{"id":482,"date":"2024-04-26T20:11:54","date_gmt":"2024-04-26T20:11:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kevinforsyth.net\/ELMAC\/?p=482"},"modified":"2026-04-02T19:55:31","modified_gmt":"2026-04-02T19:55:31","slug":"bookstore","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kevinforsyth.net\/ELMAC\/bookstore\/","title":{"rendered":"The Bookstore"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"
W. O. Hedrick. Image source: Beal<\/a>, p. 455.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The origins of the M.S.U. Bookstore date to November 1896, when a group of faculty and students organized the \u201cAgricultural College Cooperative Book Buying Association,\u201d or C.B.B.A. Its chief organizer was Wilbur Olin Hedrick<\/a> (M.A.C. \u201991), Assistant Professor of History and Political Economy, who was a major proponent of cooperative organizations in agriculture.1<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.2<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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<\/a> and most of its board of directors was made up of elected students.3<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
\u201cPost Office & Trolley Station\u201d (and bookstore) with streetcar in winter, circa 1908. The house at far left is \u2116 6 Faculty Row<\/a>. Image source: Beal<\/a>, p. 277.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

At first the bookstore took up dormitory rooms in Williams Hall<\/a>, but as both the school\u2019s enrollment and the store\u2019s business grew it considered finding a building of its own. This issue was solved with the construction of the new streetcar trolley station<\/a> 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<\/a> in 1910.4<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By 1912, times had changed. The \u201csmall emergency contrivance\u201d of 1896 had grown \u201cto an organization which now does many thousands of dollars\u2019 worth of business per year.\u201d 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\u2014literally failing to attend regular board meetings and annual officer elections\u2014and that as a result all executive decisions ended up on the desk of Hedrick himself.5<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hedrick proposed to eliminate the \u201ccooperative\u201d 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 \u201ctoo informal.\u201d 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 Lillian Kendall, who resigned following her engagement to Alexander MacVittie (M.A.C. \u201911), Isis Kintner was hired as manager and began work in June.6<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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 1916.7<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
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. Image source: Google Street View.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In time for the start of fall term in 1919, the association moved to a storefront in the \u201cBank Block\u201d (the 1917\u00a0East Lansing State Bank<\/a>\u00a0building) at 130\u00a0West Grand River Avenue. The new location was more spacious and had the added benefit of being closer to\u00a0Central School<\/a>, 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 on 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 \u201cState College Book Store.\u201d It remained in the downtown business district for twenty-eight years.8<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u2019s 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 the bookstore’s 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. Though it may be unrelated, it is worth noting that the tax commission was in the throes of a massive and highly public internal clean-up at the time.)9<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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<\/a> and joined with the veterans\u2019 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.10<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

By the early 1960s, M.S.U. was looking at preliminary plans for another addition to the Union Building to house \u201cactivities of the Dean of International Programs\u201d 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\u2014$875,000\u2014came from the bookstore account. Clearly, it had come a long way from its cooperative and non-profit origins. The M.S.U. Bookstore\u2019s main location remains there today.11<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n

  1. MAC Record<\/a>\u00a01(36), 13\u00a0Oct\u00a01896, p.\u00a04; 1(43), 1\u00a0Dec\u00a01896, p.\u00a07. \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  2. MAC Record<\/a>\u00a01(43), 1\u00a0Dec\u00a01896, p.\u00a07. \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  3. MAC Record<\/a>\u00a01(43), 1\u00a0Dec\u00a01896, p.\u00a07; 4(18), 17\u00a0Jan\u00a01899, p.\u00a02. \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  4. MAC Record<\/a>\u00a07(34), 20\u00a0May\u00a01902, p.\u00a03; 9(1), 21\u00a0Sep\u00a01903, p.\u00a03; 11(15), 2\u00a0Jan\u00a01906, p.\u00a02; 16(1), 20\u00a0Sep\u00a01910, p.\u00a02. \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  5. MAC Record<\/a>\u00a017(18), 30\u00a0Jan\u00a01912, p.\u00a01. \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  6. MAC Record<\/a>\u00a017(18), 30\u00a0Jan\u00a01912, p.\u00a01; 17(32), 14\u00a0May\u00a01912, p.\u00a02; 17(37), 18\u00a0Jun\u00a01912, p.\u00a05. LSJ<\/a>, 25 Apr 1912, p. 7. \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  7. MAC Record<\/a>\u00a022(1), 26\u00a0Sep\u00a01916, p.\u00a04; 22(3), 10\u00a0Oct\u00a01916, p.\u00a08.\u00a0Minutes<\/a>, 17\u00a0May\u00a01945, p.\u00a02126. \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  8. MAC Record<\/a>\u00a025(1), 19\u00a0Sep\u00a01919, p.\u00a02.\u00a0LCD<\/a>\u00a0(1925), pp.\u00a0320, 770; (1927), pp.\u00a0740, 826. \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  9. Minutes<\/a>, 15\u00a0Sep\u00a01939, p.\u00a01539; 22\u00a0Feb\u00a01940, p.\u00a01598; 10\u00a0Jun\u00a01940, p.\u00a01637.\u00a0LSJ<\/a>, 24\u00a0May\u00a01940, p.\u00a01; 9\u00a0Jun\u00a01940, p.\u00a06. \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  10. Minutes<\/a>, 17\u00a0May\u00a01945, p.\u00a02126; 19\u00a0Jun\u00a01947, p.\u00a02459.\u00a0The Record<\/a>, 52(5), Oct\u00a01947, p.\u00a03. \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  11. Minutes<\/a>, 20\u00a0Oct\u00a01961, p.\u00a04568; 18\u00a0Jul\u00a01963, p.\u00a04893. \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li><\/ol>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    The origins of the M.S.U. Bookstore date to November 1896, when a group of faculty and students organized the \u201cAgricultural College Cooperative Book Buying Association,\u201d or C.B.B.A. Its chief organizer was Wilbur Olin Hedrick (M.A.C. \u201991), Assistant Professor of History and Political Economy, who was a major proponent of cooperative organizations in agriculture. The primary purpose of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"[{\"content\":\"MAC Record<\/a>\u00a01(36), 13\u00a0Oct\u00a01896, p.\u00a04; 1(43), 1\u00a0Dec\u00a01896, p.\u00a07.\",\"id\":\"0cafef7b-89e3-4067-a738-469ceb727639\"},{\"content\":\"MAC Record<\/a>\u00a01(43), 1\u00a0Dec\u00a01896, p.\u00a07.\",\"id\":\"51f7b8ef-452b-488c-8b67-3e6f315c0df7\"},{\"content\":\"MAC Record<\/a>\u00a01(43), 1\u00a0Dec\u00a01896, p.\u00a07; 4(18), 17\u00a0Jan\u00a01899, p.\u00a02.\",\"id\":\"2321c78f-c58c-4384-9907-5858ecdb9fc8\"},{\"content\":\"MAC Record<\/a>\u00a07(34), 20\u00a0May\u00a01902, p.\u00a03; 9(1), 21\u00a0Sep\u00a01903, p.\u00a03; 11(15), 2\u00a0Jan\u00a01906, p.\u00a02; 16(1), 20\u00a0Sep\u00a01910, p.\u00a02.\",\"id\":\"a646c7f5-281b-4702-b283-c098348c773b\"},{\"content\":\"MAC Record<\/a>\u00a017(18), 30\u00a0Jan\u00a01912, p.\u00a01.\",\"id\":\"ed9930fc-d55c-4caa-b025-8100d4052f94\"},{\"content\":\"MAC Record<\/a>\u00a017(18), 30\u00a0Jan\u00a01912, p.\u00a01; 17(32), 14\u00a0May\u00a01912, p.\u00a02; 17(37), 18\u00a0Jun\u00a01912, p.\u00a05. LSJ<\/a>, 25 Apr 1912, p. 7.\",\"id\":\"d1b80db3-2b31-4c79-b70b-98d45a6c9d68\"},{\"content\":\"MAC Record<\/a>\u00a022(1), 26\u00a0Sep\u00a01916, p.\u00a04; 22(3), 10\u00a0Oct\u00a01916, p.\u00a08.\u00a0Minutes<\/a>, 17\u00a0May\u00a01945, p.\u00a02126.\",\"id\":\"68049104-1686-422c-8078-ccfd16049d4b\"},{\"content\":\"MAC Record<\/a>\u00a025(1), 19\u00a0Sep\u00a01919, p.\u00a02.\u00a0LCD<\/a>\u00a0(1925), pp.\u00a0320, 770; (1927), pp.\u00a0740, 826.\",\"id\":\"bfda773e-9a1e-46a8-a2a5-b12b7c47b83d\"},{\"content\":\"Minutes<\/a>, 15\u00a0Sep\u00a01939, p.\u00a01539; 22\u00a0Feb\u00a01940, p.\u00a01598; 10\u00a0Jun\u00a01940, p.\u00a01637.\u00a0LSJ<\/a>, 24\u00a0May\u00a01940, p.\u00a01; 9\u00a0Jun\u00a01940, p.\u00a06.\",\"id\":\"e3a1f40a-5d84-4568-995e-1877680b60f9\"},{\"content\":\"Minutes<\/a>, 17\u00a0May\u00a01945, p.\u00a02126; 19\u00a0Jun\u00a01947, p.\u00a02459.\u00a0The Record<\/a>, 52(5), Oct\u00a01947, p.\u00a03.\",\"id\":\"bc9efa2d-0b88-425d-8ff5-973a02276f9c\"},{\"content\":\"Minutes<\/a>, 20\u00a0Oct\u00a01961, p.\u00a04568; 18\u00a0Jul\u00a01963, p.\u00a04893.\",\"id\":\"41ce5420-eb52-4bbd-b17d-347614d3796a\"}]"},"categories":[27,28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-482","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-m-a-c-buildings","category-m-a-c-campus"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kevinforsyth.net\/ELMAC\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/482","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kevinforsyth.net\/ELMAC\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kevinforsyth.net\/ELMAC\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kevinforsyth.net\/ELMAC\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kevinforsyth.net\/ELMAC\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=482"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/kevinforsyth.net\/ELMAC\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/482\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5616,"href":"https:\/\/kevinforsyth.net\/ELMAC\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/482\/revisions\/5616"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kevinforsyth.net\/ELMAC\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=482"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kevinforsyth.net\/ELMAC\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=482"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kevinforsyth.net\/ELMAC\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=482"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}