Many forget that Bob McKillop originally came to Davidson as an assistant coach for the 1978 – 1979 season.The team photo from the 1978 – 1979 Wildcats – McKillop is on the far left.McKillop returned to Davidson as the head coach for the 1989 – 1990 season (from that year’s basketball media guide).Part of the head coach gig at Davidson includes posing for photos with team sponsors – as McKillop does here with Robert Cashion of Cashion’s deli, for the 1991 – 1992 media guide.… and also here, with Jeff Shoe of Mooresville Ford-Mercury, for the 1992 – 1993 media guide.1992 – 1993 men’s basketball team photo – McKillop is standing on the far right.McKillop on the cover of the 1998 – 1999 men’s basketball game day program.McKillop courtside, during the 1999 – 2000 season.McKillop on the cover of the 2000 – 2001 men’s basketball media guide.The men’s basketball team photo for 2006 – 2007 – McKillop is in the center of the back row. Current NBA player Steph Curry is seated second from the left, front row.A more casual McKillop on the court with the USA U18 team, whom he coached to a silver medal in the 2008 FIBA Americas Championship.The cover of the 2008 – 2009 basketball media guide, taken in E.H. Little’s own Smith Rare Book Room. McKillop is pictured with a few of his SoCon tournament trophies and with then-seniors Andrew Lovedale, Can Civi, and Max Paulhus Gosselin.McKillop on the court with players, from the 2009 – 2010 media guide.In honor of McKillop’s 25th year at Davidson, the basketball court became McKillop Court (from the February 5th, 2014 issue of The Davidsonian).
We hope you enjoyed this small sample of archival holdings on Bob McKillop’s years at Davidson – go Wildcats!
Inspired by our archival colleagues at Duke University Libraries’ Rubenstein Library Test Kitchen blog series (among other delicious historic cooking blogs, such as Cooking in the Archives), the Archives & Special Collections team decided to try our hand(s) at making (and eating) some of the recipes we have in our collections.
For our first recipe, I picked Misses Sadie and Minnie Scofield’s “Ice Box Pudding #1,” from The Davidson Cook Book compiled for the Davidson Civic Club circa 1928 (the same cookbook that includes a recipe for “Roasting a Husband”). The title page states that “The object of this book is to assist the good housewives to preserve, to the future generation, the many excellent and matchless recipes of the Davidson ladies.”
I’ll admit it – I wanted to try an easier recipe for this first go, which is part of the appeal of Ice Box Pudding. Another appeal was digging into the Misses Scofield, who appear to have been citizens of some note in the Davidson community of the late 1800s and early 1900s.
Miss Minnie and Miss Sadie Scofield, circa 1890s.
John N. Scofield, the grandfather of Sadie (1873-1956) and Minnie (1878-1958), came to Davidson in 1857 as the contractor for the first Chambers Building (Old Chambers). Their grandmother ran a boardinghouse in town beginning in the late 1860s; her most famous boarder was Woodrow Wilson. Minnie and Sadie’s father, Stephen Charles “Skit” Scofield ran a popular store on the corner of Main and Depot streets, which the family home was attached to. After “Mr. Skit’s” death in 1917, the Misses Scofield opened a tea-room in the storefront.
The Scofield family in front of their home, when Minnie and Sadie were younger (including family dog, “the fat boy”).
Mary Beaty’s Davidson: A History of the Town from 1835 until 1937 includes this colorful description of Minnie and Sadie Scofield: “They were wonderful cooks. Generations of students waxed fat at their tea room… In their later years they often sat in the empty store building, enjoying the unparalleled view its windows gave them of Davidson life as it passed by from any of four directions. They would rock and fan and comment on passerby (Miss Sadie sweetly, Miss Minnie venomously), and what they did not know about the town was not worth knowing. They and their home were institutions, a link with the Davidson now a century in the past.”
Another Scofield family picture, this time showing the storefront. The store and house were demolished in 1960.
I’ll fully admit that I’m not a very experienced cook, but I actually thought that the Scofields’ recipe for Ice Box Pudding was easy to follow and barely took any time at all!
Ice Box Pudding #1, as published in 1928.
I wasn’t sure how much a “cake” of bakers chocolate actually is, so I estimated that it was roughly a full-sized bar but bought extra chocolate just in case – one milk and one dark chocolate (Ghirardelli). I ended up using both, and doubling the rest of the ingredients, because I wasn’t sure if I was making enough pudding to fully cover the ladyfingers. I also added a splash of milk and a half pat of butter partway through the melting process, to thin out the chocolate mixture a bit while keeping it creamy. This resulted in what is probably a thicker pudding layer than the Scofield sisters would have turned out (although I didn’t hear any complaints from my coworkers after their taste-test!). Store-bought ladyfingers (Forno Bonomi) make up the base, and I put the pudding in the freezer for 12 hours instead of the fridge for 24. While this did stray from the historical recipe a bit, hopefully it remained close enough to the spirit of the 1928 Ice Box Pudding.
Overall, our first foray into archival cooking was a success – I’m excited to try out more (and possibly more complicated) recipes in the months to come!
Nearly 100 years ago, on January 18th, 1915, Davidson College’s fledgling Blue Pencil Club turned into the Blue Pencil Chapter of Sigma Upsilon, a Southern literary honor society. The seven founding members included five of the founding Davidsonianeditors (Francis Wilson Price, William Andrew McIlwaine, George Warren Gignilliat, James Enoch Faw, and John Payne Williams), as well as the Poet for the Class of 1915 (John William Stuart Gilchrist), and the editor-in-chief of The Davidson College Magazine (Uhlman Seymour Alexander).
The founding members of the Blue Pencil Chapter of Sigma Upsilon, including faculty members elected during the first meeting in January 1915: Dr. Sentelle (Class of 1894, Professor of Religion and Philosophy, later Dean of Students), Dr. Fulton (Professor of English), and Dr. McConnell (Class of 1899, Professor of History, Economics, Mathematics, and Latin, later Dean of Faculty).
The founders stated that “the object of the club shall be to promote more effective literary work among the students” of Davidson, and that membership would be “based upon literary ability in it’s broadest sense.” The members also voted to publicize the organization in The Davidsonian, and at a meeting the next month, voted that members be required to produce two papers per year for the Blue Pencil Club for possible future publication, in addition to leading literary discussions.
The minutes from March 8th, 1916, provide insight into what a typical meeting in these early days was like: after a vote on new members, “a Motion to admit women into the Club was unanimously voted down,” the Blue Pencils decided to pay $15 to get a club picture in Quips and Cranks, and “the new members each read a two minute quotation from some Shakespearian [sic] character in costume… They then took initiation ceremony and the social side of the club received emphasis.” Meetings frequently featured “stunts” (such as new initiates having to compose and read aloud essays on the subjects of “Is it a Submarine? If so, Why?” and “‘A game of golf as played on a bird propelled ocean liner,’ with all of the details, and he was arrayed in the costume of a count of the time of Elizabeth.”), burlesques of the faculty, and pastiches and parodies of famous authors.
A page from Hugh C. Hamilton’s (Class of 1920) album, showing members grouped in front of the Sigma Upsilon seal.
The Blue Pencil Chapter continued its reputation for japes and prolific writing until its dissolution in 1970. William C. Doub Kerr (Class of 1915) established the Woodrow Wilson Creative Research Award and Willa Cather Creative Writing Award for members of Sigma Upsilon in 1937, and wrote to Cather that year, as Jan Blodgett wrote here on Around the D back in 2009.
Willa Cather’s note reads: “My Dear Mr. Kerr; Thank you most for your friendly letter. But, honestly, I think the “new sails” have a better chance of making port when they are not taught “creative writing.” It can’t be taught, for one thing!* Sincerely yours, Willa Cather. * Perhaps it can be guided a little, modestly? I don’t like to be too sure.”
The late 1930s were a busy time for Sigma Upsilon – the chapter members collaboratively wrote “A College Novel” between 1937 and 1939, including this prologue by Chalmers Gaston Davidson, both a student and later faculty member of the Blue Pencil Chapter:
Dr. Davidson (Class of 1928, Professor of History, and Directory of the Library) was not shamed in the minutes of a November 1936 meeting, unlike his fellow faculty members of Blue Pencil, when Dr. Erwin (Class of 1906, Professor of English) and Dr. Cumming (Class of 1921, Professor of English), who “were caught red-handed with two ice-creams.”
While early initiations seemed to be chapter-specific, by the 1930’s Sigma Upsilon seems to have established organization-wide protocols. Davidson’s chapter added to the official Sigma Upsilon initiation ceremony, however, as these handwritten notes circa the 1930s illustrate:
“In order to indicate your submission to the noble ideas of this fraternity to which you have pledged your allegiance. you will kneed before the mystic scarab and bestow upon it the symbolic kiss of fealty.”
Notable Davidson alumni who kissed the mystic scarab include: Sam Spencer (Class of 1940, President of Davidson College 1968 – 1983), Jason McManus (Class of 1956, former Editor-in-Chief of Time Inc.), and Charles Wright (Class of 1957, U.S. Poet Laureate), and many English and History professors had been inducted as faculty members. In the course of going through our archival collections on the Blue Pencil Club/ Chapter, I discovered so many former members who went on to teach here at Davidson or other academic institutions – who else have we missed that enjoyed ice creams and secret initiations?
Classes are out for the semester, and E.H. Little Library is closed until January 2nd, but not being in the building won’t stop us from sharing some historic Davidson holiday cheer! Since today is Christmas Eve, here’s a post of my favorite Santa-related images from our collections:
The Davidson College Wildcat mascot as Santa, 1986.A Santa and a skeleton from an unknown play, 1967.The Admission and Financial Aid Department Christmas card, taken outside Chambers Building, 1987.A message to Santa, written on a door inside of Alumni Gymnasium (built 1916, remodeled into the Ovens Student Union in 1952, and demolished in 1972 to make space for E.H. Little Library).Part of our mystery photo parcel, this scary Santa dates from winter 1960-1961.Cover of the Winter 1950 edition of Scripts ‘N Pranks, depicting a student (Class of 1954) wearing the traditional freshman beanie, telling Santa what he would like to get this year.Two unknown students wear Santa hats and holidays pins while in the College Union, 1991.E.H. Little Library staff’s annual holiday gathering – this picture, which includes current library staff (Susan Kerr, Michael Forney, Denise Sherrill, Trish Johnson, Joe Gutekanst, Alice Sloop, Denise Torrence, Mittie Wally, Kim Sanderson, and Around the D’s own Jan Blodgett and Sharon Byrd), dates from the late 1990s and was taken in front of Beaver Dam. The man in the Santa hat is Frank Molinek, a library employee from 1992 until 2006.
We hope you enjoyed our Santas of Davidson Past! Have a great winter break, and happy holidays!
Earlier this month, a mysterious parcel appeared in the Archives & Special Collections mailbox.
The note that accompanied our mystery parcel, from Hendersonville’s Shelley and Son Books.
The package turned out to be a collection of Davidson-related photographs – a treasure trove of mid-twentieth century group shots, as well as images of the old Chambers Building after the fire that gutted the structure in 1921. Here are a few favorites from our newest photo collection:
We’re not sure what the award on the table is, but it’s being presented by then College President D. Grier Martin (standing, center) and Professor of Spanish James Young Causey (standing, right).Alex Gibbs (Class of 1963) raises money for muscular dystrophy on behalf Phi Delta Theta in the middle of Main Street. Gibbs went on to a long football coaching career, most notably for the Denver Broncos.Possibly a meeting of Interfraternity Council in 1963 – clockwise from top row, left (all are Class of 1963, and presidents of their respective fraternities): Gene Wells, Lawrence Kimbrough, Bernard Swope, unknown, Alex Gibbs, Bill Clingman, Jamie Long, John Oehler, Lewis Martin, Bud Robinson, and Steve Butler.C. Shaw Smith (Class of 1939, and Director of the College Union for 31 years) performs one of his well-known magic tricks, with assistance from an unidentified man. The Smith 900 Room in Alvarez College Union bears Smith’s name.Another group shot, possibly from a college staff party in 1961. Third from the left, top row is future College President John Wells Kuykendall (Class of 1959, in his role as Assistant Director of Alumni and Public Relations). Also pictured are John R. Horton (to the right of Kuykendall, Class of 1938, Director of Alumni and Public Relations), and Nancy Blackwell (seated, far left – the Blackwell Alumni House is named for Nancy, who worked at Davidson for 54 years).Dean Rusk (left, Class of 1931) laughs with an unidentified man. Davidson’s international studies program is named for Rusk.The fire of November 21, 1921 completely destroyed the original Chambers Building (“Old Chambers”), which had been completed in 1860.Another view of the gutted original Chambers Building. The “Ghost of Old Chambers” can sometimes be seen on particularly dry days.The columns from Old Chambers remained standing until 1929.
I hope you enjoyed our mysterious photograph delivery as much as we did! If you can help identify any of the people in these images, please contact the College Archives.
Since Davidson College officially went co-educational in 1972, women have been playing sports. Early sports participation by Davidson women included the formation of a co-ed intramural swim team in 1972, and Tracy Charles (Class of 1974) became the first woman to join the varsity sailing team that same year.
1974-1975 co-ed swim team, from Quips and Cranks 1975.
On October 26, 1973, the College Trustees passed their Policy Statement on Athletics and Physical Education, which included a proviso that “other intercollegiate athletic teams, including women’s teams, be supported financially at a level which would enable them to make a positive contribution to the overall athletic program,” which marked the College’s intention to comply with Title IX. 1973-1974, the first year that freshman women enrolled as degree candidates, saw the establishment of basketball and tennis as varsity sports for women. The basketball team was coached on a volunteer basis by Ann Holland, whose husband Terry coached the varsity men’s team. The tennis team was led by student player-coach Carol Goldsborough (Class of 1975). This banner year for women in Davidson sports also produced the first female varsity swimmer, Susan Reid (Class of 1977).
The 1974-1975 women’s tennis team, from Quips & Cranks 1975.The women’s basketball team on the bench during a game in Johnston Gym, circa late 1970s.
The first full-time paid female athletics staff member was Pat Drake, who was appointed in Fall 1974 to coach swimming and women’s tennis. Two years later, Susan Roberts was hired to coach women’s basketball and the newly established field hockey team, and during the 1977-1978 year, a playing field was set aside specifically for the field hockey team.
The Davidson field hockey team playing during its inaugural year, 1976.Davidson basketball player makes a jump shot, circa early 1980s.
1977 through 1980 saw further expansion of women’s sports at Davidson: a co-ed intramural equestrian program began in 1977, women’s cross country and track intramural teams were formed in 1978 (both teams became varsity programs in 1982), and athletic facilities were improved by renovation and expansion of women’s locker rooms. Rebecca “Becca” Stimson (Class of 1977) is a standout athlete from these early years of women at Davidson – Stimson lettered in three varsity sports (four years of tennis, three of basketball, and one season of field hockey), and since 1978, the Rebecca E. Stimson Award has been presented to “a woman athlete in recognition of outstanding dedication and contribution to intercollegiate athletics” (from the College Catalog 2010-2011; see a list of the Stimson award winners here).
Davidson’s Riding Club, from Quips & Cranks 1980.
Women’s sports at Davidson have continued to expand, adding volleyball in 1986, soccer in 1989, and lacrosse in 1994. Some notable highlights include: a 1984 women’s tennis Division III National Championship; a 1991 women’s tennis Big South Conference Championship; six consecutive Deep South Field Hockey Championships between 1991 and 1996; women’s soccer Southern Conference Championships in 1993, 1994, 1995, and 2009; a 2008 women’s swimming Coastal Collegiate Swimming Association championship. Currently, Davidson women compete in ten varsity sports.
October is American Archives Month (and North Carolina Archives Month), and here at Davidson’s Archives & Special Collections, we’ve had a busy few weeks of sharing stories, leading class discussions, promoting archival advocacy, and assisting users! Here’s a few highlights of what public-facing activities each member of our team did this month:
Jan Blodgett, College Archivist and Records Management Coordinator:
Gave campus tours for Alumni Relations avant garde reunion and new employees
Promotional poster from the Charlotte Teachers Institute panel that Jan spoke at.
Sharon Byrd, Special Collections Outreach Librarian:
Planned Ghosts in the Library event, with assistance from Peer Research Advisors
Taught, led discussion, or facilitated: ART 215 Intro to Print Media (Tyler Starr), ENG 240 British Lit to 1800 (Gabriel Ford), LAT 202 Int. Latin (Britta Ager), AFR 101 Africana Studies (Tracy Hucks)
Helped lead an archival donor visit (with Caitlin)
The display Sharon and I set up for a donor visit – we pulled collections and objects to highlight the donors’ father (an alumnus), as well as the athletic history of Davidson.
Taught three sessions of DIG 350 History & Future of the Book (Mark Sample), and one session of HIS 382 Science and the Body in East Asia (Saeyoung Park)
Helped facilitate and attended THATCamp Piedmont (see the schedule and collaborative Google docs here) after a few months of serving on the planning committee
Met with students for MAT 110 Finite Mathematics class about archives data visualization projects (with Jan)
Gave a short presentation on digital archival resources at the monthly education and technology gathering on campus (GitPub)
Pi Kappa Phi Epsilon chapter alumni (classes of 1962-69) listen to an overview of what’s changed on front campus in the last 50 years.
We also have a few more upcoming public events. Tonight all three members of Archives & Special Collections will be at Ghosts in the Library – come to the Smith Rare Book Room on the second floor of the library at 8:00 PM to hear scary stories and eat delicious treats. Tomorrow (October 30th), Jan and I will be participating in #AskAnArchivist Day, a national archival outreach initiative – simply tweet a question and #AskAnArchivist to @DavidsonArchive, and we’ll tell you everything we know! Early next month, on November 8th, the first ever Piedmont Triad Home Movie Day/ Personal Digital Archiving Day will be held at Wake Forest University’s library – HMD/PDAD is co-hosted and co-planned by the archives and library staff of Davidson College and Wake Forest University. Come watch college archival footage, share your own home movies, and learn basic digital preservation tips!
This Saturday, October 18th, Davidson will play host to the third THATCamp Piedmont. THATCamp, short for The Humanities And Technology Camp, “is an open, inexpensive meeting where humanists and technologists of all skill levels learn and build together in sessions proposed on the spot,” according to the official website. The first THATCamp was held at the Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media at George Mason University in 2008. THATCamps are often organized either around a theme or geographic location, and provide a space for learning, sharing, and collaboration across a range of disciplines and specialties.
This year’s THATCamp sessions will be split between E.H. Little Library and the Knobloch Campus Center, with the day’s activities starting at 8:00 AM with breakfast and registration, and wrapping up at 4:30 PM with post-THATCamp drinks and conversation at the campus coffee house, Summit.
Register online for this Saturday’s free unconference, and please contact Mark Sample (masample@davidson.edu) with any questions. We hope to see you there!
In the early morning hours of September 22, 1989, Hurricane Hugo wreaked havoc around Davidson, after causing significant damage in the Caribbean and coastal South Carolina. The college community was lucky, for the most part – although the storm felled over 230 trees and damaged the roofs of four dormitories, as well as the porch of the President’s House, there were no injuries and buildings were able to be repaired. As Davidson student Jim Leach commented in the October 11, 1989 issue of The Davidsonian, “I was really happy that I have a home to go to for fall break… I feel sorry for the people in Charleston.”
Students with the Davidson College historical marker on front campus, illustrating the amount of debris on September 22, 1989.A damaged tree near Dormitory Row.
While fortunate that no lives were lost, Mecklenburg County declared a state of emergency and some homes in Davidson and the surrounding towns were without power for over a week. The cost of replacing the downed trees on campus was estimated at $400,000, and the cost alone was not the most severe blow – the October 1989 issue of Campus Chronicle quoted director of facilities planning Grover Meetze as saying, “You cannot express in tangible terms what was lost. Dollars and cents just won’t do it. Everyone had special trees around campus, and the sight of them all lying on the ground at once was powerful.”
A student relaxes, feet up against the roots of an upturned tree.Students gather near the college well.Freshman Jay Spiegel helps clear downed trees near the main entrance to the college.
The damage from Hurricane Hugo was such that classes on the 22nd were canceled, a rare event at Davidson – as The Davidsonian commented, “Students will forever remember the unexpected holiday from classes.” Students, staff, and faculty worked together to help clear debris from campus, and the food service staff worked overtime to make sure students were fed. Then College President John Wells Kuykendall called the volunteer clean-up effort “the epitome of the Davidson spirit.”
President Kuykendall assisted with the campus clean-up all day on Friday, September 22nd, 1989.Hilary Coman, Hilary Bridgers, and Blaine John (all Class of 1992), spending their day off from classes helping clean the campus.Students walk on the trunk of a felled tree on campus.
The archives and special collections staff have previously written here in Around the D about our enthusiasmforandcollaborations with the college’s budding Digital Studies initiative. At the end of 2013, Davidson was awarded an $800,000 Andrew W. Mellon Foundation grant in order to “create a curricular model of digital studies that can be replicated by other small liberal arts colleges.” According to the 2014 – 2015 College Catalog, Digital Studies at Davidson “gives students an opportunity to pursue coursework and research related to the digital tools, cultures, and practices that permeate everyday life” by focusing on three areas: digital creativity, digital culture, and digital methodology.
As we prepare to work with several digital studies and digitally-inflected courses this upcoming semester, we’d like to share a peek into the history of academic computing at Davidson. One of our volunteers in the archives, Loretta Wertheimer (mother of history professor John Wertheimer), came across this October 11, 1962 memorandum from President David Grier Martin (Class of 1932) to all faculty members as she worked on President Martin’s papers:
President D. Grier Martin’s 1962 memorandum on acquiring an IBM 1620 for academic use.
President Martin’s closing remark, “that computers will inevitably influence thinking in many fields and therefore it is highly desirable that Davidson students and faculty should have first hand experience with one,” seems particularly apt. We’re looking forward to another semester of the Davidson community experimenting and learning using our now numerous computers – just as we have been for over 50 years!
