The Chameleon: Preserving Norwich's Artistic Voice

Norwich University Archives and Special Collections has been working with the staff at The Chameleon to make every issue of Norwich’s longest running literary and arts journal available digitally. Unfortunately, the Archives still has gaps in our collection of The Chameleon. In fact, the earliest issue we have in the Archives clearly indicates that it is Volume 2. Still, we have been able to preserve The Chameleon much more effectively over the last few decades, but if you have one of the early issues — especially from the 1960s — that you would be interested in donating, please reach out to us at archives@norwich.edu and we can let you know if your donation would assist with our goal of completing our collection.

Having every issue in the Archives is vital because each issue of The Chameleon adds a piece to Norwich’s history. One splendid article written by former Chameleon intern August Tirone, and available through the Chameleon’s website, details not only the history of The Chameleon, which began in 1961 or 1962, but other literary periodicals at Norwich going back to the mid-19th century. The Archives does have portions of some of these publications (which include The Reveille, The Owl, The Iconoclast, and others) in our collections, but many of the issues from those literary journals might be lost to time. 

From a research standpoint, these artifacts are invaluable due to the unique information that they contain. When a student comes to us and asks about the history of a sport or a specialty unit, we often refer them to our newspaper index. The Guidon and Norwich University Record have faithfully chronicled the events that have shaped the history of our institution for over one hundred years. However, while the Guidon often contains letters, opinion pieces, and interviews that provide insight into how the students feel about Norwich and the world around them, the primary purpose of these newspapers is the conveyance of facts. On the other hand, The Chameleon and its predecessors are places for students to express their ideas, interests, and concerns via poetry, short stories, art and design. Even a story with some thrilling military adventure can reveal what a student might be most concerned with at the time of writing, perhaps the Cold War, or just having fun. 

Tracking what students contributed to The Chameleon also demonstrates the shift in the demographics and culture of the school. Since the 1960s, Norwich has not only added civilians to the student population, but diversified in terms of gender, race, sexuality and in many other ways. 

One beautiful example of this diversity is seen in the 2023 Chameleon by Ana López. In her short story titled “Historias de Norwich,” she describes coming to Norwich from a predominately Latino community and when at first she did not see anyone from her background on campus, she felt shy. Ana then describes how happy she became the first time she encountered other Latinos playing music and having fun, but also how her other non-Latinx friends joined the party. Ana reflectively concludes that everyone is accepted at NU regardless of their background.

We hope you enjoy the issues of The Chameleon that are working to make available digitally, and if you are able, please help us complete our collection. We would love to have every issue preserved in the Archives so that they can be made available to all.