Bridge Over Troubled Waters - Audio History
| Title | Bridge Over Troubled Waters - Audio History |
|---|---|
| Subject | Bowling Green State University -- Buildings, structures, etc |
| Description | Audio recorded history of the Bridge Over Troubled Waters sculpture on BGSU campus for the Bowling Green Music & Cultural History Walking Tour |
| Creator | Bowling Green Music & Cultural History Walking Tour |
| Source | Music Library and Bill Schurk Sound Archives; University Libraries; Bowling Green State University |
| Date | 1970 |
| Contributor | Kindelt, Justin |
| King, John | |
| Rights |
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| Language | English |
| Type | Audio Recording |
| Sound | |
| Identifier | BM&CHWT-Bridge Over Troubled Waters-2020 |
| https://digitalgallery.bgsu.edu/items/show/39566 | |
| Coverage | Bowling Green State University Campus |
| Abstract | This is the sixth segment in a 9 part audio recorded history for the Bowling Green Music & Cultural History Walking Tour, in a collaboration between the NOICA project and the BGSU Public History Graduate Certificate Program. The Bridge Over Troubled Waters Memorial was created by Warren, Ohio native Donald Drumm, who was the first artist in residence at Bowling Green State University from 1965 to 1971. |
| Is Part Of | Northwest Ohio Independent Culture Archive (NOICA) |
| Medium | Audio |
| Spatial Coverage | Bowling Green State University Campus |
| Temporal Coverage | 1970s - present |
| Format | audio/x-m4a |
| Transcription | The Bridge Over Troubled Waters Memorial was designed by Warren, Ohio native Donald Drumm. Drumm was the first artist in residence at Bowling Green State University from 1965 to 1971. If you look to the Northeast, the 8-story mural on the Jerome Library is his most prominent creation on the Bowling Green campus. The Bridge Over Troubled Waters Memorial first shows up in the BG News on August 6th 1970 the work is referred to as memorial for students killed in May 1970, at both Kent State in Akron Ohio and Jackson State in Jackson Mississippi. On the campus of Kent State on May 4, 1970 an anti-Vietnam war protest ended with 13 students shot by the Ohio National Guard. Four students were killed the nine others were wounded. Donald Drumm’s 15-foot abstract sculpture on the Kent State campus was also pierced by a bullet from the National Guard. 10 days later on May 14th racial tension reached a boiling point on the campus of Jackson State in Mississippi as city and state police shot over 400 rounds onto Alexander Hall killing two students. The officers claimed to they saw a sniper with in Alexander Hall. An FBI investigation later proved this as unfounded. Drumm and his sculpture would help in disproving a similar claim on the campus of Kent State. Drumm’s website states; “three days after May 4, 1970, Akron artist Don Drumm went to the campus of Kent State University with a team of journalists from the Akron Beacon Journal. They wanted his perspective on one thing: a bullet hole in the 15-foot sculpture… They invited Mr. Drumm to a farm in Suffield Township and asked him to bring along a piece of steel that was the same thickness of the material he used in the sculpture. The same type of firearm and ammunition used by the national guard soldiers was fired into the steel plate. When the test was complete, the resulting hole looked the same as the one in Mr. Drumm’s sculpture, with the metal rim bending out in the direction from which the bullet was fired” The study had shown the bullet came from the National Guard Not a rogue sniper. As Drumm requested the bullet hole has not been repaired in the sculpture and remains to this day.” These at Jackson and Kent State inspired Drum to create the Bridge Over Troubled Waters Memorial. The metal used in this sculpture is the same as from the one pierced by a national guard bullet during the Kent State Massacre. As you approach the memorial look to the base as the northeast corner reads “IN MEMORIUM OF THE KENT FOUR AND JACKSON TWO.” While the connection to Kent State is direct in state and material, know that the Jackson State killings are often negated from the historical record of protests in the 1970s. Even in the BG News the memorial is referred to as just a “Kent State Memorial” by September of 1970 one month after the sculptures dedication. In reference to the Bridge Over Troubled Waters Memorial Drumm’s website states “This is not the Drumm sculpture most people associate with the Kent State shootings. But for the artist himself, this is the May 4 memorial. Into it he poured his own sorrow and confusion over a tragedy he still cannot comprehend” |
| Original Format | Digital Audio |
| Duration | 4m20s |
