About the diary writer
- Barbara McDowell Whitt
- Kansas City, Missouri, Alexandria, Virginia, United States
- ~ About: A 1961-65 Park College Diary ~ As a high school girl and then a college coed in the first half of the 1960s, I wrote nightly entries on the pages of one-year diaries. In January 2010 I began transcribing the entries into a blog and gave each one a title. I grew up on three farms within 30 miles of Iowa City and the University of Iowa with its Iowa Writers' Workshop. As the oldest of four daughters, in my diaries I sometimes referred to my sisters as "the kids" or "the girls." We helped our parents, but we also had good, wholesome fun - a characteristic I took with me to Park. Park is 300 miles southwest of West Chester, Iowa, in Parkville, Missouri, on the Missouri River 10 miles northwest of Kansas City, Missouri, and across the river from Kansas City, Kansas. In 2000 Park College became Park University. Today Park's flagship campus is in Parkville and there are an additional 41 campus centers across the nation. Park was one of the first educational institutions in the United States to offer online learning. My last post was on May 22, 2018. I may be followed on Twitter @BarbaraMcDWhitt.
LLC Favors Ready to Distribute at 1:00 AM - Sunday, September 30, 1962
This morning I went to church with Judy. This afternoon from 1:00 to 3:00 some of us worked on LLC rush favors in the Herr House old maids' lounge. Margie and I are waiting till 1:00 AM to distribute those to go out to the freshman girls tonight. Chris and I walked around Parkville this evening. (Just had time out for Hawley's third serenade - one by the ACCs and two by freshman boys). The rest of the time I tried to study.
Settled in Hawley's Room 314 - Saturday, September 29, 1962
Tonight Margie and I are settled in Room 314 on Hawley's third floor. It's back side and pink, but we have middle closets this time and on the opposite side of the room. The girls on the floor seem real nice. We started moving this morning, went to Kansas City this afternoon, and finished this evening. Jean Oxborrow, the freshman girl from Humboldt, Iowa, helped me move. It was a hard job - I must have made a dozen trips and she six. Marge, Judy and I went in to Kansas City with Nancy and Fred. We got brown rugs, I got a red and a white half slip, Tweed cologne, a few other things.
Supper at the President's House - Friday, September 28, 1962
The president's supper for the Stylus staff and student council was really nice. Mrs. Morrill had cooked a very nice meal. Our table - I went down with Carol Patterson and Terry Scullin - discussed everything from Hell Week to whiskey flavored tooth paste. Margie, Chris, Mary Anne Higginbotham and I went to the show tonight, "Back Street," not very good. I woke up at 5:30 this morning so got up and studied history. I also skipped religion class - I don't know how much good it did, probably none at all. This is our last night in Herr House - for 18 of us.
Some of Us Volunteer to Return to Hawley - Thursday, September 27, 1962
It's been a hard day - not conducive to studying history. Margie and I ended up volunteering to go to Hawley this morning - and stuck our decision out - though the tension was running high this afternoon at our sophomore meeting at to who would go and who would stay. "Pent House" finally volunteered for half of fourth floor and some of us will fill in on the other floors. This all has really been hard on everybody. It's a relief to have it "settled." It's going to be hard to leave Herr House and hard for the freshmen for us to move in on them. I practically had the run of the Stylus front page. I interviewed Mr. Campanella for two art department stories this morning.
18 Girls Must Agree to Go to Hawley - Wednesday, September 26, 1962
The Hawley move has boiled down to the fact that 18 girls will have to volunteer or Dean White will draw names and say, "you go." Margie, Nancy, Bonnie, Becky, Margaret and I talked to her in her apartment this evening and had almost decided to "volunteer" and try to get a congenial group to go. Then "Pent House" discussed volunteering, then decided not to. Oh, this whole thing is absolutely ridiculous and hard on everybody but everybody. I got a B+ on my French test. Mom sent permission for me to get flu shots so I went over to get one. We had a WRA committee meeting at 4:00 and an upperclass meeting at 7:30.
And Now an A on a Sociology Test - Tuesday, September 23, 1962
This is too much. I made an A (though there were two A+'s) on the sociology test and Mr. Gibson congratulated me in front of the class. He had called the names of the the A+'s before he went over the answers. Then he gave back the papers and mine was the next mentioned. There were three A's besides the two A+'s. This evening in the library I finally wrote out at ten till 9:00 a question for history that was supposed to be in Dr. Urban's box by 9:00. I put notes in the student teachers' boxes about my interviews of them for the Stylus, but Fred said I should wait awhile to write them.
The Only A in Two Psychology Classes - Monday, September 24, 1962
This has certainly been my lucky day. I got the only A on the psychology test. Vivien came back and said that the only A paper was in our section but I didn't think twice about a glimmer of hope. When he called my name and said, "I'd like to single this paper out as the only A," I nearly died. Like winning "Miss America" or something. Then this afternoon I found an invitation to supper at the president's house Friday night! I guess it's for the Stylus staff and student council. I got a C+ on my religion paper.
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