About This Project

This project is comprised of 4 main sections in history: Norbertine history, St. Norbert College History, Church History, and a brief World history. While not all events within these sections are highlighted and displayed, key events and dates are listed in an attempt to provide a clear picture of the foreground and background that is St. Norbert history.

Historical events do not happening consecutively or one-at-a-time. Events occur throughout history simultaneously with other events, and many factors affect many other factors. Each historical occurrence is actually a puzzle piece of a much larger, global picture. By understanding the events that happened throughout the world during certain time frames, scholars and students can better understand whycertain events took place and certain decisions were made, as opposed to only having access to when these events happened.

For example, St. Norbert College became Co-Ed in 1952, after WWII had ended. Many young, college-aged men had been lost or injured. While these young men and teachers were drafted into the war, the women they left behind, wives, mothers, sisters, etc, were required to take on the roles and jobs they had also left behind. Women played an extremely crucial part during the war. When the War had ended, these women were used to working what used to be ‘male’ jobs. Many women wished to seek a college degree. Many men were injured and could not work, thus relying on their wives and mothers to earn a living. Thus, the College opened its enrollment to men and women in 1952. Enrollment increased rapidly, and women have ever since played an important part to the College’s success.

A timeline, created with a forum called tiki-toki, is linked to this project’s homepage. This timeline helps in the visualization of events that happened simultaneously with each other.

Scholars researching Norbertine history can now see the long term effects of the decisions and institutions Norbert of Xanten created. They can visually understand what was happening throughout the world while Bernard Pennings was founding St. Norbert College. Scholars can ‘watch’ the expansion of the College into the community and gain a deeper understand for the outside factors that have shaped the college into what it is today. They can also ‘watch’ as student life transforms and changes as the world, technology, and the community changes also. By providing a timeline and several exhibits displaying the history of the outside world, the viewer can ‘watch’ the Norbertine community grow and develop, instead of merely seeing a collage of pictures and a list of dates. It is much like a photo album of a child’s life; each page shows the development, changes, and growth over time, instead of merely listed the key events in said child’s lifetime. A deeper, more thorough understanding of Norbertine history is gained through the visualization of the world the surrounded and shaped that history.