The Cornhusker Marching Band and the
Archives and Special Collections of the University of Nebraska–Lincoln
Libraries celebrated 140 years of tradition with the unveiling of a new website
that highlights the evolution of the band program.
The website, https://bandhistory.unl.edu,
was revealed during an Aug. 30 open house. The site is organized into three
sections, featuring the sights and sounds of the band, with images, documents,
video and audio; the timeline, which outlines the band’s chronological history
and noteworthy events; and in-depth interviews and articles in the stories
section. The digitization of close to 60 videos hosted on the website was made
possible by band alumnus Gary Steffens, the Band Alumni Association and
University Libraries.
The project is a collaboration between
the Center for Digital Research in the Humanities, the Glenn Korff School of
Music, and the University Archives & Special Collections of the UNL
Libraries.
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| A studio portrait of the ROTC Cadet Band, taken from the 1895 Sombrero student annual. University Archives. |
Jessica Dussault, band alumna and
programmer in the Center for Digital Research in the Humanities, developed the
website. The project began in 2009, when Dussault was a Husker student in a
digital history class. She was required to build a digital project based on an
aspect of the university’s history. As a recent member of the marching band,
she chose to explore its history and found considerable resources in the
University Archives. Her focus then was the early history, when the band was
part of the military department.
Years later, Dussault found herself
working for the University Libraries, which brought her into contact with the
University Archives on a daily basis. A chat with a colleague inspired them to
explore boxes of band materials in the archives. Curious about the reels of
footage that could not be watched due to their poor condition, Dussault and her
colleague tackled the project of digitizing them before they were lost. Through
the generosity of the Center for Digital Research in the Humanities and fellow
band history enthusiast Steffens, Dussault and her colleague were able to watch
the reels about a year after they started the project.
Encouraged by colleagues and
Cornhusker Marching Band Director Tony Falcone, Dussault started to construct
the band history website where the digital videos of the reel footage would be
hosted. The content and scope of the website grew quickly.
“The University Archives has so many
great resources on the band's history, spread across many collections — the
ROTC records, collections of past band directors, University Communication —
that it seemed important for the website to try to pull documents and images
from them together in one place,” Dussault said.
The website includes more than 200
images, audio from a concert and an early album (both provided by the band
program), transcriptions of an interview with a former band director and video
of an interview with a current band staff member.
Falcone said people in the band
program are excited about the website unveiling and eager for the public’s
response.
“Our faculty, staff, students and
alumni care a great deal about the long and interesting history of our
organization and take great pride in our tradition,” he said.
The plan is to continue to add content
over time. The materials to be added next include correspondence and drill
charts.
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