October 2025
For the eeriest month of the year, from the depths of the University Archives, Special Collections is showcasing a 112-year-old, ghost-filled Halloween program for a party. It was created by the Sigma Alpha Mu sorority for October 31, 1913, back when the University of Memphis was instead the West Tennessee State Normal School. The program was preserved by Daisy Kirk, a member of the program committee, in her scrapbook. It featured ghosts, an explanation of the origin of Halloween, music, and a reading for this spooky and fun-filled event. Decorating the program are two hand drawn classics of Halloween iconography: a hissing black cat and a lit candle.
Though Halloween programs and parties have changed in the past hundred or so years, we can also see what has stayed the same. Where they had ghost stories and a reading, we today might have horror films. But those classic Halloween symbols, and a desire for thematic music, remain.
For more insights into the past and the university’s student life, you can view them online at this link, https://digitalcommons.memphis.edu/speccoll-ua-ph/. Or make an appointment to visit Special Collections here.
The Item of the Month is a specially selected item (book, photograph, ephemera, artifact, etc.) that members of the University Libraries' Special Collections Department would like to highlight each month to show the breadth and variety of their collections.
Text from this post is by Anna Kirby, an Archives Assistant in Special Collections. She can be reached at akirby1@memphis.edu
