Being a part of Ohio State’s campus is a journey. For many students, campus becomes their home away from home — the place to learn, discover new things, form friendships, eat, and sleep. Some stay in their new home, becoming faculty or staff. Others challenge campus to become a true home for all. And for many, campus is a home to remember and to return to after they venture all over the world. Here are a few items from the University Archives that point the way home.

Photograph of the Ohio State University’s Oval showing a large decoration shaped like a shoe. On the shoe is text saying Welcome Home. Two women are walking to the right of the shoe.

Homecoming decoration on the Oval, circa 1920

Homecoming at Ohio State is a time-honored tradition that began in 1912. Since the earliest days, students have welcomed alumni and friends with parades, decorations, crowning a queen and king, and a football game.

A large green box with the side open, showing a small seat attached to a lever. On the seat is a plastic egg strapped into the seat with an elastic belt.

The Convincer made by Wilbur E. Stuckey in 1960

University researchers have made tremendous advances, and in this case using a model to give drivers and passengers the best chance to come home if they are in an accident. Professor Wilber E. Stuckey’s “Convincer” is a model of a vehicle’s interior and shows the consequences of not wearing a seat belt. Stuckey, a farm equipment safety specialist, built this model in 1960, some 20 years before the first seat belt laws.

White poster board with small notes attached. The notes include drawings of a Mexican flag, a butterfly, and a heart. The text includes “No Dream is illegal,” “There’s nothing more American than a DREAMer,” “Your immigration status does not define you.”

Poster in support of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, 2017

Ohio State supports students who call Ohio home. This poster hung with others throughout campus during Love Notes for Dreamers, an event for students to support those who are part of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.

Blue coat in a military style, four metal buttons down the middle, red and white circle patch on the right shoulder.

ROTC Uniform of John Naddy, 1948

From 1873 to 1970, Ohio State male students were required to take military science. Following the end of World War II, Ohio State saw its enrollment swell with veterans returning from the war. The challenges these veterans faced led the university to establish the Office of Military and Veterans Services.

Gold square metal name tag with words Ohio State Semi-Centennial 1920 around the edges. Typed in the middle are the words Olive Jones, ’87, University Librarian.

Olive Jones Nametag, 1920

After graduating in 1887, Olive Jones devoted her entire career to the university as its first full-time librarian. Like so many alumni, Jones found her work to be home at Ohio State and gave back to her alma mater. Jones retired from the university in 1927.

 

For More Information

Contact the University Archives at library.osu.edu/archives.

Marlene Owens was Ohio State’s first African-American Homecoming Queen. Visit the Carmen Collection to learn about her journey. Learn about Homecoming’s changes over a century of fun. Archival material on Homecoming is available in the Archives’ subject files.

To see how Professor Wilber E. Stuckey’s Convincer works, the Columbus Museum of Art put together this demonstration. Learn more about Stuckey and his other inventions.

Ohio State was the first Big Ten school to establish a comprehensive office of military and veterans services. See the story on the Carmen Collection.

Back to the Introduction