1959 Buffalonian Talking Page 45 rpm record

Collection — Oversize-box: UAOS 1, Item: 9

Identifier: 9-6-1389

Staff Only

Scope and Contents*

The recording crackles to life, then bursts into fanfare. The announcer, in full radio voice, narrates the “talking page,” a 45-rpm disc included with the 1959 Buffalonian yearbook. Together, they provided “a verbal, as well as a pictorial résumé of the year’s activities.”

We hear of exciting news from all corners of the university. The football team had its best year ever. Count Basie performed at the Alpha Phi Delta Winter Dance. A scientist from the Bell Aircraft Corporation presented a lecture on rockets and the space age.

Finally, the charming 11-minute record draws to a close with an instrumental version of UB’s alma mater, signaling the end of an era for the Class of ’59, but also the beginning of a new adventure. Chancellor Clifford C. Furnas lent his voice to the 45, offering this message to graduating students: “With the loss of hair or the graying of hair or perhaps getting just a little bit paunchy, may you always be prouder year by year of your alma mater, the University of Buffalo.”

Similar to an old-time radio show, the narrator of the “talking page” is accompanied by a gamut of sound effects, including a ringing alarm clock and a yawn; Hayes Hall clock’s Westminster chimes; footsteps falling on campus pavement; and the ka-chunking rhythm of an IBM machine shooting out mid-semester grades.

*Text from “Objectology: The Sounds of College,” by Rebecca Rudell, in At Buffalo, Summer 2016. Online, along with a digital file of the record, at http://www.buffalo.edu/atbuffalo/article-page-summer-2016.host.html/content/shared/www/atbuffalo/articles/Summer-2016/in-every-issue/objectology.detail.html

Dates

1959

Terms of Access and Use

The 1959 Buffalonian Talking Page 45 rpm record is open to researchers.

Copyright

Copyright is held by The State University of New York at Buffalo. Copyright in other papers in the collection may be held by their authors, or the authors' heirs or assigns. Researchers must obtain the written permission of the holder(s) of copyright and the University Archives before publishing quotations from materials in the collection. Most papers may be copied in accordance with the library's usual procedures unless otherwise specified.

Historical Note

The first general student yearbook was the Iris. Published from 1898-1907, and 1920-1932, the Iris was succeeded by the Buffalonian.

The inaugural issue of the Buffalonian appeared in 1934. It was on February 26, 1934, that Norton Union opened, and the title page for the first issue of the Buffalonian proudly states “Published by the Associated Students of the University of Buffalo at Norton Hall on the University Campus.”

The Buffalonian was the yearbook for all UB students for only one year. In the 1935 medical and dental students launched a combined yearbook called the Medentian. When the Buffalonian ceased publication in 2001, it marked the end of a yearbook for undergraduates.

Extent

1 Phonograph record(s)

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Abstract

11 minute 45 rpm record included with the 1959 Buffalonian yearbook; includes a message from Chancellor Clifford C. Furnas and summary of campus events for the year.

Arrangement

Collection is one item.

Acquisition Information

Item found in collection 5/3/31, Development Office, Clifford C. Furnas records in August 2019. No note of the record was present in documentation of 5/3/31. In August 2019, record was removed from 5/3/31 to form this collection. The true acquisition is unknown; presumably transferred to University Archives with a copy of the 1959 Buffalonian yearbook.