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Bleeds Scarlet and Gray: Joseph Bradford

August 5, 2011 / haire.14@osu.edu / 1 Comment

(This is the first entry in a series of profiles of life-long Buckeyes who have had a notable impact on the University, in other words they bleed scarlet and gray.)

When the University’s Board of Trustees decided on Aug. 2, 1911, to hire the University’s first-ever architect, they didn’t have to go far to find him: Joseph Bradford, referred to as the “grand old man of the faculty,” is an example of a life-long buckeye.

Joseph Nelson Bradford, senior portrait, 1883

As a student of the University, Bradford was a member of the first marching band (then referred to as a military band). He organized and directed a fife and drum corps for the University’s military training program, which a year later incorporated brass instruments and became the brass band that we have today. He also prepared illustrations for some of President Edward Orton Sr.’s geography research. He graduated from Ohio State with a degree in Mechanical Engineering in 1883.

It is ironic that many of our best teachers never set out to teach: Bradford was a draftsman with the Pennsylvania Railroad when he was asked by the College of Engineering to organize a course in engineering drawing, which he declined as he did not want to be an instructor. Nevertheless, the Board of Trustees named him an instructor in mechanical and freehand drawing in 1885, with a salary of $1,000 a year. Whether he was happy at that moment is unknown, but he took the post. As a member of the faculty, he taught engineering drawing and architecture, and pioneered instruction in photography, with the first course in “picture-making” offered in the United States at OSU in 1890.

Engineering Drawing Class taught by Joseph Bradford, 1889

Bradford taught this Engineering Drawing Class in University Hall, 1889 (He appears in the rear left of this photograph.)

Joseph Bradford was named University Architect on Aug. 30, 1911, and he served in that capacity until his retirement in 1929. It is much of his work that we see today as he not only designed many buildings but planned the location of many future buildings he never saw built, with the goal of keeping all of a college’s buildings together. As University Architect, he oversaw the construction of forty new buildings, including Campbell, Derby, Hamilton, Lazenby, Lord, Pomerene, and Mack halls, the McCracken power plant, the Women’s Field House, Starling-Loving Hospital, and the Ohio Stadium. He also created the first accurate map of campus.

Campus Map from 1888, drawn by Joseph Bradford

At the time of his retirement he had served the University for 48 years; he went on to compile a photographic history of the University and was named a professor emeritus in 1933. (He also created a collection of hand-colored glass slides from University photographs. A sampling of the collection has been digitized and can be found on the Photo Archives web site.) He died in 1944.

filed by C.N.

Bradford is shown here teaching a History of Architecture class using the first electrical lantern slide projector at OSU. This class was held in Hayes Hall, 1895

Joseph Bradford and F.W. Davis in Photo History vault, 1940

Obituary: Frank W. Hale Jr.

July 28, 2011 / haire.14@osu.edu / Comments Off

We were saddened to hear of the passing Wednesday morning of Frank Hale, OSU’s former vice provost of minority affairs, so we thought we would share a few photos and a little bit about his career at OSU.

Born in 1927, Hale received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Nebraska in 1950 and 1951, then taught English and speech until 1954 at Oakwood College in Huntsville, Ala. That year he came to Ohio State to earn a Ph.D. in speech and political science. After receiving his doctorate in 1955, Hale left to teach, both at Oakwood and at Central State University in Wilberforce, Ohio. He eventually became president of Oakwood College before returning to Ohio State in 1971.

Frank W. Hale Jr., 1972 portrait

That year, he was named associate dean of OSU’s Graduate School, playing an active role in increasing the number of minority students at OSU and making the University the top producer of African-American doctorates by the end of that decade. In 1978 he was named Vice Provost of Minority Affairs, which enabled him to help establish the Young Scholars Program in 1982.

Hale listens to then-Georgia State Sen. Julian Bond, an educator and civil rights activist who later became chairman of the NAACP (1984).

After 18 years of service, Frank Hale retired from the University in 1988, giving the summer commencement speech that August.

Hale speaks at the summer commencement ceremony, 1988.

That same year, the Board of Trustees voted to rename the Black Cultural Center as the Frank W. Hale Jr. Black Cultural Center in his honor, citing Hale’s “commitment to the highest standards of quality and equality and for service as a teacher, an educator and a humanitarian.”

Hale and others attend the formal dedication in 1989 of the Frank W. Hale Jr. Cultural Center.

Material featuring Dr. Hale is now on display outside the exhibit gallery at the Thompson Library.

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OSU Buckeyes at the Ohio State Fair

July 27, 2011 / haire.14@osu.edu / Comments Off

One of our favorite days of the year is today: the opening of the Ohio State Fair. We thought we’d show some photos of OSU’s involvement in the fair, as well as a few tidbits from its past:

Ohio State Fair Exhibit, 1949

* Alumni receptions were held on the fairgrounds, according to a 1914 Alumni Monthly article, likely because of so many OSU graduates were involved in agricultural activities at the fair;

* In 1931 OSU took top honors for two of its Belgian mares;

* The next year, former head football coach John Wilce played none other than George Washington in a bicentennial pageant. Wilce, you may remember, graduated from OSU’s medical school in 1919 and led the football program from 1913-1923.