Pacific Lutheran College was proud of the new combination chapel/music/speech building that would be the religious and cultural center of the campus. At a cost of $625,000, it contained a 1,238 seat auditorium, music facilities, and a radio studio. A small devotional chapel, seating 75 people, was on the third floor.

Pacific Lutheran College (Parkland)--Buildings; Pacific Lutheran College (Parkland)--1950-1960;

1952 May Day Festival at Pacific Lutheran College. Unidentified young woman wearing floral crown, holding bouquet of roses, and sitting outdoors in royal chair.

Pacific Lutheran College (Parkland)--1950-1960; Beauty contestants--Parkland--1950-1960; Festivals--Parkland--1950-1960;

Marjorie Anderson was the 1951 May Queen at Pacific Lutheran College. She poses for her portrait by a floral arch with the Queen's train spread out behind her. She is wearing a floral crown and carried a small bouquet of roses. (TNT, 5/3/1951, p.D-3)

Pacific Lutheran College (Parkland)--1950-1960; Universities & colleges--Parkland--1950-1960; Festivals--Parkland--1950-1960; Students--Parkland--1950-1960; Anderson, Marjorie;

Unidentified dancers swung their partners "do-si-do" as part of the festivities held in the Pacific Lutheran College's gymnasium for May Day 1951. The men wore plaid shirts and jeans while the women wore floor-length print dresses that twirled in the air as they spun. The American square dance was part of a performance of folk dances during the 18th annual holiday celebration. (Tacoma Sunday Ledger, 5-6-51, A-8-article on festivities)

Pacific Lutheran College (Parkland)--1950-1960; Universities & colleges--Parkland--1950-1960; Festivals--Parkland--1950-1960; Folk dancing--Parkland--1950-1960; Students--Tacoma--1950-1960;

Marjorie Anderson, the 1951 May Queen at Pacific Lutheran College, poses for her portrait carrying a small bouquet of roses. Marjorie, a senior from Tacoma, was chosen by vote of the student body at the college. (TNT, 5/3/1951, p.D-3)

Pacific Lutheran College (Parkland)--1950-1960; Universities & colleges--Parkland--1950-1960; Festivals--Parkland--1950-1960; Students--Parkland--1950-1960; Anderson, Marjorie;

Laying the cornerstone at Pacific Lutheran College for the $625,000 chapel-music-speech building were, L-R, Dr. Seth C. Eastvold, president of the college; Dr. Henry F. Schuh (with trowel) of Columbus, Ohio; Dr. H.L. Foss of Seattle, chairman of the college board and president of the Pacific District of the Evangelical Lutheran Church; Dr. Carl A.V. Lund of Gresham, Oregon, president of the Columbia Conference of the Augustana Lutheran Church; and Dr. S.C. Siefkes of Portland, president of the Northwestern District of the American Lutheran Church. (TNT, 6/9/1951, p.21)

Universities & colleges--Parkland; College presidents--Parkland; Pacific Lutheran College (Parkland)--1950-1960; Eastvold, Seth C.; Cornerstone laying--Parkland--1950-1960; Pacific Lutheran College (Parkland)--Buildings; Foss, H.L.;

On July 19, 1951, workmen were cutting and installing one-inch blankets of insulation in the band room at the new chapel-music-speech building at Pacific Lutheran College. The J-M system of sound isolation was being used to control sound waves which are transmitted by structural vibration. Light weight and specially constructed floors, walls and ceilings were entirely divorced from the building structure by means of felted isolators. The floating interior had no rigid contact with the outer solid structure of the building. The felt cushioned isolators took up the sound impulses which otherwise would be transmitted throughout the structure. (TNT, 7/22/1951, p.C-12)

Universities & colleges--Parkland; Pacific Lutheran College (Parkland)--1950-1960; Pacific Lutheran College (Parkland)--Buildings; Building construction--Parkland--1950-1960;

Men are smoothing on one of the three layers of plaster on the ceiling and high along one of the walls in the new chapel-music-speech building at Pacific Lutheran College in July of 1951. Acoustical plaster was used on two walls of each room, above the dado, or wainscoating; and on a strip across the middle of the ceiling. The structure incorporated the latest engineering features designed to cut noise to a minimum. Students in one of the seventeen 6-foot by 10-foot practice rooms should seldom hear sounds coming from practice rooms on either side of them. The building also had seven studios, a band room, choir room and radio studio. (TNT, 7/22/1951, p.C-12)

Universities & colleges--Parkland; Pacific Lutheran College (Parkland)--1950-1960; Pacific Lutheran College (Parkland)--Buildings; Building construction--Parkland--1950-1960;

1951 construction work on the exterior of the new chapel-music-speech building at Pacific Lutheran College. Brick veneer is being laid by men working from scaffolding. Scaffolding is still in place around a steeple that has been added above the roof. Architect John Richards explained that the design of the rooms in the building were unusual. The walls and ceilings were not true, or straight. The ceiling in some rooms slanted up, in others it slanted down. The same was true of the walls. The purpose of this was to break up the reverberation of sound waves. (TNT, 7/22/1951, p.C-12)

Universities & colleges--Parkland; Pacific Lutheran College (Parkland)--1950-1960; Pacific Lutheran College (Parkland)--Buildings; Building construction--Parkland--1950-1960; Progress photographs;

Pacific Lutheran College. The exterior of the Student Union Building showing the grounds and part of a garden with a sun dial. A few students are enjoying the sunny spring day.

Students--Parkland--1950-1960; Educational facilities--Parkland; Education--Parkland; Universities & colleges--Parkland; Pacific Lutheran College (Parkland)--Buildings; Pacific Lutheran College (Parkland)--1950-1960;

Three women students are shown in one of the women's dormitory rooms at Pacific Lutheran College in the spring of 1950. Two desks are set into an alcove near the window. A flowered curtain covers the closet. One of the women is reading on one of the beds and another is leaning on one of the dressers against the far wall. The floor is covered with checked linoleum tile and sprinklers are shown along the ceiling. A comfortable wicker rocking chair is positioned nearby.

Students--Parkland--1950-1960; Educational facilities--Parkland; Education--Parkland; Universities & colleges--Parkland; Pacific Lutheran College (Parkland)--1950-1960;

Students are seen studying at the rows of tables at the Pacific Lutheran College library in April of 1950. Open beams lead towards the large windows at the far end of the room. The library, designed by Tacoma architect Emanuel J. Bresemann, was dedicated in 1939. TPL-9330

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The exterior of "Old Main" at Pacific Lutheran College (later University) has been cleaned of ivy in 1950. In other years the administration building was covered thickly with ivy. Pacific Lutheran University was founded in 1890 by a group of mostly Norwegian Lutherans from the Puget Sound area. They were led by the Reverend Bjug Harstad, who became PLU's first president. Although founded as a university, the institution functioned primarily as an academy until 1918, when it closed for two years. It reopened as the two-year Pacific Lutheran College, after merging with Collumbia College, previously located in Everett. Spokane College merged with PLC in 1929. Four-year baccalaureate degrees were first offered in education in 1939 and in the liberal arts in 1941. TPL-9332

Students--Parkland; Educational facilities--Parkland; Education--Parkland; Universities & colleges--Parkland; Pacific Lutheran College (Parkland)--Buildings; Pacific Lutheran College (Parkland)--1950-1960;

May Day festivities at Pacific Lutheran College, Pacific Lutheran College, Miss Helen Hedine. Four sets of four young women each perform a folk dance wearing dark skirts and white blouses during the May Day festivities at Pacific Lutheran College in 1949. Queen Catherine Breum, seated on her throne on a dais, and her court watch from one end of the gymnasium.

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May Day festivities in 1949 at Pacific Lutheran College, Pacific Lutheran College, Miss Helen Hedine. May Queen Catherine Breum and her court are shown on the dais at one end of the qymnasium. The young women and girls are dressed in floor-length, light-colored gowns and the crown bearer, Tom Tommervik, also wears a light-colored shirt and slacks. The two seated flower girls have been identified as Margaret Ronning and Judy Leraas, daughters of PLC professors. The little girl standing next to Queen Catherine has been identified as Anne Malmin Berg. The dais has been decorated with potted palms and blooming boughs. (Additional identification provided by a reader)

Pacific Lutheran College (Parkland)--1940-1950; Students--Parkland--1940-1950; Celebrations--Parkland--1940-1950; Evening gowns--Tacoma--1940-1950; Ronning, Margaret; Leraas, Judy; Berg, Anne Malmin; Tommervik, Tom;

May Day festivities at Pacific Lutheran College, Pacific Lutheran College, Miss Helen Hedine. May Queen Catherine Breum leads the recessional at the close of May Day festivities at Pacific Lutheran College.

Pacific Lutheran College (Parkland)--1940-1950; Universities & colleges--Parkland--1940-1950; Breum, Catherine; Rites & ceremonies--Parkland--1940-1950; Celebrations--Parkland--1940-1950;

May Day festivities at Pacific Lutheran College, Pacific Lutheran College, Miss Helen Hedine. Catherine Breum of East Stanwood was crowned May Queen at ceremonies May 6, 1949. Two members of her royal court, train bearer Anne Malmin Berg and crown bearer Tom Tommervik, stand by her as she is crowned. She is wearing a floor-length, white eyelet gown. (TNT, 5/5/1949, p.1) (Additional identification provided by a reader)

Pacific Lutheran College (Parkland)--1940-1950; Universities & colleges--Parkland--1940-1950; Breum, Catherine; Rites & ceremonies--Parkland--1940-1950; Celebrations--Parkland--1940-1950; Berg, Anne Malmin; Tommervik, Tom;