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Send us a piece of your past

Maybe it’s a photo of you and your date decked out for J-Prom. Or ticket stubs from a 1970s Bruce Springsteen concert in Mem Aud. Or a tale about a beloved professor.

Whether the mementos of your college days are tucked away in a closet or simply in the back of your mind, the Ohio University Press is hoping you’ll share them for possible inclusion in “The Ohio University Bicentennial Book.” The publication, a cross between a coffee table book and a scrapbook, is being published in conjunction with the University’s 200th anniversary in 2004.

“What we have in mind is a mosaic portrait of Ohio University, depicting the ideas and lives that have kept it vigorous for 200 years,” says David Sanders, director of the Ohio University Press.

Contents likely will include students’ letters home, remembrances, historical documents, personal essays, photographs, illustrations and histories of campus programs.

Editor Betty Hollow, who has worked on campus since the mid-1970s as an academic counselor, says student life will be a major focus.

She poses these questions to alumni considering a submission: “What was special to you about Ohio University? What was it that you loved back then and what is it that you still love?”

Hollow asks alumni to send their remembrances and photos to her at 101 Alden Library, Ohio University, Athens, Ohio 45701 or e-mail testimonials to her at hollowb@ohio.edu. Please indicate whether you would like the items returned and, if so, include a self-addressed, stamped envelope. Remember to include your class year.

A special call is being made for student scrapbooks, which Hollow assures will be returned safely to their owners. Alumni also may want to consider a permanent donation of items to Alden Library’s Archives and Special Collections Department.

— Mary Alice Casey