Coe Daily Life - The Great Sadie Finkelstein Hoax

"Her arrival, tinged with gossip, was recorded on the calendar of the 1922 Acorn: "Friday, the 17^th: 'Sadie' makes her first appearance on the campus for the coming year. Understand that she wears a rock on her left hand." Perhaps the most surprising part of learning of this engagement is the fact that Sadie was not a real person at all."


Created as a joke by students in Professor Leroy Coffin's freshman mathematics class, "Sadie's" name was secretly placed onto the roll sheet, and a female student would quietly say "Here!" to continue the charade. Students went so far as to complete an exam for Sadie after finishing their own, and both the professor and registrar were impressed by the excellent grades Sadie managed to pull in.

And so begins the tale of "The Great Sadie Finkelstein Hoax" dreamed up and perpetrated by the class of 1922.  To hear tell of Sadie's time at Coe, as reported by the Cosmos, check out her article on the site "Coe College: The First Hundred years".

~Sara Pitcher, Archives Assistant

Coe College Athletics: Mabel Lee

"She did the cake walk for Buffalo Bill. . . she square-danced with Henry Ford. . . Alonzo Stagg called her "Miss Nebraska” . . . she fought to let women be seen on the campus in bloomers and tangled with a sheriff when women danced in flowing chiffon around a May Pole. She is Mabel Lee,” said Roby Kesler in 1978.

Mabel Lee graduated from Coe in 1908.  She returned to Coe in 1910 to spend eight years as the Director of Physical Education for Women.  She startied two (now defunct) Coe traditions her first year: The May Fete, and The Colonial Ball.

Mabel would go on to be the first elected female president of the American Alliance for Health, Physical Education and Recreation and the first female president of the American Academy of Physical Education.  In 1932 she presided over the women's sessions of the Los Angeles Olympics in place of Lady Lou Hoover.  In 1982 Lee was honored by the President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports as one of the five women in the nation who meant the most to the women of the country in the area of fitness.  This athletic diva refused to slow down and at the age of 85 began a career as an author.  She published four books before her death at the ripe age of 99.  There is much more to know about her story.  You can read the full article on Mabel Lee on "Coe College: the First Hundred Years" along with many other tales of athletics at Coe.

~Sara Pitcher, Archives Assistant

Coe College Campus: The Victory Bell

Another week, another tab on the site “Coe College: the First Hundred Years.”   This week it is 'The Campus', containing 'The Buildings of Coe' and 'The Attractions of Coe'.  One attraction being the "Victory Bell".

The Victory Bell: Celebrating 76 Years of Victories

“O mighty bell, thy power is great;
Your vibrant tones ecstatic swell,
And speak again of kindly fate
Thy notes are notes we all love well.


Ring out and tell of vict’ry won,
With penetrating tones, O bell.
Whene’er you speak, to live is fun;
When you keep still, to live is –!”

Roteiv
Cosmos November 12, 1925

Students first encounter the Victory Bell during orientation week when they ring it to signal the beginning of their career at the college.  This tradition, having begun in 1992, is relatively new to the bell .  The bell itself is also new having been donated by the class of 2000, but the tradition of a Victory Bell goes back to 1913.

The class of 1913 were the first to donate a Victory Bell to the college.  Athletics at Coe was going through a loosing streak at the time and the students decided that the athletes needed more collegiate support, hence the Victory Bell was born.  Over the years the bell has been apart of many traditions, been many bells, and traveled around the campus to many locations.  Check out the article, "The Victory Bell" on “Coe College: the First Hundred Years” to read the full story of it's journey.

~Sara Pitcher, Archives Assistant

Coe College Events: Colonial Ball

"Coe History: the First Hundred Years" divides its events tab into three categories: annual traditions, disasters,  and special events.  Currently there are six Coe events covered on the website, surprisingly Flunk Day is not one of them.

An annual tradition from 1911-1961 was the Colonial Ball.  The ball celebrated George Washington's birthday with an all female banquet and dance in colonial period costume.  Over the years the celebration evolved to include toasts, George  Washington (an honor similar to a homecoming queen) and dance performances.  If you did not catch it when mentioned above this was a ladies only event with half the attendees dressing in colonial styled drag.

While some may find it odd that men were not included in this celebration, the young ladies apparently preferred an all-female dance, as evident in this Cosmos article describing preparations for the 1921 Colonial Ball: "Once a year the men of the College find that they are not indispensable. The fair damsels plunge into an orgy of costume and date making about which, if questioned, they reply sweetly that the mere man is not in on this." 

To read the full article on the Colonial Ball go here.

~Sara Pitcher, Archives Assistant

Coe College Publications: Zip n' Tang

What do the Caravan, The Courier, Zip n' Tang, The Cosmos, and the Freshman Folio all have in common?  They are Coe publications featured on the website "Coe College: the First Hundred Years."  For those publications you don't recognize the site gives a description of its history and place on campus (a few weren't necessarily sanctioned).  For those you do, the site supplies bits of trivia you may not know (quick who was the first editor of the Cosmos?).

One of the publications featured on the site is the Zip n' Tang.  The Zip n' Tang was a student owned humor magazine that was published from 1929-1936.  In 1929, when the magazine began, the faculty refused to sanction it forcing its offices off campus and the publication into private ownership.  The Zip n' Tang was owned by its editors who sold the publication to the following years editors until 1936 when the college bought it and shut it down.  This publication was loved and hated by students in equal measure.  Loved for its humor and popular material hated for its Razz issue.

This hatred of the Razz issue was due to an entire section dedicated to sorority gossip, where there was something written for every girl in every sorority on campus. With six sororities averaging thirty girls in each, this was a considerable amount of gossip. The Razz issue contained this editorial: "We desire to have it spread abroad before every one on campus starts snobbing us, that we (editorial we) did NOT write the razz about all the sorority girls, but instead, all of that was written by co-eds, most of which were in the sorority about which they wrote. (So take that and that and that!) Some of the cracks weren't exactly flattering, but as I said before, what do you expect for fifteen cents - a bunch of roses?" Comments ranged from "sweet and innocent" to "she's always near beer and pretzels" and "her sudden crush on a certain person ought to be bad news to Frank W.; or hasn't he heard of it yet. Everyone else has."

To get the full story of this controversial Coe publication see the article on "Coe College: The First Hundred Years" here.

~Sara Pitcher, Archives Assistant

Coe College People: C.D. "Dad" Meyers, Custodian of Coe

The People tab on the site "Coe College History: the First Hundred Years" is broken down into sub-categories.  Are you interested in Coe's Alumni or it's Presidents?  How about Friends or Visitors?  You can also choose from Faculty, Staff and Trustees.  In all more than 60 individuals from Coe's history are recorded here.  You may be surprised on who you find.

One of the individuals remembered is C.D. "Dad" Meyers, Custodian of Coe.  Mr. Meyers, or Dad as he was affectionately nicknamed,  was Coe's custodian from 1893-1922.  He dedicated 29 years to the college and retired only when health complications made it difficult to complete his work.  He was 80 at the time.  A search of student publications from those years will reveal poems, verses, and cartoons depicting this beloved custodian, one of which is recorded on "Coe College History: the First Hundred Years":

In the halls of old Coe College
Of the great and famed Coe College
Stands our Prof of Dust and Ashes
Mr. Myers of dust-pan fame.
How he sweeps and dusts and shovels,
How he rakes and mows the campus,
How he yells for old Coe College,
For the great and famed Coe College.

You can find another one on page 6 and 7 of the Ditty Book by Don Chilcote and "Buddy" Burrows.  Most often Mr. Myers was depicted in his duties taking care of the lawn:

Known for his lawn care, Myers would instruct students at the beginning of each school term to keep off the grass. "Then, as if by magic, fences spring up across the places where people have been accustomed to make short cuts, and flower beds are dug up and planted. Soon comes the time when Mr. Myers can show his true worth. When this green grass springs up and begins to lengthen, then his portly form may be seen calmly and serenely following the lawn lower as it makes its regular trips across the campus...thus comes our beautiful campus," The Acorn, 1903.

A busy man, he still found time to attend Coe's athletic events and swap stories with the boys.  You can find the full article on this beloved custodian here.

~Sara Pitcher, Archives Assistant

Coe College Histories: "The Four Lamb Brothers of Coe College"

Under the Histories tab on the website "Coe College History: the First Hundred Years" you can find six full text histories of Coe College.  One of these histories is "The four Lamb Brothers of Coe College", written by Harris Lamb '27.  For seven years (1920-1927) Coe had two Lamb brothers on campus each year.  The two elder brothers (Clyde and Ray) made sure to finish their education in three years so as to be out of College when their identical twin brothers (Harris and Willis)  entered, saving their parents the worry of having four boys in college at once.  Harris went on to dedicate more than thirty years to Coe as an athletic Coach and then alumni director.  His history of Coe is full of antidotes and stories of Coe College in the 1920s through the 1970s.

Below is an excerpt from pages 11-13, when Harris was the football coach:

In 1945, we played Cornell.  Cornell still had the Navy unit.  We had no business playing them.  They were outstanding.  They had just tremendous players.  Anyway, it's a game.  It doesn't make a lot of difference whether or not you win or lose, but of course you like to win.  But, we played Cornell, and I thought the coach of Cornell would make it a good game.  He would not run up the score.  Listen.  that afternoon Cornell College beat us 52-14.  They walloped us.  Ozzie Brahos '48 caught a pass and he ran for one touchdown, I remember.

The next game was with Beloit.  Dolph Stanley saw the score in the paper.  Right away he's on the telephone.  He says, "Harris, are you comin'?"  I says, "Why sure, Dolph.  We're going to be there for the game this Saturday." "Well." he says, "I thought maybe you'd be quitting."  "No," I says.  "We'll be there."  Well, I had Bob Tvrdik '46 and Bob Wessale '46 and, oh, a few good players.  But I know we had Bud Collette '50, who was a tennis player at Franklin high school.  He played one of our ends.  We didn't really have an outstanding team.

So, on the telephone Dolph says, "Now, Harris, we're going to be very, very fair with your.  We won't do what Cornell did. I says, "That's all right.  It would be nice of you not to beat us too much."

So, when we get up there, I'm out on the field.  The team's starting to warm up.  It was a night game.  I looked over at the Beloit team and he had 'em.  Boy, he had the horses, big chunky tackles from Chicago.  They looked even bigger and better than Cornell.

Dolph came over to me and he said, "Say, Harris, you know I told you on the telephone that we would take it easy, but....." he said, "I noticed in the paper tonight they've got us predicted to beat you about 35-0."  He said, "I just got to let them go; I can't keep that score down less than 35."

I turned to him and this is a quote.  I said, "Dolph, I told you on the phone that we would treat you fair if we had a good team.  Well, I don't have a very good team, but if we should be lucky enough to ever beat you, it won't be by a big score."

Well, he left me.  I went to the dressing room.  I told those guys, "That dang crook!  He said he was going to take it easy on us.  He isn't! He's going to wallop us!"

I never had a team so keyed up in my life.  I said, "Now, doggone you guys, you gotta fight and you gotta play for inches...inches...and you got to hit with all your might!"

Well, we went out there.  I've never seen such a football game.  That big Beloit College football team...cocky, smart...they were going to run all over us.  Well, boy, our team wasn't good, but we matched them touchdown for touchdown.  We did beat them one touchdown, 33-27.  I couldn't believe it!  Bob Tvrdik threw a pass, and Bud Collette.....I don't think he ever caught a touchdown pass in his life!  He grabbed that pass in the end zone, just jumped up over that Beloit half-back, and pulled it in and we won the ball game.

After the game you usually greet the other coach.  I never did see Dolph Stanley.  That night before we left we didn't get our contract check.  He was so disappointed, he was so mad, he was so upset, that the check, our guarantee, was mailed to me.  Oh, listen, that Coe team defeated Beloit up there when we weren't supposed to even have a team on the field.

The full text of Harris Lamb's history of Coe can be found here.  These are the stories the alumni tell of the 'good ol' days' sprinkled with a few wrong twin clarifications.  It is all around a good time.

~Sara Pitcher, Archives Assistant

Coe College History: The First Hundred Years

"Coe College History: the First Hundred Years" is a website containing articles on Coe's history written by Writing Center Students since 2009 (at least).  If you haven't stumbled across this gem of a site I highly suggest checking it out.

The site organizes Coe's history into 7 categories: histories, people, publications, events, the campus, athletics, and daily life.  It also includes a timeline to help keep everything straight.  Over the next 7 weeks I am going to pick an article from each of these categories to give you a taste of  Coe's varied history, and to show you what you can find on this resource.

This week you get a clip from the sites timeline of Coe College.

In the beginning:

1851
-Rev. Williston Jones and his wife open a school ("The School of the Prophets") in parsonage of Presbyterian Church;  his intent is to prepare young men for the ministry; school also includes three young women.

1853
-New York farmer Daniel Coe donates $1,500 to support Jone's school which will provide equal education opportunities for both men and women.
-The Cedar Rapids Collegiate Institute is incorporated.  Trustees purchase an 80-acre farm.
-David Blakely is hired as principal  of the Institute.

1855
-Cedar Rapids Collegiate Institute is suspended due to low attendance.
-Institute's Board attempts to give acquired property to the Iowa City Presbytery; offer is declined.

1867
-Many of the original founders of the Cedar Rapids Collegiate Institute create Parson's Seminary, in hopes of securing financial support from the Parsons estate.
-Parson's Seminary begins its three-year span.

1868
-Parson's Seminary Building, the west half of Old Main, is completed in the summer; used by the seminary beginning in the fall of its second year.

1869
-Parsons Seminary Board report in February records institutional debt at $7,000.

1870
-Due to declining enrollments and increasing debts, the Parsons Seminary suspends operations at conclusion of spring term.

1872
-New fund-raising efforts are made to begin a new Presbyterian college in Cedar Rapids.

1875
-Trustees vote to put Parsons Seminary to rest and incorporate a new school, the Coe Collegiate Institute.
-On September 1, Robert Aaron Condit is appointed Principal of the Coe Collegiate Institute.
-Coe Collegiate Institute starts its first term on October 1 with 40 pupils.

1876
-Institute establishes a Conservatory of Music with C. W. Kidder serving as its principal.
-Fall term enrollment for 1876 is 160 students.

1879
-First graduates of Coe Collegiate Institute receive their diplomas in June.  Commencement exercises at the First Presbyterian Church.  Six graduates; Miss Maggie S. Cooper is valedictorian.

1880
-Institute's second graduate class, two graduate.
-Announcement during the school year; the Institute will become Coe College.

I resisted adding comments to the timeline as I typed it out, but I will tell you there are many stories behind and between the events listed above.  There is even one event I would dispute (was the school really first called "The school of the Prophets"?).

Next week will take a look at one of the published histories on "Coe College History: The First Hundred Years".

~Sara Pitcher, Archives Assistant