Blasts from the Past: September 7, 2017
Students coming to Gettysburg in 1897 probably still saw a picturesque campus
Photo courtesy of Gettysburg College
By Shannon Zeltmann, Contributing Writer
This week in 1897, The Gettysburgian reported that the semester had begun and students had time over the summer “to replenish the supply of red blood corpuscles.” The paper reported that the Repair Committee had been hard at work fixing some of the buildings, especially noting the new frescoing of the Chapel. Almost everyone had returned to campus and the class of 1901 had 67 students. A welcoming speech was given by Dean Bakke, instead of President McKnight, as he had a cold. And just as, 110 years ago, students returned to Gettysburg to find a campus under construction, the more than 720 students in the Class of 2021 had a similar experience.
This week in 1912, The Gettysburgian wrote an article about a tug-of-war battle between the freshman and sophomore classes. The freshmen believed they had bigger and stronger men than the sophomores. The two teams seemed even at first when they began to tug, but soon enough, the freshmen pulled harder than the sophomores and won the first round, and then the second and third. This was the first time the freshmen had beaten the sophomores, who were usually more excited about the event. Although we do not have this today on campus, the field day between the first-year halls can be as intense as this tug-of-war in 1912.
This week in 1992, the front page of The Gettysburgian had an exciting article about the first Gettysburg student to compete in the Olympics. Aril Husain, ’93, ran the 100- and 200-meter dash for Pakistan. His coach was Ed Riggs, then the Head Coach of the Gettysburg’s men and women’s winter and spring track teams. Husain was Pakistani by birth and he could compete in the Pakistan Olympic Trials because of the College’s staff helping fund Husain’s plane ticket. He was able to beat the competition in the trials and he was on the Olympic team. He came in fifth place overall and was happy that he could compete.
This month in 1997, The Gettysburgian had an article about the brand-new equipment the college was using, known lovingly at the time as StalkerNet- CNAV. The article discusses how it took two years to create the system, so students would have quicker access to clubs, activities, and emails of their fellow students. It was designed so students would not have to guess when events were or how to get in touch with others on the campus. They describe CNAV as bringing all the “puzzle pieces” together in one useful place. They even surveyed students to get their opinion on the newfangled CNAV and found that almost everyone found this new system useful. The only concern raised was privacy, however students could decide on how much information was public on CNAV. Even with some uneasiness at first, CNAV remains an integral piece of campus technology infrastructure.
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.
