Every exciting project must have an "idea man" or "woman," and credit for MAC to Millennium: The University of Maryland A to Z goes to Herbert J. Hartnett, former Assistant to the Director for Communications Projects, Office of University Relations. Herb's persistent emphasis on identifying our traditions was truly the seed from which this publication sprung.

However, this recounting of Terrapin traditions and other fun facts would not have come to fruition without the early assistance of Michelle DeMartino, Tamar Galed, and Patricia Rettig, all 1998 graduates of the College of Information Studies and graduate assistants in the University Archives. These expert researchers scoured the entire university landscape, uncovering countless ceremonial plaques, odd facts, and other wonders and compiled this information. Without them, MAC to Millennium would never have ripened into the rich collection of campus lore we present to you.

My deepest thanks to Herb, Michelle, Tamar, and Patty. Because of their ideas, energy, enthusiasm, and seemingly endless research, the legend of Testudo lives on, and our campus history remains vibrant.

I must also gratefully acknowledge the contributions of James Fort, David Smolen, and Jennifer Gunter, students in LBSC 708G during the spring 1999 semester. Without all of their work, this compilation would never have debuted on the Internet, accompanied by the illustrations which greatly enhance the already exciting text. I am pleased that we are able, through their efforts, to make MAC to Millennium available to a much broader audience.

The expansion of MAC to Millennium continued under the care and attention of University Archives graduate assistants Jennifer Evans and Alida Friedrich. Both Jennifer and Alida ferreted out additional facts for inclusion in this compilation and patiently added all those bits of information that kept popping up.

I am also deeply indebted to Jennie Levine Knies, former curator of historical manuscripts, who tackled the re-design of this site in November 2001. Jennie made MAC to Millennium much more visually appealing and easier to navigate, changes that visitors to the site greatly appreciated.

In 2015, UMD alumna and University Archives volunteer Barbara Hornbake Angier took a huge pile of newspaper clippings, magazine articles, webpage printouts, and random jottings and converted them into additional text for the site. The Alumni of Note section has especially grown tremendously thanks to her hard work. Building upon Barbara’s labors, we also seized the opportunity to re-design and refresh the site, and I am grateful to Instruction and Outreach Coordinator Laura Cleary for all the hours she spent refining and improving the look and feel and functionality of this important resource.  With the assistance of graduate student Elena Macias, I was able to add a great deal of new information and update many entries in 2019.

MAC to Millennium continues to grow and evolve with the help of many dedicated individuals. I hope you will enjoy the fruits of our labors.

Anne S. K. Turkos
University Archivist Emerita
June 9, 2019