Lest you think all of us on campus are taking a day off to recover from the weekend's festivities, here's some evidence that some of us are working.
This summer, my student assistants and I worked on several scanning projects. Now that I've dug myself out from a few other projects, I've finally gotten around to posting some of the evidence of their work. One project involved scanning a small booklet of photographs from 1898 called Wofford College Illustrated. It's sort of like an early version of an admissions brochure and a yearbook. I've put the images on Flickr, which some of you may be familiar with. The booklet is 32 pages, and has pictures of what a Wofford chemistry or mineralogy lab looked like in 1898. There are also photos of the gymnasium, the library, the faculty, the four classes as well as the fitting school class, and a few Spartanburg scenes.
So, I invite you to check out Wofford College Illustrated at your leisure. There's also a link to the booklet from the Archives Digital Collections page (you can also check out the Carlisle "Memories of Wofford College" and the "Memoirs of Sandor Teszler" while you're visiting Digital Collections.
This fall, Littlejohn Project Archivist Luke Meagher and I have put together an exhibit of political items from the college archives and the Littlejohn Collection. The exhibit is in the display cases just inside the front door of the library, and it should be up for several weeks.
From the archives, you'll find a photo of Ambassador Ben Hill Brown, class of 1935, receiving his credentials as ambassador to Liberia from President Lyndon Johnson in 1965. The photograph is autographed by President Johnson. There's also a photo of retired Air Force Major General John Beverly Montgomery, class of 1933, with President John F. Kennedy in 1962. There's an autographed photo of a young Olin D. Johnston, Wofford's most prominent alumnus-politician in the middle years of the twentieth century. We have some campaign matreials from different alumni who have run for public office.
A few Old Gold and Black stories round out the archives portion of the display, including an article about students' preference for Richard Nixon over John Kennedy in 1960 and one showing 1980 vice presidential candidate George H. W. Bush speaking in Leonard Auditorium.
Come by the library and take a look at some interesting artifacts from past political seasons.
I was looking for a story about an old football game this morning, and I wanted to reprint something from 1933- seventy-five years ago - and the first game I came across was against USC. Since Wofford played USC on Saturday, this seemed like more than a coincidence, so here's the Old Gold and Black's story about Wofford-USC, the 1933 version.
From the issue of September 30, 1933
"Gamecocks Click Against Terriers"
Wofford's gridiron warriors journeyed down to the State capital last Saturday (September 23) and met the Carolina Gamecocks in a game of good, hard football. The Terriers fought gamely, but were overpowered by a score of 31-0.
Sidelights on the Game:
The two Clarys, Earl and WIlbur, were the outstanding stars for the gamecocks. E. Clary, with his eel hips and llos-jointed stried, was a difficult target for our warriors to get a firm and secure hold upon. W. Clary, with his smashing and hard running, was even more difficult to halt. The Carolina line was almost impregnable, and their charges were hard and timed. The backfield was outstanding on passing and blocking and their punters showed up well.
The Terriers were by no means a disappointment to their alumni supporters. Wofford's line held on many an occasion and stopped the enemy backs before they could get going The line, made up mostly of sophomores, gave promise of being a formidable one when the get to clicking together.
Gallman and Moore on the flanks turned in a neat game. Often they gummed up the enemy interference and the backs were stopped at the scrimmage line or hurled back for losses.
King and Hardin were stalwarts at the tackle posts, and King displayed promise of cinching an all-state tackle's berth if he wants it bad enough.
Knotts and Lineberger played well at guard, and were fast on interference. Mullikin held down the center position in fine style and stopped many n enemy advance. The Terrier backfield failed to click, but appeared to run as smoothly as could be expected in the initial gameof the season.
Bouknight was up to form, and he punted, passed, and ran well. Funderburk, subbing for him, gave an exhibition of how he can lug the ball if he has a little interference.
Chandler held down the blocking position in a creditable way, and wa
s best on hitting the line for a few yards. Jones, switched from guard to fullback, was green at the post,but clearly showed that he intends on cinching the position. Quarterback Anderson called the plays in fine style, mixing them up, and kept the Carolina line guessing. His steadiness under fire will add much strength to the backfield and make them more dangerous.
The substitutiona proved to Coach Scaffe that he has a few reserves he can depend upon. Crouch, Hoover, and Hawes played admirably under fire, and will be much needed as reserves.
Wofford has no game for September 30. A game with High Point College was scheduled, but their athletic board eliminated football from this year's program because of heavy losses incurred in financing it heretofore. (Remember, this was in the middle of the Great Depression)
The Terriers' next game will be with Davidson on Oct. 7, at home on Snyder Field.
Unfortunately for the Terriers, Davidson's Wildcats won that game, 28-13. Wofford finished the season with a home game against Clemson (yes, Clemson played Wofford on Snyder Field) on Armistice Day, and Wofford won that one, 14-13. They wound up 3-6 for the season.
I’ve mentioned “ratting” or “rat season” already, but to
understand the true nature of this long-gone Wofford tradition, I felt like I
needed to share the ratting rules. So,
below, please enjoy the rules of the so-called Freshman Control Board, the
group that administered ratting. Here's a picture of one version of the rat cap - they evolved over the years. This cam appears to come from the 1960s. The archives has versions from the 1920s and the early 1950s as well.
Freshman Control
Board, 1958-1959
The purpose of the Freshman Control Board is to build school
spirit and to help Freshmen meet Upperclassmen and classmates.
All Freshmen and Upperclassmen are expected to comply with
the following rules and regulations of Wofford College.
1. Freshmen will
stand at the close of chapel and will remain in place until all Upperclassmen
and faculty members have left. This will
be compulsory throughout the year and will be enforced.
2. Every Freshman
will wear a “rat cap” at all times. For
a specified number of days to football games, Freshmen must wear “rat signs”
stating some form of encouragement for the Terriers. The sign must bear the name of the wearer,
the name of his home town, and the name of the opposing team for the week. It must have at least one illustration and a
varied color scheme. The minimum width
of the sign must be equal to the width of the wearer’s shoulders. The length must be equal to not less than
one-half the width. Freshman football
players are exempt from the wearing of “rat signs” but they must abide by all
other Freshman Control Board rules.
3. Simple errands may
be required of Freshmen by Upperclassmen
4. Freshmen will
attend all athletic contests, football games, campus, or any other announced
places. They must learn all official
yells and are required to sit in body at the function.
5. Freshmen are
forbidden to trespass on the front steps of the Main Building.
6. While on the
campus, all Freshmen will be required to confine their movements to the paved
sidewalks and parking areas. Exceptions
to this rule are the areas in front of Carlisle Hall and the athletic
fields.
7. It is compulsory
that all Freshmen wear fore-in-hand ties tied in a Windsor knot to supper in
the College Dining Hall each night. Dress
shirts are not required.
8. For the first
three weeks of ratting Freshmen, before speaking to an Upperclassman, will
automatically give their name adding “Rat” as a prefix and “Sir” as a
suffix. Example “Rat John Doe,
Sir.”
9. Freshmen are
required to know the following, if questioned by any Upperclassman:
a. Founder of Wofford College b. Date of founding c. Presidents of Wofford College d. Names of all buildings and dates of their
construction e. Wofford College motto and meaning f. Student Council Members g. Number of seats in the auditorium h. Number of steps on front entrance to Main
Building i. Alma Mater j. After first week of ratting, the names and at
least one identifiable characteristic of at least twenty Upperclassmen and
thirty classmates.
10. All Freshmen are
expected to participate actively in the singing during Chapel. Any violator of this rule will be asked to
sing a solo for the entire student body.
11. At any time the
Freshman Control Board may recommend a Freshman to the Dean of Students for
further action.
12. A tug-of-war
between Freshmen and Sophomores will be held on the first Tuesday following ght
efourth Freshman Control Board meeting. At this time, all requirements of Freshmen contained herein will be
discontinued, except article 1, provided they win the tug-of-war. If the Freshmen lose, “ratting” will continue
for two more weeks.
13. No Freshman shall
be subjected to any type of physical or mental punishment. This regulation forbids, for example,
paddling and belt-lines.
14. Any violation of
regulation 13 above by Upperclassmen will be subject to stringent disciplinary
action by Wofford College.
15. Freshmen will
carry their “W” books [the student handbook] with them at all times
16. At the end of
“ratting” all Freshmen will be required to undergo a test on the “W” book. The test will be given by the Freshman
Control Board. Failure on the part of a
freshman to achieve a passing mark on this test will result in further ratting
duties and a retaking of another similar test.
Ratting existed before World War II, and again for a few
years in the 1950s and 1960s. If any of
the alumni who are readers of this blog care to share stories about their
experiences with ratting, please feel free to offer a comment. I’d be happy to see a little interactivity
with readers.
The next several blog posts will be about orientation, student organizations, and events surrounding the opening of school each year. About once a week, I try to post a document from the archives. Today's document is the welcome message to the freshmen of fifty years ago - in the fall of 1958 - the members of the Class of 1962.
The student handbook of that era was called the "W" book and was published by the Student Christian Association. It contained greetings from Wofford's new president, Charles F. Marsh, along with SCA President A. V. Huff '59, student body president Charles Bradshaw '59, and Interfraternity Council President Jerry Richardson '59, along with rules and regulations. The handbook also contains the rules for "ratting," which will be the subject of a future post.
Welcome to Wofford! This phrase may seem a little trite to you by this time, but with it we wish to extend the warm and sincere greetings of the Student Christian Association to you, the Class of Sixty-Two. For each of you there is a definite place waiting in the SCA.
As the first contribution to you for a successful college career, the SCA presents this handbook to guide you through these first excitingly new and important days.
There are many spills that can be avoided by simply reading and heeding some of the material within this small book. Become familiar with the rules that apply to "ratting" since many of the initial blunders are caused by ignorance. Every upperclassman is your friend. If you want questions answered about ratting or college in general, just ask.
No doubt you have watched a child's first efforts to walk. When the child falls no one worries about it except the child himself. So it is here at Wofford -- it matters not that you fall but how you get up and push forward.
Whatever you accomplish here at Wofford will be the result of your own individual worth and effort. Now you are on your own--away from home and life-long friends. You must mold and guide your own life and work in college. The result will be the sum total of effort that you put forth. In short, your life here can be what you want it to be -- success or failure -- to any degree The opportunities are here. Rise and meet the challenge.
To the men in the Class of Sixty-Two who rise after falling and answer the challenge of Wofford -- this book his humbly dedicated.
I mentioned earlier this summer that I'd likely be writing fewer blog posts this summer and that I'd also be talking a little more about some of our summer projects.
Many of you will recall that we've spent a tremendous amount of time on President Snyder's papers. Dr. Snyder was president from 1902 to 1942, the longest tenure in the college's history, and he left behind some 45 cubic feet of records. Because I've been working on his papers for several months, items from his papers have been the basis for several blog posts here. We completed arranging and describing these papers earlier this month, and the finding aid, or guide to the collection, is available on the library website. Snyder Papers Finding Aid.
We've moved to working on the papers of President Walter K. Greene, who served as president from 1942 to 1951. Dr. Greene is the only alumnus to serve as president of the college. His papers are not as voluminous - unprocessed, the are only about 15 cubic feet. Part of the reason is his length of service was only a quarter that of Snyder, but part lies in the way the college was organized. For much of Snyder's tenure, his office handled many routine matters, and these simply wound up in his files. During Greene's presidency, other administrators handled most of these tasks. However, there's always plenty to learn from a president's papers. I hope to explore some of these topics in later blog posts. Among the topics I expect to cover: the postwar development campaign, athletic success in the late 1940s, church relations, and the wartime takeover of the campus by the Army Air Corps. When Greene is complete, we'll have paper collections for all nine of Wofford's former presidents.
We're also working on scanning some of our Methodist ministerial directories. The oldest three editions, from 1901, 1914, and 1932, respectively, are all valuable sources for local church historians, and all are both rare and increasingly fragile. When local church historians ask for pictures of their ministers, we reproduce them from these books. We've made high-quality scans of them, and over the next few months, will be exploring how to put these on the web. We'll also have volumes from 1942, 1952, and 1961 to work on later. Also, we've scanned a few smaller photo collections and the campus buildings and grounds photos. All of these will make showing and sharing the college's documentary history easier.
Just to show an example of one of the items we've scanned, here's an aerial view of the campus from 1963. Click on the image for a larger version. You can see Shipp Hall under construction in the upper middle portion of the picture, and the now-demolished Carlisle Hall in the lower middle part of the picture.
At the college's Baccalaureate service last Saturday, Wofford chaplain Dr. Ron Robinson '78 spoke about mentors and the important role they play in all of our lives. Mentors, Dr. Robinson noted, aren't necessarily older than those they influence, and he cited one example from Wofford's student body in 1957. In an era when many older South Carolinians were unwilling or unable to speak out on the great political-moral issue of the day - civil rights - Wofford student Charles Brockwell '59 spoke boldly. Dr. Robinson referenced a column that Brockwell wrote in the Old Gold and Black on October 26, 1957 in which Brockwell discussed the Student Christian Association's attempt to bring a group of students from Claflin College, one of Wofford's sister Methodist colleges in Orangeburg, SC, to Wofford to share in a joint worship service. Because Claflin was a college for African-American students, the Wofford administration rebuffed the Student Christian Association's plan.
Here's the full column. Click on the image for a larger, readable version.
After graduation, Dr. Charles Brockwell went on to become a Methodist minister in South Carolina and Kentucky.
This being Commencement weekend, I thought today would be a good day to share an older Wofford diploma. This one was actually never issued, as it isn't dated or signed by all of the college's officers. I found the diploma in President Snyder's 1930s files. The archives has other diplomas - some older, some much older. I am still trying to determine when the college switched from Latin to English, but I think it was by the early 1950s.
The Latin translation is provided by Chris Strauber, reference and web services librarian here at Wofford.
The President and Trustees
of Wofford College
established under the laws of the state of South Carolina
Greetings in God to all and to each reader of this
Be it known that we have decided to grant Cecil Guy Nichols,
a young man of blameless character and versed in humane letters, after an open
examination in the arts by the faculty and distinguished trustees of the
College, the title of Bachelor of Science; and we grant to him the power to
enjoy all the privileges and honors which anywhere pertain to that degree. Of
which let this document and our names be the public evidence.
Granted on campus [ ] in the Year of Our Lord nineteen
hundred and [ ]
Today, Wofford and other colleges rely on glossy admissions viewbooks, and now, attractive websites to show prospective students how their campus looks. Before the days of full-color brochures, the college had to rely on the printed word. Wofford's annually-published catalogue, in addition to describing the courses offered, admissions rules, and requirements for graduation, the catalogue also described the campus its atmosphere. These words come from the 1906 catalogue, but they were the same in several other editions of the era. The photos are from Wofford College Illustrated, 1898, an early pictorial yearbook of the college.
Some Advantages of Wofford
Situation-- Climate and surroundings have much to do with the kind of studying a student does. No better climate can be found anywhere for intellectual work than that of the high piedmont region of upper Carolina. It is salubrious and bracing, and stimulates mind and body to do their best.
Health-- No healthier place can be found in the South than Spartanburg. The Wofford College campus, upon which the students live, is a high, well-drained hill, removed from the dust and smoke and noise of the city. Students thus have within reach all the conveniences of the city, together with the healthful benefits of the country. Besides these natural surroundings, so conducive to health, oversight is taken, as far as possible, of the exercise and sports of students. A large, thoroughly equipped Gymnasium, under the care of a competent director, has been found of inestimable value, not only in preserving health, but in aiding the growing bodies of young men to a state of vigorous natural development.
Social and Intellectual Surroundings-- Spartanburg furnishes an unexcelled social and intellectual atmosphere. The best entertainments - entertainments that make for the highest refinement - are constantly within reach of the student. Music by famous musicians, lectures by men of world-wide reputation, readings by authors who are making the literature of the day, are all means of general culture that help to educate in the very best sense the students of Wofford.
The first image is a view of the campus from the city standpipe - on the highest point in the city - you can see Main Building to the left and Alumni Hall (mentioned last week in the blog) in the middle of the picture, North Church Street in the foreground and the city in the background. The second image is of student cottages on the outskirts of campus - not so different an idea as the Village of today.
The steps taken by the students of the University of South
Carolina and the University of Virginia in forming what is known as “The
Woodrow Wilson League of College Men,” is to be commended by all supporters of
Governor Wilson. Its object is to
promote the candidacy of Woodrow Wilson for President in 1912. It has met with the approval of many of
Wilson’s friends, and they believe it a wise step for the college men to take
who want Wilson for President.
We believe that this movement should be considered and
promoted in every college where it is practicable. Truly, Wilson is the college man’s candidate,
and such a step taken by the students of the country in their characteristic enthusiasm
will aid materially in bringing about the object of the movement.
His entrance into public life is hoped to be a beginning of
a new era in the political world, namely, “the re-entrance into political life
of the better elements of society.” This
is bound to arouse greater interest among the people concerning our public
affairs, and should not only make Wilson the college man’s candidate, but also
the candidate of every true and all-round citizen.
The main significance that the league will have will be to
arouse among the student bodies of the land a greater degree of interest in
public things, and to cause them to bend their energies in the effort to
influence the public through the press, the platform, and even the stump.
Whatever its outcome, the students of the above-named institutions
are, as we have already said, to be commended for starting such a movement, and
we believe we are safe in saying that Wofford joins in to help advance the
adopted slogan: “We Want Wilson.”
As President of
Princeton, Woodrow Wilson had spoken at Wofford as part of the College’s Lyceum, an early 20th century lecture series. Wilson, who was born in Virginia, grew up in
South Carolina and Georgia, remains the only president of the United States to
have earned a Ph.D. He served as
president of Princeton before being elected governor of New Jersey in
1910. Wilson proved popular with
Democrats in the South, but his strong college roots no doubt made him popular
with college students and alumni. Wilson’s
candidacy was probably not the first that Wofford students rallied behind, and
it certainly wasn’t the last.
Dr. Phillip Stone From The Archives: Dr. Phillip Stone, archivist of the college and of the Methodist Church in South Carolina, shares stories, documents, photographs, and artifacts about college, church, and South Carolina history.
So, I invite you to check out Wofford College Illustrated at your leisure. There's also a link to the booklet from the Archives Digital Collections page (you can also check out the Carlisle "Memories of Wofford College" and the "Memoirs of Sandor Teszler" while you're visiting Digital Collections. 
