Learn about the “Northern Star” digitization process at Glidden presentation

Posted on April 15, 2023 by Mike Korcek

Recently digitized issues of the “Northern Illinois,” now known as the campus newspaper “Northern Star,” are providing a link to local history.

At 12 p.m. on Sunday, April 23, at the Glidden Homestead, 921 W. Lincoln Highway, in DeKalb, learn more about the digitization process of the newspaper, a project led by the Special Collections and Archives department through Northern Illinois University’s Founders Memorial Library.

The digital versions are available through NIU’s Digital Library. Editions from 1899 through the 1920s will be available to access online this spring, while the remaining publications created through 1997 will be available this fall. The papers are being digitized from microfilm.

“The Northern Star’s longtime documentation of news allows us to learn more about our local history,” said Jessi Haish LaRue, Glidden Homestead executive director. “It’s exciting that this wealth of information will be easily accessed online.”

Bradley Wiles, MA, MLIS, associate professor and department head, will present on the digitization process, interesting discoveries made while viewing the papers, and other projects the department is working on. Wiles has worked in a variety of archives and library settings for more than fifteen years. In addition to digitization projects, his department will host a regional history conference, and a local history skills workshop, both on NIU’s campus.

The Glidden Homestead museum will be open for tours, and The Phineas Vaughan Blacksmith Shop will be open and operating that day while volunteer blacksmiths provide demonstrations of the craft. Admission for the program and tour is $5 for adults; children younger than 14 and homestead members are admitted free.

The Joseph F. Glidden Homestead and Historical Center is a not-for-profit organization working to preserve the home and barn while providing educational opportunities to the public. The house and Welcome Center are open from noon to 4 p.m. each Sunday, April through November, with a special event in December. This year marks the 150^th anniversary of the creation of Glidden’s “The Winner,” the most widely-used barbed wire in the world, which also earned Glidden the title “The Father of Barbed Wire.”

For more information, call 815-756-7904, visit www.gliddenhomestead.org or visit J.F. Glidden Homestead & Historical Center on Facebook.

Past, Present, Future Northern Star Alumni Feted during September 16-17

Posted on August 17, 2022 by Mike Korcek

DeKALB, IL --- The biennial celebration of The Northern Star's past, present, and future resumes this September.

The event: The 12th Northern Star Alumni Awards Banquet and Hall of Fame Banquet on Friday, September 16, at Northern Illinois University’s Barsema Alumni and Visitors Center, plus the 1970s-era Star reunion continues on Saturday, September 17 with a tailgate and the NIU / Vanderbilt football game at Huskie Stadium.

“It’s an extraordinary legacy event that recognizes outstanding Northern Star alums old and new. Our distinguished list of hall of famers date back to 1899 and the beginnings of the university,” said Mike Korcek (NIU, class of 1970), the president of the Star Alumni Association. “Take a look at the hall of fame roster. It’s quite a list and the 2022 induction class maintains the strong Star tradition.

“That’s not to forget the Star 1970s-era reunion,” Korcek added. “It should be a great weekend. Four years ago, the 1960s Tri-Swine-Omega had a blast reminiscing. Plus the 1970s reunion committee will be announcing their Phil Kadner endowment initiative. Exciting news for future Star journalists.”

The Northern Star Alumni Hall of Fame class of 2022:

—Diane Dungey (NIU, 1981), former senior deputy managing editor at the Arlington Heights Daily Herald

—Kathy Gosnell Seiler (NIU, 1967), former copy editor at the Arlington Heights Daily Herald and Los Angeles Times

—Marcus Leshock (NIU, 2005), anchor and reporter at WGN-TV and radio

—Jeremy Norman (NIU, 2004), co-founder and director of product development of ValetMag.com

—Bob Scarpelli (NIU, 1974), former chairman and chief creative officer at DDB Worldwide

The five new inductees bring the hall of fame membership to 87 since the charter class in 2000.

In addition, three younger Northern Star alums will be honored: Tim Tilton (NIU, 1995), as the recipient of the Making A+Difference Award, plus Marissa (McArthur) LeMaster (2011) and Derek Noel (NIU, 2016) with the Rising Star Awards.

Keynote speaker for the evening will be Kelly Bauer (NIU, 2015), a former Northern Star editor-in-chief and currently the breaking news editor at Block Club Chicago.

Another highlight of the weekend is the Star 1970s-era reunion committee’s announcement of the Phil Kadner / Northern Star Endowment for Student Journalists. Kadner (NIU, 1974), a retired Daily Southtown and Chicago Sun-Times columnist, was the 2013 Illinois Journalist of the Year. Seventies-types should contact reunion chair Shelley Epstein (NIU, 1974) at (309) 370-9188 or at <shelleyrepstein@gmail.com>

The social hour begins at 5:30 p.m. Friday, followed by dinner at 6:30, and the recognition program at 7:15. For further information or to RSVP, please contact Northern Star business adviser Maria Krull at (815) 753-0707 or at <mkrull@niu.edu>. The deadline is August 30.

NIU’s Northern Star to induct two Daily Herald journalists into its Hall of Fame

Posted on August 5, 2022 by Mike Korcek

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70s Reunion (Sept. 16-17, 2022)

Posted on May 24, 2022 by Mike Korcek

CALLING ALL 1970s ERA NORTHERN STAR TYPES: Mark your calendars for the 11th Northern Star Hall of Fame & Awards Banquet, and 1970s era reunion Friday / Saturday, September 16-17, 2022, in DeKalb. Contact Star business adviser Maria Krull (,mkrull@niu.edu> or reunion chair Shelley Epstein <shelleyrepstein@yahoo.com> for further information. This image from 1968-69? Kishwaukee Hall back in the day was infested by the Northern Star, the Norther, and WNIU radio. These are some of the esteemed members of Tri-Swine-Omega.

Tri-Swine Still Alive at 55

Posted on October 12, 2018 by Mike Korcek

The Paddle. It’s almost like The Monolith in Stanley Kubrick’s movie “2001: A Space Odyssey.” An artifact from an advanced civilization, hidden for centuries? Almost. The venerable, hand-carved Tri-SwineOmega paddle — along with the group’s charter — has been on display for over a decade in the “Alumni Corner” of the Northern Star offi ce in NIU’s Campus Life Building. The Paddle was in storage before that at the Regional History Center in NIU’s Founders Memorial Library. Saved for posterity in 2007 by Star business adviser Maria Krull, The Paddle is a symbol of the 1960s campus life, student angst and Baby Boomer values. Tri-Swine was part “Mad” magazine satire, part NIU Greek-life protest and two parts realization that sometimes adulthood maybe wasn’t much diff erent from childhood.

All Swine are invited to campus on Friday, Oct. 12, at NIU’s Barsema Alumni Visitor Center for a gala 55th reunion along with the 10th Northern Star Alumni Hall of Fame and Awards Banquet. And, all is forgiven. Tri-Swine spawned from the radioactive crucible named Kishwaukee Hall on College Avenue. The former “Jimmy’s Tea Room” (nee student union) housed the crowded, 24-7 offices of the Norther yearbook, the Star, and two radio stations, WNIU-FM and the college current carrier in the resident halls. Offi ces? More like a commune springboard for media-related trainees. There were interoffice romances, feuds, rivalries, and lifelong friendships. Many members of Swinedom carved out wonderful J-related careers, some becoming Star Alumni Hall of Famers or recipients of the J-department’s prestigious Donald Grubb Distinguished Alumni Award.

The TSO tri-founders? The guilty: the Star’s Bill Hetland, the Norther’s Bob Richardson, and photo service’s Barry Stark. “Bill used to go around and call everybody ‘swine.’ Swine-this, swine-that,” recalled Stark, similar to “dude” or “BFF” today. “The three of us would be friends forever. The three swine. The night we decided to do this (the day after President John Kennedy’s assassination), Bill was the only J-major (among the founders) and was always upset at the Greek system because they ran everything at NIU.” Why not the Greek letters? Tri-Swine-Omega was born. “It was fun, sarcastic,” Stark added. “Our own frat thing. Yeah, it was a joke.” Read the original TriSwine charter. Can you say “irreverent?” “By the order of his most holy and corrupt mind, William D. Hetland, on this great and glorious 23(rd) day of November in the year 1963, do(es) establish this insane and scum sucking organization which shall be forever known throughout the land as TriSwine-Omega and forthwith is a list of those most honored and idiotic enough to agree to be associated with this most unholy and tragic group.”

The charter includes about 90 original pledges — and several J-faculty. The document proudly displays the offi cial TSO logo — two pig heads and a swine rear end, created by Stark, a photographer and cartoonist. Jon Lawrence made the paddle, Stark said. “We had no idea. He was a freshman, a kid with all this varied, strange talent in photography, cartooning, embroidery, woodworking, whatever. Jon came back from semester break (1964) with this beautiful paddle.” Painted with a red border, varnished with an intricate and exact pink-colored copy of Stark’s tri-piggy TSO logo, the almost 5-foot-long paddle is a symbolic NIU artifact of the 1960s. The Paddle is cracked but repaired. All Swine members have sworn not to reveal the identity of the pert female behind on which it was broken. Sorry, TMZ. TSO sweatshirts were hot items (made and sold by Secor’s bookstore in downtown DeKalb). There have been Tri-Swine “pignics,” even a TSO football game — refereed by former Star adviser Roy G. Campbell.

For more information, contact Maria Krull (mkrull@niu.edu) or myself (mkorcek@niu.edu)