Wofford College - From The Archives

A year of blogging

I started this blog just over a year ago - the first post went up on December 11 - and all told, there have been 70 entries in the past year.  It seems like this is a good time, as we move from one year to the next, to take stock of the blog's first year and to seek input, advice, and suggestions, and also to thank several people for their help this year. 

This year has been something of an experiment in web 2.0 for archives, with this blog and a flickr account for hosting archival photo and document collections.  (See the Wofford Archives photostream on flickr for examples of what I've posted thus far.   I'll try to post notes on the blog in the future as we add more collections and items to flickr.)  This blog has allowed me to post individual items that are worth sharing with the Wofford community and beyond the campus, such as the George Washington Carver letter that I found in the Snyder Papers last December.  That was really the "find" that inspired me to ask for the blog in the first place.  I've also used the blog to share Wofford stories about important events - desegregation and coeducation in February and March come to mind.  I've tried to focus on other events - Commencement and the rituals surrounding the beginning of classes each fall. 

In addition to sharing documents, we've experimented with sound files - excerpts from speeches by President Snyder, Professor David Duncan Wallace, President Pendleton Gaines, and Dean C. C. Norton, for example.  I hope to continue to share sound files, photographs, and other documents in the new year.  I also hope to post more "did you know?" types of facts and figures.  We'll try to look at other distinguished faculty members and alumni who have contributed to the college's history. 

This is where I want your help.  If there's a question you have about Wofford history - or South Carolina history, or Methodist history - let me know.  If you've got a story to share, share it.  If there's a subject you want me to write about in the blog, tell me about it and I'll see what I can do. 

One thing about working in the archives, there are more stories than I can ever possibly share in a one or two times a week blog.  Some days I just stand in the stacks, trying to come up with an idea for that week's story.  Some weeks are easier than others.  I want to write about things you want to read about, so let me know what you want to read about. 

I also want to thank several folks for their help and encouragement this year.  Kyle James, our webmaster, got this blog set up last December.  The design is his, so he should get all the credit for the look and feel of the site.  Kyle left us this month to take a new job in Boston - so good luck and best wishes, Kyle - we'll miss you!  Kyle also helped get me set up so that I can add sound files to the blog in April.  Doyle Boggs has always been supportive as Director of Communications on campus.  My colleague in the history department and fellow blogger, Dr. Tracy Revels, has also offered ideas and critiques.  My colleagues in the library have also had good ideas, and I've enjoyed the support of my supervisor, Dean of the Library Oakley Coburn, in this enterprise this year as well. 

So, thanks for reading this year, and let me know what you want to read about next year.

Norton-Christmas Carol-Introduction

An annual tradition at Wofford and in Spartanburg from the mid-1920s to the 1960s was the presentation of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol by Dr. C. C. Norton, professor of sociology, dean of the college, and one-time acting president of the college.  My Wofford Today column is about the many contributions of Dr. Norton to the college in his 40 years as a member of the faculty, so you might want to check that out for some details of his life and work.  Sometime in the next few weeks, I'll post some of "Cutie" Norton's caricatures and "Church Folks" cartoons.  Since Christmas is this week, and we have recordings of Norton's presentation, I'm posting the introductory track and concluding track - the entire audio would take over 30 minutes.  The introduction runs about 2 minutes and 40 seconds, and the conclusion runs about 5 minutes and a half. 

This is the introductory portion of Dr. Norton's rendition of A Christmas Carol, performed in 1960 at Wofford College.  The concluding portion is below. 

Norton-Christmas Carol-Conclusion

This is the concluding section of Dr. C. C. Norton's reading of A Christmas Carol, recorded in 1960 at Wofford College.

President Pendleton Gaines' First Chapel Address

Francis Pendleton Gaines became Wofford's 6th president in 1952. In
this selection, he is introduced by Dean of the College C. C. Norton
and talks about his background, the importance of tradition, and the
college's strong reputation. The selection lasts a little over 4
minutes. If you are reading this on a feed reader, you may have to
click through to the website to listen to the sound clip.

Little-known facts and factoids

My predecessor, Herbert Hucks Jr., of the class of 1934, served as a librarian and archivist at Wofford from 1947 to 1998, including 20 years as a part-time retired archivist.  He compiled a list of various "little-known facts" about Wofford.  I'll try to drop a few in every now and then, in the midst of various stories about Wofford people and events.  Many of these facts come from the D. D. Wallace History of Wofford College, published in 1951. 

On Wofford and the Civil War:  "The first martyr in the Southern cause was William Maxwell Martin, a Wofford graduate of 1857, who had developed into a gifted poet as well as orator.  His graduation speech, The Calico Flag, it was said, 'produced a sensation in its way beyond anything in the annals of the college.'  He died February 21, 1861, of illness contracted from exposure on duty at Fort Moultrie, standing by his canon through the cold damp night." 

Martin's father was a well-known South Carolina Methodist minister and Wofford trustee. 

On the Confederate bonds:  "The securities owned by the college at the close of the Civil War included $85,897 of Confederate bonds and certificates, $1,297 in Confederate money, and bank stocks of $17,525 par value, all of which was ruined by the war... It is correct, therefore, to say that the endowment was swept away by the war, although it was not all invested in Confederate bonds."

"At least 35 Wofford alumni died in the Civil War."

As Wofford is presently in a pattern of enrollment and faculty growth, it's interesting to note other times when the faculty grew.  On the faculty's recommendation, in 1866, the trustees created a chair of history and Biblical literature, and elected A. H. Lester to serve as professor of history and Biblical Literature.  They also voted to establish a divinity school to be conducted by Professors A. M. Shipp, Whitefoord Smith, and A. H. Lester.  Apparently it continued only a few years and amounted to little except specializing in a few religious subjects.  The point is interesting, however, that Wofford briefly had a divinity school.

Photo, above, of (left to right) Professors Whitefoord Smith, James Carlisle, David Duncan, A. H. Lester, Warren DuPre, and A. M. Shipp.  This is the oldest faculty group photograph that I've found in the collection. 

Rock at Wofford

Maybe there aren't many people around the campus now who know who Kris Kristofferson is.  So a blog post about a concert he put on in Andrews Fieldhouse in October 1971 might have an appeal only to a certain generation.  Perhaps best known as the author of "Me and Bobby McGee" and "Help Me Make It Through The Night," Kristofferson was a singer-songwriter, and later an actor.  He's not your typical modern musician. 

 A Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Pomona College in 1958, Kristofferson went on to Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar, taking an MA in English literature there in 1960.  He went into the army, becoming a Ranger and a helicopter pilot.  He resigned from the army in 1965 as a captain to pursue a music career.  He was at a high point in his career in 1971, having won two major songwriting awards the previous year.  Many of his songs were performed by other artists who made them more widely known. 

When Kristofferson played Andrews Fieldhouse in 1971, here's what Old Gold and Black writer Andrew Delaplaine had to say

On Sunday last Kris Kristofferson gave a concert in Andrews Fieldhouse which about 1500 people attended. 

The performance given was straightforward, unhurried, easy, and there were no frills, no gimmicks, no nonsense -- just singing, and he sang almost all of his known songs, as well as a few new ones and some which were not his. 

"Me and Bobby McGee" was sung near the end; this is the song that perhaps more recording artists have recorded than any other Kristofferson song.  "Help me make it through the night" "The Law is for Protection of the People" and "Duvalier's Dream" were all given, each interrupted at the beginning by heavy applause.

... Kristofferson's songs can create instant mood; the music is all subdued and pretty much the same.  It follows what lyricism there is in the words and derives most of its melody from the rhythms of the words. 

One of his best songs in terms of poetic images has got to be "Sunday Mornin' Comin' Down," which is so full of the images of emptiness and loneliness of the character involved that the intention of the poet is immediately made apparent.  The character feels a sudden distaste for Sunday mornings that he can't exactly explain except to say that people only feel that particular way on Sunday morning; there is something special about Sunday morning.  One of the points of the songs is to show what Sunday and really the rest of the week too, is like for someone who has no God.  It's lonely, it's purposeless and shiftless. 

It probably warrants more time to talk about Kristofferson and God.  His songs constantly refer to Jesus, God, etc.  Usually he laments the lack of importance we give God in our lives and shows how a people pay for senseless living.  But he gives a dimension to the lives of sleazy characters in barrooms and whorehouses, nobodys and liars, and all the people with broken dreams or hopeless attitudes toward life that is genuine and sincere.  And he does this with some pretty good poetry... 

This brings me to his lyrics, which are superb in general and in particular.  Kristofferson's music is nice and catchy, but its source has already been identified. Kristofferson, who looks a little like Lloyd Bridges with a beard, cannot sing.  That's why I don't talk on about how he builds up to a climax of emotion and sound, as Streisand always does, and then caps it off with a little reprise of the last sixteen bars.  Kristofferson can't even pretend to sing.  The only reason you can have for liking his low droning is that he actually sounds in every song like he just woke up on Sunday morning and wants an excuse for going to Sunday school. 

As I said, there are no gimmicks in Kristofferson's show.  He comes out, sings, and leaves.  He is a great ad-libber, and his songs are constructed such that he has plenty of opportunities to get in some funny lines, which are funny only because they are juxtaposed with unusually different lyrics.  When the fellow operating one of the spots flicked on a blue filter to add variety, Kristofferson looked up at him and gave a chuckle as if to ask, what the hell did he think he was doing?  Blue lights didn't change the song.  Also, when the audience started clapping time to one of his songs, Kristofferson stopped singing and told the audience to quit, that he couldn't walk and chew gum at the same time, which was to say, you can't hear the words and think about them if you clap at the same time.  Plus it disturbed him a little.  But he was amused by these things.  His show is stripped of all unnecessary gimmicks or selling features.  It's an honest show, and I liked it.