WEBVTT 00:00:05.679 --> 00:00:07.679 Hi, my name is Rob Spindler. I'm the university archivist for the A SU 00:00:10.359 --> 00:00:16.206 library. And today we're going to talk about a SU and the post war period. 00:00:16.239 --> 00:00:21.346 And specifically, we're gonna talk about Victory Village. Victory Village 00:00:21.379 --> 00:00:26.756 is a storied place that appears in a few books and other articles about 00:00:26.789 --> 00:00:33.585 the history of A SU. It was a uh fairly small trailer park that was set up 00:00:33.618 --> 00:00:40.487 at the end of World War two in 1946 to provide housing for the influx of 00:00:40.520 --> 00:00:46.356 veterans returning from the war and uh wanting to use their G I BILL 00:00:46.389 --> 00:00:51.167 benefits, which helped them pay for tuition and other expenses associated 00:00:51.200 --> 00:00:57.085 with the college education they were going to receive after they returned. 00:00:57.118 --> 00:01:01.945 And so a SU, it was an interesting place in the 19 forties and there were 00:01:01.978 --> 00:01:06.456 a lot of transitions and progress. What we're gonna do today is I'm going 00:01:06.489 --> 00:01:11.165 to present some research that I did in the archives, the university 00:01:11.198 --> 00:01:15.956 archives in the summer of uh 2018. 00:01:15.989 --> 00:01:20.326 And so we're going to present information from the evidence that we've 00:01:20.359 --> 00:01:25.885 been able to uncover from the archives last summer and we were able to 00:01:25.918 --> 00:01:29.867 construct a nice narrative that tells us some of the story of Victory 00:01:29.900 --> 00:01:35.066 Village. But there's probably more that we can learn from other sources at 00:01:35.099 --> 00:01:40.217 other locations. So let's go in and we'll talk about Victory Village and 00:01:40.250 --> 00:01:47.245 the history of A SU during World War two. And just after World War two 00:01:47.278 --> 00:01:54.165 in 1939 the Arizona State Teachers College, which is what A SU was known 00:01:54.198 --> 00:02:02.036 as in 1939. It was a fairly small institution and it um offered bachelor's 00:02:02.069 --> 00:02:08.245 degrees and it had about five. it had 1336 00:02:08.278 --> 00:02:16.278 students in 1939. Um This aerial photograph was taken from just above what 00:02:16.419 --> 00:02:22.686 is today University Drive looking South. And you can see um old Maine in 00:02:22.719 --> 00:02:27.566 the center of the photograph, you can see College Avenue, uh running 00:02:27.599 --> 00:02:31.446 through the middle of campus in those days. It was a street that ran 00:02:31.479 --> 00:02:36.717 through the middle of campus. Um And then, um off the top, right. Uh You 00:02:36.750 --> 00:02:44.750 can see the area where Victory Village was eventually built. Um And so, uh 00:02:44.909 --> 00:02:51.275 in 1939 this was a fairly small school offering bachelor's degrees, but 00:02:51.308 --> 00:02:57.327 there was a special place that uh was uh the local hangout for most of the 00:02:57.360 --> 00:03:02.646 students at a SU. In that time, it was called the Varsity Inn. And uh it 00:03:02.679 --> 00:03:08.237 was uh uh uh what we used to call a soda counter or a small restaurant. At 00:03:08.270 --> 00:03:14.225 the corner of College Avenue and University Drive. Um, the Varsity Inn was 00:03:14.258 --> 00:03:20.346 owned by, named a man named, uh, Varsity Bill Bailey and Varsity Bill 00:03:20.379 --> 00:03:25.827 Bailey was really popular on campus. All the students really knew him and 00:03:25.860 --> 00:03:32.177 , uh, he was very close to them. You'll see, uh, in, uh, a video recording 00:03:32.210 --> 00:03:37.366 we have just to the left of the Varsity and sign is the, um, Arizona State 00:03:37.399 --> 00:03:42.036 teachers college football schedule. So, uh, this was the place that you go 00:03:42.069 --> 00:03:46.275 before and after the football games and, you know, Varsity Bill would be 00:03:46.308 --> 00:03:50.036 in there serving up the hamburgers and, and, uh, sodas. And so he made 00:03:50.069 --> 00:03:53.967 friends with a lot of the students. This is important to our story for 00:03:54.000 --> 00:04:02.000 Victory Village because in 1942 and 43 we had many, many students, um, 00:04:02.319 --> 00:04:09.805 sign up and go to war in World War Two. And they wrote back to Varsity 00:04:09.838 --> 00:04:14.327 Bill when they were in Europe when they were in Southeast Asia. And they 00:04:14.360 --> 00:04:18.166 remembered him as a friendly face and they were in some ways homesick for 00:04:18.199 --> 00:04:22.366 the city of Tempe and the college that they had attended. So they write 00:04:22.399 --> 00:04:27.976 back to Varsity Bill and there are a large quantity of letters from these 00:04:28.009 --> 00:04:33.947 , uh, servicemen, uh, actually during their service overseas, writing back 00:04:33.980 --> 00:04:38.645 to Tempe asking how the weather is asking whether the college is growing, 00:04:38.678 --> 00:04:42.887 asking all kinds of interesting things about the local history and, uh, 00:04:42.920 --> 00:04:47.067 remembering their friends and teachers from the Arizona State Teachers 00:04:47.100 --> 00:04:49.937 College. 00:04:49.970 --> 00:04:56.906 So, what we see in the 19 forties is the uh wartime enlistment caused the 00:04:56.939 --> 00:05:03.486 enrollment at the Arizona State Teachers College to drop from uh 1336 00:05:03.519 --> 00:05:06.687 students to 553 00:05:06.720 --> 00:05:13.265 by fall 1945. So during the war time, the school becomes a much smaller 00:05:13.298 --> 00:05:17.366 place, there are far fewer students 00:05:17.399 --> 00:05:19.906 in 1944. 00:05:19.939 --> 00:05:23.697 You know, Bill Bailey is hearing all these le hearing all these stories 00:05:23.730 --> 00:05:29.736 from uh the servicemen overseas and he's wanting to serve himself. And so 00:05:29.769 --> 00:05:37.088 ultimately, he sells the varsity in and enlists in the United States Navy. 00:05:39.569 --> 00:05:41.569 So here we come to the end of the war and early in 1945 00:05:45.428 --> 00:05:51.205 A STC president Grady gamut, whose name might be familiar to you uh 00:05:51.238 --> 00:05:55.356 anticipated the post-war surge and enrollment that would happen as a 00:05:55.389 --> 00:06:00.166 result of the G I bill being considered and pay passed in the United 00:06:00.199 --> 00:06:05.536 States Congress. And he began lobbying the um Arizona State Teachers 00:06:05.569 --> 00:06:10.346 College Board of Education for the resources they would need to, to be 00:06:10.379 --> 00:06:14.895 able to house all these uh new students or returning students coming back 00:06:14.928 --> 00:06:21.877 from the war. Um And so he begins this quest to uh find the resources 00:06:21.910 --> 00:06:26.286 necessary to be able to accommodate this influx of students. And on August 00:06:26.319 --> 00:06:33.627 21st of 1945 which is right about as the fall semester is starting and 00:06:33.660 --> 00:06:39.305 there are already veterans returning to a su at this point, Gamage first 00:06:39.338 --> 00:06:43.656 writes the Federal Housing Administration at Phoenix requesting 100 and 50 00:06:43.689 --> 00:06:50.046 trailers for temporary housing of GIS and their families. Um by August 00:06:50.079 --> 00:06:54.406 27th, the National Housing Agency at San Francisco Office responds that a 00:06:54.439 --> 00:06:59.757 supply of trailers is available and cites terms for leasing them at a, at 00:06:59.790 --> 00:07:04.575 a fee of $1 a year. 00:07:04.608 --> 00:07:09.187 Then September 5th Gamage identifies in a memo to the National Housing 00:07:09.220 --> 00:07:13.947 Association Regional Construction Advisor. Uh trailers may be available 00:07:13.980 --> 00:07:17.536 and located in Arizona Gamage, you know, realized he needed to do some of 00:07:17.569 --> 00:07:21.765 his own homework to move this problem along. And he was able to identify 00:07:21.798 --> 00:07:25.805 trailers that were in the town of date land. There were 50 there, the 00:07:25.838 --> 00:07:33.067 Marana Air Force Base near Tucson had 80. Um the memo sites mesa is having 00:07:33.100 --> 00:07:37.887 63 trailers. I'm thinking this might be falcon field which was an air 00:07:37.920 --> 00:07:42.726 force training uh facility in Mesa at the city of Tollison on the west 00:07:42.759 --> 00:07:47.926 side had 63 trailers and there were six in Patagonia. So Gamage is 00:07:47.959 --> 00:07:51.596 identifying the resources that are potentially available, but he needs 00:07:51.629 --> 00:07:55.726 permission to be able to use them. And he also needs resources to be able 00:07:55.759 --> 00:07:59.447 to install these things with the plumbing and electricity and make them 00:07:59.480 --> 00:08:04.616 work 00:08:04.649 --> 00:08:09.606 on September 28 of 45. Uh There were actually pieces of legislation that 00:08:09.639 --> 00:08:12.967 were entered in the United States House of Representatives and the Senate 00:08:13.000 --> 00:08:19.575 with earmarks for this trailer camp that President gamut envisioned. Those 00:08:19.608 --> 00:08:22.166 bills were unsuccessful 00:08:22.199 --> 00:08:26.606 in October gamut travels to DC to meet with the great Senator Carl Hayden 00:08:26.639 --> 00:08:32.275 , um and General Omar Bradley of the Veterans administration to talk about 00:08:32.308 --> 00:08:36.316 options for housing the veterans as they're coming home. He's actually not 00:08:36.349 --> 00:08:39.717 able to personally meet with either of those individuals. He does meet 00:08:39.750 --> 00:08:45.417 with their staff and conveys the urgent need for an infusion of housing 00:08:45.450 --> 00:08:51.076 and resources to handle uh the return of all of these veterans in November. 00:08:51.109 --> 00:08:57.525 G writes mo best of the Arizona Board of Regents, newly founded Arizona 00:08:57.558 --> 00:09:04.076 Board of Regents was established in uh 1940 s that year, 1945 he writes 00:09:04.109 --> 00:09:08.956 best with a progress report and indicates uh that a deal for some land 00:09:08.989 --> 00:09:15.787 south of Apache Boulevard, uh south of campus was off. Um So things were 00:09:15.820 --> 00:09:20.557 not exactly working very well in 1945 trying to get this project started. 00:09:20.590 --> 00:09:26.907 Uh He uh in gamut had a meeting with veterans and as a result of that 00:09:26.940 --> 00:09:31.186 meeting with the veterans that were on campus in, in the fall of 45 he 00:09:31.219 --> 00:09:36.346 requested 25 trailers from Marana for immediate installation for the 00:09:36.379 --> 00:09:42.275 married veterans without Children. So there were trailers that were uh uh 00:09:42.308 --> 00:09:45.866 used for married veterans without Children. There were other kinds of 00:09:45.899 --> 00:09:51.547 housing used for uh veteran families that had Children. Uh In this meeting 00:09:51.580 --> 00:09:56.635 , they discussed and President gamu established a rental rate of $12.50 a 00:09:56.668 --> 00:10:02.986 month, 1250 a month, uh plus utilities. So the veterans paid for this 00:10:03.019 --> 00:10:09.297 housing. Uh and then Gamage begins seeking financing through th a $3000 00:10:09.330 --> 00:10:14.927 appropriation of local funds. The school is now called the Arizona uh 00:10:14.960 --> 00:10:21.566 State College and uh, or a Plan B which is to get local citizens to 00:10:21.599 --> 00:10:28.047 finance this uh uh purchase or, or uh leasing of trailers uh through a 00:10:28.080 --> 00:10:31.586 bank. 00:10:31.619 --> 00:10:36.255 Um And so in January of 1946 President Gamage is a, actually able to 00:10:36.288 --> 00:10:42.537 conclude a contract with the National housing Agency. Um He is able to 00:10:42.570 --> 00:10:49.696 acquire 16 family dwelling units and uh dormitory accommodations for 66 00:10:49.729 --> 00:10:56.505 single people. Um The dormitory uh accommodations were uh ultimately uh 00:10:56.538 --> 00:11:01.246 small uh wooden buildings that had uh four apartments in each row of 00:11:01.279 --> 00:11:06.976 buildings. We'll see some photographs of those in a moment. Um uh Excuse 00:11:07.009 --> 00:11:10.427 me, the family dwelling units were these four apartment units, the 00:11:10.460 --> 00:11:15.826 dormitory accommodations were for uh were actually uh dorm rooms that were 00:11:15.859 --> 00:11:19.765 being constructed on the south side of campus. 00:11:19.798 --> 00:11:26.476 Um They established uh uh eligibility requirements for the veterans. Uh 00:11:26.509 --> 00:11:31.157 eligible tenants were described as distressed families of servicemen and 00:11:31.190 --> 00:11:35.015 veterans and their families and single veterans attending educational 00:11:35.048 --> 00:11:41.336 institutions. Uh These include families of those continuing to serve in 00:11:41.369 --> 00:11:47.015 the war and those who served during the present war, not including those 00:11:47.048 --> 00:11:50.836 with dishonorable discharges. So there were certain criteria of whether 00:11:50.869 --> 00:11:57.005 you could be eligible for this uh housing that was being uh rebuilt 00:11:57.038 --> 00:12:05.038 in 1946. We have a uh a plan uh that was developed by a local architect, 00:12:05.048 --> 00:12:10.255 uh Kemper Goodwin who uh also designed several other campus buildings. And 00:12:10.288 --> 00:12:16.885 uh in this plan, you can see this row of trailers uh in the top cell of 00:12:16.918 --> 00:12:24.755 the plan and the uh very recognizable uh curve from Mill Avenue onto uh uh 00:12:24.788 --> 00:12:32.788 Apache Boulevard. This site later becomes the site of construction for the 00:12:33.239 --> 00:12:38.537 g Auditorium, which was Frank Lloyd Wright's last design, but before that 00:12:38.570 --> 00:12:44.135 , it was basically an open field. And uh so uh they had intend, they 00:12:44.168 --> 00:12:51.336 imagined this row of uh trailers um in this design and uh and they 00:12:51.369 --> 00:12:56.206 imagined many more trailers that ultimately uh may have come along much 00:12:56.239 --> 00:13:04.125 later, we didn't find that evidence in the records. 00:13:04.158 --> 00:13:09.946 So in March of 46 President Gambi writes to uh Walter Bim of Valley 00:13:09.979 --> 00:13:15.677 National Bank and confirms that 50 trailers have been installed uh In that 00:13:15.710 --> 00:13:19.956 first cell we saw in the design a moment ago, you could see that a 00:13:19.989 --> 00:13:25.657 financial statement shows that the Valley Bank provided a $15,000 loan. 00:13:25.690 --> 00:13:29.557 And other sources suggest that the first National Bank, a different Valley 00:13:29.590 --> 00:13:34.407 Bank also made loans and that the alumni association acted as a nonprofit 00:13:34.440 --> 00:13:39.787 agent for these transactions. Um They had to have a separate agent uh 00:13:39.820 --> 00:13:45.326 apart from the uni from the college in order to do this, um all of the 00:13:45.359 --> 00:13:49.496 loans that were made from the banks were paid off within two years and uh 00:13:49.529 --> 00:13:55.125 mostly they were paid off from uh the rental fees paid by veterans. 00:13:55.158 --> 00:13:58.717 And then, uh Gamage writes, there has been the finest co-operation from 00:13:58.750 --> 00:14:05.657 every source on this project. And uh I'd like to uh read a passage from 00:14:05.690 --> 00:14:10.875 that memo that I think uh describes the nature of this collaboration. The 00:14:10.908 --> 00:14:17.686 uh enabled Victory Village to be constructed. G writes to Walter BMS. 00:14:17.719 --> 00:14:22.076 The major item was that of making it possible for us to secure the money 00:14:22.109 --> 00:14:27.196 from the Valley Bank. Mr Myers, Mr Whiston, Mr Haas of the Phoenix Chamber 00:14:27.229 --> 00:14:33.265 of Commerce cooperated fully Colonel Osborne of Williams Field with army 00:14:33.298 --> 00:14:37.196 equipment, did the entire job of moving the trailers. They also did a lot 00:14:37.229 --> 00:14:41.875 of the site preparation, uh different groups on the campus made a real 00:14:41.908 --> 00:14:46.907 contribution in cleaning the trailers, making curtains and slip covers and 00:14:46.940 --> 00:14:51.956 in giving the small touches so helpful in making the situation attractive. 00:14:51.989 --> 00:14:57.096 The alumni association have been very helpful and very much interested in 00:14:57.129 --> 00:15:00.486 this work. So what you have are a lot of different parties coming together 00:15:00.519 --> 00:15:04.625 to help out these veterans and uh make their transition to civilian life 00:15:04.658 --> 00:15:09.167 as comfortable as possible while preparing them to be successful at the 00:15:09.200 --> 00:15:14.417 Arizona State College. And the photograph we just put up is a, a wonderful 00:15:14.450 --> 00:15:19.135 image from a scrapbook, uh, of one of the, um, uh, women's service 00:15:19.168 --> 00:15:24.836 organizations on the campus and you'll see, uh, curtains being sewn by one 00:15:24.869 --> 00:15:29.157 individual and then, uh, two individuals mopping up the inside of one of 00:15:29.190 --> 00:15:33.145 the trailers. Uh, it's one of very few surviving photographs of the 00:15:33.178 --> 00:15:39.246 insides of these trailers. 00:15:39.279 --> 00:15:45.116 So July 15th, 1946 President Gamage, uh, puts together a status report 00:15:45.149 --> 00:15:51.775 regarding this transition, uh, by July 1546 he has 66 dorm units ready for 00:15:51.808 --> 00:15:57.717 occupancy. Uh 100 units contracted and allocated for construction, which 00:15:57.750 --> 00:16:00.717 means he has the funding and you have the contracts in place to build 00:16:00.750 --> 00:16:07.135 another 100 units and then 50 units in the process of contracting. Um This 00:16:07.168 --> 00:16:12.096 is uh July 1519 46. So he's got about a month before the beginning of the 00:16:12.129 --> 00:16:20.129 of the false uh 46 semester. Uh There, the family units um there are 16, 1 00:16:20.538 --> 00:16:25.236 and two bedroom units available by August 1st will be available by August 00:16:25.269 --> 00:16:29.385 1st. Um 16 units are converted from the National Youth Administration 00:16:29.418 --> 00:16:35.657 building 50 trailers we talked about before uh occupied since Feb February 00:16:35.690 --> 00:16:42.956 1st 1946. Um these were probably acquired from the post and Japanese 00:16:42.989 --> 00:16:49.625 American interment camp and that's a very different um story that I've 00:16:49.658 --> 00:16:54.496 done some research on as well. Um uh And 50 units were contracted and 00:16:54.529 --> 00:16:58.505 allocated in 35 units in process. So he's looking at somewhere close to 00:16:58.538 --> 00:17:03.246 400 total units to accommodate these veterans and uh many of them in place 00:17:03.279 --> 00:17:09.304 , many of them still planned and in progress. 00:17:09.337 --> 00:17:15.245 So by 1946 we have this lovely aerial photograph and you can actually see 00:17:15.278 --> 00:17:22.377 uh the trailers there and we zoom in a little bit. Uh you can see the row 00:17:22.410 --> 00:17:27.406 of trailers and then you'll see these four long structures uh south of the 00:17:27.439 --> 00:17:34.746 trailers and those are the uh veterans with family units. Um Each one of 00:17:34.779 --> 00:17:39.456 those had four a one or two bedroom apartments in them. So those are the 00:17:39.489 --> 00:17:45.325 16 family units and then you have the 50 trailers uh in the middle of the 00:17:45.358 --> 00:17:49.406 trailers, you'll see these long sort of whitish rectangular spaces. Those 00:17:49.439 --> 00:17:52.085 are laundry facilities. 00:17:52.118 --> 00:17:56.026 You have to think of all this stuff and when, when the students come, uh 00:17:56.059 --> 00:18:00.436 especially with families, there are a lot of additional needs that need to 00:18:00.469 --> 00:18:04.065 be cared for. 00:18:04.098 --> 00:18:09.835 So, enrollment changes radically in this period too. Uh So in 1945 you 00:18:09.868 --> 00:18:15.976 have five hun we're down to 553 students from 1300 change which we said 00:18:16.009 --> 00:18:21.196 before the following year, we're back up to 2180 00:18:21.229 --> 00:18:28.285 students. So 394% increase in one year. Uh And then by 1950 as more and 00:18:28.318 --> 00:18:34.656 more of the veterans come back, uh We're at 4045 students, massive growth 00:18:34.689 --> 00:18:38.647 , very hard to accommodate that when you really need bricks and mortar for 00:18:38.680 --> 00:18:45.946 all of these students. The state press reported in September of 46 of 2060 00:18:45.979 --> 00:18:53.979 students. Um, 1343 were men and 717 were women. Um, there were 1120 00:18:55.848 --> 00:19:02.607 veterans on campus and 777 of them, uh, were their first time students at 00:19:02.640 --> 00:19:08.137 the Arizona State College. So there's, uh a massive transition. You have 00:19:08.170 --> 00:19:14.357 se over 700 students who had never been there before. Uh You have a 394% 00:19:14.390 --> 00:19:20.506 increase in the number of students on campus uh between in one year and uh 00:19:20.539 --> 00:19:24.555 the university is really struggling to accommodate uh this influx of 00:19:24.588 --> 00:19:30.176 students and to provide them with quality educational services. 00:19:30.209 --> 00:19:35.367 So, what was it like to live in Victory Village? Um Here's a great photo 00:19:35.400 --> 00:19:40.196 of the, the trailer park portion of it. These were the trailers that were 00:19:40.229 --> 00:19:46.406 occupied by um uh either married or unmarried veterans without Children. 00:19:46.439 --> 00:19:52.726 And there's 50 of these trailers laid out in this space. Um And you can 00:19:52.759 --> 00:19:59.617 see the little uh road, the driveway going down next to a um So to really 00:19:59.650 --> 00:20:03.377 understand what it was like in Victory Village, uh I wanna turn to another 00:20:03.410 --> 00:20:07.377 passage I'll read for you. Uh That was written by uh the founding 00:20:07.410 --> 00:20:13.656 university, university archivist Alfred Thomas in 1960 00:20:13.689 --> 00:20:21.045 Alfred Thomas was actually in 1946 the uh university registrar. So he was 00:20:21.078 --> 00:20:25.006 uh one of the people really under the gun. But he had AAA personal 00:20:25.039 --> 00:20:29.906 experience walking through Victory Village when it existed. So he, he 00:20:29.939 --> 00:20:35.696 writes in 1960 to go into Victory Village at night was to stumble over 00:20:35.729 --> 00:20:42.387 Velocipedes and baby buggies and step on squeaking toys to be beheaded by 00:20:42.420 --> 00:20:47.016 clothes lines, blinded by study lamps. And to get lost in eccentric 00:20:47.049 --> 00:20:53.055 streets. To go There in daytime was to find G I wives laundering and 00:20:53.088 --> 00:20:58.526 shopping cooperatively babysitting each other's offspring. Many of the 00:20:58.559 --> 00:21:03.367 wives actually attended classes and pooling their scanty funds when 00:21:03.400 --> 00:21:11.117 government checks were late. Really wonderful description. 00:21:11.150 --> 00:21:14.696 So here are the barracks. Uh These are the small barracks buildings with 00:21:14.729 --> 00:21:18.946 the one and two bedroom apartments. Um You can see all the uh you know, 00:21:18.979 --> 00:21:23.156 they, they have to have electricity, all the wiring that was done. Uh At 00:21:23.189 --> 00:21:28.916 this point it looks like pretty temporary installation. 00:21:28.949 --> 00:21:36.795 Another view of the actual trailers. 00:21:36.828 --> 00:21:41.555 And yes, they, they did laundry, they had Children and diapers and laundry 00:21:41.588 --> 00:21:45.897 and all of the things that you would expect families to do were 00:21:45.930 --> 00:21:51.867 accommodated in Victory Village. 00:21:51.900 --> 00:21:56.996 I love this, this photograph. It's just great. Um And you know, again, you 00:21:57.029 --> 00:22:00.347 know, many of the wives took classes, some of them didn't, they had to 00:22:00.380 --> 00:22:04.456 work together to care for the kids while the wives were in classes or out 00:22:04.489 --> 00:22:10.446 shopping or doing other things. And so uh it it, it did literally take a 00:22:10.479 --> 00:22:18.479 village uh here at Arizona State College in 1946. 00:22:22.969 --> 00:22:30.387 So as uh the uh veterans came back with their families and, and ultimately 00:22:30.420 --> 00:22:35.305 became students and tenants, they began to have some concerns that they 00:22:35.338 --> 00:22:39.186 wanted to express to the university administration and, and they organized 00:22:39.219 --> 00:22:44.486 in different ways. So there was a Victory Village Wives Council that was 00:22:44.519 --> 00:22:50.347 established as early as October 1946. Here are the three officers uh from 00:22:50.380 --> 00:22:56.147 the Wives Council and they began to take interest in living conditions at 00:22:56.180 --> 00:22:59.097 these facilities. 00:22:59.130 --> 00:23:03.426 There was an organization called the Ari of Vets, uh composed from 00:23:03.459 --> 00:23:07.236 veterans from all of the branches of the armed services and they sponsored 00:23:07.269 --> 00:23:14.075 a basketball team in the Phoenix Metropolitan League. 00:23:14.108 --> 00:23:17.426 So the tenants and they organized, they began to talk to the university 00:23:17.459 --> 00:23:23.206 about things that they wanted in in this housing. Um And January 2nd, 1947 00:23:23.239 --> 00:23:29.877 Norma Burhans uh executive council member at Victory Village number 18, 00:23:29.910 --> 00:23:36.486 wrote g about hot water issues in the various units. Um In Fe February 00:23:36.519 --> 00:23:42.936 14th, 1947 a resident inquired about the absence of swamp coolers or air 00:23:42.969 --> 00:23:47.377 conditioning during the summer months and it turned out they did not 00:23:47.410 --> 00:23:55.016 resolve this in 1947. So the veterans lived in 1946 and 1947 in non air 00:23:55.049 --> 00:24:00.325 conditioned facilities uh during the summer. Uh they did install swamp 00:24:00.358 --> 00:24:06.847 coolers in 1948. Uh to resolve some of that. But uh you know, again, it's 00:24:06.880 --> 00:24:11.206 back to the days when there was no air conditioning. Uh and there's a long 00:24:11.239 --> 00:24:16.555 history of not having air conditioning in Phoenix. Um personal belongings 00:24:16.588 --> 00:24:20.986 insurance was, was not provided by the university. This suggests that 00:24:21.019 --> 00:24:26.916 there may have been some issues with crime um that the tenants were asking 00:24:26.949 --> 00:24:32.065 about insurance and then mail service had to be uh reestablished and they 00:24:32.098 --> 00:24:36.486 had rural route, mail service to the Palm Grove apartments, which is where 00:24:36.519 --> 00:24:42.456 the dorms, some of the dorms were that was due to start March 1st uh in 47. 00:24:42.489 --> 00:24:47.906 So, you know, like so many things at a su we, we, we scrambled to build 00:24:47.939 --> 00:24:53.367 to accommodate the demand for education. And um so we're, we're very good 00:24:53.400 --> 00:24:56.906 at putting things together quickly, but then there's a lot of details, a 00:24:56.939 --> 00:25:01.055 lot of issues that come up after we get things open and running and that's 00:25:01.088 --> 00:25:04.637 what you're really seeing here is the the tenants uh giving that feedback 00:25:04.670 --> 00:25:08.656 and helping improve the conditions and the things they didn't think of the 00:25:08.689 --> 00:25:11.706 first time. 00:25:11.739 --> 00:25:16.897 And then uh finally, uh in 1951 the Arizona Republic um does this very 00:25:16.930 --> 00:25:23.506 interesting uh little series of articles called Mr and Miss Mr and Mrs Joe 00:25:23.539 --> 00:25:28.476 College. And the, the focus of the article, the intent of the article was 00:25:28.509 --> 00:25:35.555 to talk about a different kind of student that was now emerging and 00:25:35.588 --> 00:25:40.996 becoming an important part of the university experience. We have returning 00:25:41.029 --> 00:25:46.627 military veterans, anxious to learn, anxious to transact, transition back 00:25:46.660 --> 00:25:52.476 to civilian life, um, and attending college with their families. And so, 00:25:52.509 --> 00:25:56.585 uh, the, this was very, very different from the traditional college 00:25:56.618 --> 00:26:01.506 student who is the son or daughter and comes in by themselves, moves into 00:26:01.539 --> 00:26:05.996 a dorm, uh, or gets an apartment in the area. Now, they had to think about 00:26:06.029 --> 00:26:10.756 how do we make it a good place for families. And so this is really 00:26:10.789 --> 00:26:14.706 interesting group of, of, uh, news articles and I have a few news clips 00:26:14.739 --> 00:26:21.676 here from that to give you a sense of how the newspaper media portrayed 00:26:21.709 --> 00:26:29.709 this new kind of college student that was born as a result of the G I Bill. 00:26:36.578 --> 00:26:38.578 And that's basically what I have for you today. I hope you've learned a 00:26:39.750 --> 00:26:44.726 few things about the post-war transitions at the Arizona State College. Uh 00:26:44.759 --> 00:26:49.426 , and, uh, the many changes that have occurred over the years at Arizona 00:26:49.459 --> 00:26:54.039 State University. Thank you very much.