chimes of Altgeld Hall were Stilled" A digital collection focusing on the Great Depression at the University of Illinois campus and surrounding areas created by Justin C. Williams on behalf of the University of Illinois Student Life and Culture Archives. Greek Life on Campus People of Illinois Surrounding Prohibition

Student Life, Culture and Sports

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"Even the Familiar Chimes of Altgeld Hall were Stilled" Justin Williams
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Contents of this path:

"A Suggestion on Student Work"; The Daily Illini; Oct. 7, 1931 Like the rest of the nation, the University of Illinois certainly suffered the effects of the Depression. Jobs were especially scarce and students were even forced to sell personal items in order to make money. Elston Herron of The Y wrote in 1931 that “students are selling everything from needles to threshing machines, from electric refrigerators to shoe laces. And they aren’t making any bones about admitting that they’re selling things. The day has passed when fellows were ashamed, for some foolish reason, to admit that they were trying to make a little money in ways other than writing back to the old homestead.” Many students worked all summer in order to save up tuition money for the next school year. They were aware of their family’s economic situations and worked their hardest to be as self-sufficient and sustaining as possible. Instead of being brought down by the Depression, students used it as opportunity and motivation to better themselves. They knew competition for jobs after college was high and they had to push themselves if they wanted to succeed. Despite the extra workload required to make ends meet, student activities flourished; they gathered for parades, football games, dances, clubs, theater, and fraternity and sorority events. (“Student Life in the Great Depression”, Joe Gruzalski, University of Illinois Archives, 2013)
"On Awakening"; The Green Caldron; March 1933 Like the rest of the nation, the University of Illinois certainly suffered the effects of the Depression. Jobs were especially scarce and students were even forced to sell personal items in order to make money. Elston Herron of The Y wrote in 1931 that “students are selling everything from needles to threshing machines, from electric refrigerators to shoe laces. And they aren’t making any bones about admitting that they’re selling things. The day has passed when fellows were ashamed, for some foolish reason, to admit that they were trying to make a little money in ways other than writing back to the old homestead.” Many students worked all summer in order to save up tuition money for the next school year. They were aware of their family’s economic situations and worked their hardest to be as self-sufficient and sustaining as possible. Instead of being brought down by the Depression, students used it as opportunity and motivation to better themselves. They knew competition for jobs after college was high and they had to push themselves if they wanted to succeed. Despite the extra workload required to make ends meet, student activities flourished; they gathered for parades, football games, dances, clubs, theater, and fraternity and sorority events. (“Student Life in the Great Depression”, Joe Gruzalski, University of Illinois Archives, 2013)
On Dating; The Siren; 1931 Like the rest of the nation, the University of Illinois certainly suffered the effects of the Depression. Jobs were especially scarce and students were even forced to sell personal items in order to make money. Elston Herron of The Y wrote in 1931 that “students are selling everything from needles to threshing machines, from electric refrigerators to shoe laces. And they aren’t making any bones about admitting that they’re selling things. The day has passed when fellows were ashamed, for some foolish reason, to admit that they were trying to make a little money in ways other than writing back to the old homestead.” Many students worked all summer in order to save up tuition money for the next school year. They were aware of their family’s economic situations and worked their hardest to be as self-sufficient and sustaining as possible. Instead of being brought down by the Depression, students used it as opportunity and motivation to better themselves. They knew competition for jobs after college was high and they had to push themselves if they wanted to succeed. Despite the extra workload required to make ends meet, student activities flourished; they gathered for parades, football games, dances, clubs, theater, and fraternity and sorority events. (“Student Life in the Great Depression”, Joe Gruzalski, University of Illinois Archives, 2013)
"Teens and Twenties: The College Age"; The Daily Illini; Feb. 26, 1936 Like the rest of the nation, the University of Illinois certainly suffered the effects of the Depression. Jobs were especially scarce and students were even forced to sell personal items in order to make money. Elston Herron of The Y wrote in 1931 that “students are selling everything from needles to threshing machines, from electric refrigerators to shoe laces. And they aren’t making any bones about admitting that they’re selling things. The day has passed when fellows were ashamed, for some foolish reason, to admit that they were trying to make a little money in ways other than writing back to the old homestead.” Many students worked all summer in order to save up tuition money for the next school year. They were aware of their family’s economic situations and worked their hardest to be as self-sufficient and sustaining as possible. Instead of being brought down by the Depression, students used it as opportunity and motivation to better themselves. They knew competition for jobs after college was high and they had to push themselves if they wanted to succeed. Despite the extra workload required to make ends meet, student activities flourished; they gathered for parades, football games, dances, clubs, theater, and fraternity and sorority events. (“Student Life in the Great Depression”, Joe Gruzalski, University of Illinois Archives, 2013)
"The Admirable Chricton" Illini Playbill, 1937 Like the rest of the nation, the University of Illinois certainly suffered the effects of the Depression. Jobs were especially scarce and students were even forced to sell personal items in order to make money. Elston Herron of The Y wrote in 1931 that “students are selling everything from needles to threshing machines, from electric refrigerators to shoe laces. And they aren’t making any bones about admitting that they’re selling things. The day has passed when fellows were ashamed, for some foolish reason, to admit that they were trying to make a little money in ways other than writing back to the old homestead.” Many students worked all summer in order to save up tuition money for the next school year. They were aware of their family’s economic situations and worked their hardest to be as self-sufficient and sustaining as possible. Instead of being brought down by the Depression, students used it as opportunity and motivation to better themselves. They knew competition for jobs after college was high and they had to push themselves if they wanted to succeed. Despite the extra workload required to make ends meet, student activities flourished; they gathered for parades, football games, dances, clubs, theater, and fraternity and sorority events. (“Student Life in the Great Depression”, Joe Gruzalski, University of Illinois Archives, 2013)
A Word on the University Job Market; The Daily Illini; Sept. 13, 1932 Like the rest of the nation, the University of Illinois certainly suffered the effects of the Depression. Jobs were especially scarce and students were even forced to sell personal items in order to make money. Elston Herron of The Y wrote in 1931 that “students are selling everything from needles to threshing machines, from electric refrigerators to shoe laces. And they aren’t making any bones about admitting that they’re selling things. The day has passed when fellows were ashamed, for some foolish reason, to admit that they were trying to make a little money in ways other than writing back to the old homestead.” Many students worked all summer in order to save up tuition money for the next school year. They were aware of their family’s economic situations and worked their hardest to be as self-sufficient and sustaining as possible. Instead of being brought down by the Depression, students used it as opportunity and motivation to better themselves. They knew competition for jobs after college was high and they had to push themselves if they wanted to succeed. Despite the extra workload required to make ends meet, student activities flourished; they gathered for parades, football games, dances, clubs, theater, and fraternity and sorority events. (“Student Life in the Great Depression”, Joe Gruzalski, University of Illinois Archives, 2013)
Altgeld Hall, circa 1935 Like the rest of the nation, the University of Illinois certainly suffered the effects of the Depression. Jobs were especially scarce and students were even forced to sell personal items in order to make money. Elston Herron of The Y wrote in 1931 that “students are selling everything from needles to threshing machines, from electric refrigerators to shoe laces. And they aren’t making any bones about admitting that they’re selling things. The day has passed when fellows were ashamed, for some foolish reason, to admit that they were trying to make a little money in ways other than writing back to the old homestead.” Many students worked all summer in order to save up tuition money for the next school year. They were aware of their family’s economic situations and worked their hardest to be as self-sufficient and sustaining as possible. Instead of being brought down by the Depression, students used it as opportunity and motivation to better themselves. They knew competition for jobs after college was high and they had to push themselves if they wanted to succeed. Despite the extra workload required to make ends meet, student activities flourished; they gathered for parades, football games, dances, clubs, theater, and fraternity and sorority events. (“Student Life in the Great Depression”, Joe Gruzalski, University of Illinois Archives, 2013)
Campus Plans Huge Bonfire Torch Parade; The Daily Illini; Sept. 30, 1932 The university had many different homecoming activities, but like the “Hobo Parade”, canceled in 1934, many were discontinued. Students seemed to be losing school spirit. The Daily Illini took note, reporting: “Homecoming appears to be back-sliding this year, not because of faulty management or any cause of the like, but seemingly because many students seem to think that all the frivolity and collegiate spirit connected with the weekend is more or less passé.” But while other traditions died, the homecoming football game lived on, the campus erupting in celebration and cheer in a time plagued with depression year after year. (“History of Illinois Homecoming: Depression and Wartime,” ExploreCU, accessed March 2, 2016,http://www.explorecu.org/items/show/262.)
Five Illini Football Players from Program, 1929 During the depression, students seemed to be losing their interest in school spirit. The university had many different homecoming activities, but like the “Hobo Parade”, canceled in 1934, students seemed to be losing school spirit. The Daily Illini took note, reporting: “Homecoming appears to be back-sliding this year, not because of faulty management or any cause of the like, but seemingly because many students seem to think that all the frivolity and collegiate spirit connected with the weekend is more or less passé.” But while other traditions died, the homecoming football game lived on at such a scale that toppled the campus in celebration and cheer in a time plagued with depression year after year. (History of Illinois Homecoming: Depression and Wartime,” ExploreCU, accessed March 2, 2016,http://www.explorecu.org/items/show/262.)
Hobo Band Parade, circa 1926 During the depression, students seemed to be losing their interest in school spirit. The university had many different homecoming activities, but like the “Hobo Parade”, canceled in 1934, students seemed to be losing school spirit. The Daily Illini took note, reporting: “Homecoming appears to be back-sliding this year, not because of faulty management or any cause of the like, but seemingly because many students seem to think that all the frivolity and collegiate spirit connected with the weekend is more or less passé.” But while other traditions died, the homecoming football game lived on at such a scale that toppled the campus in celebration and cheer in a time plagued with depression year after year. (History of Illinois Homecoming: Depression and Wartime,” ExploreCU, accessed March 2, 2016,http://www.explorecu.org/items/show/262.)
Illinois Football Program Cover - Chicago , 1931 During the depression, students seemed to be losing their interest in school spirit. The university had many different homecoming activities, but like the “Hobo Parade”, canceled in 1934, students seemed to be losing school spirit. The Daily Illini took note, reporting: “Homecoming appears to be back-sliding this year, not because of faulty management or any cause of the like, but seemingly because many students seem to think that all the frivolity and collegiate spirit connected with the weekend is more or less passé.” But while other traditions died, the homecoming football game lived on at such a scale that toppled the campus in celebration and cheer in a time plagued with depression year after year. (History of Illinois Homecoming: Depression and Wartime,” ExploreCU, accessed March 2, 2016,http://www.explorecu.org/items/show/262.)
University of Illinois Homecoming Football Game Program Original Artwork, 1930 The university had many different homecoming activities, but like the “Hobo Parade”, canceled in 1934, many were discontinued. Students seemed to be losing school spirit. The Daily Illini took note, reporting: “Homecoming appears to be back-sliding this year, not because of faulty management or any cause of the like, but seemingly because many students seem to think that all the frivolity and collegiate spirit connected with the weekend is more or less passé.” But while other traditions died, the homecoming football game lived on, the campus erupting in celebration and cheer in a time plagued with depression year after year. (“History of Illinois Homecoming: Depression and Wartime,” ExploreCU, accessed March 2, 2016,http://www.explorecu.org/items/show/262.)
The RKO Orpheum Theater shows "Elephant Boy"; The Daily Illini; September 15, 1937 Like the rest of the nation, the University of Illinois certainly suffered the effects of the Depression. Jobs were especially scarce and students were even forced to sell personal items in order to make money. Elston Herron of The Y wrote in 1931 that “students are selling everything from needles to threshing machines, from electric refrigerators to shoe laces. And they aren’t making any bones about admitting that they’re selling things. The day has passed when fellows were ashamed, for some foolish reason, to admit that they were trying to make a little money in ways other than writing back to the old homestead.” Many students worked all summer in order to save up tuition money for the next school year. They were aware of their family’s economic situations and worked their hardest to be as self-sufficient and sustaining as possible. Instead of being brought down by the Depression, students used it as opportunity and motivation to better themselves. They knew competition for jobs after college was high and they had to push themselves if they wanted to succeed. Despite the extra workload required to make ends meet, student activities flourished; they gathered for parades, football games, dances, clubs, theater, and fraternity and sorority events. (“Student Life in the Great Depression”, Joe Gruzalski, University of Illinois Archives, 2013)