Herman B Wells - Miscellanea

Miscellanea

Graduate diplomas

Wells signed every one of the 62,621 diplomas awarded in his years as president. He explained during his 1962 commencement address:

"During the past 25 years I personally signed the diplomas of all graduates. Neither printing press nor mechanical device of any type has been used to multiply my signature. Each diploma has been read as well as signed, one at a time. This has given me a sense of direct identification with each graduate. Many of the names I have recognized, recalling pleasant contacts and mutual experiences during college days. In other cases the names have brought to mind fathers, mothers, or other relatives of my undergraduate era or earlier. But whether I recognized the name or not, in the act of signing I felt some individual participation in the joy and satisfaction of each graduate who had won his degree with conscientious work and application.--From Alma Pater: Herman B Wells and the Rise of Indiana University; James H. Capshew

Desegregation

Within his efforts to desegregate Indiana University in the late 1950s, Wells went to several extremes to make his point known that racism would no longer be welcome in Bloomington, Indiana. One extreme was evident and very necessary. During the turmoil of the civil rights movement, no white barbers allowed black students to have their hair cut in their off-campus shops. In order to resolve this, Wells simply told the barbers that if black students could not find service in their shops, then no Indiana University student would be able to, and that students would only be allowed to go to the on-campus barber shop. This changed the minds of the white barbers fairly quickly, and they soon allowed black students to have their hair cut as well.

German painting

According to IU officials, Wells purchased, in 1967, a late 15th century painting depicting the Flagellation of Christ from a London art gallery in good faith. In fact, the work had been looted by Russian and British soldiers from a Berlin museum during the summer of 1945. In 2004, the Foundation for Prussian Palaces and Gardens informed the IU Art Museum; in 2006, the IU Art Museum agreed to return the painting to Berlin.