Blasts from the Past: September 21, 2018
There used to be a swimming pool in Weidensall Hall (Photo courtesy of Gettysburg College Athletics)
By Shannon Zeltmann, Staff Writer
This week in 1928, one of the professors went on his sabbatical and went on a trip around the world. Dr. Sanders, a philosophy professor, went to the West Coast, stopping at National Parks like Yosemite and the Grand Canyons. He and his wife then went to San Francisco and took a boat the Hawaii. From there, they went to Japan. During their boat ride, a typhoon passed where the ship was sailing, which the crew barely able to have time to avoid it because of a telegram they received. When Dr. Sanders was finished in Japan, he went to China, the Philippines, India, Turkey, Egypt, Palestine, Syria, Greece, and Italy. Now you know one thing professors do during their sabbatical!
This week in 1938, the swimming pool in Weidensall Hall was opened after some improvements. Part of the wall had been added to make the pool more sanitary and there was now more equipment available, such as rafts. They also considered creating co-ed swimming hours in the pool. That year, they had two life guards for the year.
This week in 1978, Schmucker library did its annual orientation for the first-year students. The idea to have an orientation was first discussed in 1970, as the library staff felt like it would help the first-years learn their way around the library and some of the things the library offered. In 1972, they had the first orientation, but this first program had many critics from around campus. They created a new program for the class of 1982 that was not mandatory. This program received better responses than the original.
This week in 1998, Elie Wiesel, famous human rights advocate who survived the Holocaust and wrote dozens of books about his experiences, delivered a speech entitled ‘Against Indifference’ in the Chapel. He received the 1997 Eisenhower Leadership Prize from Gettysburg College and the Eisenhower World Affair Institute. Wiesel emphasized the silence of the world during the Holocaust. He also was asked what people can do today to prevent another Holocaust, which Wiesel responded, “The key word is memory. If we remember what people can do to others, we can prevent it. I fight for human rights, and memory is a basic human right.”
These archived “blasts from the past” were compiled by Shannon Zeltmann using Special Collections in Musselman Library.
