Saluki Stories: Oral Histories from SIU

Walter Green talks about Carbondale history, segregation, and growing up in Southern Illinois. Mr. Green remembers professor London Branch and the story of how he brought Scott Joplin's opera, Treemonisha, to Southern Illinois University in 1972. Walter Green and archivist Walter Ray organized the 50-year anniversary of that performance.

Joe Eddy Brown is a 1970, SIU School of Design graduate. He attended SIU during the days when Buckminster Fuller was here. He was friends with Buzz Spector and is the creator of the Rayfield Whimple IV, the Metamatic art machine. Joe Eddy was a teacher for most of his career in the northern suburbs in Illinois.

Buzz Spector is an acclaimed artist, educator, and critical writer. He has had shows in galleries and museums including the Art Institute of Chicago, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington D.C., and recently in the St. Louis Museum of Art. As an undergraduate he began the student run literary magazine "Grassroots" which is still published today. Buzz recently retired from his position as Dean of the College & Graduate School of Art at Washington University.

Crystal Kuykendall grew up on the south-side of Chicago, the first in her family to go to college. While at Southern Illinois University Carbondale, she found her strength and motivation to become a national figure as an educator, human relations expert, legal analyst and inspiration to millions.

Crystal Kuykendall grew up on the south-side of Chicago, the first in her family to go to college. While at Southern Illinois University Carbondale, she found her strength and motivation to become a national figure as an educator, human relations expert, legal analyst and inspiration to millions.

On Friday August 25 at 6pm in the University Museum Auditorium, Jimmy will be giving a talk at the reception for Trajectory the artwork of Jimmy Wright and Arch Connelly. The show is spectacular and will remain up all semester. This episode will help people know more about this talented artist and provide background for the show.

On Friday August 25 at 6pm in the University Museum Auditorium, Jimmy will be giving a talk at the reception for Trajectory the artwork of Jimmy Wright and Arch Connelly. The show is spectacular and will remain up all semester. This episode will help people know more about this talented artist and provide background for the show.

Digital Narratives are born in Morris Library in the Digital Xpressions Lab. Students and faculty are building new ways to tell stories, present scholarship, design games, and explore their curiosity. #Digital #Scholarship #MorrisLibrary Our first venture into video podcasting.

SIU emeritus History Professor Michael Batinski is back in town talking about the forgotten stories of Jackson County, Illinois. His book, Forgetting and the Forgotten A Thousand Years of Contested Histories in the Heartland, is published by the SIU Press and available on their website: ⁠http://siupress.com/books/978-0-8093-3837-5⁠.

SIU emeritus History Professor Michael Batinski is back in town talking about the forgotten stories of Jackson County, Illinois. His book, Forgetting and the Forgotten A Thousand Years of Contested Histories in the Heartland, is published by the SIU Press and available on their website: http://siupress.com/books/978-0-8093-3837-5.

The Special Collections Research Center is a key contact point for Morris Library, a place where we engage with surrounding communities and scholars from around the world. We preserve the university's history and keep it alive through social media and in person events and exhibits. It is a place for the library to express its own identity through the collecting areas we have chosen. Donations help us today to preserve the past for the future. https://siuday.siu.edu/giving-day/65813/department/65821?utm_source=scalefunder&utm_campaign=amb_share&utm_content=8hfu0ncewgrwd5hct5i1e7b&utm_medium=plain

The SIU Day of Giving has provided funds that helped the SIU Press embark on innovative ways to bring their books to readers. The Press and WSIU created Blanket Fort Radio Theater with creative writing students to bring audio books to NPR listeners.

Raf Frumkin, assistant professor at Southern Illinois University in creative writing talks about his his new novel, Confidence, published March 7, 2023 by Simon & Schuster. Make sure to come to his book signing and in-person book talk in Guyon Auditorium, Morris Library, Thursday, April 6, 2023 at 5:00. His book is available in the Campus Bookstore and your favorite independent book dealer.

#SIUDAY The SIUC Day of Giving is coming up on Tuesday March 28, 2023. Please support Library Affairs with your investment in Morris Library, the Special Collections Research Center, the SIU Press, and the University Museum.

Jeffery Leving is a successful family practice lawyer in Chicago. He focuses in keeping fathers in the lives of their children, even after a divorce. He was part of the team ensured Elian Gonzalez's return to his father in Cuba. He describes his involvement in a documentary film "A Wheelie in an All-American City" while an undergraduate. The film told the story of accessibility in Carbondale, years before the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Vera Graddy, graduated from SIUC with a degree in History with a concentration in Library Science in 1958. Her SIUC degree took her to teaching positions around the world. We learn about the time she and her roommate snuck into the construction site for the new Morris Library. They wrote their names on sheets of paper and slipped them into a supporting pillar of the library knowing that they would forever be connected with supporting Morris Library.

Tammera Holmes is the founder, president, and CEO of Aerostar Avion Institute an aviation, education, and training organization with the mission of recruiting more students of color into careers in aviation.

Enjoli came to SIU as a non-traditional student in 1999. She struggled at first but quickly learned that there were people at SIU who cared and wanted her to succeed. She is a Senior regional hygiene manager of dental hygiene clinical development for Elite Dental Partners. She is an advisor to dental practices and a motivational speaker. Enjoli has devoted her life to bringing others along towards personal success.

Tommie Van graduated from SIUC in 1986 and immediately went to work for the USDA where he had an internship as an undergraduate. He soon realized that his talent was in working with people not dirt. Find out how he worked his way up in the Marriott corporation to become one of their most successful general managers nationwide.

Cheryl Russell grew up in the small village of Tamms, Illinois and took music lessons in Carbondale before enrolling at SIUC. Cheryl fondly remembers band director Mike Hanes and others who served as valued mentors throughout her life.

Robert Murphy tells his story about his career as an infectious disease researcher and international medicine. #HIV, #John Philip Phair Professor of Infectious Diseases. #GlobalHealth, #LizPhair https://www.feinberg.northwestern.edu/faculty-profiles/az/profile.html?xid=12723

Robert (Rob) Murphy came to SIUC to study aviation. He graduated in 1974 with a BA in Geography and went on to become an MD specializing in infectious diseases at Northwestern University. He is one of the five founding members of the Northwestern Global Health Foundation. His work focuses on HIV and other diseases in Africa but is of world-wide significance. During the Covid pandemic he kept Chicago informed during a daily feature on WGN TV.

D. Gorton talks about how he became a photographer at the New York Times. While working there he was assigned to Daniel Moynihan, Bella Abzug, Jimmy Carter, and Ronald Reagan. More recently he has been working on a book of photographs documenting the white south during the late 1960s.

D. Gorton, Carbondale native, grew up in the segregated Mississippi Delta town of Greenville, Mississippi. He talks about his life in that environment and his journey to his life as a social justice activist.

In this episode Edna Patterson-Petty speaks about her growth as an artist and her relationship with the art of Senegal.

Today we speak with Reginald Petty and Edna Paterson-Petty about how they met, collecting African Art, and their hopes for East St. Louis.

This episode was recorded at the Petty home in East St. Louis during the spring of 2022. Mr. Petty relates how Dick Gregory convinced him to come to SIUC. His story provides a window to race relations in Carbondale in the Fifties and the importance of Delyte Morris in making things better.

This is a repeat of our interview with sculptor, Richard Hunt that aired August 11, 2021. Richard Hunt received an Honorary Degree in Public Arts from SIUC on Saturday, May, 7 at the spring commencement.

On Saturday, May 7, SIUC awarded Richard Hunt an Honorary Doctorate in Public Art at the spring commencement. We are revisiting the August, 2021 episode to allow more people to hear from this incredible man.

Scott Furtwengler talks about his time in Carbondale where he worked in Morris Library, the people who influenced his life, and his part in the music scene in Carbondale during the 80s and 90s.

Jimmy Wright talks about life after SIU. In this episode we hear about Jimmy's life in New York City, Jean-Michel Basquiat, his series of drawings of gay life before AIDS, Gay art, and how he became part of the movie, Saturday Night at the Baths. Then AIDS changed the world. We hear about how he came to paint his spectacular still lifes.

Jimmy came to SIU after a BFA from the School of the Art Institute. He had just completed a world tour fellowship from the School of the Art Institute. He focused on an MFA in bronze sculpture and printmaking. In this episode Jimmy talks about why he came to Carbondale and talks about his experience, sculpture department chair Tom Walsh, the fire that burned down his house, studio, and most of his artwork. He also describes the origins of the first officially recognized gay student organization, the Gay Liberation Student Group.

Amelia Blakely, a Pulitzer Center Fellow, credits her degree in Philosophy as the inspiration behind her investigative reporting. She spent her final semester in isolation because of the Covid 19 outbreak.

In Tales of Forgotten Chicago, Richard Lindberg shines light on the many small folklore and big stories that make up the rich tapestry that is Chicago. In every engaging chapter gives new insight. We learn of the connection between SIU and the beginnings of the International Special Olympics, the time that John Wilkes Booth walked the stage of McVicker's Theater in downtown Chicago, the day the Beatles came to town, and best of all, who really was milking that famous cow when the Chicago fire began. Tales of Forgotten Chicago is available at your local bookstore and at Tales of Forgotten Chicago | siupress.siu.edu.

H. B. Koplowitz talks about growing up in Carbondale, working at the Daily Egyptian, Morris Library, and his career in journalism. He is the author of the iconic history of Carbondale in the 1960s and 70s, Carbondale After Dark. It is available at: Carbondale After Dark And Other Stories: Expanded Edition: Koplowitz, H B: 9780979139369: AmazonSmile: Books.

Dr. Batinski discusses his new book Forgetting and the Forgotten: A Thousand Years of Contested Histories in the Heartland. It is a history of Jackson County Illinois, published by the SIU Press in January 2022. It is available at your favorite independent books store and at the SIU Press website, http://www.siupress.com/books/978-0-8093-3837-5

Dr. Batinski speaks about his time at SIU and his book, Forgetting and the Forgotten: A Thousand Years of Contested Histories in the Heartland. His book is available at your local bookstore or online at the SIU Press online store at: http://siupress.com/books/978-0-8093-3837-5

Today we return to the Story of retired Air Force Four Star General, Larry O. Spencer. General Spencer has such an inspirational Saluki Story, we decided to revisit our conversation last November.

Keith Davis talks about his time at SIUC as a Cinema and Photography major. He credits the faculty in C&P having a major influence on his career that lead to his role as chief curator of photography at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City. He continues to work with Charles Swedlund, telling the rich history of photography.

Jarrin is a 1994 Graduate of SIUC with a Degree in Mass Communications. He was the Missouri Valley Conference 400 meter hurdles champion in both 1991 (52.83) and 1992 (51.96). He was also all-conference in 1992 (400M hurdles and 4 X 400m relay) and in 1994 (55m hurdles indoors and 110m hurdles outdoors). He now teaches English and is the head boys cross-country coach and assistant track and field coach at Rock Island High School in Rock Island, Illinois.

In this episode Kathryn Harris speaks about how she became a librarian and how that decision culminated in her position as Library Services Director at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum in Springfield, IL. Ms. Harris is known for her portrayal of Harriet Tubman and other historical figures. Through her portrayals she brings history to life for children and adults throughout the years.

Kathryn Harris, retired Director of Library Services at the Abraham Lincoln Library and Museum speaks about her life and family growing up in Carbondale. She also tells me how her experience as a student worker in Morris Library affected her later career. She remembers some of the Morris Library luminaries, Allen Cohn and John Y. Simon.

Greg graduated in 2008 with a BS in Zoology and a 2019 masters degree in Outdoor Recreation and Resource Management. He discusses his mentors at Touch of Nature, Eric Oberg and Steve Garipy. His masters project Paddle for Patriots, took him down the length of the Mississippi River in a kayak. That trip raised $27,000 for veterans at SIUC

Robert Hartley co-authored Death Underground with David Kenney, published by the Southern Illinois University Press in 2006. We speak with him this week because December 22 will be the 70th anniversary of the mine explosion in West Frankfort that killed 119 miners. Coal mines have been core to the Southern Illinois economy. It touched the lives of countless families throughout the region. We discuss the process of writing this history and his craft. He also explains the strength of his collaboration with SIUC political scientist, David Kenney.

Steven Dew was the Lincoln Academy Laureate from SIU while an undergraduate. He talks about his Honors Program classes and the faculty who made an impact on his life. The faculty he mentions are Dennis Galloway, Radio and Television and Jan Thompson, Journalism. He worked on one of the early videos for the SIU Day of Giving, 2018 working with Rebecca Renshaw and Britni Bateman.

Jeremy Finley talks about his career as an investigative reporter for WSMV in Nashville, TN. He has gone undercover to document corruption and traveled the world to report his stories.

Jeremy is the Chief Investigative Reporter for WSMV TV in Nashville, TN. He has received a National Edward 4 Murrow award for investigative reporting and a National Emmy nomination for investigative reporting. Jeremy also has published two novels, The Darkest Time of Night, and, The Dark Above.

General Larry O. Spencer completed his SIUC undergraduate degree in Industrial Technology without ever stepping on the Carbondale campus. He took his classes on one of the many military bases served by the SIU Extended Campus program. General Spencer has an inspiring story to tell. He wrote it down in his book, Dark Horse: General Larry O. Spencer and His Journey from Horseshoe to the Pentagon, is being released November 15. Dark Horse: General Larry O. Spencer and His Journey from the Horseshoe to the Pentagon: Spencer USAF (Ret.), Gen. Larry O.: 9781682477021: AmazonSmile: Books

Juana and her family immigrated from Cheran, Michoaca, Mexico in 1995. They settled in Cobden, IL where they found work in the many apple orchards. They also found a growing community made up of other immigrants from Michoacan. Juana faced many obstacles as she pursued her education but she also found mentors at SIU to encourage pursuit. She is a talented artist who recently had her paintings on exhibition in Morris Library.

Todd talks about his time at SIU and how he and his roommate loaded up a trailer and, the day after graduation, headed for fame and fortune in New York City. The fame and fortune was not as planned but he did find a marvelous career in book publishing. We also talked about his new book, Little Pieces of Hope: Happy-Making Things in a Difficult World.

Michael Tow grew up in Jackson County. While in high school he received a prestigious Horatio Alger scholarship that allowed him to attend John A. Logan College before transferring to SIUC. His studies lead him to a career as a high school teacher at Carbondale High School followed by a teaching career in Washington State. Michael is currently writing a biography of Joe Grace a baseball player from Gorham, IL. Joe played for the St. Louis Browns in the years before and after World War II.