In the Fall 2010, Booth Library staff put on an exhibit about the history of teacher education in Illinois, which is now making an appearance in the lobby of Buzzard Hall.

The exhibit was featured in Booth from October to December 2010.

Beth Heldebrandt, the Booth editorial writer, handled the public relations work for the exhibit and said the recent reappearance came at the request of the College of Education.

“It was a much larger exhibit in the library in 2010,” Heldebrandt said. “The College of Education asked us to put part of it up in Buzzard Hall because of the lab school reunion they had in August.”

The lab school was located at Eastern when the university was a normal school, also known as a teachers’ college.

Prior to the days when teachers went to various towns to student teach, the exercise was done on site. The lab school originally functioned as an elementary school but later a junior high school was added.

University archivist Bob Hillman said during Eastern’s conception, it did not offer degrees, but offered something similar to a teaching certificate.

“The lab school served as a place for perspective teachers to practice on students on site,” Hillman said. “It wasn’t until the 1930s that it was done in area schools.”

The exhibit focuses on the various aspects of student life in addition to how and where they learned.

“For instance, every morning they went to chapel in Old Main,” he said. “It wasn’t really a religious service, but it was when everyone met and sometimes the speaker gave a sermon-like speech that quoted the bible.”

Hillman said work on the larger exhibit originally began in 2008, but the idea dates back to 2007 when President Bill Perry took office, and when the College of Education came up for reaccredidation, they revisited the idea.

The curator committee met weekly until the exhibit opening on Oct. 12, 2010.

“We got a lot of our artifacts and photos from the archives but also borrowed things as well,” Hillman said. “We borrowed things from alumni and long time area teachers as well.”

The exhibit will be up through mid-September depending on scheduling, he said.

Amy Wywialowski can be reached at 581-2812 or [email protected].