John Griffith Edwards sketch

John Griffith Edwards – Sheep King

03/12/2024

While surveying the uncatalogued Rare Oversize Collection, we found a large pencil sketch among the pages of one of the books: a self-portrait of a mustachioed Teddy Roosevelt-looking man with the note “Quick sketch of myself after been reduced from Captain to Lieutenant Red Cross Service. Paris Jany 22/18” and a signature.

  • John Griffith Edwards (1855-1945)
  • Oregon
  • Sheep
  • Special Collections
  • Wyoming
  • Archives
Robert Day

History Crush - Bob Day

03/08/2024

Bob Day, novelist and faculty member at Washington College for more than four decades, looked up at me from this black and white Polaroid dating from the late 60s or early 70s.

  • Authors
  • Robert Day
  • Rose O'Neill Literary House
  • Writers
  • Archives
Hartley Bayne

National Home Front Project - Meet Hartley Bayne

03/05/2024

The National Home Front Project is a major grassroots initiative under the leadership of historians at Washington College. Our innovative oral history program partners with individuals, communities, and organizations across the United States to record, preserve, and share audio interviews with civilians who experienced World War II.

  • National Home Front Project
  • Starr Center
  • World War II
  • Archives
Hodson Hall circa 1936

Honoring Prominent Figures in Campus History: The Legacy of Hodson Hall

02/27/2024

Most campus buildings bear the names of prominent donors or institutional figures. Every day, students eat at Hodson Hall Commons, the more recent annex to Hodson Hall and the Hynson Lounge. The name Hodson has been heard more recently due to the settlement of the Hodson Trust and the scholarship opportunities it will afford students.

  • Col. Clarence Hodson
  • Hodson Hall
  • Hodson Trust
  • Archives
Chestertown Female Seminary

Open House for the Chestertown Female Seminary

01/23/2024

In late 1857 “Col. Joseph Wickes & Lady” were invited to a January open house for the Chestertown Female Seminary run by Mrs. P. Trible.

  • Chestertown Female Seminary
  • Women's Education
  • Archives
Fingerprint

National Home Front Project - Meet Jo Ann Marshall

12/12/2023

The National Home Front Project is a major grassroots initiative under the leadership of historians at Washington College. Our innovative oral history program partners with individuals, communities, and organizations across the United States to record, preserve, and share audio interviews with civilians who experienced World War II. By pulling together in the spirit of wartime Americans, we can ensure that future generations hear their voices, and that our country never forgets its past. For this short entry, we’d like to share the story of Jo Ann Marshall.

  • Concordia University St. Paul
  • National Home Front Project
  • Starr Center
  • World War II
  • Archives
Front endpaper

Mencken's Christmas Story

12/05/2023

Henry Louis Mencken was an American journalist and cultural critic who had such a distinctively combative writing style that the term “Menckenian” was coined to describe it.

  • Bill Crawford
  • Christmas Stories
  • Freethinkers
  • Henry Louis Mencken
  • Archives
Washington College

Then and Now - Middle Hall

12/01/2023

The Hill Dorms are some of the oldest buildings on campus. Serving as dormitories, a frat house, and classrooms, they stand high on the hill as some of the most recognizable images of the campus. Here are some upperclassmen in 1926 who are doing their best intellectual posing on the steps of Middle Hall. Notice the score on the door: this was in the prime of hazing, pitting the sophomore class against the “rats” or freshmen. What role will the hill dorms play as the college moves into the future?

  • Dorms
  • Hazing
  • Students
  • Then and Now
  • Archives