November | 2015 | AU Library Archives / Special Collections: New and Noteworthy

Sadie Hawkins Day was first introduced in Al Capp’s Li’l Abner Comic Strip in 1937. Subsequently, students in the United States and Canada organized Sadie Hawkins Dances where the females invited the males. AU students held their first Sadie Hawkins Dance in November 1939. It was an annual event in the 1940s and 1950s though it was held in the spring starting in 1955. By 1963, AU students began celebrating Sadie Hawkins Weekend which included a variety of activities in addition to the dance. In 1966 and 1967, the students held a Li’l Abner election.

Students were encouraged to dress “Dogpatch style.” Appropriate attire included no shoes or sneakers, patched jeans or “ragged” shorts and wild hats. The girls presented their dates with vegetable corsages. The dances included mock weddings where the students exchanged pipe cleaner rings and received wedding certificates.

Sddie Hawkins Dance Photos, The Eagle, October 25, 1951

Sadie Hawkins Dance Photos, The Eagle, November 21, 1952

American University Library is pleased to announce the acquisition of the Bill Gentile Photojournalism Collection.

Bill Gentile’s career began in 1977. He worked as a reporter for the Mexico City News and for United Press International (UPI). He later became Newsweek Magazine’s Contract Photographer for Latin America and the Caribbean. He covered the 1979 Sandinista Revolution in Nicaragua; the United States-backed Contra War in Nicaragua; the Salvadoran Civil War in the 1980s; the United States invasion of Panama; the 1994 invasion of Haiti, the ongoing conflict with Cuba, the 1990-91 Persian Gulf War and the subsequent wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. His book of photographs, “Nicaragua,” won the Overseas Press Club Award for Excellence.

The Bill Gentile Photojournalism Collection (1983-2002) covers 16 Caribbean and Latin American countries including Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, and Peru. The photos document agriculture, daily life, demonstrations, earthquakes, elections, religion, politics and women’s health. The countries with the most images are Cuba, El Salvador, Haiti, and Nicaragua. Featured individuals include political leaders Violeta Chamorro, Manuel Noriega, and Daniel Ortega. Of note are images of the Miskito Indians and the Yanomamis. Also included in the collection are images of the Persian Gulf War and U.S. related topics such as border patrols, elections, prisons, and Puerto Rico.

Harvesting Sugarcane 1986

Miskito Indian Rebel, Yulu, 1986