About This Project
These mascots have been a part of the experience of living and learning on campus. It is safe to say that even if the names and histories of these mascots are not that well-known among the campus community, almost everyone has seen them at least once during their time at Carleton.
During new student week, incoming freshmen are greeted by upperclassmen dressed up in cow costumes. When dining out, there are pubs and restaurants named after the Northfield slogan, “Cows, Colleges, and Contentment.” At Sayles, students walk in front of the life-size Knight statue, and at the library, they walk past Toff the cat and Oscar the penguin. The more elusive Schiller bust is an ambitious dream that most Carleton students hope to see and hold at least once during their years at Carleton. Stealing and hiding Schiller is such a feat that when the Students Activities Office displayed an ice sculpture of Schiller in front of Sayles during the winter of 2021, students did not hesitate to steal the Schiller ice sculpture.
Despite their presence on campus, the history and backstory of these mascots are not well known. We take them for granted that they belong on our campus and rarely question why they’re here. By creating these models along with sharing the history of how they arrived on campus, we hope to bring more appreciation to these mascots and how they belong to our community. Especially during the time of the pandemic when a lot of students are studying off-campus, we thought it our mission to deliver a part of the campus life to the remote-learning students. These mascots connect the experiences of the students in the past to the current students on campus. By making them available digitally, they can now virtually connect the on-campus students to those not in Northfield.
Credits
Special thanks to Professor Austin Mason for guiding us in our journey to becoming digital humanists.
