The first Program of African Studies (PAS) newsletter launched February 6, 1975. Two pages typed on a typewriter with a hand-drawn banner, its layout was a modest predecessor to our current 12-16 page printed edition that comes out three times a year. LaRay Denzer, editor-in-chief, fills its pages with stories about events, opinions, book reviews, news, and more written by faculty, students, staff, and scholars. The layout and printing is done with the help of Northwestern University’s Global Marketing and Communications.
The first newsletter was only sent in the mail to those who signed up to receive it unlike today’s newsletter which while printed is also available on the PAS website to anyone at any time. (Check out the newsletter archives and see what you missed!) Some of the students active in the planning of 1975’s “Africa Week” have been active at PAS in recent years. Sandra Greene and Prexy Nesbitt have given talks, and Delores Koenig contributed to the PAS newsletter as recently as 2019 and is a familiar face at our Wednesday lectures.
The first page.
And the second.
While the first newsletter is 45 years old today, it ends with advice that is irrefutably timeless in its content and delivery:
“One final note: (a bit of preaching, if you please) The Program of African Studies will survive only if we all work actively. This includes faculty as well as students and staff, and students back from the field “writing up” as well as those still taking classes… The program can only be as good as its membership.”