Photographs
Among the treasures of the Clarke are the many records, images and photographs that compose the University Archives. Few events in the university's history have been more dramatic than the fire that destroyed what once was the main campus building.
Old Main was the first building constructed for Central Michigan Normal School in 1892. Over the years it was repeatedly expanded to serve as the school's central classroom building, administrative center, library, and social center. On December 7, 1925, a fire destroyed the building.
Of the fire, Anna Barnard, head of the foreign language department, wrote:
I shall never forget the all-gone feeling I had inside me standing two or three hundred feet from the fiercely blazing structure, when, I all at once realized that I was looking straight through and seeing the woods beyond.
The college managed to continue functioning despite the loss of its largest building. The library was relocated to the basement of the dormitory, and over the winter holiday temporary buildings were constructed on Warriner Mall to house classes. Soon after the fire, special funds were made available by the state and work was begun on a new "administration" building which was built on the site of the Old Main. The new administration building is today's Warriner Hall