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First
UM diploma
returning to campus
The
first diploma ever issued by The University of Montana returns
to campus this fall when the graduate's descendants donate
the historical document to the Maureen and Mike Mansfield
Library.
The
diploma, one of two issued during UM's first Commencement
on June 8, 1898, is a bachelor of arts awarded to Ella Robb
Glenny, who went on to a career as an Iowa schoolteacher.
"We
had the diploma for so long, and we thought The University
of Montana might want to have it," said Dr. William
Robb Glenny Jr., the first graduate's grandson and a retired
Minnesota pathologist. "We felt it would have much
more significance to UM than to our descendants. We would
like to get a copy, however."
The
doctor and his wife, Gretchen, intend to present the diploma
to UM in person sometime in October or November during a
planned trip to visit their son in Seattle.
UM
already possesses the other diploma from its first graduating
class -- a bachelor of philosophy presented to Eloise Knowles.
A Deer Lodge native, Knowles was a fine arts faculty member
at UM from 1898 until her death in 1916. She founded Penetralia,
which later became the Mortar Board student honor society,
as well as Theta Phi, which became the Kappa Alpha Theta
sorority. UM's Knowles residence hall is named for her.
Glenny
said his grandmother was an Iowa native who came to Missoula
with her husband, William Mount Glenny, a traveling railroad
storekeeper. Ella Robb Glenny used her time in western Montana
to earn a degree in education.
UM's
first Commencement ceremony was held at the Union Theater,
which was located near where Union Hall now stands on the
north side of Missoula's East Main Street. The major speeches
were given by the graduating class: Glenny's topic was "Tendencies
in Education"; Knowles spoke on "Expression of
Thought." The audience reportedly was moved to tears.
The diplomas were presented by UM's first president, Oscar
J. Craig.
After
the graduation ceremony, UM's first alumnae attended a ceremony
where the 7-ton cornerstone for University Hall (known informally
these days as Main Hall) was laid. The stone was inscribed
with "1897," the year construction began.
Glenny
said his grandmother gave birth to his father, William Robb
Glenny Sr., while living in Missoula. Then UM's first graduate
returned to Iowa and became a small-town schoolteacher after
her husband's death in the 1920s. She died on Sept. 2, 1951.
The
Glenny family has produced several doctors over the years.
Glenny, 76, said his great-grandfather was a physician in
the Union army during the Civil War. He went into medicine
himself, working at United Hospital in St. Paul, Minn.,
until retiring in 1971. His son, Robb William Glenny, is
a research physician at the University of Washington School
of Medicine in Seattle.
The
family got the idea of returning the diploma to UM after
Robb William Glenny did a search of his name on the Internet
and was surprised by references to his great-grandmother
popping up on UM Web sites. Then William Robb Glenny Jr.,
while traveling to visit his son in Seattle, decided to
pull off the road and stop at the UM campus. He asked some
random passersby whom he should talk to about donating the
diploma, and he wound up speaking with business school Dean
Larry Gianchetta, who then directed him to Frank D'Andraia,
dean of library services.
"It
seemed like the right thing to do," Glenny said. "We
just had it sitting in a closet."
D'Andraia
was surprised and delighted by the offer to bring UM's first
diploma home. "The library is always seeking unique
things relating to the University and its graduates for
current and future generations," he said.
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