Today, we text and tweet. A student told me Facebook is for grandparents, and if you want to get your message out use Instagram. She also said if the phone rings, it’s not “Hello,” but “Who died?” The contemporary world is all about instant news. However, there remains a few traditional information sources that students turn to. In Indianapolis one venerable newspaper that keeps students abreast of school events on a weekly basis is the Butler Collegian of Butler University with roots that go back to waning years of the nineteenth century.
Recently the Irvington Historical Society received a donation of several rare issues of Volume 1 of The Butler, a forerunner of the Butler Collegian. This publication made its appearance on the Irvington campus of Butler University on October 7, 1885. It was founded by freshman Andrew E. Harman (he was registered as Edward A. Harman) who wrote in the first issue, “The editors of The Butler, believing that a college paper would add greatly to the interest of students, have the honor to submit their first effort to the generous support of the faculty, students and Irvingtonians.” The Indianapolis News noted that the publication was “neatly printed and evidently edited with ability.” Copies of the four-page paper were available for 5ȼ (2018: $1.38).
The Butler featured a variety of items under headings such as personals; school and campus; literary notes; alumni news. Many of the personals and school and campus listings were inside jokes. However, a few were straightforward with a humorous twist like, “We understand that Harman, Helming, Kelsey and Mallon have formed a quartette: Look out! No one knows who will be the first victim.” or “President Everest, being away Monday morning, let the political economy class out of a recitation. They all regretted it very much.” The Butler also carried local advertising that would appeal to college men such as Eagle Clothing Company, “Leaders in fine clothing and gents’ finishing goods”; W. D. Seaton Hats & Caps; Chas. Mayer & Co, “Headquarters for in and out-door amusements;” and “An elegant line of gents’ Waukenphast shoes at C. Friedgens.”
The seven issues of The Butler were followed in January 1886 by Volume 1, No. 1 of The Butler Collegian. It was a 24-page monthly publication in a magazine format of the Butler literary societies — the Mathesian, the Pythonian, the Philokurian, and the Demia Butler Society — affording “the student an opportunity of giving expression to his opinion.” Poems, sketches, short articles, items, and personal notices were solicited by the editors. The paper came under “faculty supervision” in 1893 with the university board of directors recognizing the Collegian as, “the first creditable college paper we’ve had.” However, President Scot Butler demurred, questioning whether the paper was more “a source of amusement to its editors” instead of “a useful agency to publicize the college.”
The editor of The Butler Collegian joined with the editors of the Earlhamite (Earlham College), the Indiana Student (Indiana University), the DePauw Berna (DePauw University), the Purdue Exponent (Purdue University), and the Rose Tecnic (Rose Polytechnic Institute) in forming the College Press Association in 1892. Four years later, The Butler Collegian served as “the official organ of the association” for two years.
The Collegian changed from a literary magazine to a weekly college paper in 1899, and for a short time changed its masthead to the “University Brief,” to reflect the fact that Butler had joined three Indianapolis proprietary schools — the Medical College of Indiana, the Indiana Law School, and the Indiana Dental College — to form the University of Indianapolis. However, since the publication “was strictly a college paper and published by the students of the college,” the Butler board of directors determined that the masthead should revert to the “Butler Collegian” in the fall of 1900. Printed at the Irvington Print Shop by Edward J. Hecker, it was published during the fall, winter and spring terms. The Collegian experimented with an issue during the 1909 summer school, and it also introduced the “Vox Pop” column giving “the students unrestricted expression of their views.” Among the student opinions published was an anonymous letter proposing a young women’s club, “The Association for the Suppression of the Atrocious Manners of Butler College Men.” Under the editorship of Fred E. Schortemeier, slang was “tabooed” in the columns of the Collegian. The staff writers were to use “cleaner and better English,” particularly in the sports column; a baseball pitcher “must be called a pitcher and not a twirler” and a catcher “must be called a catcher and not a backstop.” News was to be reported in a “dignified yet ‘newsy’ manner.”
The Mail Press, publisher of the Marion County Mail, was engaged to print the paper by the beginning of the twenties. In the fall of 1924, the Butler Collegian was placed under the direction of the department of journalism, and the following spring, under editor Jabez Wood, the paper began to publish two issues a week. Prof. Henry E. Birdsong, journalism department head, saw the Collegian as an “important part in the ‘laboratory work’ of the department, and with the journalism students serving on the paper’s staff either as reporters or copy editors, it became a daily publication at the beginning of the 1925-26 school year. Advertising by Irvington and Indianapolis business concerns assured sufficient revenue to make the Collegian a financial success.
Butler University moved from its Irvington campus to its new buildings at the Fairview campus on the Indianapolis northside in September 1928. The first issue of the Butler Collegian to begin its forty-third year was a 32-page “Fairview Edition” that include news from the United Press wires. In 1930, the Collegian expanded to radio on the Butler University Sunday afternoon program over WKBF. Harlan Hadley, city editor for the paper, gave a “brief summary of events” occurring on the Butler campus during the week. In the fall of 1933, the Butler Collegian began being published by the university press in the basement of Jordan Hall. The paper eventually became a bi-weekly publication once again by the beginning of the sixties, and later the Collegian reverted to a weekly in the mid-seventies. Among the honors the Butler Collegian has received in its 132 years of publication, was being named one of the All-American College Papers in 1973-74.
