Why May 4 Will Never be Forgotten

Often devoid of people, there's a room filled with clean white shelves lined with non-descript boxes on the 12th floor of the Kent State University Library.

Some boxes are filled with photos. Others contain court transcripts. Even a few small boxes have bullet casings and fragments.

It's here where you'll find the May 4 Collection of the Kent State University Libraries Special Collections and Archives.

What's beautiful about the May 4 Collection is that it doesn't place blame. It doesn't espouse conspiracy theories. It simply houses pieces from that day on May 4, 1970, when four students were killed and nine wounded by gunfire from Ohio National Guard troops.

One of the archives' latest donations is Virginia L. Heidloff-Reichard Papers. Heidloff-Reichard served as one of the defense attorneys on behalf of the guardsmen during the second civil suit that was brought by family members of the killed and wounded students during the 1970s. Her papers were donated posthumously by family to the archives.

Boxes and boxes of her papers contain materials about the civil litigation itself, the defense case, handwritten attorneys notes about trial strategy and other personal effects from the case.

One particularly interesting piece from the Heidloff-Reichard collection is a brief personal letter to her dated Jan. 19, 1979, shortly after the civil trial ended. The letter was signed S.T. Del Corso.

Maj. Gen. Sylvester Del Corso was adjutant general the day guardsmen opened fire on campus. He died in 1998.

"I want to thank you for your contributions on our side of the issue," Del Corso wrote to Heidloff-Reichard. "You added dignity and culture to the trial process which might other-wise have been a vulgar brawl."

Another, more personal, element in the archives is a piece of artwork done by Sandy Scheuer, who was one of the four students killed. Scheuer was shot while walking to class.

The archives also contain a few hundred oral histories recorded by people who witnessed the shootings, lived in Kent during the time, were on campus or have some other connection to May 4, 1970.

These are the seldom told, behind-the-scenes stories of the Kent State shootings that. And you can find them in the archives, where they will remain for as long as possible.

Combined, they comprise the entire story and detail the more often-told stories of May 1-4 1970.

The archives are open to the public, but you must call ahead and make an appointment. Materials cannot be removed from the library.

To visit the archives at Kent State, check out the special collections website for more information.