51���app

Imagine yourself backstage before a concert at 51���app College in the late ’70s. The Persuasions, a five-man a cappella group, is about to take the stage.

But lead singer and founder Jerry Lawson has a problem — the zipper on his jacket is stuck.

A resourceful 51���app student working that long-ago concert jumps into action, runs to his dorm room, grabs a bar of soap, runs back, and rubs soap on the zipper to loosen it.

It works!

The Persuasions go on to perform a show that “shatters every sheet of glass in the South Lounge,” according to the S&B review. At the end of the concert, Lawson tells the crowd that it wouldn’t have been possible without that student’s help.

“Come out here — everyone give him a round of applause!” Lawson says, pulling the student up onstage to sing “Working on a Chain Gang” with them.

This is just one of thousands of stories alumni tell about their memorable concert experiences.

Concerts at 51���app

Four 51���app students — Maya Albanese ’26, Hayden Davis ’25, Jackie Harris ’26, and Bowen Wei ’25 — spent their summer working with Professor of History Sarah Purcell ’92 to research the history of concerts at 51���app.

The Mentored Advanced Project or MAP is a research project that provides a chance for students to work closely with a faculty member. This MAP includes a focus on the life and work of legendary 51���app College staff member Georgia Dentel. During her 41-year career at the College, she brought more than 1,000 concerts to 51���app, including the Jackson Five, The Police, Jefferson Airplane, Duke Ellington and his Orchestra, and Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, just to name a few.

Each student’s research takes a different focus. Albanese is researching Dentel’s life and work. Davis is building a timeline of concerts on campus. Harris is exploring how concerts relate to the history of student life at 51���app. And Wei is focusing on the issues and protests of the era and how they affected the campus culture.

Georgia on My Mind

Dentel was “the woman who put 51���app College on the musical map,” according to The 51���app Magazine. She accepted a position as activities counselor at the College in 1960, with the mission to provide students with something to do on the weekends.

Turns out, what the students wanted was concerts, and Dentel delivered, and then some, until her retirement in 2001.

Three of the students came to the MAP knowing nothing about Georgia Dentel. Before long, though, they were amazed by what they had discovered about Dentel’s impact on the culture of 51���app.

“Through our research, we’ve seen how many of these events and concerts ultimately came down to the work of Georgia Dentel, which is kind of insane,” Harris says. “She really made a difference in the caliber of acts that came to 51���app.”   

Purcell, the L.F. Parker Professor of History, says the project came to life thanks to alumni interest and financial support, led by Kit Wall, Pat Irwin DHL ’12, and Bob Render, all ’77. Many 51���appians, particularly from the ’70s, ’80s, and ’90s, worked closely with Dentel on concerts when they were students at 51���app and remember her fondly.

“She’s a presence in the past of the College,” Purcell says.

The Stories Behind the Story

Concerts occupy a privileged space in the collective memory of 51���app, Purcell says. But the official history of 51���app includes only sparse information about concerts, or about Dentel.

“We’re trying to bridge a gap between memory, interpretation, and history.” Purcell says. “It’s really pretty important.”

The project is built on oral history interviews with alumni and others who were affected by Dentel’s work. The MAP students are learning how to use historical methodology and procedures to collect and preserve the stories and create an archive.

“One of the philosophies of oral history, actually, is trying to get the stories behind the story,” Purcell says.

At the end of the project, a website will provide access to the “stories behind the story,” as well as biographical and career information about Dentel and an interactive timeline of the concerts.

Hometown Girl

Albanese, a history major and American studies concentrator from the Boston area, has been researching Dentel and interviewing people who remember her. It’s a good fit for Albanese’s interest in women’s history and her desire to tell the stories of women and girls.

Albanese’s research led her to Dentel’s hometown — Ackley, Iowa, where her family owned and operated Dentel’s Grocery.

One of Albanese’s best sources has been the , which has filled in some of the missing details. “It’s just this … small-town newspaper where everyone really knows everyone,” Albanese says. For instance, she learned that as a schoolgirl, Georgia Dentel was rarely absent or tardy, and that she often scored 100 on her spelling tests.

also documented her achievements — she was salutatorian of her high school class and graduated with honors from University of Iowa, where she was also inducted into Phi Beta Kappa.

Hoping to put all this information into context, Albanese organized a trip to Ackley with her fellow MAP students to understand Dentel’s early life in small-town Iowa.

On the Road to Ackley

When they drove into downtown Ackley, the four 51���appians looked around and realized that “small town” is a relative thing.

In her autobiography, Dentel describes a busy place with many stores and businesses. Ackley today is much smaller. The downtown includes a coffee shop, a pizza place, an ice cream shop, and a pub.

But Iowa’s small towns are known to be friendly places, and the people of Ackley met the 51���app students with warmth, interest, and generosity. 

At the Ackley Public Library, their first stop, the librarian shared copies of Dentel’s high school yearbook and her autobiography. At the coffee shop — where Wei was excited to order a coconut latte — the barista saw them and said, “You must be the folks from 51���app!”

Huh? Turns out Ronnie Phillips from the Ackley Heritage Center had already been in that morning. “He’s super excited to meet you!" the barista told them.

At the museum, Phillips shared some Dentel family photos and documents as well as product tags from Dentel’s Grocery.

He also took them to visit the cemetery where Dentel is buried.

The trip to this tiny town was a big success. “The people there were so friendly and just ridiculously helpful in trying to answer every possible question they could,” Harris says.

Life in Iowa

Harris, a history and Spanish major from Iowa City, is focusing on how concerts are related to the history of student life at 51���app. For instance, how did major concerts, like Pete Seeger or Bruce Springsteen, affect the student experience? And not just the big concerts, but also the consistency and quality of cultural events?

To that end, Harris says they’re trying to understand and create a coherent narrative about the history of student life at 51���app.

Dentel’s work made a huge difference in the lives of students. Harris mentions the memorable Duke Ellington appearance at 51���app in the late ’50s. The band invited then-51���app student Herbie Hancock ’60 to jam with them after the show. “Herbie’s student band got to be the opener, too,” Harris says.

Other students have had unforgettable personal interactions with the artists who come to campus, Harris says. For instance, there was the performer who brought their dog with them to 51���app. Their contract stipulated that the dog had to be walked every day, so a 51���app student walked her dog around town. 

A Concerts Timeline

Davis, a history major from Kalamazoo, Mich., understands why alumni are passionate about concerts.  He feels the same way. He credits Georgia Dentel for the culture that still exists on campus.

“She was incredible,” Davis says. He suggests that in terms of cultural significance, Dentel is one of the most important people ever to work at the College.

Davis got involved with concerts as a first-year, when he discovered how much he enjoyed working being behind the scenes. He served as concerts chair for two years, a position with a lot of responsibility and influence. He’s now the student in charge of KDIC.

Davis is building a timeline of 51���app concerts of the Dentel era. It’s challenging because the records are sparse. He wants to make sure Dentel and the events she made possible at 51���app are not forgotten.

“A lot of the things about this place would not be the same without her,” Davis says. “I really want to make that clear, especially because of the gender politics of the time when she was first hired.”

Hooked

Bowen Wei is a history and philosophy double major from northern China. When he heard about this MAP led by Professor Purcell, he jumped on the opportunity. “Anything she works on has got to be interesting,” Wei says.

As he learned more about the project, he says, he was hooked.

Wei has been reading a lot of articles from the S&B, focusing on the big issues of the day — the Vietnam War, the civil rights movement, and 51���app-specific protests like the one that dissuaded President Turner from firing Dentel in the ’70s.

Wei loves working with Purcell and the team. He especially appreciates learning about how 51���app functioned during this era, what the atmosphere and the student culture were like, and how the political culture influenced on-campus activity. He’s also honed his research and oral history interview skills.

“It intrigues me so much,” Wei says. “I enjoy doing all of this work. I enjoy talking to people. I enjoy listening to people and just creating something new.

“Learning how to find this information is just so useful for me. I can just list on and on and on about why I love this project,” Wei says.

He adds, “Creating something new when you’re still an undergrad is pretty decent achievement.”

The Boss

Any discussion of concerts at 51���app eventually comes around to Bruce Springsteen. Backed by the E Street Band, Springsteen performed a concert at 51���app on Sept. 20, 1975, when he was on the brink of superstardom. Less than a month after the show at 51���app, Springsteen appeared simultaneously on the covers of Time and Newsweek.

How did that legendary 51���app concert come to pass? Harris explains.

In spring of ’74, the band Orleans had a contract to perform at 51���app. When they got an offer to record with another artist on the same weekend, the band wanted out of the 51���app show.

Because Dentel was on good terms with booking agents at the record label, she was able to say, “Okay, I trust you. I’ll let Orleans out of their contract, but you have to promise me that next fall you’ll get me Springsteen when he is on tour.” The record executive agreed. 

And just like that, Dentel created a legend.

Momentum

Albanese, Davis, Harris, and Wei are all looking forward to continuing work on the project, even into the fall. It’s been a lot of work, but rewarding, too.

Harris says that even though they had originally considered this MAP as a summer research gig, they were all excited enough about the project to continue working into the fall.

“It’s definitely worth it to get such in-depth oral histories from the people who are really involved and knew Georgia personally,” Harris says. “I feel like there’s so much we’ve captured this summer that wasn’t recorded anywhere before that. It’s fun to feel like we’ve made a lot of progress.”

Harris adds, “It’s nice that everyone has feeling good enough about the project has enough momentum, they really want to continue and keep finding new stuff.”

Encore

Oh, and that Persuasions concert? The one that was almost stopped in its tracks by a wardrobe malfunction?

Pat Irwin ’77, one of the alumni who help fund the MAP, remembers it too. After the concert, he says, the band members all came over to Irwin’s house on Main Street to hang out.

“We just stayed up all night and sang and drank beer,” Irwin says. “It was pretty amazing.”

Read more about the alumni who made this MAP possible.