Something Unique on eBay:

“This is a very rare 2 volume set, “Lake Maxinkuckee A Physical and biological survey” published in 1920 by the Department of Conservation, State of Indiana. Authors were Evermann and Clark. Please excuse the pix, as I do not want to open the binding wide & risk damaging it. IF YOU ARE A CULVER ALUMNUS, this set is a MUST!!

The first volume is chock full of great color prints of most of the fish known to inhabit Lake Maxinkuckee around 1900 - 1910. (I wonder how many survive today?) Perhaps the most striking feature of this set is the folded BEAUTIFUL MAP of the lake, measuring two feet wide and more than 1 1/2 foot high (see pix). This map, a fine woodcut, carefully details the depth contours of the lake, and would make a terrific framed picture, if one were creepy enough to remove it from the book.

***NOTE*** in the map pix are some dark lines;THESE ARE ARTIFACTS OF THE LIGHTING and are not present in the pix. I did not want to risk damaging the map by pressing it flat just to take a photo.

The second volume contains descriptions of all the plants, insects, seaweeds, etc. known to inhabit the lake and its immediate surroundings.

This set represents a monumental effort - never to be repeated - to assess the physical and biological aspects of lake Maxinkuckee. There is even a large treatise, complete with many tables and much data, dealing with the depth of the ice each winter for several years!!

ALL YOU FAITHFUL CULVER ACADEMY ALUMNI (Nee CMA, Culver Military Academy) this set is a MUST for your library. I doubt if you will find a set again. S&H $30 (the set will be carefully boxed and padded); insurance is extra and optional. Foreign shipping $50.
,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤øø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸” …Read the rest of this entry…

Posted by Mr. Flora at 1:19 AM

Yeah, me neither…

Here’s another vintage Culver Summer School’s ad available on eBay. The text reads:

“There’s is [sic] nothing that will “round out” a boy for a winter’s study like a vacation spent at Culver. The boy will like it too. Three sparage and distinct schools furnish an outlet, in well directed play, for all pent-up energy. Write to-day for a catalogue of the school that appeals. Naval School–minimum age 14: tuition and boar $200. Cavalry–14, $225. Woodcraft–12, $200. Uniforms and equipment $55.60 to $99.15. Address.”

I love how the ad starts off declaring how great camp is, and then off-handedly mentions “oh yeah, and the boy will enjoy it too!” Weird.

Buy this ad for your Culver-bilia collection.

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While in Culver, check out our lighthouse! There is quite a story behind this structure, but suffice it to say that it was used, as far back as at least 1895, to signal Lake Maxinkuckee’s steamboats that a train had arrived at the station bringing hundreds of visitors to the lake for recreation in those days when people traveled here by the thousands to swim, picnic, visit friends around the lake, or visit the Academy. Roads were terrible, and train and boat travel was the norm.

The lighthouse, slowly falling into disrepair over the years, finally went down after it sustained damage in the “Big Wind” of the summer of 1913. Thanks to a photo from the CMA catalog of 1895 (provided by Academies’ archivist Bob Hartman), we now know that the original lighthouse was built well before the 1900 date we had originally believed.

 At any rate, those who have been around Culver this past winter will be familiar with the whole story: the Antiquarian and Historical Society of Culver donated a re-creation of the lighthouse to the town park in October, 2005. This was destroyed by vandals in January of 2006, which shocked the town and got a lot of local folks involved in helping re-create the re-creation! What was eventually erected in the town park, just a matter of weeks ago, was a much sturdier, finely crafted reproduction of the 1895 structure, complete with specially-made copper dome. The existing lighthouse, as photos reveal, is much larger than the original, but it’s a nice tribute to the rich history of the lake, the town, and the Academy. Stop by Culver’s town park (the public beach area) on Lake Shore Drive and take a look!

More photos — and history — of the original lighthouse here.

Also, Civil War and local (Culver-Lake Max area) history buffs may be interested in this. Ray Boomhower, author of The Pen and the Sword, a biography of Civil War General and Ben Hur author Lew Wallace, will be speaking at 10am on Saturday, July 22, at the Antiquarian and Historical Society of Culver’s July gathering at the Wurster cottage on East Shore Lane. Boomhower will also appear at the library downtown for a book signing at 1pm. Lew Wallace is said to have written the first few chapters of his blockbuster novel (most famous for the 1950s, award-winning film version with Charlton Heston) at the Allegheny house just east of Culver Academy. More on that here.  Wallace was an amazing guy…besides his Civil War and writing career, he was head of the trial of the assasination of President Lincoln, and was — among other things — a U.S. ambassador.

All are invited and both events are free, so come check it out!

A recent addition to the library’s history website:

The Culver Calendar from the 1940s ((probably the late 40s) includes a photo for each week of the year. Some — though not all — of these photos were taken by Col. Edward Payson. More of his Culver Calendar photos can be seen here.

The Tuxis Program has long been a crucial part of Culver Summer Camps, providing every Culver Upper Camper the opportunity to earn a medal to wear with his or her dress A by completing a series of merit-badge style accomplishments as set forth by their Culver Summer Camps Tuxis Director. Third classmen may earn their bronze tuxis medal, second classmen have their silver to work towards, while first classmen set their sights on the gold tuxis. Each of these medals is progressively more difficult to earn with the understanding that moving up in rank at Culver means you have to perform at a higher level.

But how hard is it to earn you Tuxis medal? And how have the Tuxis standards fared over the years? Should there be more testing involved? less testing? more sports? less? What about those pesky Tuxis essays people work on, or their Tuxis collages.

I’m curious to hear what you think about the general level of challenge to the TUXIS program. In fact I’m starting a new poll on the front page about it, so weigh in with a vote there and your comments in the thread in Main Guard.

Finally to adress the questions about changing Tuxis standards I present to you an honest goodness 1920 Silver Tuxis Sheet that I tracked down using our new Ebay section just last week. What do you think of the point requirements? Any of them stand out? Let’s take a look…

…Read the rest of this entry…

As part of the festivities taking place on the board tomorrow night (click here to learn more) we’ll be unveiling some really tremendous vintage Culver documents that have recently come into my possession.  I don’t want to spill too many beans before I go live with them but let me say that a certain someone has been winning some Ebay auctions recently…one of these is a real screamer that you’ll all love…

Looking forward to tomorrow night!

RSVP for the reunion here. Think of some ideas for what we can talk about too!

As the date draws nearer for camp to start this summer, I know that I — and my nearly 3-year-old son, if he only knew it! — am looking forward to Sunday afternoon parades starting….as well as Saturday night Council Fires, seeing the Ledbetter out on the water more often, the Moonlight Serenade, the sailboats on the lake each afternoon…Culver in the summer!

Presented here is an early 1960s postcard from the collection of Pete Trone, who himself was involved in Culver Summer Camps for years, has some great stories, and is one of our great local resources as a fount of historical knowledge. As always, click to enlarge the image. The Woodcraft camp, of course, had not long been re-created on the east side of SR 117 (East Shore Drive), where today it remains, and the cabins in this photo look new and shiny to me!

Browsing around our Summer Camp photos to find this one, another one caught my attention, relating also to the Black Horse Troop, or at least to horsemanship, so I’m throwing it in here. I don’t know the specific origin of this photo, but it comes from the collection of beloved, longtime Culver barber (retired) Verl Shaffer, and depicts a very early scene of the “rougher, tougher” days of Troop, when campers marched all day at times, camped in the field at night, carried canons by horseback, etc., etc. It would be interesting to know exactly where they’re riding in this picture, and exactly when, but I found this an interesting photo…

Had a happy moment just today when Culver resident Sandra Wakefield (who is also head of our Friends of the Library organization) dropped off a bag of old Academy Roll Call yearbooks from the 1950s. To be exact, 1953, 54, 56, 57, and 58! I realize these are winter school books, but they were so beautifully photographed and give such a good peek into the students and campus of the day, they’re wonderful to see. They’re also a real treasure, from my point of view, as I know they’re collectable and rare. We MIGHT own one or two earlier Roll Call’s in our history collection, but they don’t tend to come our way very often, so this is great. Sandy’s husband, Rudy, worked for years for the Culver Press (located then in what is today’s Town Hall building on Plymouth Sreet in Culver), which did much of the Academy’s printing in those days, so occasionally we get some nice donations to our collection from Sandy and Rudy.

The point is: there are some old Roll Calls in addition to other neat Culver history items (like Summer School catalogs and the like) here at the library, and any of you who are in Culver this summer (or any time!) are welcome and encouraged to drop by and spend some time in our history area browsing the collection. You’re free to bring a scanner or digital camera, too, if you’d like to digitize a favorite image or two.

Incidentally, I’ll be doing a presentation here at the library this month on Culver history: “Daniel McDonald, the Railroad, and the Origins of Culver as We Know It” on Saturday, June 24 at 10am for the Antiquarian and Historical Society of Culver’s annual meeting. The meeting and my talk — which includes a Power Point full of photos — is open to everyone, and there should be coffee and refreshments. So drop by and take a listen, come up and say hi, have some coffee and relax! And hey, think about siging up as a member of the Antiquarian Society…they’re a great group that does a lot of good relating to Culver history…

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Mr. Flora suggested this one, and I agree…it’s the complete Naval School catalog from…well, I’m not sure the exact year. Perhaps I’ve missed the date listing on it, but I couldn’t find it. It’s the 1960s, at any rate. There’s some beautiful photography in there, of course, and lots of vintage detail about the Naval School offerings of the day.

I have to thank Dr. John Houghton for the donation of this, and other Culver artifacts to the library for our collection. If you’re not familiar with John, besides being a Culver grad and former teacher at the Academy, he’s a scholar with a lengthy pedigree. Goculver.com readers will be likely to enjoy his 2005 novel, “Rough Magicke,” which is set at Culver and features TONS of Culver-pedia sorts of detail. It’s fun to read the thing and try to pick out landmarks and people we all know, but it’s all the more interesting because the actual plot is part ‘Harry Potter,’ part theological mystery thriller, and part military school fiction. You’ll want to check out his website here as well — it’s a “fake” military prep school website designed around the fictional school in his novel based on Culver…if that makes any sense!

I interviewed John (his picture’s at left) for a library event about his book last year, and asked him about the Culver connections in his novel. You can read the interview here. John also wrote a series of articles for the local newspaper, The Culver Citizen in the 1970s on Culver history, and there’s some fantastic information in there. You can read those on our website here.

I didn’t intend this post to turn into one about John, but his work is worth investigating for the “Culverite”!

Back to the Naval School catalog: you can view this catalog either as a slideshow here, or as a gallery of clickable thumbnails here. The images are kind of large, so I apologize. If you’re using dialup, you’re probably going to want to start with the thumbnail gallery so you can pick and choose your images.

If you didn’t know, that catalog comes from an ever-growing collection of complete, scanned vintage catalogs, yearbooks, booklets, and other historical publications on our website. You can browse the current offerings here…but check back, we’re adding more all the time!

Up on Ebay right now for 4 bucks: …Read the rest of this entry…

These images (click them to view full-size, of course) are from the town of Culver rather than the Academy proper, but I was digging through some images I haven’t yet added to the library’s website, and these jumped out at me. I found them in the 1942 editions of the Culver Citizen newspaper last year while hunting for some other story. With Memorial Day on the way, I thought it fitting to post a few wartime pics from the past.

Those who have spent much time at Culver Academy may be familiar with the little movie theater here — I think its official title is Lakeside Cinema now — but may not know that, in the 1950s, it was one of the few theaters in the US to utilize the audio technology that eventually evolved into today’s “surround sound.” In those days, it was the El Rancho theater, and it served not only as an entertainment venue, but also as the site for some churches to meet during interim periods. In 1954, for example, when the existing St. Mary of the Lake Catholic Church burned to the ground, the church met for Mass at the movie theater while funds were being raised to construct the current church!

The newspapers from those early war years were full of stories of how the town of Culver and the Academy, respectively, pulled together to help the war effort (the Academy campus, I am told, had regular security patrols for the cadets and of course many, many Culver men went off to fight in the war, and many didn’t make it back). I thought that the examples here of small-town junk rallies illustrate how a small community like Culver pulled together during those times, young and old alike. The picture above is from November, 1942.

Incidentally, the movie theater, you’ll notice, was owned by the Hoesel family. The same family today owns the movie theater in downtown Plymouth, on Michigan Street. I also found it interesting to note the movie that kids could get into if they brought a tire that day: “Holiday Inn” starring Fred Astaire and Bing Crosby.

The other image, an advertisement/poster for a “Junk Rally” in Culver from September of 1942, notes that the junk is to be brought to “Pura’s yard” on Main Street. Pura owned the town scrap yard, which I’m told was a bit of an eyesore in its day, and part of which sat where the Culver Cove is today…a bit of a change in appearance!

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(editor’s note: Go Culver.com welcomes a new voice to the blog, Mr. Jeff Kenney, the Programming and Technology Coordinator at the Culver-Union Twp. Public Library in Culver, IN. jkenney will be contributing regular blog posts drawing from the library’s resources and dropping by the forums now and again.)

Part of my job as (among other things) unofficial “archivist” at the Culver-Union Twp. Public Library has been gathering and digitizing tons of Culver-related memorabilia. Some of you have probably found your way to the library’s history site, which has thousands of images and full-text writings about Culver history, both summer and winter school, and relating to the town, the lake, etc….fun stuff!

Mr. Flora kindly invited me to become a part of the community here at goculver.com, which is a fantastic site that’s inspired me to work on making the library’s site (which I edit and maintain) more interactive. So, I’ll be posting here from time to time with the occasional old picture, anecdote, link, news item, etc. …Read the rest of this entry…

For today I bring you some truly interesting background on summer camps courtesy of the American Camp Association:

“The camp experience is a unique American tradition. With more than 140 years of history, camp as we know it today has its roots deeply planted in American soil. But while clothing, music, and pastimes have changed over the years, camp has always been a place where children could prepare to be productive and healthy adults in the context of fun and games.”

…Read the rest of this entry…

Nature’s greatest gift=radiant health. *slaps forehead* Doh!

This just turned up on ebay. Heh. Lots more auctions like it in the Culver Memorabilia section.

DISCUSS

Take a look at the "Purpose of School" page from the 1911 Naval School Catalog over on the Lake Maxinkuckee Historical Site:

"Nine years ago the Culver Military Academy planted the first session of the its Summer School and announced its purpose on this page. This purpose was in brief to afford an attractive and really profitable summer outing for boys; to furnish a properly balanced combination of work and play that would give a full measure of wholesome relaxation and pleasure and at the same time provide an effective substitute for the haphazard summer with its aimlessness and mental inertia."

Observation: The old-timey language used here is kind of funny. "Wholesome relaxation and pleasure" indeed!

But keep reading:

"It also solves effectively what has long been a problem to thoughtful teachers and parents, it gives a chance for the boy backward in his studies to make them up without sacrificing his vacation, and an opportunity for the boy who is regular in his studies to keep his mind fit by a little mental exercise each day…"

Observation: Nothing funny here. In fact the language above is just as relevant today as it was 90 years ago. Pretty impressive how little has changed in 90 years. Some smart people running the show back then. "The more things change the more they"…right?

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