Special Collections recently acquired the long-lost UNT mascot, Eppy. There is much lore surrounding the story of Eppy, but here is our University Archivist, Jess Tucker’s experience tracking down Eppy:
“I heard about the missing mascot not long after I started working at UNT. Early on, I went to a meeting with some UNT Facilities staff members to discuss campus art. After a lot of research in the wilds of Reddit, I reached out to those contacts, and they were able to tell me more about poor Eppy’s wanderings, but not his final destination. They did provide the name of Mike Flores, who is the Maintenance Director at the Union. I tried contacting him repeatedly with no luck. Fast forward to January 2024 when we were contacted by Molly Orr to help create a popup exhibit to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the UNT Union. The Rock Bottom Lounge (which is also an interesting side quest) later became the focal point of that exhibit. I brought up Eppy again in the meetings with Molly since the Union stairwell was his last known location. She confirmed Mike knew Eppy’s current location, and I pleaded the case to get him (she? they?) to the University Archives. I continued trying to get in touch with Mike, moving from emails to phone calls. Eventually I did get in touch with him, and he agreed to let me see Eppy (although Mike reiterated that Eppy was not suitable for “public viewing”). I met Mike at the information desk, and he began to lead me into the backrooms of the Union. As we walked, other staff members joined, and I had an escort of four men by the time we finally reached Eppy in some sort of storage subbasement, filled with god only knows what other artifacts of UNT history. Eppy was a terrifying sight in his raised glass case, and I got the feeling even my escort was unnerved. Surprisingly, Eppy had his head and feet which had gone missing many years ago. Mike confirmed that Eppy had been moved from the stairwell after repeated vandalism. He also mentioned that Eppy had become the site of a sort of folk devotion in his previous location, where students often left notes asking for things like luck with assignments or thanks for passing test grades. Unfortunately, these notes were not saved when Eppy was moved. The head, shoes, and feet had anonymously returned to the Union after a police investigation was opened, most likely the victim of a fraternity prank. Eppy was in a sorry state, and Mike admitted they weren’t sure what to do with him or how to preserve him. I again made the case for Eppy to go the University Archives where he could be safely housed and preserved as an important part of UNT history. Eventually Mike agreed that, if we could provide transportation, Eppy could officially be transferred. And that’s where Justin picks up the story.”
Picking up where Jess left off, we received Eppy at the Research Collections Library (RCL) and decided they needed to come out of the display case. We removed Eppy and had to remove their armature which we now lovingly refer to as Eppy’s “shadow.” This process was more difficult that we anticipated as the duct tape attaching the armature to the body was desiccated and adhered to the structure and the armature did not want to bend far enough for us to remove it.
After disassembling Eppy, we decided they needed to be cleaned. Eppy had lots of dirt and dust on them and their fur was a little melted in some areas from their many adventures (one of which involved them getting too close to a bonfire). So, we gave them a good dry cleaning. By dry cleaning, I do not mean we took Eppy to a laundry mat. In preservation, dry cleaning is done by utilizing a vacuum with variable suction or a dry brush to remove particles and clean the item without damaging it. Eppy now lives at the RCL in custom-built archival boxes constructed in the preservation lab.
