Editor’s Note: The CSU History Club is a vibrant part of our department community. These dedicated students’ enthusiasm for studying the past is contagious, and they are always ready to lend a helping hand. Senior Kelsey Sagraves, CSU History Club president, reflects here on their founding year.
Cleveland State’s History Club is a newly recognized student organization. The Club started unofficially in Spring 2019 and was officially recognized in Fall 2019. While we were still unofficial, we held meetings in the library and elected our officers. We collected information regarding members’ interests in history and what they expected to do with their degree, and to see if they intended pursue their Masters’ of Arts in History. We formed the club to provide support and to help each other in our studies by circulating ideas or looking over each other’s papers to provide feedback. The club allows for those that have an interest in history to explore and learn more outside of the classroom. In Spring 2019, we took our first trip as a club to the Cleveland Museum of Art.
During that same semester, we started fundraising for the club by selling Malley’s chocolate bars. We collected enough money to take a drive-through tour of Gettysburg, which was given a tour by one of our members who has an interest in U.S history. We camped in Maryland and drove into Washington, D.C., several times during our stay. While we were in the area, we visited various museums, monuments, and attended Medieval Times. We also visited the National Zoo, where we visited in the morning and spoke to several zookeepers about the animals.
In Fall 2020, we became a recognized student organization at Cleveland State. We went on trips to the Cleveland Museum of Art as a club to look around and to attend lectures. One lecture focused on ancient Egyptian religion and magic. The other lecture was given by Timothy Matney from the Cleveland Archaeological Society, titled “From the Banks of the Tigris: Evidence for the Assyrian Army at Ziyaret Tepe, Turkey.” We were planning a trip to New York City, after fundraising by selling chocolates once again, but quarantines and lockdowns in response to COVID 19 has shut everything down. We have held a few Zoom meetings during the shutdown.
For those interested in joining the History Club they can find our profile on the student organizations page. When campus opens again, we can be found on the fourth floor of the library until we have a room to hold meetings in. We typically meet on the fourth floor of Rhodes Tower in front of classrooms on the left-hand side along the green wall. We meet around 11:15 am, but this can change according to schedules of members. The club tries to create opportunities according to the interests of the members.
