Written by Kylie Akins
Harding’s history has been long-preserved in the Bison newspapers stored in the archives of the library, waiting for the curious eye to wander over and peek into the past to rediscover the history of a social club or of an alumnus relative. But with issues dating from 1925, a tedious task is ahead of anyone wishing as they thumb through every publication since to find the desired information.
Retired Harding librarian Winnie Bell saw the need for a convenient way to search through the Bison and began to create an index made available to the public through the Bison’s website, www.thebison.harding.edu. She started this project nearly 15 years ago and still has a looming task ahead of her, having currently indexed every story of each issue since Harding’s origins until 1994.
Bell graduated from Harding in 1949 with a degree in business and went on to work at a bank in Oklahoma for 10 years. She received her master’s degree from Peabody College and eventually ended up back at Harding to live with her sister who worked Harding at the time. Bell worked as a librarian at Harding for 31 years, from 1959 until she retired in 1990. Continuing to work as a volunteer librarian after her retirement, she took up creating an index for the Bison in 1995.
As a former librarian, Bell said she understands the need for an organized record keeping system, especially when it concerns historical information.
“I guess it’s just an old librarian habit,” Bell said as she chuckled. “We like to find something when we need it.”
Having already sorted through almost 70 years of publications, Bell has seen change in the content throughout the years. She said the writing drastically improved over time as Harding’s journalism department became stronger. Photography advanced, and stories shifted from the history of Harding’s beginnings in 1925 to current political issues like former president Bill Clinton’s affair in the 1990’s. However, she was amused that stories about the cafeteria problems remained fairly constant.
“I enjoy being able to read the articles, things I remember and things I learn about,” said Bell. “I’m just trying to make it as interesting and useful as possible.”
People most often interested in information from past Bisons include alumni that return for Homecoming, new social club members and people researching Harding’s history.
“It was one of those things I thought that there should be a decent way of looking back and seeing what happened in past years and seeing when so and so was here,” Bell said. “I just thought, well someone ought to do it. I guess that’s me.”
Kay Gowen, Harding’s director of Abundant Living senior outreach and former faculty advisor for the Bison and Petit Jean, emphasized how important the Bison is to keeping accurate records of Harding’s past.
“It’s like any other history,” Gowen said. “You need to know where we are, where we came from and how we got there. I think people that don’t understand that times were once different than they are right now miss out an awful lot on understanding the world and the people in it.”
Bell has taken on an intimidating task and will continue to diligently volunteer her time to provide this service. The index can be accessed through the Bison website under “Archives,” and the past publications are available in the Brackett Library.
