Blasts from the Past: September 21, 2017
A 2002 grant from the Kline Foundation helped build the Gettysburg College Science Center
Photo courtesy of Gettysburg College
By Shannon Zeltmann, Staff Writer
This week in 1917, an editorial in The Gettysburgian discussed the issue of the day a century ago, World War I. The editorial asked the question that was on the minds of young men at the time: how am I serving the country during the war? Am I making a right decision to study in college rather than fighting? The editorial stated that if one was studying to go into a necessary field of work after the war has ended, then he was doing the right thing and serving the country fully. Furthermore, the editorial stated that next generation must “take the place of the leaders who will have gone.” A little more than a year after this question was posed, the “war to end all wars” ended.
This week in 1937, the marching band was on the front page of The Gettysburgian as they were about to receive new uniforms. The marching band had a total of forty-two pieces and they were awaiting the arrival of the uniforms the director, Professor Bertram H. Saltzer, had ordered. They were weeks away from getting them, with the expected delivery date to be October 23rd, just in time for the game against Lehigh. Thank goodness that we have Amazon Prime’s two day shipping!
This week in 1952, a Colombian student describes what it is like to study at Gettysburg. The Gettysburgian reported that first-year Jaime Podilla was the first Gettysburg student to hail from Colombia. He had been to America six times prior to coming to Gettysburg, but college was a new experience for him. He decided to come to Gettysburg because a graduate he had met, Phil Garrett, and his father’s desire for him to study in America. Podilla was impressed with the “spirit of friendliness” found at the college, and he decided to study political science at Gettysburg. He described how America was so different from Colombia — the constantly changing climate, the lack of class consciousness, and the acceptance of the high standards of living. Yet, there were some similarities — the nation-wide love of sports, particularly soccer in Columbia and baseball in the states.
This month in 2002, it was reported that the Kline Foundation had granted $250,000 to the college to go towards the construction of the Science Center. The Gettysburgian wrote that the Kline Foundation had given grants to the college in the past, most notably for the restoration of Penn Hall and Kline Theatre. The Science Center was slated to be approximately 86,000 square feet, with an additional 2,300 for the green house, alongside McCreary Hall and Masters Hall, both of which were under renovation. The article closed with a quote from President Gordon Haaland: “[T]he new complex … will enable us to respond to future developments in the sciences.”
These archived “Blasts from the Past” were compiled using online archives, which are available via Special Collections in Musselman Library. They were compiled by contributing writer Shannon Zeltmann. To see more, visit our archives on the Special Collections website.
