Over the past couple of years, I have had the opportunity to experience something that I am sure very few students do during their tenure here at RPI. No, I am not talking about staying up until 7 am finishing this newspaper; I am talking about doing research on the history of RPI in the archives room of the Folsom Library.
Now I know that many people on this campus cringe at the thought of reading anything that could be described as “history,” but the archives offer a lot of fascinating material dating back to 1824 from many different areas of the Institute. There are old school publications, histories of student and faculty governments, planning documents and memos, histories of various clubs, and many other things extending back decades.
Everything shows the evolution of the campus throughout the years—the changes that have been made or the things that have stayed the same. It can be pretty funny, too. I remember sitting and laughing at the documents from the ’60s predicting that due to out of control tuition hikes, the cost of a year’s education at RPI might actually top $14,000 by the year 2000. Plans for how the campus would look in 2000 can be just as funny. One of the most hilarious items I found was a line in a School of Architecture planning document from 1968 pointing out that “consistent student unhappiness” is one of the great traditions at RPI.
Almost all of this, too, is open to anyone looking to read through it out of idle curiosity or for legitimate research purposes. One day while I was in there, a fraternity brother came in trying to find out what had happened to some relic from his house that had disappeared in the mid ’80s. The archivists were able to help him track down some documentation on it within a few minutes, and while he was not able to figure out exactly what had happened, he found a lot more information that he did not have when he walked in.
This is exactly like what my experience has been with archives. The staff members are some of the most helpful people on campus, and are really dedicated to helping you find the answers to whatever questions you have. They have a great handle on most things that are available in the archives, and will be able to suggest various other topics for you to research instead of merely answering the questions you ask them.
While I am sure few people will find themselves in a situation requiring real research in the archives room, I encourage everyone to try to find out a few more things about the history of RPI through the resources available there. It’s the only chance you’ll have to learn more about your alma mater, and I suggest everyone take that chance.
