Living History

A special library project captures the university’s legacy as it is made

By David Driver

In January, Mason opened an astronomy observatory, atop its brand new Research I Building. Yet, how many current students know that this is Mason’s second observatory?

The first was the Herschel Observatory, which opened in October 1975 and was built by students from the first astronomy class offered at Mason. John Whalan, BS Biology ’74, Elaine (Petersen) Whalan, BA English ’74, and Bob Veenstra, BS Biology ’74, decided to build their own telescope after a failed attempt to photograph stars with the Physics Department’s small telescope. Their professor, William Lankford, secured $200 from the Physics Department as a start-up fund, and after four years of long nights, weekends, and summer vacations, they finally completed the telescope and an observatory to house it.

Nearly 30 years later, John Whalan, who married Petersen in 1975, visited the University Libraries Special Collections and Archives (SC&A) to look up some materials on the history of the telescope, and Paul Koda, who retired as head of SC&A in 2006, asked him to be interviewed for the University Libraries’ Oral History Program (OHP). Whalen’s response was somewhat typical of others who have been interviewed on other topics by the program, which began in 1999.

“It is frankly surprising. We never thought of ourselves as part of history,” says John Whalan. “Building the telescope and observatory was a tiny blip of Mason history.”

But a part of history, nonetheless. Because few official documents about the Herschel Observatory exist, the oral history, in combination with photos and a 20-page history of the telescope that John Whalan wrote himself, serves as an important record of this part of Mason history.

Because Mason is a relatively young university, OHP has the unique role of recording most of the major, and minor events, in its history for future generations.

“As the official repository of the university’s history, we collect anything and everything Mason,” says Robert Vay, BA American Studies ’92 and MA History ’99, acting head of the SC&A. “Oral histories are no less important than paper documents in relaying historical information because they come directly from those who participated in or experienced an event or era.”

Among those interviewed by OHP are past Mason presidents George Johnson and Robert Krug, former Virginia governor Linwood Holton, and Edwin Meese III, the former U.S. attorney general who was on the Board of Visitors from 1996 to 2004 and was Mason’s rector from 1998 to 2004. Alumni who also have been interviewed include the following:

• Lamar Butler, BA Communication ’06, spoke about his role as a senior starter for the men’s basketball team during its Final Four run last season. He was interviewed before he left for the Czech Republic, where he is playing in a professional basketball league in central Europe.
• Catherine Baum, BS Business Administration ’81, spoke about the planned community of Reston, Virginia, where she has lived since 1975. A past president of the Reston Chamber of Commerce, Baum contributed to the Planned Community Archives Oral Histories Collection.
• Edward J. Cawley, BS Business Administration ’68, is a former comptroller for the city of Fairfax and also served as a George Mason University Foundation trustee. He was interviewed about a number of topics, including the relationship between the city of Fairfax and the university.
• James Heath, ’61, and his wife, Nancy Buddeke Heath, BSN ’76, talked about the early days of Mason at Bailey’s Crossroads site. James Heath also served on Mason’s faculty.
• Michael Johnson, BA History ’68, who was a member of the first four-year class, spoke about his role with student government and his career as an archaeologist with Fairfax County.
• Husband and wife Richard Sparks, MS Biology 1973 and Ann Walker Sparks, BA ’65, were interviewed about their early memories of George Mason College at Bailey’s Crossroads and the Fairfax Campus.

Elaine Whalan welcomes the opportunity to have her spot in Mason history recorded by the OHP.

“We started from humble beginnings, and now we have Nobel laureates. Things are growing now,” she says. OHP wants to document as much of that growth as possible.

And in case you are wondering what happened to Mason’s first observatory, it was eventually torn down to make way for the Field House.