“The birthplace of ambition” (Illustrations from The Capitoline, 1930)
“Chaste, calm, serene without,
It induces clear thought within”
“A pleasant entrance into the realm of knowledge”
“Branching trees o’ershadow
Branching knowledge’s domain”
“Nature here softens the architectural line”
Alda Raulin captured classic views of Springfield High School in five line drawings that led off the 1930 edition of The Capitoline, the school’s yearbook.
Raulin (1913-1996) was the daughter of a Lithuanian coal miner, John Raulinaitis (1879-1953), and his wife Frances (1888-1968). (Alda went by “Raulinaitis” through eighth grade, but the family apparently adopted the shorter version of their last name about the time Alda entered SHS.)
Raulin, the yearbook’s art director, presumably also contributed to The Capitoline’s layout, which used cartoon-like illustrations to begin each section. Raulin drew some of those as well, including “Campus Views,” which led off Raulin’s package of drawings.
Semi-poetic captions, reproduced above, accompanied each drawing.
Following graduation, Alda Raulin earned her bachelor’s degree from Illinois State Normal University and then taught at Matheny Elementary School for a half-dozen years. During that period, she was an officer in the Matheny PTA and an active member of the Lithuanian Social and Political Club, while also teaching crafts at the YWCA, and playing both on- and offstage roles with the Repertory Guild, an amateur theater group.
In 1943, however, Raulin volunteered as a Red Cross recreation worker in World War II field hospitals. Wherever she was deployed – details are unavailable – that apparently ignited a taste for the wider world. Raulin didn’t return permanently to Springfield until a few years before she died.
Alda Raulin’s Capitoline profile
Raulin went on to study at New York University and the School of the Art Institute in Chicago, earning a doctorate in art. She lived in New York City for most, if not all, of the 1950s, taught for a time at Keene State College in New Hampshire, and ended her career in California, where she made her home from the 1970s until at least 1990. (Menlo Park, Calif., city directories indicate she worked as a hearing therapist for much of her time there.)
Raulin returned to Springfield sometime between 1990 and 1995. She died here, and her ashes are interred in the Oak Ridge Cemetery mausoleum.
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Wow, what a find for our local Lithuanian history! How did you find out about her? Was she an only child? I need to find out if her family was involved in any way at St. Vincent de Paul Lithuanian Catholic Church.