The Selu Project: Unearthing LaGrange College’s Past

Presentation by: Fleming Garner, Kacey Smith, and Caitlin Vest

The Selu project began on a sunny Thursday afternoon in October of 2007. The campus

was busy preparing for homecoming weekend. Earlier in the week we had celebrated the formal

‘groundbreaking’ ceremony for the new Frank and Laura Lewis Library. The old main parking

lot had been turned into construction zone, filled with heavy equipment and shipping containers.

With the ceremony complete and the equipment on hand, the earth movers began their work. It

didn’t take long, however, for all that momentum to stop. What is now the lovely plaza and front

of the Lewis Library used to be the Pitts Dining Hall parking lot. These were prized spaces

coveted by students because of their strategic location, close to dorms and dining hall. Having

parked in that lot for years I never knew that beneath the asphalt there rested items of great

importance to the history of the college. With just one scoop of dirt, and the appearance of some

bottles and a little ceramic bird, the construction workers had discovered a burn pit that belonged

to LaGrange College. We didn’t know it yet, but Selu had been born. In just a matter of hours a

team of students and faculty were assembled by Dean Buchanan to dig up the area. With only a

72 hour window to excavate the site, our team of volunteers feverishly dug up, very crudely,

bottles and shards, placing them into plastic buckets. Dr. Buchanan’s pick up truck was the dig’s

headquarters. She had completed a quick supply run, to the Ace hardware store and secured the

finely tuned, delicate equipment we would use on our dig: some hand spades, a couple shovels,

the aforementioned plastic buckets and some gardening gloves. Having read just enough in

“Archaeology Magazine” to be dangerous, Dr. Shirley dug his way into the pit from the west,

eventually working into its heart. He’s mentioned to us that as he got closer to the center the soil

itself changed from red clay to black ash and he could smell the scent of burnt wood. That

Sunday evening we all dug until we literally lost light and then continued again on Monday

afternoon. This was all the time we had allotted to our excavation since the bulldozers were

starting their work on Tuesday morning and this was all the time the builders could spare for our

project. After the dig the buckets of objects eventually found their way to the History department

for further research. The department gladly took the artifacts realizing that those buckets were an

opportunity for students to discover the history which could be told by those tiny bottles.

I suppose some discussion of the name: Selu is in order. From early on in this project,

our team had a misson: to archive and research the items that were unearthed. Coming up with a

name, however, took some time. After much consideration and with the help of American

Historian Dr. Crutchfield, we decided to call our endeavor The Selu Project: Unearthing

LaGrange College’s Past. Selu is the Cherokee corn mother and although we are not quite in

Cherokee country we felt the name was too appropriate for our project. The Cherokee creation

myth revolves around Kana-Ti and Selu; their Adam and Eve. Kana-Ti, the father of game and

Selu had two mischievous sons. Upon Selu’s death, they buried her but disregarded her

instructions. The boys decided to make up their own way to bury their mother. If they had

buried her according to the instructions, corn would have grown everywhere but since they

ignored her request, corn only grows in certain areas. Selu derives her strength from the earth,

the soil beneath our feet. She is also a powerful figure of femininity which we found fitting given

that LaGrange began as a female college. Since we excavated our artifacts from the earth we felt

it appropriate to name our archeological project in honor of a woman whose strength empowered

a nation. Our artifacts are like Selu. Without them our project would have no substance, no

strength.

It wasn’t until the spring of 2008 that the history department began working on the Selu

project. Not knowing how to properly care for these items we had to research every aspect of our

endeavor. The cleaning and archiving processes were first on the agenda of skills to learn. One

key player in this was Gerald Beckham a former librarian and volunteer at the Hills and Dales

Estate. He was the first to show us how to use the museum management software “Past Perfect.”

Once loaded with the necessary tools, we felt confident in our ability to correctly record and

preserve the artifacts, so we began our task of archiving. In the fall of 2008, the Selu project

commenced with a team of work-study students eager to participate in something that had never

been done on the campus of LaGrange College.

During the fall semester other departments at the college were brought on board the Selu

Project. The biology department was given dirt from the dig and Dr. Mallory’s microbiology

class began to conduct tests on what kinds of organisms were living in the soil. Placing the dirt in

a Winogradsky column, the organisms in the dirt would either go up or down the column

depending on the amount of oxygen they need. After several months of the soil being in this

column we can now see pockets of different colors which represent the different types of

organisms in the dirt. The problem the biologists have run into is that because we so crudely dug

up the artifacts, the excavators contaminated the soil; and while the experiment isn’t totally

accurate, it does create enough of a picture to know what types of organisms were in the soil

during the time of our artifacts.

While the biologists were playing with the dirt the art department decided to join our

team and help prepare the Lewis Library exhibit. Next month the college will formally dedicate

and celebrate the completion of the Lewis library. We felt an exhibit of the Selu objects would be

a fitting way to celebrate the achievement. Our art department has both an art history and

museum management studies program under the direction of Dr. Dottie Joiner. Having those

students design the exhibit was perfect. Part of the exhibit design included the development of

an exhibition catalog. Once that decision was made, however, we realized we had no clue how to

take catalog worthy photographs. Photography professor John Lawrence trained some of the

team members in how to take professional photos for our catalog; while ceramics professor Tim

Taunton, also offered his help on our project. He also allowed his post-graduate student, Laura

Tomsheck, to research the glazes on some of our ceramic items to determine where they came

from and how they were used at the college. Without the help of Mr. Loren Pinkerman, director

of the Frank and Laura Lewis Library, these departments would have never been able to join

forces in this project; we are all working together gathering information for the display being

created for the new library.

With all of these departments working toward a common goal the history work-study

students continued with the cleaning but we encountered a problem with the metallic artifacts --

we weren’t sure how to clean rusted objects. After extensive research we discovered that our best

bet was to perform a reverse electrolysis experiment on the metal objects. By sending electrical

current through water we were able to remove rust from the metal. Once our artifacts were rust

free we had the opportunity to get some of them x-rayed. At the Southern Orthopedic Radiology

center we didn’t make any discoveries about our artifacts but the experience was worthwhile and

the list of those involved in the project expanded, now including radiology students from West

Georgia Technical College. As the semester came to an end our list of accomplishments with the

project was substantial: we had brought together several departments on campus, included the

community by interviewing college alumna from the early 20th century, and not to mention

archived over 500 artifacts.

The spring of 2009 has, so far, been an interesting one. The archiving and photography of

the items has continued, being placed into the Past Perfect software, while a website has been

created about our Selu artifacts, by the computer science students. This past week we have

visited two archives, the Troup County and Georgia archives researching the history of our

institution looking for clues in how our objects would have fit into their daily lives. We have also

sent some of our pieces to an appraiser out of Atlanta, Selma Paul. Ms. Paul has been helping

with our “dead ends” the ceramic shards which are too small to easily identify. When we met

with her we learned that our pink and green striped dishware may well have been made

exclusively for the College. We are still working with Ms. Paul and eager to learn what she has

discovered about our pieces. So once again this semester our expanded our and now includes

Clark Johnson, Troup County Historian, Dale Crouch, Georgia Archivest, and Selma Paul,

professional appraiser.

All that we, the Selu team, have accomplished we have done on our own. No

archeologists, no public historians, and no preservationists were available on campus; we

researched every aspect for our project before we began each task. We continue to be a work in

progress project as the artifacts give our endeavor substance to continue with the archiving,

researching, and the illumination of the college’s history.

As stated before our first task was to clean and archive and Kacey Smith has been there

every step of the way. Kacey…

The first task we had at hand and the most obvious one was to start cleaning the artifacts

we’d found so we could really see what we had. There was no one on campus who was

experienced with the cleaning and care of newly unearthed artifacts, but there were two

individuals who had some background in archeology that we owe a great deal to for setting us on

the right track. The first is Assistant Football Coach David Shonts who has archeological training

and experience with a dig in Turkey. Coach Shonts, who majored in Greek and Roman Studies at

Rhodes College, sent us an email outlining the procedures for cleaning objects.  Among his

many helpful suggestions was one that focused on cleaning utensils. Shonts recommended we

obtain a set of dental tools which could be used for fine, detailed cleaning.  He also

recommended we use other medical tools including cotton swabs and latex gloves. The dig

occurred over homecoming weekend which meant that Coach Shonts had football obligations

until late Sunday afternoon. By the time he arrived at the site, we had -- essentially --

contaminated it beyond repair. I have no doubt that every ounce of Coach Shonts archaeological

sensibility was shaken by our treatment of the site but the combination of time constraints and

lack of experience put real limits on our ability to treat the site as well as an archaeologist would

insist.   

The other individual who helped us with technical information is Sociology and

Anthropology Professor Dr. Frank O’Connor. Dr O’Connor, who has a background in field

archeology, suggested we use a mixture of warm water and vinegar to gently clean our artifacts. 

He recommended that we use a toothbrush to remove loose debris. We took his advice and

became what Dr. Shirley has referred to as a ‘toothbrush brigade’ using them to clean everything

except the metal and finer ceramic pieces we found.

The metallic pieces we had were more problematic. When these pieces were recovered

they had been in a mixture of wood ash and red, at times wet, Georgia clay. The ground had also

been pressed and rolled to accommodate a concrete parking lot. The more than 80 years and wet

conditions combined to do severe damage to all the metal we discovered at the dig. Even with all

this, the amount we brought up was, surprisingly, substantial. We excavated everything from

nails and clothes hangars to a lock, key, horseshoes and the blade of a garden utensil. These

objects were not only covered in clay they were completely covered in rust. The question

immediately became ‘how do we clean these?’  The team struggled with this for a while. 

Finally, we settled on a method used by classic car hobbyists who have to remove rust from

salvaged parts before placing them on their cars: reverse electrolysis. One of our art consultants,

Professor Tim Taunton, told us that he had seen reverse electrolysis used in an archaeological

preservation lab during his grad school days. In that lab, an electrolysis tank was being used to

clean a 17th century canon. It was wired up and with a low grade electrical charge running

through it and sat in that tub for – according to Professor Taunton – months. The key, he

declared was the bubbles. As long as a stream of bubbles was rising through the tank, the

cleaning process was going on. Our team being composed almost exclusively of historians and

social scientists, we had no idea how to execute such a feat of physical science so we simply

looked it up on the internet. In our defense, however, we procured a book through interlibrary

loan that confirmed we were conducting the procedure correctly. This included our purchasing a

manual battery charger, some cable clamps, rebar, copper wire and baking soda. These were the

components – crude certainly, but effective nonetheless.  

Reverse electrolysis works by first taking sodium carbonate, which had to be made by

cooking baking soda in the oven at 350 degrees for an hour so that one of the carbon molecules

would be released (thus the carbonate as opposed to bicarbonate), and then mixing it with water

in a container to act as the electrolyte. Into the electrolyte we placed an anode (the rebar in our

case), along with a cathode which was our metal artifact. The battery charger was then attached

to both (positive current through the rebar, negative through the artifact) which makes a

molecule of rust detach from the artifact and a molecule of metal detach from the rebar and

actually switch places. We successfully removed rust from several items. One of our most

successful pieces was the lock. As you can see in this before picture the metal lock was

absolutely caked in rust. After performing reverse electrolysis on the piece however you can see

a considerable difference in the artifact, note the pock marks and craters where rust ate away at

the metal over time and the broken edge which we can assume is why the lock found itself into

our burn pit in the first place. We were not as successful in cleaning all of our metal artifacts

however, as we soon discovered with several pieces rust was the only thing holding them

together. We literally had pieces disintegrating as the rust was came off. This was especially the

case with the can opener and the shoe horn, and we removed those from the process and

preserved what we had.

We restricted the ceramic pieces to warm water because vinegar and soap are too strong

and could remove the glaze as well as the dirt. We had few of these pieces and they tended to be

quite small, which I’m told is a result of their being essentially obliterated by the intense heat of

the burn pit. We cannot know exactly how hot the burn pit was but the melted glass we found

gives us a good ballpark figure. Glass, depending on its exact content, melts between 1425 to

1600 degrees Celsius, so we know that that at times the pit reached temperatures of at least 1400

degrees. The few ceramic pieces that we do have we asked the ceramics staff in the Art

Department to take a look at to see if they could determine anything about them. Unfortunately,

despite some pieces with brilliant glazes on them, there is simply not enough of the material for

the experts to research or identify.

So armed with this limited cleaning knowledge we plunged into 6 five gallon buckets of

objects,  most caked in dirt and debris, with only latex gloves to protect ourselves from the

broken edges and to protect the artifacts from the acidity of our skin. This cleaning phase was a

relatively brief but very exciting one. As the dirt came off we discovered trademarks, company

names, and city names to aid us in identification. Once we removed enough rust and dirt we

could determine what we could identify by its markings and what we could not pursue any

further. The majority of our pieces had some sort of mark or text that we could at least attempt to

research. Those that did not were largely just shards of broken glass. It also helped that in several

instances we had multiples of certain objects, mostly bottles, that were broken but that we could

piece together to read them. We even discovered that it is possible to identify bottles by their

necks alone, which was especially helpful with pieces that contained no markings. As you can

imagine, most of the objects we unearthed were not intact, and in the excavation stage we

discovered that some pieces initially appearing to be intact were, upon closer examination,

actually being held together by the soil itself. However we were lucky enough to have a number

of objects that did make it out of the earth in one piece as the exhibit in the Lewis

Library demonstrates.

Before we began researching our artifacts however we had to account for them. Our

initial efforts focused on creating our own database, but again, an expert from campus pointed us

to a solution.  Loren Pinkerman, director of the Lewis Library knew of a museum management

database program named Past Perfect. Mr. Pinkerman wanted to use Past Perfect to manage the

library’s special collection but he had no experience with the package. Mr. Pinkerman procured

Past Perfect in late spring 2008 and allowed us to begin our work. Past Perfect is currently the

most widely used museum collection-management software on the market. The program has

different screens for managing photos, archives, a library, and historic objects-- which is the

category we utilize. Each object receives its own unique field number. Its basic dimensions are

recorded as is its medium (glass, ceramic, metal etc.). We also incorporate photos of every piece

along with notations that record any anecdotal or incidental data. Each object then has its own

screen with fields that contain all its vital characteristics along with its picture, a means for

grouping objects in the collection that are related and everything you could possibly know about

a particular piece. This program is constantly being updated as we research and gather more

information on our collection, which brings us to the next and current phase of the Selu Project--

the research process. Caitlin—

All of the digging, cleaning, and archiving meant nothing if we did not know the

function, date, and, by extension, the significance of the artifacts. This led us to the research

phase of the Selu Project.

We began by examining the artifacts themselves. Did they have any identifying marks,

such as the name of a company? If so, we proceeded to search for information about the

company in a most sophisticated manner – on the Internet. In many cases, by searching the

Internet we were able to identify what type of product the company manufactured and even what

years they were in business.

For example, we discovered numerous bottles and shards from the A.S. Hinds Company.

The Hinds Company started out, in 1875, as a family business in Portland, Maine. By searching

for the Hinds Company, we discovered that it manufactured Honey and Almond Cream, a

cosmetic product for women that, according to a 1913 advertisement, purified and softened the

skin. In 1907, the company was bought by Lehn and Fink, though they continued to operate

independently. Their famous Hind’s Honey and Almond Cream continued to be available until

1948.

By learning what sort of products these companies manufactured we were able to divide

our artifacts into four general categories: medical, academic, cosmetic, and domestic. Among the

medicinal products, we found J.A. Dickey’s painless eye water, Caldwell’s Syrup Pepsin, and

Pineoleum. Eye water is essentially Visine, treating ailments of the eye. Caldwell’s Syrup

Pepsin treated ailments of the stomach, and Pineoleum treated ailments of the nose and throat.

All these products were in small bottles. Further, some of these items include reference to

specific physicians. By examining the embossing on one side, we know that this particular bottle

of pineoleum contained a sample. Given the size, it is possible that many of these medications

were samples.

Our academic materials include Ink wells, bottles of paint, and chemistry tubing.

Photographs from the Georgia Archives Virtual Vault and the college’s yearbook, called the

Quadrangle, allowed us a great opportunity to connect activities at LaGrange to our artifacts. In

the 1929 Quadrangle, The Quill Driver’s Club, which edited the college’s newspaper, The Scroll,

are pictured with an inkwell. We also discovered numerous small paint bottles, such as these.

The 1938 yearbook, includes a photograph of the art club, and the Georgia Archives provided a

photo of an art class using paint, taken between 1911 and 1920. The Chemistry tubing may have

been used in one of the laboratories pictured in a 1908 handbook found at the Troup County

Archives.

Cosmetic products such as lotions, compacts, and perfumes kept students at LaGrange

Female College looking their best. While the lotions are clearly mass produced and probably

economically priced there are a few delicate perfume bottles. They tend to be more finely made

and much, much smaller. These small perfume bottles likely contained more expensive

perfumes. Were they gifts? Mrs. Libba Traylor, a 1941 alumna of LaGrange College told a

story of young male suitors who, when visiting the students would often bring small cosmetic

kits as gifts.

And finally, electrical sockets, gardening tools, and a bottle of liquid veneer kept the

College looking bright and clean, both inside and out. We know that dairy cattle grazed part of

the campus. Thanks to information gathered from resources held at the Georgia Archives, we

also know that Smith Hall was wired for electricity in 1888. A photograph from the early 1920s

shows students studying with a light fixture above their heads. Could the room have been wired

using our Hubbell electrical sockets? Also in this category are excavated clothing accessories,

such as buttons, a safety pin, and what appears to be the hook of a dress.

However, with this category, there is a bit of mystery: the dig uncovered a metal tool

blade that was covered with rust. It was clearly attached in some manner to what had to be a

large handle of some sort. Was it part of an automated tool or a hand tool? If a hand tool, is it

possible that like maintaining dairy cattle, the college grew its own produce? According to Clark

Johnson, of the Troup County Archives, in the 1920s a dean of the college who fancied himself a

farmer, was growing food to supplement the kitchen.

Our work quickly led us away from Google and toward a variety of more helpful and

scholarly sources, such as The Society for Historical Archeology and the Bureau of

Reclamation’s archeological project at the Horsetooth Reservoir in Colorado.

The SHA website proved to be a beneficial resource that explained how to type and date

glass bottles by examining their base, neck, and even color. For example, a bottle with

embossing or a mold seam that goes all the way up to the lip of the bottle is machine-maid.

Embossing is simply raised lettering and a mold seam is a raised line on the body and neck of a

bottle where the glass was fused together in a mold. A machine-made bottle dates to at least

1903. One example is a bottle that held Frostilla Scented Lotion which was supposed to relieve

dry and chapped hands. The company was founded by Clay Holmes who was born in

Pennsylvania and actually began manufacturing Frostilla in 1885. However, because of the

embossing and mold seam, we know that this particular bottle of Frostilla Lotion’s production

date is not earlier than 1903.

In 2002, The Bureau of Reclamation sponsored excavations at the Horsetooth Reservoir

and the results were posted on the Web. One of three sites excavated was a trash pit similar to

our own. It showed photographs of metallic objects that were found in much the same condition

as our shoehorn, blade, can opener, and lock: covered and, in many cases, held together, with

rust. It also provided very useful information about glass bottles. Like SHA, the site explains

several ways to date glass bottles, including by their caps and trademarks found on the base.

Crown caps were patented in 1892. This was a metal cap, used primarily on beer and

soda bottles, and still in use today. Since these caps are still in wide use today, it is difficult to

use this method to date them very specifically.

Plastic screw caps, however, began being used in 1927. We have a fair number of these

caps. Those A.S. Hinds bottles that still have them, are sealed with plastic screw caps.

Another resource from the Bureau’s website was a list of companies and their

trademarks. The list is not extensive and included only those trademarks found at the Reservoir

site. However, it proved to be quite important because it helped us more definitively date some

of our bottles. For example, the “boxed O” on the base of the bottle signifies that it was

manufactured by the Owens Bottle Company in Toledo, Ohio. The Owens Company was in

existence from 1911 until 1929 when they merged with the Illinois Glass Company, changing

their trademark to an “O” and an “I” inside a diamond. So what does this tell us? A bottle with

the “boxed O” symbol on the base was manufactured between 1911 and 1929. The letter “I”

within a diamond signifies the Illinois Glass Company and was manufactured between 1916 and

1929, and the letter “T” within an inverted triangle – the Turner Brothers Company -- between

1915 and 1929.

Through the Archive Americana Collection, we were actually able to locate two 1915

advertisements for machine-made prescription bottles, manufactured by the Illinois Glass

Company.

Once we gained some understanding of manufacturers and production periods, we

wanted to understand the social context of these products. What are they selling and who are

they selling it to? How much are they selling it for? And why did three glass companies cease to

exist independently in the same year?

These are just some of the many questions that we had. Using the Archive Americana

Collection, we were able to access historic American newspapers published between 1690 and

1922. Through this database we found advertisements for such products as a Cutex Manicure

Set, Pompeian Bloom rouge, and Hinds Honey and Almond Cream. Many of the advertisements

even included pictures of the product, which we were able to compare to our artifacts.

The advertisements appeared in newspapers all over the country so they appear to have

been relatively popular among women. Cutex cuticle remover came in both 35 cent and 65 cent

bottles. But for just twenty cents, Cutex would send you their Introductory Manicure Set! For 50

cents, Pompeian Bloom came in a Vanity box with a mirror and French puff. The rouge came in

three shades – light, dark, and, the most popular shade, medium. Bottled Hinds Cream cost 50

cents but you could write to 150 West Street, Portland Maine for a free sample.

We also discovered advertisements for medicinal products. Pond’s Extract was used to

relieve the chapped skin of some of “the most famous women of the stage”. But for us lesser

beings, they would send a free sample.

The Archive Americana provided more than simply advertisements. A 1919 newspaper

article reported rumors that the Owens Bottle Company and Illinois Glass Company might

merge. We know that ten years later they did. In 1920, the Illinois Glass Company used the

Belleville News Democrat of Belleville, Illinois to assure its employees they were not intending

to lay off workers.

Our next task was to discover how all of this fit into LaGrange, Georgia, and more

specifically, LaGrange College. To find out, we visited the Troup County Archives. We hoped to

discover what businesses were operating in LaGrange at this time. Who were the physicians in

LaGrange? Were they located within walking distance of the college campus? Or were students

simply these products from home?

These are only a few of the questions we took with us to the Archives. In order to answer

some of these questions, we delved into the recourses made newly available to us. Among them

were a number of Quadrangles, including those from 1929, 1931, and 1934. The Quadrangle

gave us a picture of what the students were involved in, providing further insight into our

artifacts. It included pages of advertisements, many of them targeting LaGrange College

students. Wheeler’s Pharmacy, Inc., for example, called itself “The College Girl Headquarters”.

Located on Main Street, the pharmacy also delivered. An advertisement for the local Coca-Cola

bottling company was found in a 1934 yearbook. We have remnants of a number of Coca-Cola

bottles. The archives also provided a 1914 photograph of four men and a boy seated on a wagon

that carries bottles of Coca-Cola, apparently bottled by what would become the LaGrange

Bottling Company.

The discovery of an advertisement for Milam Drug Company – “the firm that appreciates

your patronage” – in a 1934 Quadrangle brought life to a broken medicine bottle. The bottle

reads “Milam, LaGrange”. A 1935 photograph, also provided by the Troup County Archives,

shows the interior of Milam Drug Store. This tells us that at least some students were purchasing

these products in town.

Also in the possession of the Troup County Archives were two scrapbooks put together

by LaGrange College students. Lillian Clark studied music at LaGrange from 1921 to 1924. Her

scrapbook told us that LaGrange College put on numerous student recitals and plays. We also

learned that the History department at LaGrange hosted an annual inter-class debate on such

subjects as “is England correct in its present treatment of Ireland?” According to Ms. Clark the

seniors won this particular debate but the juniors deserved to.

The scrapbook of Aurelia Adams, class of 1931, provided further insight. Her classmates

signed the book with their nicknames and ambitions. One young woman hoped “to write and get

married” another wanted “to understand and be understood”. Ms. Adams also revealed to us the

importance of the LaGrange College handbook, pasted into her scrapbook.

The handbook included the L.C. Girls’ Creed, rules and regulations, a list of campus

organizations, and the daily schedule. According to a 1927 handbook, freshmen, sophomores,

and juniors were required to have their lights out by 10:00. As long as they did not disturb other

classes, seniors could keep their lights on until 11:00. Students were not allowed to leave the

campus alone and could be called on by a young man only with the approval of the President of

the College and written permission from a guardian.

The young women were involved in organizations like the young women’s Christian

association, literary societies, and the athletic association. According to the handbook, the Quill

Driver’s Club, who published the Scroll, was one of the most prestigious organizations on

campus. The Scroll was published monthly and, was “so attractive that everyone on the hill just

counts the days until time for it to come out”.

The Troup County Archives also held many, many copies of The Scroll, including the

very first. The Scroll consisted of jokes, poems, and articles about the goings-on of LaGrange.

By exploring them, we learned that the art club painted Christmas decorations and gifts. In 1924,

LaGrange College formed the Honor Club, available to A and B students interested in academic

integrity. These students also had a sense of humor. In the joke column, Sally says to Mary,

“What do you think of Mussolini?” Mary replies, “I don’t know. I’ve never been out with him”

In the 1920s and 30s, however, LaGrange struggled financially. A plea from W.E.

Thompson, who served as president of the college from 1920 to 1938, sought donations for the

college. In one issue of The Scroll, he wrote “There are many upon whom the Lord has laid the

responsibility of wealth, some of whom are anxious to find religious investments. Can a more

profitable investment be made than in some phase of the life and work of a Christian college, in

this way multiplying itself a hundred fold in the lives and character of Christian womanhood?”

The Troup County Archives also provided us with an interview, by Mike Moncus, of a

graduate of LaGrange College – Ms. Sally Ridley Culpepper, class of 1934. Ms. Culpepper

studied history at LaGrange and, her senior year, was voted “Most Attractive”. She told Mr.

Moncus that most of her professors were female. She also remembers the celebration of the 100th

anniversary of LaGrange in 1931. She said, “We had a great pageant and we all danced”. This is

confirmed by newspaper clippings found in the scrapbook of Lillian Clark. Apparently, there

was a pageant for the occasion and a dance reenacted the college’s history.

The Georgia Archives also provided much insight into the town and the college. The

Archives’ Virtual Vault provided photographs of prominent houses and streets in the town. Most

importantly for us, however, it included photographs of LaGrange College. There was an aerial

view of the entire campus in 1948. It consisted of four buildings and we even identified the

general location of our burn pit. The use of Sanborn maps also provided insight into the layout of

the campus in the early 1900s. Sanborn maps, initially created for insurance purposes, show the

precise location and dimensions of the buildings. One map shows LaGrange Female College in

1900. It reveals that the college had heat, stoves, lights, and electricity. In a 1921 Sanborn map of

the college, Hawkes dormitory has been added. The dining room is located in the basement of

Smith Hall. Diagonal from the kitchen and past the shed, the trash was discarded and burned.

With the assistance of Dr. Cafaro, we contacted and interviewed alumna from the classes

of 1939 and 1941 to find out about their experiences at the college. Ms. Catherine Hicks, Ms.

Libba Traylor, and Ms. Lollie Love all came to LaGrange College after the 1900-1935 time

period that we believe our artifacts fit into. However they provided a sense of what the college

had been like, even in the years before they became students here.

By talking to these three wonderfully charming, funny, and intelligent women we learned

that times were hard but LaGrange College provided a sense of stability and community. Ms.

Traylor, who came to LaGrange from Hartwell, Ga. as an only child, told us “once I came and

lived in a dorm with all those girls I didn’t want to go back home. I thought dorm life was the

most wonderful thing I had ever heard of! And we didn’t have steam heat in my hall and I was

warm.”

Talking to these alumna also made us aware of the financial troubles of those who lived

during the Depression. Mrs. Hicks told us a story about her youngest brother who wanted so

badly to go to West Point or Annapolis Naval Academy, but, because he only weighed 85

pounds, he was unable to go. According to Ms. Hicks, “boys could make out alright without a

college education, but girls couldn’t.” Her two younger brothers gave two dollars a week while

her two older, married brothers gave one dollar a week, paying for her room, board, and tuition

at Young Harris, a two year school near her home. When she finished there, her uncle, a staunch

Methodist, agreed to pay for her to finish her degree as long as she went to a Methodist school.

She chose LaGrange College, where she studied math and science.

The Frank and Laura Lewis library is the fourth that Ms. Hicks has seen at LaGrange

College. As a student, she worked in the library, which at that time was on the bottom floor of

Hawkes, where she recalls one of her colleagues imitating professors behind the stacks.

She also remembers the marvelous meals made at LaGrange by Ike who was “as good a

cook as anybody’s mama”. In fact, Ike was so good a cook that he caused some trouble with a

new college president, Dr. Quillian. According to Ms. Hicks, Dr. Quillian was one of the first

presidents to make an effort to financially stabilize the college. Ms. Hicks recalls, “The bills here

were very expensive because Ike bought the very best foods and cooked the very best meals that

you could think of. So…Dr. Quillian called Ike in and said Ike you’ve got to cut down on the

expense of the stuff that you’re buying to cook. Ike says sorry Mr. Quillian, I can’t do that… Got

to have good material to make good food to feed…our girls. And…finally [Dr. Quillian] says

well Ike, I just don’t think there’s room on this hill for both of us. And…Ike says, I’m sorry

you’re leaving Mr. Quillian” Both Ike and Dr. Quillian stayed at LaGrange. However, the alumni

association donated money to help finance Ike’s cooking.

These women also painted a portrait of LaGrange as a place where they gained important

experience and knowledge. Ms. Traylor made life-long friends at the College and told us where

her husband kissed her for the first time on the steps of Smith. Ms. Love studied English at

LaGrange College where, she told us, it was her English professor who taught her to love and

memorize Emily Dickenson. She said, “If you’ve got it in your head, in the middle of the night,

in your sleep, it will just feed your soul”.

Much of our energy has, thus far, gone into understanding the artifacts themselves.

However, we are now getting to a point in our project where we can begin to see and understand

the larger portrait of LaGrange College between 1900 and 1935. Fleming…

What began as a small archeological dig has now become an adventure to learn about the

history of our institution, expanding out past the walls of the LaGrange College history

department. These tiny items that were discovered under the earth have brought community

learning to the students of LaGrange, while showing the importance of knowing ones’ own

history. These artifacts have also brought to life a time most of us have never known, telling the

story of young women from across the state of Georgia who sought fellowship and learning.

That tradition continues to this day for the students at LaGrange College. If indeed it is the

mission of the college to challenge the mind and inspire the soul, then I can attest that these little

artifacts have done that to each and every member of the Selu team.