For my topic I am planning to explore the Early Campus Map and the story of Rooke Chapel.
Early campus map
Elements of the article:
- How the campus evolved from less than a dozen buildings to what it is today
- Looking specifically into the buildings that are no longer here and why, the ones that are most recently constructed, and the buildings that have been here since the beginning of Bucknell and how they have evolved.
Interviews:
- Isabella O’Neill, looking at the multiple physical copies of the maps (many of the maps found online are supplied from the University Archives).
- Another potential interviewee could be a faculty member that has been here for decades and has seen buildings evolve, get eradicated, or seen new ones being constructed.
Story of Rooke Chapel
Elements of the article:
- Exploring the influential donor Robert L. Rooke
- During his undergraduate at Bucknell, and also after graduation where he worked on Wall Street
- How and when the building was constructed, the history of the early building as a church and what it means today
Interviews:
- Someone who knows a lot of the history about Robert Rooke (to whom the science building is dedicated as well as the chapel). An ambitious choice of interviewee would be his son, Robert C. Rooke (last interviewed by a Bucknellian in 2014), but I’m not sure of his whereabouts.
- For another interview I would like to talk to someone who knows about the history of the chapel’s building/construction.