Interview with Mary Funk, September 20, 1973

Interview with Mary Funk, September 20, 1973

Muhlenberg College

Katherine Van Eerde conducts an oral history with Mary Funk in which she discusses her experiences as both a math professor and librarian at Muhlenberg College. She also discusses her interests in and connections to Abraham Lincoln.

1973-09-20

video

JSD_09

Philip B. Secor

Katherine Van Eerde

Mary Funk

00:40:52

5.4 September 20, 1973 Interview with Mary Funk, September 20, 1973 JSD_09 00:40:52 JSD_Faculty John S. Davidson Oral History Collection Muhlenberg College: Trexler Library Oral History Repository Courtesy Special Collections and Archives, Trexler Library, Muhlenberg College. With thanks to Maxine Wisler '20 for transcribing and indexing. Muhlenberg College Mathematics Library Abraham Lincoln Librarian Mary Funk Philip B. Secor Katherine Van Eerde audio/wav FunkM_19730920_audio_JSD_09 1:|12(3)|25(2)|34(11)|56(7)|69(3)|83(10)|96(7)|113(6)|142(9)|157(10)|176(4)|195(2)|210(11)|226(6)|238(8)|254(16)|277(2)|300(4)|316(3)|324(3)|337(12)|348(7)|369(5)|383(5)|391(9)|417(3)|431(4)|442(11)|458(8)|474(4)|485(1)|496(7)|507(7)|515(11)|529(9)|540(5)|557(8)|568(2)|582(14)|594(3) 0 YouTube video &lt ; iframe width=&quot ; 560&quot ; height=&quot ; 315&quot ; src=&quot ; https://www.youtube.com/embed/x5ooEcpfwgc&quot ; title=&quot ; YouTube video player&quot ; frameborder=&quot ; 0&quot ; allow=&quot ; accelerometer ; autoplay=0 ; clipboard-write ; encrypted-media ; gyroscope ; picture-in-picture&quot ; allowfullscreen&gt ; &lt ; /iframe&gt ; English 0 Introduction of Mary Funk SECOR: I am the dean of Muhlenberg College talking to you from the Muhlenberg Room of the college library on this twentieth day of September 1973. This tape is intended to be part of an oral history of Muhlenberg, consisting primarily of conversations with senior members of the college community. This project was officially named the John S. David Muhlenberg College Oral History Project at a special ceremony held last spring to honor Professor Davidson on the occasion of his retirement as librarian of the college. Dr. Katherine Van Eerde, Professor of History at Muhlenberg, will be conducting this morning’s interview conversation with Ms. Mary A. Funk, Emeritus Professor in the Muhlenberg faculty. Katherine Van Eerde ; Kutztown State College ; librarian ; Mary Funk ; Philip Secor ; Simmons College 40.597653, -75.510113 17 112 Arrival at Muhlenberg College VAN EERDE: Thank you Dean Secor. Ms. Funk, instead of starting in the usual fashion with where you were born, and what you did the first few years, and so on, I’d like to take you right into a subject of considerable importance in uh, in 1973. We can go back to the other later. And that is the subject of your moving into a man’s world when you came to Muhlenberg in 1939. Muhlenberg was then a man’s college, men’s college, not coeducational, and I’d like to hear from your own lips, your experiences as you became a faculty member, and a woman faculty member at this college in 1939. Could you tell us something about that please? female professor ; men's college 40.597653, -75.510113 17 240 Role as professor during World War II VAN EERDE: Since I’ve mentioned World War II, we might go on to another one of your, um, supposedly unfeminine activities, that is teaching math during World War II. We’ve had experiences of other faculty who were here during World War II and the relations of Professor Deck and Professor Koehler, as to how they were involved with this, but I didn’t realize until I talked to you the other day that you were also a part of that. Would you tell us something about that please? math ; Professor Deck ; Professor Koehler ; World War II 40.597653, -75.510113 17 515 Early life VAN EERDE: We might now perhaps go back to, uh, to beginnings. You were born in Shippensburg, you tell me. FUNK: No. VAN EERDE: Or near it? FUNK: That was my home town. But I was born in Littlestown-- VAN EERDE: Excuse me. FUNK: --and then lived in York, and then in Shippensburg again. VAN EERDE: I see, sorry. FUNK: But I, uh, went to Shippensburg to high school and then to a normal school. Columbia University ; librarian ; Simmons College 40.597653, -75.510113 17 548 Path to becoming a librarian FUNK: (laughing) That’s right. I mean I had decided when I, uh, went to the first grade for the first day, came home and told my mother, “I’m going to be a schoolteacher.” And I didn’t change from that idea until after I taught. (both Van Eerde and Funk laugh) And then I found that there were some things about teaching that I didn’t like. Particularly, the discipline end of it since I was teaching in high school, and, uh, sometimes that became a little bit annoying. 40.597653, -75.510113 17 729 Experience at Simmons College VAN EERDE: That it was your destiny. Right, right. It’s quite clear. You, uh, told me that--the dean will be interested in this--you told me that at Simmons, you had already expressed an interest to take some math courses because you did enjoy math as a side subject. And it was strictly forbidden because it wasn’t in the library curriculum. library ; library science ; Simmons College 40.597653, -75.510113 17 832 Arrival at Muhlenberg VAN EERDE: You simply have this special math gift which is something one has or hasn’t. Well now, I think it’s time probably for us to bring you to Muhlenberg itself. Your predecessor was Richard--a man named Richard Brown, I believe, who had been a public librarian or he was the librarian when you came? I’m sorry. librarian ; library ; Richard Brown 40.597653, -75.510113 17 975 Different uses of the library building VAN EERDE: Was it that early, I’m sorry. But as you, and others, have explained it was by no means entirely devoted to the library at that point. FUNK: No, indeed. We were on the main floor. VAN EERDE: And that was it? FUNK: That was really it. VAN EERDE: You said the basement was for storage perhaps. library 40.597653, -75.510113 17 1106 Significance of her book displays VAN EERDE: Exactly. Gradually one of the things became your special care. And I remember well from the time--for as long as I’ve been at Muhlenberg--and that is the displays of books, which you carefully arranged and identified. Can you tell us about, first the case and then a little bit about your work with those cases. FUNK: Actually, when I came here that never was--I had forgotten where it had been put--but that case over there was down in the lobby. 40.597653, -75.510113 17 1212 Interest in Abraham Lincoln VAN EERDE: Sometimes I know that it’s--that the displays have been keyed to current events or to visiting scholars and their works. But I want to move from that now to something that anyone who knows you can never possibly dissociate from you--and that is your collection of Lincolniana and your immense knowledge of that. I learned for the first time the other day exactly how you got started--of course, I recognize you began with a genuine interest in Lincoln. But you have a very specific and personal connection with a piece of Lincolniana, and I think it’s worth hearing about that now. Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865 40.597653, -75.510113 17 1334 Personal connection with Lincoln VAN EERDE: But tell us the story about how your mother happened to visit President Lincoln. That I think is fascinating--excuse me, I’m sorry. Your grandmother visited President Lincoln, sorry my mistake. FUNK: Well my grandmother was, um, married to a man by the name of Wyzotski who was a soldier in the Civil War. And he and a friend of his had come home to Gettysburg on a little furlough and were on their way back to their camp--were going through Maryland--and they were walking it, got thirsty. They stopped at a house and asked the lady if they might have a drink of water. Uh, she gave them a drink of water and then said she had just baked a pie and would they like a piece of pie. So, yes of course they would. And my grandmother’s husband was a little greedy--he ate two pieces of the pie, and it killed him. The other man ate just one piece and was very sick but recovered. Apparently, they had struck a home where there was a sympathizer of the South, Maryland being one way or another-- American Civil War ; Gettysburg (Pa.) ; Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865 40.597653, -75.510113 17 1544 Abraham Lincoln collection VAN EERDE: Well now, we mustn't leave your collection with that fascinating early story. I have seen the room in which it sits, and I’m sure I haven’t begun to see all of it, though I’ve seen portions of it over the years as February 12th rolled around. And um, can you tell us in a general way of what it consists. Now the picture that was taken of you this morning, it shows you holding a Lincoln doll and a Lincoln statuette. What else is there in your Lincoln collection? Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865 40.597653, -75.510113 17 1705 Lincoln lectures VAN EERDE: Ms. Funk, many collectors are content simply to collect, to store, to enjoy their treasures by themselves, but one of the most prominent facts about you is that you have been more than eager to share your knowledge and your accumulated wisdom about one of the greatest figures the world has ever produced, Abraham Lincoln, with a variety of other people. I think you told me that you’ve got three talks scheduled for next February and another one for April. And I know that your schedule has been heavy throughout all the years that I’ve known you in discussing Lincoln. Particularly, in relation to the Bible, but undoubtedly going out in other directions, too. Would you, um, tell us something about--about your activities with the discussion of Lincoln and your use of the various artifacts that you’ve collected? Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865 40.597653, -75.510113 17 1923 Stephen Laurent and Lincoln portrait VAN EERDE: There’s one more quite interesting point about that original portrait of Lincoln that her grandmother received. You told me that, um, Stephen Laurent, did not have it in his first draft of photographs. John V Shankweiler ; Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865 ; Matthew Brady ; Stephen Laurent 40.597653, -75.510113 17 2054 Relationship with and commitment to helping students VAN EERDE: Well, thank you very much Ms. Funk, that gives us a good idea of you and Lincoln which is a happy relationship indeed. I’d like to move, I think, finally to the relations you’ve had with students over the years at Muhlenberg. I know that Mr. Davdson’s told me that there are many students who enter the library and go right to the circulation desk and say, “Where’s Ms. Funk? I want to see Ms. Funk.” And come to the library wanting to see Ms. Funk. So I know that your rapport with the students through the years has been excellent. Can you tell us some of your memories and associations? librarian ; library 40.597653, -75.510113 17 2270 Perkiomen Prep program VAN EERDE: That’s very interesting, indeed. Now, I want to add one little detail for the benefit of future listeners. You worked regularly from 7:30 am to 5 pm. Although, as you said, sometimes it went on to 5:30 and 5:45. Those are hours that are rather out-motive these days. And I know that your knowledge of the library is complete. You simply do know where everything is. You told me also that you used to give tours to Perkiomen Prep boys in the summer because a former student-- library ; Perkiomen Prep 40.597653, -75.510113 17 2422 Closing remarks VAN EERDE: I think it’s very clear that your association with and aid to students has been one of the outstanding contributions you’ve made to Muhlenberg. That’s reiterated and underlined by your receiving the Muhlenberg Alumni Achievement Award in 1970, a year after your retirement, I think, which I remember was an occasion of great rejoicing for many people. Muhlenberg Alumni Achievement Award 40.597653, -75.510113 17 Sound Katherine Van Eerde conducts an oral history with Mary Funk in which she discusses her experiences as both a math professor and librarian at Muhlenberg College. She also discusses her interests in and connections to Abraham Lincoln. SECOR: I am the dean of Muhlenberg College talking to you from the Muhlenberg Room of the college library on this twentieth day of September 1973. This tape is intended to be part of an oral history of Muhlenberg, consisting primarily of conversations with senior members of the college community. This project was officially named the John S. David Muhlenberg College Oral History Project at a special ceremony held last spring to honor Professor Davidson on the occasion of his retirement as librarian of the college. Dr. Katherine Van Eerde, Professor of History at Muhlenberg, will be conducting this morning&#039 ; s interview conversation with Ms. Mary A. Funk, Emeritus Professor in the Muhlenberg faculty. Ms. Funk earned her B.S. [Bachelor of the Sciences] degree from Simmons College in 1927 and her M.S. [Master of the Sciences] degree in Library Science from Columbia University in 1933. Before joining the Muhlenberg faculty in 1939 as Assistant Librarian and Assistant Professor, she served as Assistant Librarian at Kutztown State College between 1927 and 1939. In 1964, Ms. Funk was promoted to Associate Professor in the faculty--in 1968 to Full Professor, and subsequent to her retirement, she was awarded the rank of Emeritus Professor in the faculty in 1969. I am delighted that Ms. Funk has agreed to help us with our oral history project by talking with Dr. Van Eerde this morning. Dr. Van Erde. VAN EERDE: Thank you Dean Secor. Ms. Funk, instead of starting in the usual fashion with where you were born, and what you did the first few years, and so on, I&#039 ; d like to take you right into a subject of considerable importance in uh, in 1973. We can go back to the other later. And that is the subject of your moving into a man&#039 ; s world when you came to Muhlenberg in 1939. Muhlenberg was then a man&#039 ; s college, men&#039 ; s college, not coeducational, and I&#039 ; d like to hear from your own lips, your experiences as you became a faculty member, and a woman faculty member at this college in 1939. Could you tell us something about that please? FUNK: Well, I remember the--I remember the Fall Convocation in 1939, when I appeared in cap and gown for the academic procession, and many of the men on the faculty, uh, seemed to be quite excited about this because they had never had that before. I sometimes thought that they protested too much about how nice it was to have a woman on the faculty (all laughing) because I think they didn&#039 ; t quite agree with it. But as time went on, some of those very people became my very good friends, so I felt that they had learned that I could be one of them (chuckles) as well as, uh, a man. VAN EERDE: You were a genuine trailblazer in that case it seems. Now you tell me--you attended faculty meetings from the beginning? FUNK: Yes, I did. VAN EERDE: And you voted? FUNK: Yes. VAN EERDE: So that you were, oh, this anomaly at Muhlenberg-- FUNK: That&#039 ; s right. VAN EERDE: --a female who had faculty privileges and exercised them at the very beginning of World War II, as far as Europe&#039 ; s concerned not even the United States, and I think it&#039 ; s quite interesting. (coughs) Since I&#039 ; ve mentioned World War II, we might go on to another one of your, um, supposedly unfeminine activities, that is teaching math during World War II. We&#039 ; ve had experiences of other faculty who were here during World War II and the relations of Professor Deck and Professor Koehler, as to how they were involved with this, but I didn&#039 ; t realize until I talked to you the other day that you were also a part of that. Would you tell us something about that please? FUNK: Well, at one time during the war, we had thirty five civilian students and five hundred Navy and Marines. The college did not want to have to dismiss any of their faculty members if they could help it. So, they needed teachers for math and physics, particularly, and so they asked any of us who had any ability along that line to volunteer for the, uh, job of teaching the sailors. And so, I had taught math in high school, but I&#039 ; d never taught it in college but decided I would try it--and actually, we were paid extra for that. (laughing) VAN EERDE: Well, that&#039 ; s very nice. FUNK: I taught one hour a day, every day of the week, and uh, really enjoyed being with these young men. VAN EERDE: I think you said you didn&#039 ; t have any difficulty at all in keeping up with the work that was put before you-- FUNK: No. It, it was--Professor Deck had gone over the work with us before we started. Uh, and I found that it was quite interesting. It was the--you might have called it Freshmen Mathematics. It wasn&#039 ; t beyond that. There were some of the students who stayed on for a longer period, who then went into an advanced course-- VAN EERDE: I see. Regular courses. FUNK: --but those were taught by Professor Deck and Professor Koehler. Those of us who had been, uh, gotten into this routine kept on repeating the same course over and over (Van Eeerde agrees) so that it became quite interesting. And the, uh, the students were very appreciative of all that you could do for them. They were um--they used to come to me for help in the library, and I would look at them and say, &quot ; Are you in my class?&quot ; And they would say, &quot ; No, but, uh, so-and-so is and he thought maybe you would help me with this problem.&quot ; So, there I was. (laughs) VAN EERDE: You told me a very sound, pedagogical point. You said that some of the professional mathematicians went so rapidly, these students couldn&#039 ; t catch up and you were--(both talking at the same time ; unintelligible) FUNK: They would, uh, they would skip steps as mathematicians do. SECOR: All men of that science. (Funk and Van Eerde laugh) FUNK: Oh. For me, who was, uh, not that good at it, I had to put in all those steps, and therefore the students liked that because then they could see just what they were doing in them and how they would help. VAN EERDE: There&#039 ; s one other little aspect of this. If any student, among the Navy students, turned fractious, what happened? FUNK: Well, this was particularly--I mean I had no trouble in class, but sometimes in the evening, uh. We were open until eleven o&#039 ; clock at night, every night of the week. And I think I worked maybe three nights a week those days. And if, if they got the least bit noisy, all I had to do was say, &quot ; Do you want me to report you to the CO [Commanding Officer]?&quot ; And-- VAN EERDE: Total silence. FUNK: Total silence. And they didn&#039 ; t know that I would never have done that. (laughs) VAN EERDE: Dear, dear dates beyond recall. Well, thank you. That uh, that constitutes a body of memorabilia that I certainly didn&#039 ; t know was part of your work at Muhlenberg. We might now perhaps go back to, uh, to beginnings. You were born in Shippensburg, you tell me. FUNK: No. VAN EERDE: Or near it? FUNK: That was my home town. But I was born in Littlestown-- VAN EERDE: Excuse me. FUNK: --and then lived in York, and then in Shippensburg again. VAN EERDE: I see, sorry. FUNK: But I, uh, went to Shippensburg to high school and then to a normal school. VAN EERDE: And you&#039 ; re one of those I found--there are a number in the world--who set their sights on teaching, and after a day or two in the classroom know that it&#039 ; s not for them. FUNK: (laughing) That&#039 ; s right. I mean I had decided when I, uh, went to the first grade for the first day, came home and told my mother, &quot ; I&#039 ; m going to be a schoolteacher.&quot ; And I didn&#039 ; t change from that idea until after I taught. (both Van Eerde and Funk laugh) And then I found that there were some things about teaching that I didn&#039 ; t like. Particularly, the discipline end of it since I was teaching in high school, and, uh, sometimes that became a little bit annoying. VAN EERDE: Onerous, yes. Clearly, you were cut out to be a librarian. I&#039 ; m interested that you, um, moved to excellent places for your library work. You--here you have a certificate from Shippensburg. An obvious thing would have been for you to go to some state college in Pennsylvania, but you went to Simmons which has long been known for its quality in librarians. FUNK: Uh, that was because the librarian at the Shippensburg Teacher&#039 ; s College had had some courses with teachers from Simmons. She didn&#039 ; t go to Simmons, but she had teachers from there. VAN EERDER: I see. FUNK: And, uh, when I asked her about where I should go to take library work, she recommended Simmons as being a very good one. SECOR: You can probably see yourself all over again, Ms. Funk, if you walk downstairs and, uh, see Miss Quinley, our latest professional librarian from Simmons. FUNK: (both talking) Oh, I have not seen her yet, but I understand that she is a Simmons graduate and that pleases me. (chuckling) VAN EERDE: Certainly. Well, there&#039 ; s further evidence in your interest in pursuing your profession to--to a point of very distinct quality. You worked for twelve years at Kutztown [University] after getting your B.S. And I think you told me you practically ran the library as the librarian himself did the teaching of courses. FUNK: That&#039 ; s right. The extra library work was mine. VAN EERDE: (both talking) The operation of the library was yours. And then when you decided that that wasn&#039 ; t going to be the end of the line for you. Instead of, again, picking up a degree by night work or some such thing, you took a year&#039 ; s leave of absence-- FUNK: I took the leave of absence and went to Columbia to get my master&#039 ; s . VAN EERDE: --and you went to Columbia and got your master&#039 ; s. Was that an interesting year? FUNK: Very interesting. Uh, although there were many things that we had that were repetition for me because I&#039 ; d already gone through it, you know, and had done that work. But, I was very much interested in it and had good teachers who, uh, recognized, I guess, that I was a good librarian. VAN EERDE: That it was your destiny. Right, right. It&#039 ; s quite clear. You, uh, told me that--the dean will be interested in this--you told me that at Simmons, you had already expressed an interest to take some math courses because you did enjoy math as a side subject. And it was strictly forbidden because it wasn&#039 ; t in the library curriculum. FUNK: That&#039 ; s right. It was not in the Library Science curriculum, and therefore, I was not allowed to take it, even though my grades would have allowed me to have had an extra course. I didn&#039 ; t want to substitute it for anything. I just wanted to take an extra. Actually, my physics teachers that I had at Simmons thought that I should go into--he thought that Library Science work in a scientific manner. VAN EERDE: Mhm. You might have started that information retrieval clearly years earlier. FUNK: Yes, something like that. Because things seemed to be easy for me, uh, but their physics course very definitely stressed mathematics. And so I could work these math problems-- VAN EERDE: I see. FUNK: --that a lot of the other girls couldn&#039 ; t. And therefore, he thought that maybe I should be a scientific librarian, and I said well actually I didn&#039 ; t know too much about other sciences--and don&#039 ; t to this day. All that I know about chemistry is what I learned in being a librarian. I mean because I never had a course in chemistry. VAN EERDE: You simply have this special math gift which is something one has or hasn&#039 ; t. Well now, I think it&#039 ; s time probably for us to bring you to Muhlenberg itself. Your predecessor was Richard--a man named Richard Brown, I believe, who had been a public librarian or he was the librarian when you came? I&#039 ; m sorry. FUNK: Yes, actually, he was the librarian when I came. He had--the year before I came he was by himself in the library. And the college had decided that they should have an assistant librarian, and I happened to get that position. And then he was here just one year after I was here. Then, he had gotten a position over in Reading at the public library as head librarian. He had been reference librarian there some years before that and, um, liked it and thought he would like to go back there. And then that&#039 ; s when Mr. Davidson came. VAN EERDE: I see. I&#039 ; m sure you&#039 ; re too modest to tell us what you&#039 ; ve mentioned to me before, but you arrived at Muhlenberg just as Mr. Brown was about to take off on his summer vacation. And you didn&#039 ; t think you could run the library without any information. So for two and a half weeks, you worked without pay with him before his vacation so that during his long vacation you&#039 ; d be able to do something with the library itself. FUNK: That&#039 ; s right. He, uh, presented the idea to the authorities that I should be paid for that time, but since it was the end of the fiscal year, they didn&#039 ; t have anything left in the budget. (laughs) So, I worked those weeks without any pay. But-- VAN EERDE: No, it&#039 ; s typical if you&#039 ; re engrossed into the whole library, I know. It&#039 ; s interesting. FUNK: But that doesn&#039 ; t matter. I mean I wanted to know how he was running the library. And I thought that if, if I came in one day and he left that day, I wasn&#039 ; t going to know very much about it. So, I preferred working with him for a little bit. VAN EERDE: Very so. This was the new library--a new library at this time, wasn&#039 ; t it? The one that we&#039 ; re sitting in now, but it was quite a new building then. &#039 ; 35, &#039 ; 36--something like that. FUNK: Well, I think they moved in here about &#039 ; 32. VAN EERDE: Was it that early, I&#039 ; m sorry. But as you, and others, have explained it was by no means entirely devoted to the library at that point. FUNK: No, indeed. We were on the main floor. VAN EERDE: And that was it? FUNK: That was really it. VAN EERDE: You said the basement was for storage perhaps. FUNK: Oh, we did very shortly put some of the work down there with student help, such as pasting pockets and lettering the books--things of that sort we took out of the office. But the first year, I&#039 ; m sure, everything was done in the office and well, we didn&#039 ; t have this room. VAN EERDE: No, this was the history department&#039 ; s space, I believe. Wasn&#039 ; t it? FUNK: That&#039 ; s right. VAN EERDE: I&#039 ; d like to continue, Ms. Funk, a bit on the uses of the library at the time when you came. You told me something I hadn&#039 ; t known, which is that the top floor--which was apparently extended across the whole top of the library--was used for dances when you arrived sometimes. FUNK: That&#039 ; s right. I mean sometimes we would have dances or other parties up there. It was just a big open room. I mean it was a nice place for things like that. And actually, there wasn&#039 ; t any other place for them to have anything. VAN EERDE: And the faculty lounge was downstairs on the ground floor-- FUNK: --on the ground floor where the present student lounge is. VAN EERDE: And you told me some more that I wasn&#039 ; t aware of which is, is that the circulation desk was not on the right as you enter, but rather just before the entrance to the stacks now. FUNK: That&#039 ; s right. Directly under the picture of Martin Luther and his family. VAN EERDE: And that&#039 ; s where you held out for a time at any rate and that you sometimes used the office. But you were, at the beginning, circulation librarian, reference librarian, cataloguer, general-- FUNK: Whatever there was to be done. (all laughing) VAN EERDE: Exactly. Gradually one of the things became your special care. And I remember well from the time--for as long as I&#039 ; ve been at Muhlenberg--and that is the displays of books, which you carefully arranged and identified. Can you tell us about, first the case and then a little bit about your work with those cases. FUNK: Actually, when I came here that never was--I had forgotten where it had been put--but that case over there was down in the lobby. VAN EERDE: The case in the Muhlenberg Room. FUNK: Oh, that&#039 ; s right. And it was used for displays of different kinds. Although, it didn&#039 ; t hold too very much. Actually, it wasn&#039 ; t changed too often, and then--I don&#039 ; t know when it was--but a Chilean company were remodeling their store and getting in some new counters, and they gave us two pieces of their counters. They had the sliding window closing in the back. And we took them, and took that off and put them back-to-back to make the display case, which for many years was right in the center of the lobby. Then, after we changed the circulation desk, then it was moved over to the side. VAN EERDE: Sometimes I know that it&#039 ; s--that the displays have been keyed to current events or to visiting scholars and their works. But I want to move from that now to something that anyone who knows you can never possibly dissociate from you--and that is your collection of Lincolniana and your immense knowledge of that. I learned for the first time the other day exactly how you got started--of course, I recognize you began with a genuine interest in Lincoln. But you have a very specific and personal connection with a piece of Lincolniana, and I think it&#039 ; s worth hearing about that now. FUNK: Well, I have a large portrait of Lincoln, which was given to my grandmother by President Lincoln when he was in the White House. And, uh, it had gone from my grandmother to her brother, who then in the 1890s had it framed in the style of the Civil War. And eventually, I fell heir to it because a ring that I had been willed in my great-uncle&#039 ; s will had disappeared because his wife was blind before she died, and when they couldn&#039 ; t find that ring, the lawyer told my mother to pick something of the things that were not listed in the will for me. And my mother--knowing me--picked a picture of-- SECOR: A good choice. FUNK: (laughing) --a picture of and from then on I began collecting things. I had perhaps had two or three books on Lincoln before that but uh-- VAN EERDE: It&#039 ; s a lovely portrait and beautiful frame. SECOR: Is it a photograph or a painting? FUNK: It&#039 ; s actually-- VAN EERDE: A retouched engraving. FUNK: I think it&#039 ; s a photograph that has been retouched to color--tinted. VAN EERDE: But tell us the story about how your mother happened to visit President Lincoln. That I think is fascinating--excuse me, I&#039 ; m sorry. Your grandmother visited President Lincoln, sorry my mistake. FUNK: Well my grandmother was, um, married to a man by the name of Wyzotski who was a soldier in the Civil War. And he and a friend of his had come home to Gettysburg on a little furlough and were on their way back to their camp--were going through Maryland--and they were walking it, got thirsty. They stopped at a house and asked the lady if they might have a drink of water. Uh, she gave them a drink of water and then said she had just baked a pie and would they like a piece of pie. So, yes of course they would. And my grandmother&#039 ; s husband was a little greedy--he ate two pieces of the pie, and it killed him. The other man ate just one piece and was very sick but recovered. Apparently, they had struck a home where there was a sympathizer of the South, Maryland being one way or another-- VAN EERDE: A Lucrezia Borgia of the Civil War. SECOR: This is what all history is all about. VAN EERDE: That&#039 ; s right, isn&#039 ; t it fascinating? FUNK: (all laughing) And she had poisoned this pie, so that my grandmother lost her husband, and she had two small boys. And, uh, in 1864 when the Widow&#039 ; s Pension Act was passed, she applied for a pension and nothing happened. So, she went to a lawyer friend in Gettysburg who said, &quot ; Well, get on the train and go down to Washington to see the president.&quot ; So she did, and without any trouble was able to get in for an interview, and I think that when he had taken all the information about her husband--his rank, and so forth--he wanted some way of dismissing her and reached out on his desk and gave her this picture, which was rolled up. I mean, it was not in the frame. And said would she like to have a picture of him, which of course she took along home with her. And, um, then she later remarried and my mother was of the second family and that&#039 ; s how they happened to get this picture. SECOR: Marvelous story. FUNK: I was very sorry that I knew nothing about this picture when my grandmother was alive. I was eight when she died, and I wished that I had had her tell me this story firsthand. VAN EERDE: Of course. FUNK: Well, I didn&#039 ; t know anything about it until later on. And then I had to take what my mother was able to tell me about, what she knew. VAN EERDE: One little fact I neglected to ask, did your grandmother get the widow&#039 ; s pension? FUNK: Oh, yes yes. She got the pension. VAN EERDE: So, Lincoln performed is what I&#039 ; m hearing. Good. FUNK: She got the pension all right. Yes, she had no trouble with that. VAN EERDE: Well now, we mustn&#039 ; t leave your collection with that fascinating early story. I have seen the room in which it sits, and I&#039 ; m sure I haven&#039 ; t begun to see all of it, though I&#039 ; ve seen portions of it over the years as February 12th rolled around. And um, can you tell us in a general way of what it consists. Now the picture that was taken of you this morning, it shows you holding a Lincoln doll and a Lincoln statuette. What else is there in your Lincoln collection? FUNK: Oh, I have anything that has any connection with Lincoln. I have collected Lincoln things from all over the world you might say of--I don&#039 ; t know if you noticed the totem pole I have there. VAN EERDE: Yes, I did. Very interesting. FUNK: I got that up in Alaska. Always when I went off on a trip, I would plan to bring back something for my collection, but before I went to Alaska, I said to myself, &quot ; Well, I won&#039 ; t get anything on Lincoln because we didn&#039 ; t buy Alaska until 1867, when Lincoln was already dead two years.&quot ; But it seems that the Indian tribes up there--one tribe had made slaves of another tribe--and along somewhere after this time of the United States purchasing Alaska, uh, a trader came into the harbor, and he was talking to one of these slaves who was bemoaning the fact. And this trader said, &quot ; Well, you don&#039 ; t have to be a slave, you&#039 ; re part of the United States now, and Abraham Lincoln freed the slaves.&quot ; VAN EERDE: Is that so? FUNK: So, it gave this tribe courage to fight back against the other tribe and gain their independence. And then they said, &quot ; We must do something to honor this man, Abraham Lincoln.&quot ; So, they, uh called in their best totem pole carver and had him prepare a totem pole, which stands in a park of totem poles in Ketchikan, Alaska. And this, that I have is a thirty inch replica of it which I brought home from that trip. VAN EERDE: That&#039 ; s very interesting. Break in recording VAN EERDE: Ms. Funk, many collectors are content simply to collect, to store, to enjoy their treasures by themselves, but one of the most prominent facts about you is that you have been more than eager to share your knowledge and your accumulated wisdom about one of the greatest figures the world has ever produced, Abraham Lincoln, with a variety of other people. I think you told me that you&#039 ; ve got three talks scheduled for next February and another one for April. And I know that your schedule has been heavy throughout all the years that I&#039 ; ve known you in discussing Lincoln. Particularly, in relation to the Bible, but undoubtedly going out in other directions, too. Would you, um, tell us something about--about your activities with the discussion of Lincoln and your use of the various artifacts that you&#039 ; ve collected? FUNK: Well, I have no qualms about talking about Lincoln. Everytime anyone gives me an opportunity, I don&#039 ; t know that I have ever refused-- VAN EERDE: Is that so? FUNK: --to give a talk to a group. They have mostly been church groups, uh, simply because the women&#039 ; s groups in churches are always hunting for people to put on a program. And uh, I have acquired a fifteen minute filmstrip, which I show. VAN EERDE: Ah, I didn&#039 ; t know that. FUNK: It has a recording with it, and I talk. And then I show the filmstrip, and then I talk some more about my collection. And, uh, I have had very good success with it--to the extent that, um, one of the women who just called me for me to come to her church next February admitted that she had already heard me talk three times, but she was willing to hear it again, and she wanted the rest of her people to hear it. So, I just enjoy going around and doing that. VAN EERDE: I&#039 ; m sure there&#039 ; s always something new you&#039 ; re adding. You are still collecting material on Lincoln, I believe. FUNK: Oh, yes indeed. Every time I get a chance, and it&#039 ; s surprising how many people--even strangers--uh, will offer you material. When I retired here, there was an article about me and my collection in the local paper. And I had several calls from perfect strangers who said that they had a clipping of--on Lincoln, would I be interested in having it. And, uh, one person sent me a book that had been in her family for a number of years, but she said, &quot ; It&#039 ; s the only Lincoln thing we have, we&#039 ; d rather have where&quot ; -- VAN EERDE: In a collection, right. FUNK: --&quot ; there is a collection.&quot ; So people have been very generous along that line, and my friends when they go different places look for Lincoln things and bring them back for me. And it really makes it very nice. VAN EERDE: There&#039 ; s one more quite interesting point about that original portrait of Lincoln that her grandmother received. You told me that, um, Stephen Laurent, did not have it in his first draft of photographs. FUNK: That&#039 ; s right. When his book came out on photographs of Lincoln, I went carefully through it and found that the closest to it was one by Matthew Brady, which looks very much like my picture but was different to this extent that anyone who knows Lincoln pictures--if you can see the second button on his vest, there is always a gold watch chain across. And my picture does not have a gold watch chain. My theory is that the man who did the tinting of it thought that gold watch chain was pretty much of a job, therefore he just blacked that out (all laughing) so that he doesn&#039 ; t have it in. But I did send--Dr. Shankweiler had taken some pictures of my portrait when I had it here on display--and I sent Stephen Laurent one of those copies with an explanation about where I had gotten it. And he wrote back and did not know of any other source, other than the fact that it looked like a Matthew Brady, that was his only solution to it. I thought that when his next addition would come out, he would include mine, but he didn&#039 ; t. So, I was cross and did not buy the second edition of Stephen Laurent. (Secor laughing) But then when the third edition came out, which was much bigger, it still didn&#039 ; t have my picture in it, but I couldn&#039 ; t resist buying it anyway. VAN EERDE: Well, thank you very much Ms. Funk, that gives us a good idea of you and Lincoln which is a happy relationship indeed. I&#039 ; d like to move, I think, finally to the relations you&#039 ; ve had with students over the years at Muhlenberg. I know that Mr. Davdson&#039 ; s told me that there are many students who enter the library and go right to the circulation desk and say, &quot ; Where&#039 ; s Ms. Funk? I want to see Ms. Funk.&quot ; And come to the library wanting to see Ms. Funk. So I know that your rapport with the students through the years has been excellent. Can you tell us some of your memories and associations? FUNK: Well, I think the main thing is that I wanted to help them. Anyone who needed help knew that if they came to me, I would tear my hair out trying to find what they wanted. And, so I would hunt something for them. Many times I had been just ready to go home at the end of the day, and someone would come and want help. And the next thing I knew, it was forty-five minutes later before I left for home, simply because I don&#039 ; t think I ever said to a student, &quot ; Well, I&#039 ; m sorry I&#039 ; m ready to go home now ; you&#039 ; ll have to come back tomorrow.&quot ; (laughing) VAN EERDE: Or to a faculty member, I&#039 ; m sure. FUNK: So that, uh, I was always very glad to help. The reference work was the part that appealed to me the most, and I certainly enjoyed doing that. In fact, I still enjoy it. Occasionally, now when I come out I think maybe some of the staff members do it because they know it pleases me, but they will come up to, &quot ; Oh, I&#039 ; m so glad you came today. What do you do about so-and-so?&quot ; SECOR: (laughing) That&#039 ; s nice. FUNK: So, I feel that way about library work and always have. VAN EERDE: I know the dean&#039 ; s not gonna--going to join with you and me on this point, but I have a strong suspicion that your interest in detective stories and affection for them, which I share, has to do with your interest in hunting things out. I mentioned this to you the other day. And you have greatly enriched the collection of detective stories at this library. (Funk laughs) I, I think that that&#039 ; s part of this insistence from wanting to know where things are and keeping at it. How about individual students? You had a good deal of student help, I think, didn&#039 ; t you? FUNK: Yes, I mean the student helper&#039 ; s were very good. And I remember particularly, uh, one of the early ones who I think he was probably going to be a senior that next year, but he worked during the summer. He came over from near Reading each day to work in the library, did all sorts of the minor chores like pasting and lettering. He was very good as a letterer. And it gives me great pleasure to know that he is now president of Mt. Airy Seminary, Dr. John Newpher SECOR: Newpher. That&#039 ; s very nice. VAN EERDE: That&#039 ; s very interesting, indeed. Now, I want to add one little detail for the benefit of future listeners. You worked regularly from 7:30 am to 5 pm. Although, as you said, sometimes it went on to 5:30 and 5:45. Those are hours that are rather out-motive these days. And I know that your knowledge of the library is complete. You simply do know where everything is. You told me also that you used to give tours to Perkiomen Prep boys in the summer because a former student-- FUNK: Yes, we had a old graduate here went to Perkiomen Prep to be an English teacher, and when the graduate who went to teach English at Perkiomen Prep felt that the boys graduating there were going on to college and that they did not know enough about what a college library was like. Their library was small, and he felt that it would do them good-- (fire alarm begins ringing) Break in recording SECOR: Now that the fire drill is over, shall we continue Dr. Van Eerde? VAN EERDE: You were telling us, Ms. Funk, that you had an annual tour of Perkiomen Prep boys also instituted by a former student of yours, I think, year after year you showed them around. FUNK: He brought his senior English class to the library. They came prepared with a group of questions, and I would take them around the Reading Room and show them different reference books, and then they would sit down and hunt up the answers to those questions and really seemed to enjoy it. And as long as he was teaching there, they came every year. And the last couple years after he had gone, the person who had taken over his job had been there in the school and knew about it, so that he came. Then, I&#039 ; m not sure whether he left. I mean the last few years they didn&#039 ; t come, but uh, they seemed to enjoy it. VAN EERDE: Oh, I&#039 ; m sure. FUNK: And he felt that it was a good experience for them to see what a college library was like and where all the books were. VAN EERDE: I think it&#039 ; s very clear that your association with and aid to students has been one of the outstanding contributions you&#039 ; ve made to Muhlenberg. That&#039 ; s reiterated and underlined by your receiving the Muhlenberg Alumni Achievement Award in 1970, a year after your retirement, I think, which I remember was an occasion of great rejoicing for many people. Well, thank you very much Ms. Funk for giving us a varied view of your activities through three decades at Muhlenberg College. Thank you. The interviews in the John S. Davidson Oral History Collection were collected under the auspices of the History Department of Muhlenberg College with the purpose of preserving them for the College's archives. Copyright for these interviews is held by Muhlenberg College. video Muhlenberg College makes these interviews freely available under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License. 0

Mathematics

Library

Abraham Lincoln

Librarian