The Bookstore

The origins of the M.S.U. Bookstore date to November 1896, when a group of faculty and students organized the “Agricultural College Cooperative Book Buying Association,” or C.B.B.A. Its chief organizer was Wilbur Olin Hedrick (M.A.C. ’91), Assistant Professor of History and Political Economy, who was a major proponent of cooperative organizations in agriculture.[MAC Record 1(36), 13 Oct 1896, p. 4; 1(43), 1 Dec 1896, p. 7]

The primary purpose of the C.B.B.A. was to reduce some of the expense of attending college, not merely to provide the convenience of an on-campus bookstore. The association bought textbooks and school supplies in bulk, and for a lifetime membership fee of seventy-five cents, its members could purchase those books and supplies from the association at cost. Non-members would have to pay the full retail price, which gave the C.B.B.A. some operating margin.[MAC Record 1(43), 1 Dec 1896, p. 7]

The cooperative association was an immediate success. The vast majority of students bought memberships and its ledger ran comfortably in the black from the outset. Its initial president was Professor Warren Babcock and most of its board of directors was made up of elected students.[MAC Record 1(43), 1 Dec 1896, p. 7; 4(18), 17 Jan 1899, p. 2]

At first the bookstore took up dormitory rooms in Williams Hall, but as both the school’s enrollment and the store’s business grew it considered finding a building of its own. This issue was solved with the construction of the new streetcar trolley station in 1902, which was designed to house a waiting room, the post office, and the bookstore. The store moved in by fall term of 1903 and Lillian Kendall was hired as manager. Miss Kendall operated the store until 1912, during which time the bookstore grew to occupy an added room on the west side of the building in 1906, followed by the space vacated by the post office when that facility moved to Station Terrace in 1910.[MAC Record 7(34), 20 May 1902, p. 3; 9(1), 21 Sep 1903, p. 3; 11(15), 2 Jan 1906, p. 2; 16(1), 20 Sep 1910, p. 2]

“Post Office & Trolley Station” (and bookstore) with streetcar in winter, circa 1908. The house at far left is № 6 Faculty Row. Photo Credit: Beal, p. 277.

By 1912, times had changed. The “small emergency contrivance” of 1896 had grown “to an organization which now does many thousands of dollars’ worth of business per year.” Professor Hedrick, by then head of the Department of History and Economics, reported that the students had, through apathy and inaction, abdicated their responsibility for management of the association—literally failing to attend regular board meetings and annual officer elections—and that as a result all executive decisions wound up on the desk of Hedrick himself.[MAC Record 17(18), 30 Jan 1912, p. 1]

Hedrick proposed to eliminate the “cooperative” part of the organization, vest its management in the faculty, and discontinue the membership fee. This passed a faculty vote, but a few months later it was found that the new organization under faculty oversight was “too informal.” In short, everyone continued to leave the work to Hedrick. At his request a new non-profit corporation, the Michigan Agricultural College Book Buying Association, was established in May 1912. As a non-profit, the bookstore continued to sell books and supplies at cost to M.A.C. students and faculty. To replace the retiring Lillian Kendall, Isis Kintner was hired as manager and began work in June.[MAC Record 17(18), 30 Jan 1912, p. 1; 17(32), 14 May 1912, p. 2; 17(37), 18 Jun 1912, p. 5]

In August 1916, Miss Kintner died suddenly; she was only 25 years old. Following a short stint with an interim manager, Norma L. Ensign was hired in November 1916.[MAC Record 22(1), 26 Sep 1916, p. 4; 22(3), 10 Oct 1916, p. 8. Minutes, 17 May 1945, p. 2126]

In time for the start of fall term in 1919, the association moved to a storefront in the “Bank Block” (the 1917 East Lansing State Bank building) at 130 West Grand River Avenue. The new location was more spacious and had the added benefit of being closer to Central School, making it easier for grade school students to be customers as well. Norma Ensign continued to manage the store, and even lived in the westernmost apartment in the second floor of the building (until her marriage in 1926 to Theodore Wagner, a landscape architect). Following the lead of the College, which changed its name in 1925, the store became the M.S.C. Book Buying Association, and in 1927 the “State College Book Store.” It remained in the downtown business district for twenty-eight years.[MAC Record 25(1), 19 Sep 1919, p. 2. LCD (1925), pp. 320, 770; (1927), pp. 740, 826]

The original (1917) East Lansing State Bank building in September 2017, about a month before its demolition. The Book Buying Association occupied the space just this side of the green awning. Today this is the site of the Graduate Hotel. Photo Credit: Google Street View.

Finally, after years of success as a non-profit, the College took over operation of the bookstore in September 1939 and dissolved the non-profit corporation. It is not clear whether prices jumped right away, but it’s highly doubtful that students continued to be able to buy books at cost. In a bit of unexpected fallout, a few months after the College assumed its assets, the State Sales Tax Commission presented a claim for over $11,000 in unpaid sales tax. (By June 1940, this assessment had been cancelled. It is worth noting that the tax commission was in the throes of a massive and highly public internal clean-up at the time.)[Minutes, 15 Sep 1939, p. 1539; 22 Feb 1940, p. 1598; 10 Jun 1940, p. 1637. LSJ, 24 May 1940, p. 1; 9 Jun 1940, p. 6]

In September 1945, Norma Ensign Wagner retired after nearly twenty-nine years as manager. Two years later, the bookstore moved to the new annex of the Union Building and joined with the veterans’ bookstore. The latter was part of the College Office of Veterans Affairs which was established as World War Two ended; the office was disbanded in July 1947 and its various functions taken over by the corresponding mainline units of the College. At this point, at least informally, the combined unit was called the College Book Store.[Minutes, 17 May 1945, p. 2126; 19 Jun 1947, p. 2459. The Record, 52(5), Oct 1947, p. 3]

By the early 1960s, M.S.U. was looking at preliminary plans for another addition to the Union Building to house “activities of the Dean of International Programs” and also to expand the bookstore. This did not happen; instead, in 1963 the International Center was built for that combined role. Out of a total $1.9 Million construction cost, nearly half—$875,000—came from the bookstore account. Clearly, it had come a long way from its cooperative and non-profit origins. The M.S.U. Bookstore’s main location remains there today.[Minutes, 20 Oct 1961, p. 4568; 18 Jul 1963, p. 4893]