The Artifacts Room sits silently, nestled off to the side among the Library’s ever-expanding second floor collection of books. The room is home to several artifacts, including historic documents, antique maps, priceless pieces of artwork, and remnants of the university’s past generations of students and faculty. Like any good explorer, a cursory glance will reveal that much, but a closer look is warranted by the many drawers of portraits and by the multiple cabinets home to untold hidden treasures. There is no way of knowing what these cabinets and drawers might hold, what living pieces of history lay dormant within them. Each foray into their contents is an archaeological excavation designed to uncover the lingering memories tucked away inside the room.
 

   Like any exploratory expedition, there’s no telling what you’ll find, or where the search might lead you. Some of the university’s artifacts can be discovered within the Archives’ office. Back against the wall closest to the main entrance stands an imposing and elegant figure. Mounted on a smooth wooden board is an artfully curved piece of black metal. The rough texture stands out against the board and highlights the artistry of the piece which is a German-style clock hand, the hour hand- specifically. It’s current home in the office wasn’t its first, and neither was the Artifact Room. It’s a long-standing reminder of the most historic part of our campus.
 

   This spot happens to be the oldest building on our campus: Old Main. Old Main was affectionately named for its existence as the original campus for the university. In the building’s original existence, it lacked a few of its trademark features, including the four clock faces that now adorn the iconic tower. In the 19th volume of Along the Saucony, a newsletter produced by the Kutztown Area Historical Society, the last remaining structure from the original 1868 building was approved for a total renovation. Part of that renovation included a new bell tower that was completed in 1893.
 

   That date might seem disjointed given the modern appearance of the current clocks, but according to Jodi Duckett from The Morning Call , the sleek clock hands were added during a 1997 renovation and restoration project.

 

   However, there is no record of clocks on the clock tower before 1910, where the graduating class gave the four clocks as a gift. Within the July 1910 edition of the Normal Vidette, the alumni newsletter for the Keystone State Normal School, the clock’s dedication is preserved for all to read. Helpful marginalia recounts that the program began at 1:15 p.m. June 21, 1910. The most moving part of the dedication states that “Other excellencies it [the clock tower] may have other uses it may serve as its hands move around the six-foot dials facing the four corners of the earth.” The speech evokes hopefulness that the rudimentary act of telling time can be something more, a testament to their own time dedicated to studies and life at the institution. This last remaining hour hand does that, linking us back through time. While the remaining clocks and their signature tower have become a large part of Kutztown culture for current and future students, proving that the class of 1910’s parting gift was made to endure as a living reminder of our history.

 

   Another living reminder of the university’s history comes in a more unassuming package, a nine-drawer wooden filing system to be exact. Upon entering the artifacts room and investigating, the wooden box demands further investigation. It asks those who see it to open its drawers, to uncover whatever skeletons and secrets are hidden inside. It operates similarly to a card catalogue; each drawer slides out and has a rod running down the middle where the typed reference cards loop through. 
 

   According to Digital Initiatives Kutztown University Archivist Sue Czerny, these types of cabinets once served as the library’s sole reference system. Librarians would record and alphabetize students’ questions and where the answer was found. When others would have the same question, the cards could be pulled and the book’s reference number supplied. Although this cabinet houses different information, its function is similar. The cards inside appear to be the earliest version of what we now call our archives, a slice of Kutztown history preserved for us to look through. A surprising find for such an unassuming set of drawers alphabetically and by schedule. Each faculty member card lists their department, title, biographical information and any publications.

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   The drawer’s labels and contents tell us more about its intended use. It comes with an entire drawer dedicated to the classification system and codes used, then containing a record of non-current (for 1973) faculty sorted, alphabetically and by schedule. Each faculty member card lists their department, title, biographical information and any publications.
 

   What drew my attention immediately was a section titled “Student Organizations, Extinct.” The offset “o” from the misaligned typewriter deserves partial credit, but the word choice “extinct” equally deserves it as well. Our cultural connotation might be quite different than that of the system’s origin, but it carries a melancholy sort of finality with it. A sense of devastation and failure not typically attributed to defunct student clubs and organizations.
 

   Inside, I was delighted to notice the classification code for the section was SOX. It disrupted any notion of dramatics I had culturally attributed to the label and offered a better tone for the information I was about to uncover. Each organization had its own card listing the dates of activity, the shortest running for less than a year. Inside were multiple boys’ and girls’ organizations including: both versions of the scouts, a bible band, and intriguingly enough the predecessor for theater on Kutztown’s campus.
 

   The Shakespearean Dramatic Club ran from 1922 to 1923 only to be revived more than a decade later as the Shakespearean Players which ran for a year from 1934 to 1935. It made another brief resurgence later for another singular year in 1940-41. This might seem like an odd choice to feature within the multitudes of cards, but the later version of the club featured a notable member in one of our founders, Clyde Francis Lytle which Lytle Hall is named for.
 

   Lytle’s time at the State Normal School is denoted on the card as spanning from 1924 to 1957. Within that time, he was both a student and faculty member at Kutztown University serving in the English department and as Dean of Instruction, according to his biography card within the catalog system. Within our artifacts archive, separated from the catalogue drawers is a portrait taken of Lytle as a member of the Shakespearean Players, circa 1950. He is dressed in a costume- a delightful coincidence linking two very different objects in our collection.
 

   The artifact collection is constantly growing to accommodate the relentless pace at which history is created through time. The unopened drawers, boxes and cabinets hold more hidden treasures. Countless pieces of history await rediscovery within our library each one a reminder of the history that exists all around us, alive and well. Our history waits for us around every corner of our campus, among the bookshelves of our library even in the pathways we walk every day. There are multiple displays around the corners of Rohrbach library where artifacts can be seen daily. Each artifact serves as a reminder that our history, although old, is not stale nor hidden from view, and that we can find it if we know where to look.