Blast from the past:

    The college diploma of Pearl Adams is currently hanging on a wall in GCSU’s Museum. She was in the graduating class of ’98. But she did not graduate the year the movie “Titanic” became the highest grossing film of all time and the second year of Georgia College & State University’s first female president. 
    Adams graduated in 1898 from Georgia Normal and Industrial College with a degree in education. This was nine years before construction of the actual S.S. Titanic even began and women rarely held any position in an office besides secretary.
    The diploma, more than a century old, is part of the “A History of GCSU” exhibit that opened on March 13 at GCSU’s Museum and will be displayed until July 1.
    “I decided to do the exhibit on the history of GCSU because it is important and interesting to see the changes and growth throughout the years,” said Lindsey Sumner, second-year graduate student and curator of the exhibit.             “There are always people interested in the history of the school and all the admissions tours begin at the Museum so those who might possibly be GCSU students in the future can get a look at the school’s rich past.”
    History lover or not, students, faculty, staff and alumni can find a connection with what the exhibit has to offer. A wall of photographs gives glimpses of the school through out the 20th century. One photo in the middle of the collection shows a young Bob Hope performing on the stage of Russell Auditorium for a crowd of uniformed women known as W.A.V.E.S. (Women Appointed for Voluntary Emergency Service) in 1943. A computer with headphones sits underneath the photo that allows the visitor to listen to the entire radio show.
     Four vintage dolls in a display case show replicas of the strict uniforms students were required to wear until the 1930s.             There was an outfit for Winter, one for Fall and Spring, the uniform for exercise culture and the commencement cap and gown worn by seniors on Sundays and at the graduation ceremony. None of the uniforms reveal more than the hands, neck and head of the student. Pictures of the women lounging in the Spring uniforms amidst the knee-high grass on Front Campus in the early 1900s are difficult to fathom in the humid Spring weather today.
     Other items on display include class rings, toilet paper that advertises the Georgia College Colonials in brown type from the 1970s, and different pieces of flatware, each engraved with one of the six different names the school has had over the years.
    “One of my favorite images in the exhibit is what I call the basketball girl,” said Dr. Bob Wilson, a history professor at GCSU. “It was sketched about 1910 and the girl’s face is so full of life, that it should be the logo for a lot of things here.”
    GCSU has come a long way. The college initially provided women in Georgia the opportunity to gain a college education that most did not have before. The exhibit offers students of today a glimpse of the college experience in the past and how the school got to where it is today.
    “The whole exhibit made me think more about the school and what it might have been like to experience the college in the generations before me,” said Haley Reese, a freshman psychology major. “It makes me feel more of a connection with the actual school and my peers and just treasure the time spent here.”

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Apr 6 2007. Filed under Features. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry