Description
c1900 Michigan State University Morill Hall Wall Plaque Lead/Pewter Relief Bust<br>in Mission Oak Frame. I bought this piece a few years ago from a woman that told<br>me she purchased it from some sort of liquidation sale Michigan State<br>University. I'm still looking for the piece of paper where I had her write it<br>down but It might not turn up for years. I did find that Morill hall was<br>demolished in 2013 which was about 4 years before I bought this piece. I know<br>for a fact it was MSU and I know it was Morill Hall I just don't remember the<br>date she acquired it, not sure if I asked. It seems Morill hall was a women's<br>building in 1900. This piece is for sure that old. I would bet my life it's from<br>1900-1910. It's unsigned, I don't know who the artist or the woman is. I think<br>there's a good chance they're both someone famous. To me this looks to be a one<br>of a kind handmade piece and I don't think there could've been may artists at<br>that time or now capable of such a feat. It has minor wear as shown. It is very<br>heavy. It measures 16" wide x 20" tall. This piece represents quite a bit not<br>just for people interested in Michigan stuff but It's an important part of<br>Women's Educational History and the evolution of this country.<br><br>In December 2012, History said goodbye to Morrill Hall and moved to the Old<br>Horticulture Building.<br><br>Opened in 1900, Morrill Hall was first named the Women’s Building. Though women<br>were admitted to MSU in small numbers beginning in 1870, a women’s course was<br>not introduced until 1896. As the number of women rose, the university need a<br>dormitory—the Women’s Building. The Dean of women had a residence on the first<br>floor and home economics instructors lived on the upper floors. There was space<br>for 120 women students and a dining room, cooking and sewing laboratories, a<br>woodshop, music rooms, and a gym. According to a catalog from the day, women<br>residents were subject “to only such restraints as would be expected in a well<br>regulated Christian family.” By 1926, modifications allowed for the housing of<br>200 women in the building.<br><br>In the mid-1930s, increased enrollment in the Women’s course made necessary the<br>construction of new dormitories. As women students moved into new buildings,<br>Morrill Hall was converted in 1937 into classrooms and offices for the Liberal<br>Arts Division. That year the building was officially named Morrill Hall in honor<br>of Vermont Senator Justin Smith Morrill. He had been instrumental in forging the<br>federal Morrill Act, which established land-grant colleges. The act was critical<br>in the development of higher education in the United States.<br><br>As part of the Liberal Arts Division, History, along with six other departments,<br>established itself in Morrill in 1937. As the department grew, it came to occupy<br>all of the third and fourth floors and parts of the first floor and garden<br>level. English occupied the second floor and Religious Studies part of the<br>first.<br><br>About 100 years after its construction, Morrill’s age began to show. Inspections<br>revealed deterioration in the building’s wooden infrastructure and shallow<br>foundation. In 2010, the MSU Board of Regents decided that repairs were not<br>feasible and approved a plan for demolition.<br><br>Events then unfolded quickly. In summer 2012, English and Religious Studies were<br>moved from Morrill to Wells Hall. Romance<br><br>Old photo of Old Horticulture Building<br>Old Horticulture Building<br><br>Languages, which had been in Old Horticulture, was also moved to Wells. Crews<br>then did minor renovations on Old Hort. History was the last department to<br>vacate Morrill during a move which took several weeks.<br><br>Morrill Hall was demolished in summer 2013. In spring 2014, the Morrill plot was<br>transformed into a green space with benches and gardens arranged in manner so as<br>to emulate the long, wide halls that characterized the old structure.<br><br>Needless to say, the move to Old Hort was time consuming. Faculty packed their<br>own belongings, most of which consisted of books. Crate after crate was then<br>taken by university movers 100 yards across campus. Faculty then unpacked their<br>things and began the process of settling in.<br><br>Old Hort lacks some of the charm of Morrill. Gone are the high ceilings,<br>hardwood floors, large windows looking out at the green, and spacious offices.<br>But Old Hort has proven to have some advantages. The heating system works well,<br>there are no rats, bats or birds inside the building, and the offices, though<br>smaller, are comfortable and roomy enough for multiple bookcases.<br><br>MSU sponsored some updates of Old Hort. But there is still work to be done.<br>Alumni and friends of the department interested in sponsoring room updates and<br>in conference room, office and workspace naming rights are encouraged to contact<br>the department chair for conversations.<br><br>History has started a Morrill Fund to honor the old building and to advance<br>faculty research. For more information, please contact the department chair,<br>Walter Hawthorne.<br><br>*Some information for this piece was derived from History Professor Madison<br>Kuhn’s Michigan State The First One Hundred Years (East Lansing, Michigan State<br>University Press, 1955).
