{"id":1524,"date":"2020-07-13T15:32:42","date_gmt":"2020-07-13T15:32:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/libblogs.luc.edu\/wla\/?p=1524"},"modified":"2026-01-12T21:33:57","modified_gmt":"2026-01-12T21:33:57","slug":"a-wla-detective-adventure-share-your-story-student-life-at-mundelein","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/libblogs.luc.edu\/wla\/2020\/07\/13\/a-wla-detective-adventure-share-your-story-student-life-at-mundelein\/","title":{"rendered":"A WLA Detective Adventure: \u201cShare Your Story: Student Life at Mundelein\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In quarantine these days, I\u2019ve been watching a lot of Murder, She Wrote<\/em>. While admiring the absolute treasure that is Angela Lansbury as mystery author Jessica Fletcher (talk about a Woman in Leadership!), I\u2019ve come to a conclusion: the past, as we know it today, is a detective story. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Dorm Life, 1967, Mundelein College Records<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Like good sleuths, researchers gather evidence, seek expert opinions, and form theories to determine exactly what we can say about the past that will hold up under the scrutiny of a jury of other researchers and the public. A new piece of evidence or a new set of eyes scrutinizing previous findings can turn the case on its head, upending decades-old theories about what really happened. In today\u2019s world, as Americans confront old opinions and stories about the past and about ourselves, many of us are opening our eyes to a whole world of previously unseen evidence and unheard perspectives.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the WLA, we do some sleuthing of our own, yet we\u2019re often the side characters to the researchers\u2014Jessica Fletchers\u2014who visit us to dig for evidence in our archives. Yet if Murder, She Wrote <\/em>has taught me anything, it\u2019s that people are not limited to their initial roles. That\u2019s the stuff of character development and a good plot twist! So in quarantine, we\u2019ve done our own plot twist, pivoting to remote work and envisioning new ways to use, care for, and enrich our collections for future sleuths who come knocking. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Chemistry, undated, Mundelein College Records<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Best of all, we\u2019ve decided to put on our detective caps and channel our inner Angela Lansburys (as I\u2019m confident that we all have one) with a new project: \u201cShare Your Story: Student Life at Mundelein,\u201d<\/a> an oral history project to record interviews with interested Mundelein alumnae about their school experiences.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The idea came as I was doing research for an upcoming timeline of student life at Loyola and Mundelein College.* While the WLA holds a rich collection of papers and other materials from Mundelein\u2019s 60-year history, there is plenty more evidence that was never captured at all, especially when it comes to the student experience\u2014no one could possibly record everything! And sometimes, intriguing evidence (such as the photos featured here) only leaves us with more questions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Like any good sleuth, I started wondering about whether \u201cwitnesses\u201d to Mundelein\u2019s history might be interested in sharing what they remember that could shed some light on these mysteries. I posed the idea of inviting Mundelein alumnae to share their memories and stories of Mundelein with us at the WLA, and \u201cShare Your Story\u201d<\/a> was born. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
Classics, Mundelein College Records<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n