Throughout the years, Concordia has fostered its students to cultivate their artistic and literary talents through numerous student publications. One of the first student publications was The Crescent. This periodical, which was first published in 1909, served primarily as a medium for literary expression. In the late 1910s, the student body sought a more newspaper-like publication that could be a spokesperson for Concordia campus life rather than the magazine style of The Cresent. On Nov. 24, 1920, this dream was realized when the first issue of The Concordian was published. The first Concordian staff consisted of 18 students and less than 1,000 copies circulated per year. This readership soon expanded with a base in Montana, North Dakota, and Minnesota. The Concordian even found its way overseas, being sent to men and women who were serving in the war effort during the early 40s. From reflecting contemporary humor on campus to reporting hard-hitting news pieces, The Concordian has been the main voice of journalism on campus for more than 90 years.
The same year that The Concordian began, another important student publication was born: the yearbook. The first yearbook published at Concordia was dubbed The Scout, a name that honored the yearbook published under the same namesake at Park Region Luther College. When the classes of Park Region Luther College came to complete their academic program at Concordia, the college honored the relationship with a nod to the old moniker. The yearbook was published triennially until 1935, biennially until 1943, and was finally voted to become an annual publication in 1947. In 1932, Concordia saw the yearbook take on a new namesake, changing from The Scout to the Cobber. The yearbook was given the task of representing a cross-section of Concordia’s student life. The publication saw various changes to layout and design, evolving from black-and-white to color and from leather covers to lithocote. Throughout the years the Cobber set the standard in quality and design, even clinching an award for merit by the Taylor Publishing Company in 1994 which was awarded to the top 10 percent of yearbooks published within the company.
While the student newspaper and yearbook have been important voices on campus, so have a number of literary journals that have appeared throughout Concordia’s history. The face and namesake of these journals have changed significantly since their first appearance in the early 1900s, but all have remained at their core an outlet for students to showcase their literary and artistic skills, be it a short story, a poem, or a piece of art. These journals have included the Collegian, published from 1934-35; the Lodestar, published from 1978-80; and Afterwork which was first published in 1987. Submissions for these literary journals, particularly Afterwork, undergo a rigorous review process with special attention to selecting a wide variety of authors and styles. Sara Dovre, an editor of Afterwork, offered in a November 1994 Concordian article: “We look at the submissions blind so we aren’t judging with any preconceptions. We do a lot of in-depth discussing of each work [concentrating on] individual merit.”
While many student publications have come and gone over the course of the past 129 years, some publications have stood the test of time for nearly a century. Whether in a newspaper, yearbook, or literary journal, student publications have been and continue to be an important record of student life and perspective.
Contributed by Cady Mittlestadt and Lisa Sjoberg, former college archivist