Bringing history home

Wylie House, the home of IU's first president Andrew Wylie and his family, had no electricity, no indoor plumbing and no central heating.\nWhen the house was built in 1835, IU was called Indiana College, the population of Bloomington was only about 600, the sidewalks of South Walnut were a yellow mud and the college had only four recitation rooms, no library and no laboratory.\nThe Wylie House, at 307 E. 2nd St., about two blocks from South Walnut Street, was purchased by IU in 1947 and IU currently operates it as a museum, said Director of the Wylie House museum Jo Burgess.\n"Students can learn about some of the traditions and the history of Indiana University from the museum, since it was the house of IU's first president," Burgess said. "(It is also) a good place for students to bring their parents when their parents come to visit, and it is a good place to start for projects."\nBurgess said students involved in writing can use it to practice developing description, students in creative writing can use it as a place to obtain inspiration, and students in Victorian literature and history would be interested in their large collection of costumes and textiles of the era. The Museum usually has a student employee and a student intern.\nWilliam Lawrence, assistant to the director, emphasized some of the current changes in the house. \nThe museum is being run to emphasize the material culture of the era.\n"(Stenciling was added to the parlor) to give people a feeling for how it was done," Lawrence said. \nA historical mural will be painted in the front hall.\n"People used to put such pictures in their houses, as a substitute for wallpaper," he said. "We try to exhibit things that are both fun and educational."\nOnly a few of the older books remain in the house, and their titles include: a Latin grammar book written in French, an edition of the Bible written in German, two volumes entitled Laws of England, an edition of the Iliad, an edition of Cicero.\nAndrew Wylie once said, "My health, with the labors and cares that are upon me, would fail were it not that I sweat at the hoe every day." Now the grounds of the house includes an heirloom garden. \nSharon Brunoehler is in charge of the gardens. "Plants that existed before 1850 are raised there, the seeds are collected and packaged with instructions included on how to grow them, and at the annual seed sale, on the first Saturday in March, they are sold for a $1 a package," Brunoehler said.\nEvents held at the Wylie House Museum include the annual "Wylie House by Lamplight." On the evening of Dec. 7, there will be a simple celebration of the holiday season open to the public; families are welcome. There will be light refreshments and musical entertainment.\nWhen President Wylie arrived from western Pennsylvania, where he was president of Washington College, he brought 235 books with him. He was a professor of moral and mental philosophy, political economy and polite literature. There were only two other professors at Indiana College then. One was a professor of ancient languages, and the other was a professor of mathematics and natural and mechanical philosophy and chemistry.\nUntil 1836 Bloomington had only one mail delivery a week; after that it was three mail deliveries a week. In 1838 the name of Indiana College was changed to Indiana University, and Andrew Wylie remained the first president. Until his death in 1850, Wylie gave lectures and wrote articles on the importance of Greek and Latin, history, civil community, good manners, the desire to be a lifelong student and other relevant subjects.\nWylie's younger cousin Theophilus Wylie, from Philadelphia, was added to the faculty in 1837. \nHe brought an even larger supply of books, experience in teaching both natural philosophy and ancient languages, and a telescope. After the Wylie House passed from Wylie to his widow, it later became the home of Theophilus Wylie and his family. A deck on top of the roof was probably used for viewing a solar eclipse in 1870.\nThe museum is open from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesday to Saturday from March through November. For more information, call the Wylie House Museum at 855-6224.