Early proponents of an alumni gathering place on campus envisioned a chapel to replace MacVicar Chapel, which was destroyed by the June 8, 1966 tornado. Because Washburn is supported by public funds, the attorney general ruled that a chapel would violate the separation of church and state. Thus, in the early 1980s, ideas were brought forth for an alumni convocation center. Although the vision changed over the next 15 years, the goal did not. It was alway destined to be a gathering place in the heart of Washburn’s campus for alumni, friends, faculty and students. After years of planning and fund raising, the Bradbury Thompson Alumni Center opened in April 1996.

The 17, 000-square-foot Bradbury Thompson Alumni Center houses the operations of the Washburn Alumni Association and the Washburn Endowment Association. The primary purpose of the facility is to serve the needs of Washburn alumni, the University and the Topeka community. Many rooms are available for meetings, lectures, seminars, receptions and dinners.

The building is named after Washburn alumnus Bradbury Thompson (1911-1995), a national leader in the field of graphic arts whose design work for national magazines, publishing houses and the United States Postal Service made him the recipient of numerous awards in his profession. Thompson, who graduated from Washburn with a bachelor’s degree in 1934, created the graphic representation of Washburn’s mascot, “Mr. Ichabod” that is still used today. He is also the graphic designer and typographer of the Washburn College Bible.

Entrance through the main doors of the Bradbury Thompson Alumni Center opens into the Joss Reception Gallery, flooded with natural light streaming from skylights two stories above. A custom-made circular staircase to the upper level dominates the elliptical-shaped space.

The most prestegious room of the Bradbury Thompson Alumni Center is the Washburn College Bible Room. Most appropriately, the Room boasts a display of the last edition of the limited edition set of the Washburn College Bible.

Large double doors flanking the staircase provide entry to the Center’s showpiece, the Ruth Garvey Fink Convocation Hall. The 3,420 square foot, two-storied room is dominated on the east by a fireplace and on the west by large windows fronted by three columns overlooking the Joss Garden.

The 16,500 square foot Doris Firestone Joss Garden is a beautiful sight. A brick sidewalk, that crosses the width of the garden, appropriately forms a “W”. The Garden's featured attraction is a 5 foot 11 inch bronze Ichabod statue.

Bradbury Thompson

Bradbury Thompson (1911-1995) was born in Topeka, graduating from Topeka High School and Washburn College. While a student at Washburn he was president of his senior class; captain of the track team for which he set school records in the 100- and 200- yard dash; and editor of two Kaw yearbooks and the designer of seven volumes of that college annual. He earned his bachelor’s degree in economics in 1934.

As a recent graduate, Bradbury Thompson continued to affirm a pride in Washburn’s history, creating the official “Mr. Ichabod” symbol for the 1938 Kaw yearbook. Later he designed for the Washburn Memorial Union the large murals which depicted campus buildings lost in Topeka’s 1966 tornado. Throughout his long and distinguished career in publication and graphic design—the scope of which can only be hinted at in this exhibition—Thompson demonstrated an abiding interest in making historical connections between the written word and visual arts.

Thompson was one of the most important graphic designers of the twentieth century. Among other things, he was the art director of Mademoiselle, design director of Art News and Art New Annual and designed the formats for some three dozen other magazines, including the Smithsonian. He also designed a number of U.S. postage stamps and served for more than thirty years on the faculty of the Yale School of Art.

Washburn College Bible

The design and publication of the Washburn College Bible is an inspiring story of a dedicated Washburn alumnus, Bradbury Thompson, ba 1934, a generous Washburn family, Olive White Garvey and Ruth Garvey Fink, and many loyal Washburn friends.

At the height of his career, Thompson was asked by Chicago publisher Marshall Field V to redesign the World Book Encyclopedia and the Chicago Daily News. Almost as an afterthought, he was asked in 1969 to design a new Holy Bible for the Field Enterprises publishing organization. Thompson, the descendent of a Presbyterian missionary who had established many churches in eastern Kansas, brought almost a half-century of experience to bear on this assignment.

During a period of intense work that lasted several years, Thompson formulated the design breakthroughs that have been called “the most thorough typographic reassessment of the Bible since Gutenberg.” He made the Bible legible by using a large 10" x 14" page and set the words in the most readable Roman type available: Garamond in 14 point type. Thompson arranged the text in phrases and separated them where the reader would naturally hesitate or stop. He also assembled a world-class team of collaborators: National Gallery of Art director, J. Carter Brown, who selected the accompanying fine-art masterpieces, and internationally esteemed Yale University professor of painting, Joseph Albers, who designed the frontispieces to the three volumes. But he could not have anticipated that it would take another decade of perseverance to design, finance, and produce his magnum opus.

The advent of a national recession in 1972-73 forced Field Enterprises to abandon the Bible project. This led Thompson to approach the Washburn College Board of Trustees in the spring of 1977 about the possibility of that body becoming the publisher for the project. The Board’s by-laws prohibited them from using endowment funds directly for such a purpose, but the project attracted the discerning eye of one of the University’s most beloved benefactors, Olive White Garvey. She agreed to become the underwriter for publication of the Bible with the condition that any earnings from its sale be applied to “a permanent display and tribute to Bradbury Thompson and the Washburn Bible.” In October of 1977, the Washburn College Board of Trustees accepted Mrs. Garvey’s generous offer and authorized the acquisition of all interests in the Bible from Field Enterprises. Her energetic and dedicated daughter, Ruth Garvey Fink, became Chairman of the Washburn Bible Committee.

The three-volume Limited Edition of the Washburn College Bible was published and placed on the market in 1979. Its publication was received enthusiastically throughout the English-speaking world. It was exhibited both here and abroad, collecting important national and international awards. Subsequently, dozens of articles about the Bible and its designer appeared in such publications as the New York Times, Smithsonian magazine, the London Daily Telegraph, and Time magazine, as well as numerous trade journals.

It was also a dream of Thompson and of the Bible Committee to publish a smaller version of the Washburn College Bible, one which would “invite use for private devotions” by individuals and families. That dream was realized in 1980 with the publication by the Oxford University Press of what is now referred to as the Oxford Edition of the Washburn College Bible. The Book-of-the-Month Club made this edition a special selection, and 25,000 readers purchased it through that vehicle alone. The cover of this one-volume version proudly proclaims the names of two great universities — Washburn and Oxford.

Never has Washburn had a more meaningful or beautiful ambassador throughout the world than the Washburn College Bible. Many have been placed in churches, cathedrals, synagogues, and the great libraries and repositories ranging from New York to Washington to London, Paris, Tokyo, and Rome. Most appropriately, the last numbered copy of the Limited Edition Bible resides here in the Bradbury Thompson Center as specified in the 1981 agreement. To purchase a copy of the Oxford Edition of the Washburn College Bible contact the Washburn Bookstore.

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