Daily Kansan
Friday, Feb. 22, 1952
SECTION B
49th Year, No. 95
$25,000 Press To Print Kansans Twice As Fast
A new press which will print nearly twice as many Daily Kansans in the same length of time as the one now in operation is being installed in the new Journalism building.
T. C. Ryther, superintendent of the University Press, said that they hope to have the new Model E Goss set up in time to print the last Kansan of the semester.
The press cost $25,000—nearly three times the cost of the old press, installed in 1924. The condition of the old press, combined with the increased demands of the student body, make the change advisable at this time. Mr. Ryther said.
Mr. Ryther, said that installation of this press, as well as being a technical problem, is expensive and time-consuming.
A dozen men were needed to carry the parts of the press from a truck into the Journalism building. This unloading alone took a full day.
Many skilled workers, electricians, including a man from the Goss press factory at Chicago, were needed to assemble and prepare this press for operation.
The new press, although it has the same size page capacity as the old one, is more elaborate and complicated than the 1924 model Duplex which will only print 3,000 Kansans an hour running at top speed.
The new flat bed press is run by a variable speed motor which makes for smoother operation in the production of its capacity of 5,500 Kansans an hour.
Type Lab Gets $10,000 Setup
The laboratory will house complete facilities for training in all phases of typography, including make-up, papier-talob and full newspaper page size.
Ten thousand dollars worth of new equipment has been purchased for the typography laboratory located on the second floor of the new Journalism building.
The new laboratory is a great improvement over the space and equipment used for the typography lab in the "Shack."
A small press and a few type cases were the extent of the typography lab in the old Journalism building. The material, borrowed from the front of the press, was located at the front of the large lecture room in the "Shack."
The equipment purchased for this laboratory includes three type cabinets, two Vandercook proof presses, composing table, paper cutter, ink and roller cabinet, galley storage cabinet, saw, strip cabinet, makeup table, two bindery tables, and about 130 fonts of foundry type of various faces and sizes from 8 point to 72 point.
Also on view in the lab will be a 100-year-old Washington hand press, formerly used by the state printing company and by Ferd Volland Jr., state printer.
"It is not the aim of the school to train students to become printers, but the school does intend that each graduate shall be capable of estimating costs, directing operations and knowing whether he is getting the work he is entitled to get from employees in the plant he hopes to operate some day," according to Dean Burton W. Marvin.
DEAN OF THE JOURNALISM SCHOOL—The expansion of the William Allen White School of Journalism and Public Information is under the direction of Dean Burton W. Marvin. Dean Marvin, an ex-newspaperman, formerly taught at Northwestern and Columbia universities before coming to KU as head of the school in 1948.—Kansas photo by Al Marshall.
Dean Marvin Directs J-School's Progress
An old building, a new name, and an ideal were passed on to Dean Burton W. Marvin when he came to the University in 1948.
Then came a long stint with the Chicago Daily News. Over a nine-year period he held the positions of reporter, feature writer, copy reader, city editor, assistant cable editor and telegraph editor, giving him varied experience in newspaper work. During his last year on the paper he lectured at Northwestern.
The dedication of the School of Journalism's new building realizes the ambition of Dean Marvin and those before him.
The name, the ideal, and the school are dedicated to the memory of William Allen White whose courage and integrity as a newspaper-man set an example for American journalism to follow.
"The immediate goal has been reached." Dean Marvin said, "but before the faculty and myself is the continuous aim of developing young journalists who know how to write and who know what they are writing about."
After being graduated from the University of Nebraska, he went to work with the Lincoln (Neb.) Star as a cub reporter. The following year he was awarded the $1,000 Hitchcock scholarship at Columbia university and received his master's degree there in 1937.
"Proficiency in technique built on a strong foundation in the humanities, and the social and physical sciences makes the best journalists, the best journalism," he said.
He has been a working journalist for ten years and has taught at the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern university, and in the Graduate School of Journalism at Columbia university, considered two of the finest such schools in the country.
Dean Marvin possesses a background in writing and teaching that well fits him for his position as head of the journalism school.
There is a precedent for his post at the University. His father, Dr. Henry H. Forsyth, joined the University of Nebraska faculty, and four years later was
With all of his background and experience, Dean Marvin is still a young man, and a young man in charge of a young school indicates exuberance, progress and achievement.
named head of the physics department there.
Since Dean Marvin's arrival three and one-half years ago there have been many achievements in the school.
In September of 1948, the school itself began operating as a separate unit. It had been authorized in 1944. Since 1911 it had operated as a department in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.
The course, Communications in Society, was instituted in 1949. This course for sophomores was designed to give students a survey of the fields of journalism, an idea whether they were interested in journalism, and an idea of the fields a student might specialize in.
The foundation sponsors yearly lectures, has compiled numerous problem case histories on ethics and responsibility in newspaper reporting, and promoted the Institute Press and Medical Inness in Topcake. n "May 1951."
Feb. 10, 1950 marked the first meeting of the William Allen White foundation, started by Kansas newspapermen and other friends of Mr. Dean Marvin, tool over as director of the foundation in February 1950.
In 1950 the school was presented FM radio station transmitting equipment and a 520-foot FM tower by John P. Harris and his brother, S. F. Harris, publisher of the Ottawa Herald, in memory of their uncle, F. M. Harris, chairman of the board of regents who died in July, 1950.
The school launched the Inland Daily Press association newspaper public relations contest in 1951 in which there were entries from more than 20 states. The contest was held in cooperation with the Inland Daily Press Association.
Journalism School Got Start In 1891
From a basement room in Fraser hall to the "Shack" to the new Journalism building—that is the story of the growth of the William Allen White School of Journalism and Public Information.
Fraser was the first home of journalism at the University way back in '91 when one journalism course was offered in the department of history and social science, and then withdrew for lack of students.
Three years later a journalism course was again offered, this time under the department of English and only three students enrolled. Professor E. M. Hopkins again set up a class in 1903 and ten students enrolled.
The following year the semiweekly Kansan appeared, the father the present University Daily Kansan which was first published in 1912.
In 1907, Charles M. Harger, Abilene publisher, and L. N. Flint, then alumni secretary, assumed the teaching of classes in reporting, editing and advertising.
The courses were formed into a department in 1911 with Merle Thorpe as chairman. The department moved from the southeast basement room of Fraser to the east rooms of the "Shack" where the bindery and printshop are now. Needing additional space, Professor Thorpe built the wooden annex which sticks out toward the library.
Mr. Thorpe resigned in 1916 to become editor of "Nation's Business" and Mr. Flint became chairman of the department, a post he held for 25 years.
Later the department moved upstairs and inherited the odors of the chemistry, medical and pharmaceutical lab. Although full rights to the building were not obtained by the department until 1923, it was known as the Journalism building after 1913.
There was a great deal of opposition to the teaching of journalism in those early days. Many Kansas editors were skeptical at first. By conferences held at the University and various other services offered to the editors of Kansas this opposition slowly died away.
The department continued to grow from three students in 1894 to 1916 students in 1916. Through the years the department gained recognition and prestige.
Mr. Flint retired as department head in 1941, and Professor Elmer F. Beth became acting chairman of the department. He was relieved of these duties in the fall of 1948 when Barton in Barrin was appointed by the Wickham Athon White School of Journalism and Public Information.
From June, 1944, when the school was authorized by the board of regents, until the fall of 1948 student journalists were enrolled in the school. In 1949, a school carried official status as a separate branch of the University.
The School of Journalism was accredited by the American Council of Education for Journalists in the spring of 1948. It is one of 35 such schools in the United States to be accredited.
Plans were made to remodel the old Fowler shops built in 1899 to house the new journalism school. For the accomplishment of this purpose $300,000 was provided by the William Allen White Foundation.
The foundation is an organization which was set up after the great Kansas editor's death, the income of which is to be used for journalism public service activities.
The school moved to the remodeled Fowler shops this semester. Journalism classes are now being conducted in the building. The presses will not be moved from the "Shack" until next summer.
Photo Labs Get New Equipment
New darkrooms, cameras and miscellaneous photographic equipment have given the University one of most modern photographic laboratories found at any school of journalism.
The old Journalism building had a combination reading room and photographic laboratory. The laboratory was crowded and sparsely equipped. It had only three cameras one enlarger, a set of developing tanks and other meager photographic supplies.
The laboratories in the new building; located in the basement include seven rooms. One for enlarging, a storage room, a storage unit, and a video editing and photography, and four dark-rooms all fully equipped.
Now the photographic laboratory is equipped with four Speed Graphics, two Crown Graphics, one Graflex, one Leica and one Automatic Rolflexe. All the camera except the Graflex are equipped with flash attachments for news photography.
Victor J. Daniilov, assistant professor of journalism, said that this new equipment has increased interest in the news photography course. Enrollment has increased from six to the maximum 16 students in one semester.
Four new enlargers, flood lamps for portrait photography, automatic driers, four sets of filters, and stainless steel sinks are among the items in the $5,000 worth of new equipment.
He pointed out that this new equipment is used to give students the opportunity to "learn by doing". Each student has projects and assignments each week. He also may instruct and sell them to the Daily Kansan.
As a term project the student is assigned to take a picture story. Last semester, one student sold his term project to Downbeat magazine.
Although the cost of equipment, flashbulbs, film, etc., is costly to the student, running around $30, much of this expense may be defrayed by selling pictures for publication, Mr. Danilov said.
Although preference is given to journalism majors, anyone may take the course. Mr. Daniilov said an advanced course may be worked to make of those who have a further interest in news and portrait photography.
Numerous Items Contributed To KU Historical Collection
A number of historical items will be presented to the School of Journalism and Public Information today as part of a drive to establish KU as the center of historical journalism.
The school will receive an oil portrait that shows Mr. White at his desk at the Emporia Gazette. It is the work of Joseph Hirsch, leading portrait painter of New York. The donor is Harry Scherman of New York, president of the Book-of-the-Month club.
George Matthew Adams, columnist and head of the George Matthew Adams newspaper syndicate in New York, will be present to present his collection of first editions of William Allen White's books and many other books and pamphlets on journalism.
Another gift is the Albert T. Reid
collection of famous cartoons. Reid, a former Leavenworth and Topeka publisher and leading cartoonist in New York for many years, may be present to make the presentation.
William L. White, well-known author and son of W. A. White, will present some moments. These will be articles and letters of his father dealing with KU and Kansas journalism.
Ferd Volland, the state printer, is giving KU a 100-year-old Washington hand press, which until recently was used in the state printing plant for making proofs of books.