Aurora University will present a virtual discussion of “Occupy till I Come: The Origins of Aurora University in Mendota, Illinois, 1893-1912” at 7 p.m. Tuesday, March 9.
University president Rebecca L. Sherrick will lead the Zoom discussion with “Occupy” author Susan Palmer of Aurora, an Aurora College alumna, professor emerita of history and curator, Jenks Memorial Collection of Adventual Materials.
The online discussion is part of AU’s Spring Celebrating Arts and Ideas series, 10 virtual events continuing a tradition of presenting engaging discussions and cultural experiences.
Palmer’s book chronicles how Mendota College’s leaders, faculty, students and supporters “occupied”—reconciled deeply held religious beliefs with a modernizing society that called for clergy to be more highly educated. The book also tells how the college occupied financially—contstantly struggling and sacrificing to make ends meet to preserve its religious mission.
Mendota College was created in 1893 by the Western Advent Christian Publication Association, a publishing arm of the Advent Christian denomination, to prepare Advent Christians for the ministry.
Including liberal arts courses with religious studies, Mendota College existed until 1912 when it moved to Aurora and became Aurora College. The college became Aurora University in 1985.
Palmer researched the Jenks Collection and catalogs, newspapers, photos, student publications and other source materials in the university’s archives to write the book. A 1971 Aurora College graduate, she taught history at the college and university from 1973 to 2010. Palmer grew up in an Advent Christian home with Adventist roots going back four generations.
She said, “I tried to put the history of the college, denomination and Millerism–named after William Miller, a New York farmer who founded the 1840s Millerite movement from which the Advent Christian denomination grew–in the broader context of American history.”
Questions for Sherrick and Palmer may be sent to artsandideas@Aurora.edu. Call 630-844-4924 to register or for more information.
— Al Benson