Special Feature: The Index Easter-1920 An Issue from 100 years ago

Hand drawn, the 1920 cover of The Index captures the clothing style of women in the 20’s with the big bow hat, the gloves, and the fur animal scarf. What will 2020’s fashion look like to future Wildcats in another 100 years?

March 1920, Volume 23, 54 pages

In the past, The Index had many different sections and roles to fill. Among them are Literary, Alumni, Art, Typisits, Humor, and Exchange.

This issue of The Index included many ads of old Oshkosh businesses. If you were a young man keen for the latest and “choicest” fashion, you were in luck, because Oshkosh had the perfect place for you!

With winter always arriving at the most unexpected times in Oshkosh, a good shovel is a necessity to keep your walks clean! 

Many of the ads in this issue featured clothing stores around Oshkosh, clearly tailoring to the teenagers’ obvious obsession with fashion back then. But really, has anything changed?

According to the O.H.S. Athletic Association, students were asked to contribute 25 cents toward the athletic association every semester. At Oshkosh High, each student was in charge of getting behind their team and supporting them to the championship, a way to unite the student body.

The sports section of this issue proudly presents Oshkosh High School’s triumph over four different teams in that spring season of basketball.

This section briefly reviews the activities of a few societies at Oshkosh High School. Pi Tan Beta enjoyed listening to many engaging speakers while the Onaway Society gained a new president and other elected officers.

Oshkosh High School, like most schools, has a wide variety of clubs. In this issue, they include the minutes from the latest meetings. Fascinatingly, they had a Quill Club which consisted of reading classic literature and original stories.

Thanks to no semester finals, we won’t have to be like the students at Oshkosh High School on February 7th, but be more like the students on February 1st. This section brought a hilarious spin onto the upcoming activities of those at Oshkosh High. 

This page provides an overview of the comments received by the Exchange Department, where other newspapers send in their feedback about The Index. Also, read about why advertising is so important and how it relates to the naming of our country! 

Pages from a 1917 Issue

Trumpets, flutes, drums, violins, and all guys! The Oshkosh School Orchestra is very much different from our current orchestra 100 plus years later.

Read all about Mab-be, Shorty, Flo, L, and Ag and what they were involved with around school. Should The Index consider including a section like this now? The senior quotes are decidedly of a different flavor than 2020.

Would Principal O’Neil even guess that the National Honor Society at West would be named after him? Students can now put a name to a face.

Apparently, back in the day, the Drama Club did more than perform shows for the school. Read all about the party they held where they invited only the most popular boys of the senior class! 

Some Oshkosh High School staff are featured in this section of the newspaper. These are very different from the staff pictures we have today. Perhaps the Wildcat staff could try out a retro day and mimic some of these looks?

Among featuring school staff in the paper, the Index staff was also promoted. Pictured on this page is Index’s editor-in-chief and business manager among the other members. A couple of observations. First, people aged differently 100 years ago - the students easily look years older than, say, Mr. Hartman.  Second, the advisers look like they would be loads of fun during a late night production.

Put together by Oshkosh West Index Staff

Oshkosh West Index Volume 117 Issue 2

October 30th, 2020