Elder is a school rich with history and tradition, but very few people know of the history of the school’s paper The Purple Quill.  The paper itself has been around spreading the opinions of students for over 80 years. And even though it has had name changes, the message is still very much the same.

The Purple Quill or as it was originally called, The Elderado, printed its first issue in October 1933. This month was referred to in the paper as the Month of the Rosary.  The paper had eight writers on staff: Edward Benson ’34, William Blome ’34, James Hausman ’34, Roy Lindeman ’34, Rober Terbrueggen ’35, Robert Suthoff ’35, John Keating’36, and Robert Downin’37.

All eight of these gentleman where the founding fathers of Elder journalism. The Elderado, as you can see, was offered to all four class levels as opposed to today’s journalism class that is only offered to upperclassman. All eight of these fellow Panthers had one goal in mind, to express their opinions and beliefs to the rest of Elder nation.

The first print articles in the Elderado consisted of an assortment; ranging from a survey about the student body’s Christian spirit relationship to the Elder students and alumni selected for the All City Summer Baseball League.

A survey was created by the school’s Student Spirit Council and was geared at discovering the percentage of students who participated in mass, communion at school, and daily prayer. This first ever printed paper is available in the Elder Library along with every other issue since the beginning in 1933; all you need to do is ask Mrs. Ploehs and she will be more than happy to help you find what you need.

The Last ever issue of the Elderado was printed in May, 1936, from then on it was known as we call it today, The Purple Quill.