Archives

I finally made it to the archives, today! Yay!

I was surprised to basically find all the same things that I had been finding online. However, there does seem to be a controversy over who Patterson was actually named after. I found a picture of a plaque saying that it was named after President J. Patterson but at the bottom, it stated that this was a mistake and it was actually named after his brother, Walter Patterson. I also found many newspaper clippings detailing this debate.

Also, I was so so so lucky to find an essay written by another student about Patterson. Her assignment was not the same as mine is, I think her assignment was just to write about the history of the building. However, her findings are leading me in the right direction and her works cited page was helpful in pointing me towards what newspaper articles are important.

I found an interesting tidbit online but I didn't mention it - there used to be two Gingko trees outside of Patterson, which the students referred affectionately to as Ma and Pa, because they were male and female. Gingko trees mate through the roots, so sometimes randomg Gingkos would pop up outside of Patterson. These were a gift to the university by Henry Clay, who received them from an unknown Oriental. The male tree did not stand straight, in fact it was leaning, thereby making it the best place ever for a good night kiss, as detailed by many an article.

I also found some things on general discipline back in those days, although it was written before Patterson was built and therefore for an all-male audience. It detailed rules such as:

• I will be quiet and orderly.
• I will not have tobacco in my room.
• I will not harbor any deadly firearms.

Things like that. I would like to find a discipline book for women, to see what the discipline was like for them. Mrs. Scaggs was supposed to leave me a collection from a diary of a resident of Patterson Hall in the early days, but she's going to be out all week so I may have to go back next week and get that and then edit that information into my final draft.

--Alicia

More Patterson Research

I haven't had time to drop by the archives yet, but I got this from this webpage.

• Patterson Hall looks mainly the same as it did when it was first built.
• It was built where the first couple to be married in Kentucky built their house.
• First building on the North side of Euclid, which used to be Winslow Street.
• First accommodated 139 women.
• The 11 June 1903 Lexington Leader reports that Mrs. Carrie Wallis was elected as first matron from nearly one hundred applicants.
• It opened to male students for the first time (except when it housed soldiers) in the Fall of 1993.

From the University Housing webpage, we learn that the capacity is now 136 and it's air conditioned and they have 24/7 visitation, and more fun things like that. The University Housing page also shows floor plans. I would like to know if the floor plans are the same now as they always have been, or if they have been changed.


Edited to add:

I FOUND MORE. YES.

Okay, here's what else I found.

In this, the brief history of UK, it talks about Patterson some.

• Women had to walk 200 yards to their daily classes. (Note to self: find out how far that is)
• Twenty four years after women started attending UK.
  
• Opened to residents in 1904.
  
• Henry Barker (president: 1910-1917) stayed in this dorm during his presidency, because President Patterson was still in The Residence.
• First hall to not be built on the historic Central Campus.
• Plans for this Hall were drawn out by F. Paul Anderson, dean of the college of Engineering.
  

Observation

I went and sat outside of Patterson Hall for 30 minutes. Not much was going on. I saw some people walk in, and some people walk out. There were some guys sitting on the bench in the courtyard.

I noticed how the front of Patterson leads straight out to the courtyard. I think this is probably left over from the time when Patterson was first, and I would like to know if Holmes, the dorm on the other side of the courtyard, was built next, before the industrialization of community and back when green spaces were sought after. I can almost picture a group of women dressed in proper dresses, sitting in the courtyard and studying.

I noticed that there were lots of trees around. I wonder if we can maybe say something about how the University wants us to have a safe place to study. I wonder if we’re going for outdoor studying. This University seems to use a lot of green space. Like we were talking about at the library, I wonder if that’s to make us feel safe…feel more at home.

I noticed on the front of Patterson there is a sign – crest – that says “United we Stand, Divided we Fall.” I know that’s the Kentucky slogan. I like how they built a dorm to be so Kentucky-patriotic.

I don’t know what to say as there really wasn’t much going on. It was a nice day and you could see some people walking around and entering and leaving, but not much else.

Introduction

I'm writing about Patterson Hall, because it was the first women's dorm, and is now a co-ed dorm. I live on North Campus so it's pretty close to Patterson and it's easy for me to go over there and do what I need to do. For instance, I took pictures of it yesterday. That's not really on topic. Sorry.

Anyway, my goals for this essay are to bring up some important social and cultural issues when it comes to women's rights. I plan to do this by looking at pictures, using the University Archives, and doing lots of reading. I would like to take the perspective of a woman maybe when it was first built, the first women to live there. I would also like to look at this through the eyes of someone today, when the dorm is no longer women-only, and is in fact, co-ed. I wonder how this signifies the change in campus over time.

--Alicia