The Front Campus

The Front Campus
Originally uploaded by deafmute.

Scenic.

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I. J. Good

I. J. Good
Originally uploaded by deafmute.

A Google search for Irby J. Good turns up this.

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Dedication

Dedication
Originally uploaded by deafmute.

"To Irby J. Good, our president, whose keen foresight, careful management, and untiring devoion to the interests of Christian education have won for our college a position of high rank in the educational world; and who is enlisting the spiritual and financial resources of our constituency for the realization of Greater Indiana Central."

How worshipful of the president. The Christian education stuff is weird, and gives the president a righteous mission he probably doesn't deserve; only when the dedication gets to the financial marshalling does it approach what a college president does today.

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Foreward

Foreward
Originally uploaded by deafmute.

"May forgotten associations be refreshed by turning the pages of this book, thru which we have woven the pictures of the coursing greyhound, symbol of our athletic life."

Thru?

If those buildings on the horizon are intended to be Indianapolis, this might be the artist's attempt to connect the aristocratic past with (then) modern America. The artwork is so idyllic, yet stately at the same time.

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Contents

Contents
Originally uploaded by deafmute.

The symbolism here is pretty obvious: college graduates are the new aristocracy in America. 1928 was on the cusp of the Great Depression; I would imagine that the 30s and World War II marked a sea change in American eduction, moving it toward the populism it embodies today. There are probably very few college yearbooks today that would draw such allusions to British nobility. Maybe Yale.

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The Oracle, 1928 (2)

The Oracle, 1928
Originally uploaded by deafmute.

This is definitely the product of a bygone era, when colleges actually WANTED to court an image of gentility and nobility. I'm assuming the people on horseback are intended to represent the students, but the students as country lords gaming on their estates. The coursing greyhounds imitating paintings of lordly fox hunts. And that castle? Well, that's just bizarre. With that in the picture it's just missing one thing: a unicorn.

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Copyright

Copyright
Originally uploaded by deafmute.

Was this all etched by hand?

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The Oracle, 1928

The Oracle, 1928
Originally uploaded by deafmute.

The allusions to classical notions of gentry only increase from here. His huge tophat (and matching cravat) is either extremely fuzzy or glows with a radiant inner light.

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Ex Libris

Ex Libris
Originally uploaded by deafmute.

Kephart puts quotation marks around his own nickname.

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Cover

Cover
Originally uploaded by deafmute.

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