Worcester State’s Treasures
Dinosaur tracks, Socrates, and a splendid old oak tree
Photos by Matt Wright ’10
Every college campus tells a story, in part, through its artwork, gifts, and unique features. Worcester State’s iconic Tiffany Gates along Chandler Street welcome everyone to campus. Here are the stories of some of the other treasures you will find in our buildings and on our grounds.
Lake Ellie
The picturesque “Lake Ellie” adjacent to Coughlin Memorial Field is less of a lake today and more of a retention pool that collects rainwater runoff. It is believed to be an old farm pond that survived from the old Willow Farm, which stood on the site before 1932. It appears in photos from at least the 1940s, before the campus was really developed. Today, with its fountain, vegetation, and footbridge, it is a popular spot to reflect. The lake is named for Eleanor Nordberg ’66, who worked at the library and fed the ducks in the pond. A 1965 Acorn newspaper article indicates that university custodian Tony Wolochowicz honored Eleanor’s kindness by naming the water body for her and posting Lake Ellie regulations: “No fishing, trapping, speed boats or water skiing.”
Dinosaur Tracks
Sitting on the lawn outside the Student Center are genuine dinosaur footprints mounted on a concrete slab. The fossilized footprints were collected in East Holyoke, Mass., by the late geo-biologist Dr. Allen P. Russell ’68, a Worcester State College alum, former faculty member, and lifelong science educator. Russell, born and raised in Worcester, had a lifelong interest in paleontology and collecting fossils and donated them in 1969. The dinosaur tracks were made by an anchisaurus, a small dinosaur averaging just over six feet and 60 pounds from the early Jurassic Period. Russell collected the sample in 1969 and later gifted it to Worcester State.
Joan of Arc
Presented by the Class of 1902, this large plaster-cast Joan of Arc, a patron saint of France canonized by the Roman Catholic Church in 1920, sits on the second floor of the Helen Shaughnessy Administration building. As the 47th class gift in school history, the statue is a prized relic; many of the other gifts from that era, though well documented in the university archives, wore out from use or were damaged or lost. The plaster cast is a replica of Henri Chapu’s Jeanne d’Arc à Domrémy, a marble statue crafted in the late 1800s that is one of the most widely reproduced images of Joan of Arc.
Johnston Terrestrial Globe
Former professor Tim Hagopian discovered this treasure in 2006 on the fourth floor of the Shaughnessy Administration Building. When the building was the only one on campus, the fourth floor served as the library. It is believed that the 30-inch globe belonged to the Worcester Normal School and was moved to the library when the campus relocated in 1932. Hagopian arranged for its restoration with one of the nation’s few antique globe restorers, and today it sits within a glass case in the lobby of the Ghosh Science and Technology Building. The globe was made in England in 1903 by the British company W. & A.K. Johnston, one of the premier globe manufacturers of the time.
Socrates
The six-foot-tall granite statue of Socrates, crafted by the late artist and local stonemason Aldo Gatti, was gifted to Worcester State College by members of the city’s Greek community. It was unveiled in front of the Sullivan building in September 1988, with the cover of the event program reading “Virtue is Knowledge.”
Replicas of Ancient Assyrian Artworks
The Helen Shaughnessy Administration Building houses two replicas of ancient gypsum wall reliefs showing hunting scenes with Assyrian King Ashurnasirpal II, who ruled from 883 to 859 BCE. The originals, held by Harvard, are from the Palace at Kalhu in Nimrud, Iraq, and date from the late 9th century BCE. These replicas, cast from the originals, are gifts from the Worcester State Class of 1900.
Lancer Oak
Sitting right at the heart of campus, the Lancer Oak and its sprawling branches are difficult to miss. The name was given to this magnificent, sturdy oak in 1999 as part of Worcester State’s 125th anniversary celebration. An exact age of the tree has never been agreed upon, but the tree appears in photographs of the area dating back as early as 1938. The Lancer Oak was likely standing tall before the Worcester Normal School even relocated to Chandler Street.
Sundial
Need to check the time on your way to class? The sundial, located in front of the Shaughnessy Administration Building, might be able to help, provided that the sky is not too cloudy. Set inside a stone pedestal, the rudimentary timekeeping device was gifted to the first principal of the Worcester Normal School, E. Harlow Russell, in 1900 by the Worcester State Graduates’ Association to mark his 25 years of service. First placed on the original Prospect Street campus, the sundial moved around quite a bit as the school expanded and even disappeared for a time to undergo some restoration. It was placed on the Chandler Street campus some time after 1932.
1796 Royal Standard English Dictionary
The late Robert Mullin ’53, M.Ed. ’56, was a generous benefactor of his alma mater for his entire life. When he passed away in 2021 at the age of 91, he left one more gift: his Manhattan apartment and its contents, which included a collection of six rare books. One book in the collection was a 1796 Royal Standard English Dictionary—what university archivist Ross Griffiths called “our superstar.” The dictionary was published in Worcester, Mass., on the press of publisher Isaiah Thomas, who established Worcester’s first newspaper and founded the American Antiquarian Society in Worcester. On July 14, 1776, Thomas delivered the first public reading of the Declaration of Independence in Massachusetts—memorialized with a star in front of Worcester City Hall. “Part of what makes this a great item is that Isaiah Thomas was a very significant person in the history of the Revolution and the history of printing,” said Griffiths. “It is a real piece of Worcester history.” It is kept in the Library’s Special Collections.
Top image: Lake Ellie. Photo by Matt Wright ’10.
Anchisaurus image by Getty Images/Warpaintcobra. All other photos by Matt Wright ’10.
