1950-1968
"No man must be so committed to contemplation as, in his contemplation, to give no thought to his neighbor's needs; nor so absorbed in action as to dispense with the contemplation of God."
St. Augustine
City of God 19, 19
Although there were more students than ever, campus life in the 1950s was
much as it had been a generation before. Mother's Day and Junior Week were still
highlights during the second week of May. Proms and other dances at the Field House
were well attended and continued to feature famous dance bands. With the exception
of the nursing program, the student body remained overwhelmingly male. These
familiar rhythms of student life made the upheavals of the 1960s all the more
surprising. Echoing a nation-wide movement, Villanova students protested against
what they considered to be unacceptable conditions on campus, including paternalistic
social rules, and irrelevant curriculum, poor student facilities, and a student government
devoid of any real authority. They also decried a spate of national problems: poverty,
racial discrimination, and the Vietnam War. Another change was the admission of
women to all programs at the university for the first time in the Fall of 1968. Although women had gradually entered academic life at Villanova over the years,
coeducation was now final and complete.
Link to Exhibit Items
- Students from 1949 used the Reference Room
- Students listening to music and
conversing
- Map of Villanova, c1950s
- Commencement in front of Villanova
College Library, 4 June 1951
- Sister M. Theolinda, O.S.F
- Sophomore nursing students Capping
Ceremony
- Basic nursing students at Villanova wear
a distinctive uniform
- Wedding being performed in St. Thomas of
Villanova Church, 1959
- Annual alumni Weekend Reunion, 10-12 June
1949
- Summer School, 1957
- Sisters are served Cafeteria style
- Sisters studying science
- In the Mendel Observatory
- The archway of Mendel Hall
- Students playing intramural on Mendel
Field, 1968
- Villanova train station looking towards
Philadelphia, 1968
- Mendel Hall, 1968
- Division of Nursing Students, 1960
- Villanova Women's Glee Club
- St. Mary's Hall, built in 1962
- Student
meeting girlfriend at Villanova train station, Homecoming 1962
- Souvenir
demitasse, Mother's Day/Junior Week, 1963
- Crowning of Homecoming Queen
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- Reverend Joseph A. Flaherty, O.S.A.,
Ph.D.
- Student identification card of Anthony N.
Alfano, 1970
- The Quad
- Sheehan Hall
built in 1957
- President John F. Kennedy
- 2nd Lt.
Albert C. Doody, USMC, Villanova, 1965
- Reverend
Doctor Martin Luther King, Jr.
- Candlelight vigil and March
- Jim
Croce, Villanova, 1965
- Reverend
Robert J. Welsh, O.S.A., S.T.D.
- David Rabe, renowned playwright
- On their way to the Pontifical Mass
- Eugene Ormandy
- Falvey Memorial Library
- The seal of Villanova University
- Falvey Memorial Library
- Demonstration for student rights
- Dance
program, Belle Air Ball, 1956
- Junior
Prom, 1950
- En route to the NCAA track championship,
1957
- Group of Nursing students, 1956
- Women Students Handbook, 1957-1958
- Final
exams en masse, Villanova Field House, 1955
- Tassel from student mortar board, 1964
- Flag presented to the parents of 2nd Lt. Albert C. Doody, USMC
- Students of diverse backgrounds
- Reverand Edward J. McCarthy, O.S.A., Ph.D
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