Fowler Courts Residence Hall records

Collection — Multiple Containers

Identifier: UA 43

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

The Fowler Courts Residence Hall records document the history of Fowler Courts Residence Hall and Fowler House. The records include annual reports, orientation guidebooks and handbooks, faculty fellow directories, yearbooks and calendars. Also included are Purdue Residence Hall dress code standards and guest hours polices from the 1960s-1980s.

Historical documents consist of background information on the closing of Harrison Street Courts and the transition to South Campus Courts, the naming of Fowler Courts, Fowler Courts awards and scholarships and the Courtier crest.

Various memorabilia include a booklet compiled by former residents and staff, newsletters and programs.

Photographs dating back to the Fowler Poultry Science Building are included; Fowler House, the area that became the kitchen and dining area for Fowler Courts residents used to be the old poultry show pavilion.

Dates

circa 1920s - 1993
Majority of material found within 1954 - 1993

Creator

Purdue University (Organization)

Language of Materials

Collection material is in English.

Access Information

The collection is open for research.

Copyright and Use Information

Historical Information

The first Courtiers lived three blocks south of the Purdue Memorial Union on Harrison Street. These men lived in the first type of court building and called themselves the Harrison Hundred. The court style of housing was so successful that the Harrison Hundred soon became the "Courtier 1,000," two years later, in 1955, when the new courts were built along State Street.

In the fall of 1965, State Street Courts were renamed Fowler Courts. This was done in honor of James M. Fowler who was born in Lafayette and who spent most of his life in the community. Few business projects in northwest Indiana were handled without some involvement of the Fowler family. Mr. Fowler gave much of the land on which the University stands and was treasurer of the Board of Trustees from 1890 until 1929; the year before he died. Fowler House, the main building in the courts and where the dining hall was located, was named after Mr. Fowler’s son and was formally named The Harriet Fowler and James M. Fowler Jr. Memorial House.

As the student organization in the Courts grew to include Residence Halls Apartments South, many special interest groups were formed, as well as the overall Courtier government. Because of the needs of these groups, facilities and equipment were soon made available for the residence hall radio station (WKHJ) and darkroom facilities for Courtier photographers, referred to as Photoshop.

Social programs also developed rapidly, and came to include two annual dances: Mistletoe Madness and the Snowflake Fantasy dinner dance in February. In addition to the annual events, several informal dances became traditional as well as events such as the Halloween Party, children's Christmas party and Madan Carroll Boat Dance.

At the completion of the 1992-1993 school year, Fowler Courts were torn down to create parking spaces and to make way for what later became First Street Towers. Fowler House is currently used for the Department of Child Development and Family Studies. In July 2011, the Miller Child Learning Center and the CDFS Child Development Laboratory School were combined to form one facility with classrooms in Fowler Memorial House and Hanley Hall.

Extent

1.09 Cubic Feet (Three letter-size full-width manuscript boxes)

Additional Description

Arrangement

The records have been arranged into six series. The material in each series is arranged chronologically.

Annual Reports
Annual Orientation Guidebooks and Handbooks
Faculty Fellows Directories
Fowler Courts Yearbooks
Calendars
Photographs, Historical Information, Memorabilia and Artifacts

Acquisition Information

The sources and dates of acquisition of much of the material is unknown. Courtier crests items and Fowler Poultry Science Building and Fowler House photographs donated by Marlene Sue Jacks, widow of Purdue alum, Merrill L. Jacks.