The exhibit that I chose to to review is the football exhibit that MASC presented from September to February. This exhibit showed an early history of Washington States football team from 1894-1930. The goal of this exhibit was to give the viewer a brief history of the rise of WSU football and what the first teams were like. The way that MASC was able to present the history of WSU football was through the use of pictures, stories, and film reels. One of the more notable film reels that they possessed was on the 1915 season which WSU went undefeated to the Rosebowl and won against Brown. Winning the Rosebowl was a main display of the exhibit because few people know about that winning season.
The exhibit breaks down the history by showing different eras in cougar football, breaking down what was happening in the world along with WSU. For instance, WSU declined to participate in the 1917 Rosebowl due to the outbreak of World War One. In the 1920's WSU saw their first African American player which was a step towards ethnic equality in the university.
Another interesting history that this exhibit presents is the evolution of where the football team played. Before ending up at Martin Stadium, the team played on three other fields; Beet Field, Soldier Field, and Rogers Field. They are able to show photographs of each of these places with the team playing on them. The viewer can appreciate the photos because most of them have been to the places where these fields use to be.
The exhibit also gives insight to the history behind the schools colors and how they started out as pink and blue and eventually evolved to be crimson and gray. They give photos of people wearing WSU clothing in these colors. Butch was also mentioned in the exhibit and how he was not always the mascot of the college. WSU has gone through many different mascots and even use to have a live cougar that they kept and brought to games. I found it interesting that the college would allow a live cougar to be brought to a football game, I thought this to be unsafe and not wise. But they present an evolution of the mascots and tell about each one of them and where they came from and had pictures and postcards of them.
Overall I enjoyed the exhibit because it told of a history that many people are not aware of. This college has change a lot since the late 1800's and they were able to give a good summary on some of the key changes. They are able to give the viewer of the exhibit a good feel of what the changes were like with some primary sources that they have accumulated over the years along with various documents, pictures, and films. It was spectacular that MASC had films of the WSU football team dating back to the 1916 Rosebowl game. The materials that MASC had for this exhibit were well displayed and able to grasp the viewers attention. Having a television in the exhibit that played old games was a nice treat for the viewer so that they were able to see how the game was played in the old days and not just see pictures of it. I would say that the film was the most valuable tool in the exhibit that helped to show the main idea. I would recommend this exhibit but sadly it is now gone. The exhibit gave additional information for the viewers that were interested in learning more than what was presented.
A few things that I believe that they could have done better given the resources is that they could have included more items such as helmets or footballs. It would have been interesting to see in real life the actual gear that they players used. Pictures can only do so much for an exhibit and with more objects I feel that they would have been able to attract more people. I also feel as thought they could have better advertised the exhibit so that more people would have known about it. I was unaware of the exhibit until one of my classes went down to MASC. They could have put up more posters or put fliers in The Daily Evergreen. The exhibit itself is in a poor location because most people do not even realize that MASC exists but there is nothing that they would have been able to do about this. Given that they most likely did not have all of these resources I still think that it was a well put together exhibit that needed little improvement.
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As a long time resident of Pullman, Washington, I have watched Cougar football since I can remember. Although I saw advertisements for this exhibit I never had the opportunity to go look at it. I was disappointed that I wasn't able to go, but your article really gives readers a feel of what was on display and the major points of the exhibit. I would like to think that I know a few things about the history of Cougar football, but this article's description of the Win the Victory exhibit presented some obscure information that most Pullman residents may not even know. For instance, I did not know that WSU declined the Rose Bowl invitation in 1917 because of World War I. A very informative review of an exhibit, the descriptions practically puts you at the exhibit.
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