I recently worked on processing the IU Media School Alumni records. The materials were gifted to the IU Archives by the family of late associate professor of journalism, Owen Johnson. Among his nearly 40 boxes of papers were nine boxes of records documenting Media School and Indiana Daily Student alumni. According to his daughter, the School of Journalism had given these files to Johnson when he was doing research on the IDS, and we are thrilled they made their way to the Archives!
The collection includes the records of almost a century of Media School (formerly School of Journalism) alumni, as those represented in the collection graduated between 1901 and 1992. The records themselves span 1911-2022, with the bulk of records having been created between 1940 and 1989. The collection includes some predictable materials like correspondence and alumni surveys, but also features photographs, publications written by or about alumni, and many student resumes. The records speak to the lives of Media School alumni, both during their time at IU and throughout their subsequent careers. This post highlights just a few of the IU Media School’s many fascinating alumni: Mary Jane Chambers, James Ray Polk, and Myrna Oliver.
Mary Jane (Fisher) Chambers (1924-2018), born in Gary, IN, received her bachelor’s degree in journalism from IU in 1949. Chambers went on to publish five books throughout her lifetime. Her experiences living with her husband, Randall Marion Chambers (1927-2007), who worked as Chief Life Scientist for NASA, informed three space-themed books. Her first two, Don’t Launch Him – He’s Mine! and Here Am I: Send Me were published as condensed versions in Reader’s Digest. She would later write Getting off the Planet (2006) with her husband about the early NASA space program. Chambers won the Georgia Author of The Year Award in Religious-Inspirational Writing in 1975, and in 1981 her article in Reader’s Digest, “The Murder of Robbie Wayne, Age Six,” won the National Magazine Award for public service.
James Ray Polk (1937-2021), born in Oaktown, IN, received his bachelor’s degree from IU in 1962, following three years of serving in the Navy. He worked as a full-time reporter for Bloomington’s Daily Herald-Telephone while attending college. After graduating, Polk worked for the Associated Press bureau in Indianapolis, before moving to Washington, DC. In 1974, Polk won a Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting for his coverage of the Watergate scandal. At the time, he was reporting for the Washington Star-News. Polk worked for NBC News from 1975 to 1992, after which he worked for CNN. He was inducted into the Indiana Journalism Hall of Fame in 1994 and retired in 2012.
Myrna Oliver, born in Ellettsville, IN, received her bachelor’s degree in journalism from IU in 1964. While attending school, she worked for the Arbutus and served as editor-in-chief of the Indiana Daily Student. She went on to earn her master’s degree in journalism from Syracuse University. Oliver then worked as an assistant press secretary and speechwriter for Senator Birch Bayh. Beginning in 1968, she reported for the Los Angeles Herald-Examiner and covered trials including those of Charles Manson and Sirhan Sirhan. Oliver started working for the Los Angeles Times in 1972, where she served as a civil courts reporter and later as an obituary writer. She wrote the obituaries of many famous individuals, including Gene Autry and Leonard Bernstein. She retired in 2006.
