By Shannon Zeltmann, Staff Writer
This week in 1955, the library shared some of the objects in their possession. The objects ranged from “furniture to a wide assortment of letters, manuscripts, and several rare first editions.” The college owned two manuscripts of Lloyd C. Douglas’s Big Fisherman, one which contains the first chapter of the book. There is a cloisonné vase by artist Jeremiah Zimmerman, who won a medal at the World’s Fair for his artwork. The library also held many more interesting artifacts with rich backstories.
This week in 1975, Gettysburg received a grant to purchase an electron microscope and equipment. The college bought a used microscope because it was four times less than a brand new one and fit within the grant price-point. It was a great addition to Gettysburg’s science departments for teaching and research. Two other colleges in the Central Pennsylvania Consortium, which Gettysburg was a part of, had electron microscopes. The equipment was installed in McCreary Hall in the biology department. The college was planning on creating a new course the following year on the basics of electron microscopes.
This week in 1995, the college decided to change how the housing lottery was created. In years past, students were given a completely random number to determine where they ranked in the housing process. The college decided to make students’ lottery numbers based instead on their GPA, assigning a random number within about three GPA groups per class. Some first years were not too thrilled with this idea, since their GPA only had one semester’s worth of grades, but it was still considered a fairer way to do it than completely random lottery numbers. The college also decided to change off-campus housing by using students’ GPAs.
