Man's Best Friend

In the 1943 yearbook I found a reference to the "cavalry motto" on the barn by the "new" vet building. I think this means the horse barn, and that would make the cavalry motto "Man's Best Friend." Has anyone found or heard anything else about the inscription on the barn?

That yearbook also lots of pictures of barns on campus, but it's hard to put them in context with our barn. What year were the other barns moved away?

Also, there are frequent mentions of barn dances around this time, and it sounds like some of them may have actually been held in barns. Any stories about dances in the horse barn?

W.L. Skidmore

In my quest to find out more about W.L. Skidmore, Architect I have discovered that he is NOT related to Skidmore Construction  . I spent time with Richard "Dick" Skidmore and he founded Skidmore Construction more that 50 years ago. He directed me to his brother Bill "William" Skidmore who lives in Brigham City. Bill is a geneologist and knew that his grand father William Lobark Skidmore had a son named William Lorenzo "Lonnie" Skidmore in his old age.Lobark was a polygamist that had two wives and 18 children; Lonnie is the half brother of Dick and Bill's dad. Unfortunately Bill stated that he doesn't know much about that side of the family but he did offer two tidbits

1. Jay (?) Skidmore was a Sociology professor here on campus and was the son of Lonnie. Jay's wife Hannah Jean might still be alive though remarried.

2. He would look up that side of the family and get in contact with me if anymore information was  forthcoming.

Dick did mention that there was a Skidmore architectural firm in L.A. and Bill mentioned one in Chicago. Leads.....

I am going to follow up on the LA and Chicago and let y'all know.

The Plot Thickens

I was going to post the information I found in the 1919 yearbook about the old horse barn burning down, but when I went through the yearbook again I found different accounts of what happened - the more detailed one seems to have been meant as a funny exaggeration of the destruction of the barn. So I think I'll be moving on to research in the old "Student Life Weekly" campus newspaper for more on what really happened to the old barn and what people thought about "our" barn.

Speech Communication in the Barn

Harold Kinzer is a retired Speech Communication Professor who wrote a detailed history of his connection to the Barn. Below are some excerpts which provide a feel for his relationship to the building, the students, and the program.

From 1994-2007, the primary Barn use was speech communication instruction, the Barn continued to be known either as the “Art Barn” or “PSYAL” (psychology animal lab).

During the 14 years that I was in the Barn, I began each term by joking that the Barn is where the university hid embarrassing professors. Possibly some students, after working with me, thought that this was a truthful statement. While I was out, an unknown student taped a vinyl clown to my office door. I took this as a compliment and kept it there until my retirement. Of course, I might have misunderstood the student’s intent.

Most students had a hoot presenting speeches in an actual barn haymow. While waiting for class to begin some students would explore the abandoned equipment I had piled on the first floor. None had seen electronic equipment with tubes. Yes, radios once had big glowing tubes!

Interview with Jerry Fuhriman

This is from an interview with local artist Jerry Fuhriman. He is a Cache Valley native, whose dad Wendell Fuhriman took care of the cattle and was a cattle judge on campus. In the 1960s, Jerry was a student at Utah State University and later became a faculty member of Landscape Architecture. He remembers art classes in the Barn:

I took a class in the Barn, and that would have been ceramics, it was either ceramics or sculpture, I could have had two classes but I remember that they were both from [Larry] Elsner. So my memory of the Art Barn is less the structure, and more the personality of the instructor.

I probably didn't appreciate how great of an artist he was at the time. I remember he was very, very quiet and you would show him your project, and unlike most people he wouldn't just start chattering about it right away. He would say nothing but he would pick it up and he would hold it, and he would caress it with his hands because part of the sculpture was just the tactile, you know the surface and how it felt, and the weight of it, and proportions and so. And then generally he would say something none committal like 'you know you might work on the form a little bit,' which left you wondering what you should do about the form.

It wasn't until years later, in fact, it's interesting that he was my professor when I was a freshman and he was also on my tenure committee. So I went a long time knowing him and then eventually collecting his work, and realizing what a terrific artist he was.

Text from interview

Manon Caine Russell ‘53, daughter of George B. Caine, longtime department head and dairy teacher Utah State University remembers campus and the barns:

He'd walk down the hill for lunch.... Well the barns were near the office. The Dairy department was on the north side of the Quad in that building. And the barns were behind that. Campus ended there…. Dad spent his life with the Dairy department at Utah State and it was a very important part of all of our lives. Of course we lived right across from campus, so we were there a lot.

When talking about campus today, she said:

It is not the same place at all. You know what I do think is fine though is that someone, in their infinite wisdom, kept the Quad free of classrooms and buildings, because it really adds to the beauty of the campus.... You see how much goes on there too. People play there. Rest there and study there when the weather is decent.

Manon Russell excerpt?

Jeannine, any chance you could excerpt a couple of nuggets from Manon's interview that would be appropriate for posting to the public web site? Nothing big--just an anecdote or two would be good to spice up the blog. -B

Folklore interview

I think the folklorists need some representation on this blog, especially since we outnumber everyone else.

Since interviewing is our first step, I thought I would post the suggestions Elaine made at our meeting and invite you to respond with what works or doesn’t work for you. I've added a few things I wish I had done.

Have them sign the release form before you get started – tell them what will happen with their interview and where it will be stored.

Background, get general information on the person:

Full name (correct spelling) When were you born? Where? Are you from Cache Valley?

Introduction

What is your first or strongest memory of the Art Barn?

How did you first encounter it? Did you walk by it, work in it, visit it?

Do you remember it with horses in (pre-1959), or ceramics, or offices?

What did it look like (or smell like)? Describe exterior, interior? Do you have pictures or articles?

Silence – give them a chance to recall memories

Stories- Tell me a story you remember from the barn - funny or sad?

Closing - Make sure that they know how to contact you if they remember anything else.

Thank you for your time.