Talent Show Preparation (1960) - CARLI Digital Collections Featured Image

This last week was an extraordinarily busy one on our campus. Many of the 20 hours each day that the library is open, every available seat is filled by students who are researching topics for speeches, writing annotated bibliographies for their upcoming research papers, and getting together to practice group presentations.

And in the School of Music, students are doing all of these things and more, as they prepare for lessons, recitals, concerts, and other performances. This weekend, the university's choral ensembles and symphony orchestra will perform Beethoven's 9th Symphony. The extra hours for rehearsal and performances weigh on their already busy schedules, but anyone I've talked to is so excited for the opportunity, which doesn't come along very often!

I was struck by this photo of University of St. Francis students preparing for a talent show, this very same week of the semester, in 1960. The photo originally appeared in the USF student newspaper, The Interlude, with the caption: "Chasing away halloween ghosts and goblins and a the same time getting set for the all-school talent show are Joanne Zumer, Paula Krzicnik, Mary Ann Niemiec, Celine Bush and, on the piano, Jo Cappadonna." They, too, seem glad for the opportunity to focus on something other than schoolwork as they get ready to strut their stuff, and keep the monsters away!

Written by Anne Shelley, Music/Multimedia Librarian, Illinois State University

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