The Auburn University Special Connections and Archives has put up an exhibit called “The Story of Aubie,” which will be displayed until May 2019.
It is open for all students and faculty to look at and learn about the history of Auburn’s loveable mascot, who first appeared in 1979. The exhibit is located on the first floor of the library, to the left of the glass elevator.
Lisa Glasscock, the technical specialist for the Special Connections and Archives, provides an inside look into the creation of this exhibit. She has been in this position for a year, and her job is to help process items that come in and to create inventories. Glasscock was in charge of the creation of the Aubie exhibit.
“I wanted to do something about school spirit generally, and then I got my copy of Aubie’s calendar this year, and I saw that it was 40 years of Aubie,” Glasscock said. “Usually, it’s fun to make an exhibit around an anniversary or a commemoration.”
Her original idea was to have different shelves for spirit, cheer and Aubie. Glasscock said that once she started with all the materials for Aubie, she realized she had more than she needed.
Now the exhibit is chronological, following the history of Aubie the Tiger. Glasscock used a 1941 football schedule, which had a tiger on the front of it, in her exhibit on the first shelf.
“I saw it on the inventory, and I wanted to see it and the images it had on it,” Glasscock said. “It had a tiger on there, and I thought ‘this is great!’ It looks good, and it shows the ferocious tiger we used in the ‘40s.”
Glasscock noted that she had to check leads from the long inventory of items in order to find some that she thought would work for the exhibit. She would have to check each of these items for a tiger and decide whether or not it was essential to Aubie’s story and how he came to be.
“I used the football programs because they are such a well-known thing that covers the football programs that have Phil Neel’s illustrations of Aubie,” Glasscock said. “I really wanted to include when was the first time he showed up on there, when he went from a tiger into an anthropomorphic, jersey-wearing tiger that we know now.”
She used these programs to show the evolution of Aubie and how he has changed over the years. Glasscock highlights the start of the tiger, to when he wore a jersey, then to when he got his name and finally to when he first appeared in 1979.
“I wanted to do the exhibit to celebrate the spirit of Aubie,” Glasscock said. “I feel like the students and faculty and even the people who come in during home games could relate to that and even find it interesting to see that, the highlights of how he came to be the Aubie we see today.”
Glasscock believes the most important part of the exhibit and of Aubie’s history is when he officially came to be in 1979. She said that James Lloyd had the first idea to buy the Aubie costume, while Barry Mask was the first student to become Aubie for the 1979-1980 school year.
“Barry was the one who gave Aubie the aspects of his personality that we still have today: the flirtiness, being so good with kids and being a good dancer,” Glasscock said.
She admires the courage it took to start the idea, and for others to join the concept even though it might have seemed strange at the time.
“I feel like Aubie is a mascot we can be proud of,” Glasscock said. “I put in the exhibit that he’s an award-winning mascot. He does it with excellence, and it’s very interesting how they keep it up all through the years. I believe that he is a mascot we can really support and enjoy.”
The Special Collections and Archives Office is located on the ground floor of the library and is open for questions. The office currently has two exhibits up for display which are open during gamedays from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. for any interested fans.
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