Mrs. Harold Jolley

A Woman Lost in Time

The Women’s Archive Project is dedicated to celebrating the lives of women who have contributed to the history of the University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO), yet many of these women have been lost, and in some cases, virtually erased from its legacy. Very little is known about Mrs. Harold D. Jolley, yet she is still remembered as a part of the history of UNO’s School of Communication. Although her past before and after her time at UNO remains largely undiscovered, a handful of photos and small bits of information remain in the archives, giving us insight into Jolley as a woman, teacher, and trailblaz

An Important Unknown

She has come to be known as Mrs. Harold D. Jolley, as her first name and maiden name have never been recorded in the University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO) archives; this is how she chose to be named during her short career at UNO.  There is very little about her in the University archives, and not much more can be found beyond them. Although much of her personal history has been obscured by time, Mrs. Harold D. Jolley’s contributions to UNO in its infancy cannot be ignored. She served as both an educator and a pioneer in the development of UNO’s School of Communication, a department that had yet to be fully developed in the 1920s. As a young female journalist, Jolley made her mark upon the University and has left a legacy that can be traced through the early annals of UNO.

According to records from the NEGenWeb Project for Douglas County, Harold Dean Jolley, a native of St. Louis, Missouri, married a woman named Hazel O. Burch in 1917, which leads us to believe this is Mrs. Jolley’s birth name, although this cannot be confirmed. The U.S. Archives has a “Hazel O. Burch” recorded as an English and history teacher in St. Louis 1914–15, which may also indicate Mrs. Jolley was employed as a teacher before working at UNO. Harold attended Washington University in St. Louis in 1911, where he was in the Sigma Xi fraternity. He came to Omaha from St. Louis after securing a position as a chief engineer for Concrete Engineering Company of Omaha, a position he held from 1916 until 1923 (NEGenWeb Project). According to records, the couple was living in Douglas County in Nebraska in 1920; the NEGenWeb Project has Jolley’s address listed as 5649 Emile Street in Omaha, which may very well be where the Jolleys began their lives as a married couple.

During these years, UNO watched enrollment drop as students joined the war effort, either as soldiers or as workers in the war industry (Pollack and Valentine 16). After the World War I, the school was slowly recovering from low enrollment rates even as it suffered from financial shortfalls and a lack of space for an ever-increasing student body (Thompson 27).  The University of Omaha entered the 20s as the Municipal University of Omaha, a private institution (27).  In 1920, prohibition began, women could vote, and Mrs. Harold D. Jolley’s name first appeared at UNO, formerly Omaha University (OU). Before her arrival, however, OU’s journalism history had already begun with the emergence of several student-led publications.

The YELLow Sheet

Although the true first student newspaper, The Boomerang, was published in 1910, it only survived one issue (Thompson 21). It was the YELLow Sheet, a student created underground newspaper first produced in 1911, which provided students with University news.The YELLow Sheet was published daily through 1922. It was named for the color of paper on which it was created and also because it “yelled” for football (“Our History”). It began as an anonymous publication that was usually typed but was also sometimes handwritten, with hand-drawn images. By 1912, the YELLow Sheet had gained administrative approval and became OU’s source for student news, but 1912 also brought out competition; in the fall, three new student publications were born: The White Hope, The Prep Star, and The Censor. However, none of these gained the popularity of the YELLow Sheet and soon disappeared (Thompson 21). The last known YELLow Sheet was published in 1915, possibly because of the birth of The Gateway, the University newspaper that remains the campus publication more than 100 years later (“Our History”). It was the birth of The Gateway and the development of the school of journalism that may have led Jolley to embark on a teaching career upon her arrival in Omaha from St. Louis. UNO’s lasting school newspaper began as The Metropolitan in the fall of 1913 but became The Gateway, a small monthly publication, in 1914. At this time, The Gateway was produced in monthly intervals, with Pearl Gaines listed as its first “girl” editor (“Our History”).  In 1920, Mrs. Jolley was first listed as a Professor of Journalism. In her first year at the University, Mrs. Jolley began a student journalism group called “The Pup”; the group’s goal was to help students achieve success in the newspaper world. “The Pup’s” mascot, a dog named Dammit, was featured in photos with the members.  1919–1920, the group had seven members—five women, including Jolley, and two men. The group’s membership grew 1920–1921 to include sixteen members—twelve women and four men. The group held “theater parties, excursions to slums for knowledge of ‘lower part,’” and also “ate at a low-brow hash house” (“Our History”). One notable member of Mrs. Jolley’s group was artist Leonard Thiessen, who later became the Omaha World-Herald’s first art critic, a career he continued for thirty years. Thiessen’s art is housed today at the Museum of Nebraska Art in Kearney, Nebraska (Museum of Nebraska Art). Needless to say, “The Pup” was a colorful group that undoubtedly opened new, original opportunities for OU students.

Head of the Department

In 1922, the University’s class catalogue listed the “Department of Journalism” for the first time, and Mrs. Jolley was listed as the head of the department with Leona Leary, a former student and member of “The Pup,” listed as her assistant. This year marked new growth for students of journalism, and Jolley seems to have been a pinnacle factor in building students’ interests in news writing, namely because of her involvement in a student group like “The Pup.” 1922 marked the year of the first weekly publication of The Gateway, with its first issue published on January 13. Mrs. Jolley was listed on The Gateway’s board of publishers, which consisted of only 28 people. 

This year also marked the departure of Jolley from OU, and “The Pup” became Delta Sigma Phi after Mrs. Jolley’s departure.  No one filled her position as Professor of Journalism or Journalism Department Head, resulting in the department’s disappearance. However, classes in journalism were still available. Jolley’s name disappeared from the history of UNO, and with her departure, she took much of what we can learn about her. Her contributions, however, are still listed online by the School of Communication, which created a historical timeline that includes Jolley as an early developer of journalism at the University.

Through the hard work of Jolley and others like her, journalism at UNO continued to grow over the years. However, it was not until 1942 that journalism regained its own department, separate from the Department of English, and it was not until 2004 that the School of Communication was created. The Gateway continues to be UNO’s only student news publication. Since its beginnings in the early 1900s, The Gateway has won several awards from the Nebraska Press Association, including those for photography, layout, and advertising design (The Gateway). One can imagine that if Mrs. Harold D. Jolley visited the UNO campus, she would be pleased to know her contributions have not been forgotten, and she was a part of the development of a program that helps students find careers in an area about which she was clearly passionate.

Although Mrs. Jolley’s name has disappeared, her husband, Harold D. Jolley, has left his mark at his alma mater, St. Louis’ Washington University. The Harold D. Jolley Hall was dedicated in 1990. After retiring from his position as Vice President Emeritus at Ceco Steel Products Company, he “established the Harold D. Jolley Professorship in Civil Engineering. It was his lifelong dream to have an engineering building with his name on it” (Washington University at St. Louis). It is hard to say why Mrs. Jolley did not refer to herself by her first name; it could be a sign of the times, a period when women were often referred to by the names of their husbands. Perhaps it was out of pride for Harold’s long list of professional accomplishments. Or, perhaps it was out of love. Whatever the reason, the life of Mrs. Harold D. Jolley remains in great part a mystery, although the small fragments we do have reveal a fascinating, successful, and trailblazing woman of UNO history.

Works Cited

Gateway. University of Nebraska at Omaha. Web. 7 Apr. 2012.

Heritage Quest Online.  2009.  ProQuest LLC. Web. 27 July 2009.

“Jolley Portrait.” UNO School of Communication. Web. 8 Apr. 2012.

“Journalism Group Photo.” UNO School of Communication. Web. 8 Apr. 2012. Nebraska Museum of Art. Web. 7 Mar. 2012.

NEGenWeb Project. “Douglas County Who’s Who in Nebraska, 1940.” Web. 7 Mar. 2012.

“Our History.” UNO School of Communication. Web. 3 June 2012.

“Pearl Gaines Portrait.” UNO School of Communication. Web. 8 Apr. 2012.

Pollak, Oliver B. and Les Valentine.  University of Nebraska at Omaha.  Arcadia Publishing, Charleston, SC  2007.

“Pup Journalism Group Photo.” UNO School of Communication. Web. 8 Apr. 2012.

Thompson, Tommy R., Ph.D.  A History of the University of Nebraska at Omaha: 1908-1983. Taylor Publishing Co., Dallas, TX 1983.

UNO School of Communication.  “Our History: 1908-1949 Part 1.”  University of Nebraska at Omaha. Web. 27 July 2009.

U.S. Archives. Web. 13 Mar. 1012.

Washington University at St. Louis. Web. 7 Mar. 2012.

“YELLow Sheet Photo.” Criss Library Special Collections. Web. 8 Apr. 2012.