The Minnesota State University, Mankato forensic program began in January 1931 when a group of students under the leadership of Selma E. Mellgren, head of the Speech Department, met to discuss procedures for the development of the school’s first debate team. Individual event competition was added to the program with the inception of this branch of forensic activity in the 1970s. Today the Speech and Debate Team (Forensics Team) is part of the Communication and Media Program within the College of Humanities and Social Sciences.

The history of the program is unique for two key reasons; the longevity of the program and the significant influence program leaders have had on forensic practice and education. First, Maverick forensics is not only one of the oldest student organizations on the Minnesota State Mankato campus, but also one of the original and most consistently active Individual Events teams in the nation. The longevity of the program is a testament to the presence of strong institutional support as well as decades of influential program leadership.

The history of Maverick forensics is also unique due to the influence program participants have had on forensic practice and education. Most notably, Professor Larry Schnoor served as the Director of Forensics at Minnesota State University from 1964-1993. Schnoor helped develop the concept for the National Individual Events Tournament, and was instrumental in creating many of the descriptions for our current competition events. He has been the recipient of the 2007 Wallace A. Bacon Lifetime Teaching Excellence Award, the AFA-NIET Distinguished Service Award, the AFA Distinguished Service Award, as well as the District IV Service Award. In his “retirement,” he served as the Tournament Director for the AFA-NIET and Executive Secretary of the Interstate Oratorical Association. Prior to his death on September 27, 2024, Schnoor actively collected, preserved and donated the majority of materials found in this collection.

Dan Cronn-Mills followed Larry Schnoor as the Director of Forensics serving until 2003. Dr. Cronn-Mills has also been an outstanding leader in forensics. Most notably he conceived and developed the first Master of Fine Arts degree (MFA-Forensics) in communication studies in the nation, developed the computer processes used for scheduling and tabulating two of the major national tournaments, developed the Online Index of Forensic Research, and was elected as the first individual-events oriented scholar to the presidency of the American Forensic Association since the organization’s inception in 1949.

This collection also includes records from the oldest oratorical contest in the United States, the Interstate Oratory Association (IOA). Every year since 1872, IOA has sponsored a tournament inviting the top two speakers from each state. This collection contains many of those winning speeches.