In honor of Women’s Basketball earning #4 Seed in NCAA Championship, hosting first and second round games at Finneran Pavilion starting tomorrow, AND being a big favorite, here is a look back Women’s Basketball throughout the years.

50 years ago…

                                               Women’s Basketball, Belle Air 1973

1983 & 1993…

Women’s Basketball, Belle Air 1983

Women’s Basketball, Belle Air 1993

And this year with such momentum with the team and Maddy Siegrist, senior guard, who is broke the Big East and Villanova single-game scoring records and became the Big East’s all-time leading scorer, is reminiscent of the 1980s Women’s Basketball team. In fact, Siegrist on January 20, 2023, surpassed Shelly Pennefather, 1983–1987 forward, for Villanova’s career scoring record while scoring 23 points in a 73–57 win over Creighton.

Women’s Basketball, Belle Air 1987

More images of Villanova Basketball throughout the years can be found in the University Archives and Digital Library.

The section of the spring exhibit, “Poetic License: Seven Curators’ Poetry Selections from Distinctive Collections” titled “Building a Voice at Villanova and the Power of Poetry,” was initially influenced by Rita Dove’s quote, “poetry is language at its most distilled and most powerful” and pondering how to exemplify that through the poems of our community. From the earliest curriculum at Villanova, poetry has been a mainstay in many courses of study. In the classroom, the study of the art and structure of a verse can expand one’s own voice to express identity and experience; strength and vulnerability; and bring a community together or provide a lens to a community experience. It is with those tools of expression the poems chosen for the exhibit are a reflection of the different ways poetry has been expressed on campus and insight to the many different incarnations of poetry societies, student publications, and poetry groups of Villanova. The poems traverse between personal reflections, politics, and religion. Ultimately, to showcase the power of the voices of our community through poetry.

The display was curated by Beaudry Allen, Digital and Preservation Archivist, and material found in the Villanova University Archives.

Cover of Lynx publication, 1970

You can read more poetry by students in our digitized collection of Lynx, student run biannual literary publication.

A big thank you to all those who stopped by Distinctive Collection’s Halloween Haunts event yesterday. Our ghoulish games, snacks, and witch’s brew were a hit with those consumed with a thirst for regular-sized candy!

Treats Table

Our spookiest items on display can also be viewed in our Rare Book Room:

Display of items from Special Collections

The Amateur’s Guide to Magic and Mystery and the Black Art Fully Exposed

The Dance of Death

Los Vampiros del Aire

Exorcism Manual

The Game of Saturn: Decoding the Sola-Busca Tartocchi

Phadon: oder, Uber die Unsterblichkeit der Seele, in Drey Gesprachen 

In conjugation, with  WXVU 89.1 The Roar’s  big announcement of full ownership of the WXVU call letters, Distinctive Collections is excited to announce our latest digital exhibit, The New Collegiate Sound.

The New Collegiate Sound as a title came from a phrase from the 1964 Belle Air used to describe Villanova radio’s latest reinvention and is emblematic how each generation of Villanovans create a new radio sound representative of them and the times. Thus the exhibit invites you to explore the history of radio on campus from the early days as a radio club in the 1920s to today as FCC-licensed campus radio station.

The exhibit includes great photographs, newspaper clippings, programs, yearbooks, 3D model by Erica Hayes, Digital Scholarship Librarian, and scrapbooks from WXVU radio station.

The exhibit’s 3D image of the radio can be explored with VR in the CAVE. Contact Andrew Grace, andrew.grace@villanova.edu to schedule a demo.

And of course, if you haven’t already, check out WXVU 89.1 FM The Roar on your radio or stream it here: https://wxvu.org.

From the University Archives: Welcome to Class of 2026

A Peek into First Year Orientation of the Past

 1981 Orientation. Counselors doing the can-can dance.

New Student Orientation is designed to welcome and introduce students to what it means to be a Villanovan. During Orientation, first-year and transfer students participate in programs, presentations and activities designed to familiarize themselves with academic and cultural life at Villanova. In celebration of Villanova’s orientation tradition is photographs from orientation throughout the years.

1983 Orientation. Two women discussing the program.

1976 Orientation. Orientation Counselor directing people.

1960 Orientation. Sophomores overseeing Freshman games.

Students at Registration, 1982

                               Robert Langran with VU Women’s Tennis, undated

The University Archives is excited to announce a newly available collection of papers from former faculty and tennis coach Robert Langran. Langran spent his entire career at Villanova University, where he taught and researched in Political Science from 1959 to 2015. Langran taught civil rights, the study of the Supreme Court, constitutional law, women’s studies, and peace studies. While at Villanova University, Langran chaired the Political Science Department from 1968 to 1978 and from 2008 to 2009. He chaired the committee that devised the University Senate and was the first chair of the Faculty Congress. He was awarded the Best Advisor Award (2001), Faculty Service Award (1997), several Political Science Department Best Teacher Award, and Lindback Award for Distinguished Teaching (1972). In 1967, Langran revitalized Men’s Tennis, which had be absent from Villanova for twenty-five years. A year later he was approached by a group of young women wanting to create a tennis team and Langran helped form the first Villanova women’s tennis team and be their head coach for the next twenty-five years.

                                        Robert Langran with VU Athletics

Langran’s family recently donated his tennis files to the University Archives, which includes scorecards and rosters from the Men’s and Women’s tennis teams from 1969 to 2013. As a lifelong VU Wildcats fan, the collection also includes a scrapbook of basketball and football tickets, programs, and season schedules. Langran left a indelible mark on the Villanova community and excited to have early tennis history available in the archives. Contact the University Archives at archives@villanova.edu to view the collection.

From the Archives: Black Student League on Campus

Black Student League, 1972 yearbook

“We Black Students see our purpose as being twofold: first, we are constantly trying to education relate more to the problems that all people face in society; secondly, we try to make the educational process reciprocal by impression upon teachers and other students that we have a worthwhile viewpoint which should be acknowledged.

Specifically, we would like to see more courses dealing with the problems of the community included in the curriculum. For example, instead of just having biology as a required course, why not make community health also a required course. Also, in teaching history why not include the contributions of other peoples as required courses.

These things are of the utmost importance because they will build understanding and respect for other peoples and their problems, and will get away from the viewpoint that only the majority opinion is right.” – Ronald Rothwell ’73

Black Student League event poster, 1971

Looking back at our past is a way to recognize and honor the many accomplishments and contributions of Black individuals and communities to our Villanova history, culture, and values. For Black History Month, the University Archives’ highlights the Black Student League. Since its inception in the 1960s, the Black Student League (known today as the Black Cultural Society) has been a mainstay on campus with innumerable amount work bringing to light inequality on campus and contributing new ideas of equality and inclusion for a better campus culture. The University Archives invites you to learn more about the Black Student League and the Black experience in the 1960s with The Villanovan special issue, from April 23, 1969,  called, “Black Wildcat.” The issue included several articles about identity, racism, and campus culture. Please be advised there is a content warning of the issue.

Learn more about the Black Student League in the Digital Library.

The Villanova Monthly, Vol. 4. No. 8, December 1896

As the question, “what are you doing for break?” begins to spread over the land and deep sighs hoping for finals to end, the University Archives extends a Happy Holidays to all the Villanova students, staff, and faculty this year. Here is a past glance of the December 1896 Villanova Monthly (precursor to The Villanovan).

The poem is written by John I. Whelan, a 1895 graduate and 1894-5 school year recipient of Gold Medals for Logic, English Literature, & Chemistry.

Thanksgiving Hop

In continuation of exploring traditions of the past, the University Archives highlights Villanova’s penchant for a good party with the Thanksgiving Hop.

1927 Belle Air Yearbook

Thanksgiving break has always gotten students excited for a study break and return home to see family and friends. In the 1920s, before students made their trek home for Thanksgiving, the Senior class would host a Thanksgiving Hop, later known as the Thanksgiving Dance, for all the students. The night would be filled with dancing, live music, and good food to send off students. The Hop appeared as a co-ed dance and lasted with different incarnations into the 1950s.

Happy International Students’ Day! International students attending Villanova is as old as the institution itself, as we remember it was Irish Augustinians’ who founded the College. Not only were Irish the first international students to attend but also Spanish, Cuban, and Puerto Rican students. As you can see in the 1870-1871 list of students.

Annual catalogue of the officers and students of Villanova College, Delaware Co., Penna., for the academic year 1870-71

More history on the earliest students and campus life can be found in Distinctive Collections’ Annual Catalogue collection available in the digital library.

International Students’ Day originates from students’ resistance in the streets of Prague against Nazi occupation on November 17, 1939.  Nazis arrested 1,200 students from Czech universities and sent them to concentration camps and shut down all Czech colleges and universities. The resistance inspired the establishment of an anti-Nazi students coalition. In 1941, November 17 was declared International Students Day by the International Students Council in London, which became the  foundation for the International Union of Students. Today, International Students’ Day has evolved beyond observance of student activism, but a celebration the cultural diversity that international students bring to their universities.