Marietta College Library Special Collections

Don't miss "Pioneers in Print: A Celebration of Pioneer Publishing" this Friday at Marietta College! Meet faculty and alumni authors, and help us celebrate their publications! Learn about bald eagle conservation in the Canaan Valley, U.S. foreign policy, Harry Potter, a frontier Universalist, Marietta College rowing, and more.

Pioneers in Print: A Celebration of Pioneer Publishing
Where: Legacy Library, Prince Forum
When: Friday, October 25, 4:00 – 6:00 pm

For more information, contact Legacy Library, 740-376-4757.

Good news, just in time for Marietta College Homecoming! Past issues of The Marcolian are now available online on the Special Collections web page:
https://cdm16824.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p16824coll10/search

Browse through the pages, search by keyword, and even download issues of The Marcolian, dating from 1945-46 through 1999-2000. Full access is available with a desktop computer or android device, but iPhone users can view the front page and transcription of each issue. The images are captured in large PDF files, so a complete issue takes about 30 seconds to load.

Many thanks to our generous donor, Renee Bailey Gallagher, MC 1984, and her husband Daniel, for funding digitization of The Marcolian!

The Mariettana is also available online at the same Marietta College Archives page.

Among the interesting documents in the Marietta College Archives is an 1834 list of “rules for the regulation of students." Problematical issues are addressed, such as untidy rooms, playing cards, casting water "or other substances” from the windows of the dorm, and attending the church of your choice “at least twice” on Sundays.

The practice of new students signing the book at the Matriculation Ceremony was thought to have started in the 1980s, but it is a much older tradition that faded away. The 1834 rules state: “Every student is required to sign a matriculation pledge upon entering, binding himself to observe the laws of the Institute – to treat its trustees and officers with respect, and to regard in his in*******se with his fellow students the laws of kindness and decorum.”

Join us on Feb 27th at 5:30-6:30 at Alma McDonough Auditorium. We will welcome Dr. Amanda Flowers and she will talk about “America’s System of Enslavement & Southeast Ohio’s Underground Railroad”

Free and Open to the Public

African American History Month: Dr. Amanda Flowers Dr. Amanda Flowers, a native of Cutler, Ohio, will be on campus to speak about Black enslavement and Southeast Ohio's Underground Railroad network at 5:30 p.m., Tuesday, February 27.

Gospel Where Song and Sermon Meet
https://www.marietta.edu/event/free-screening-gospel

Join us Thursday, Feb 22 at Anderson Hancock Planetarium with a discussion of gospel music by MC Prof. David Torbett and a live gospel performance by Karen Walker. Learn the history and cultural impact of gospel music before enjoying the first episode of this new PBS series hosted by Henry Lewis Gates, Jr.

Who remembers that snowy January of 1978, when a total of about 30 inches of snow fell on Marietta during the course of the month? Marietta College spring semester registration was scheduled for January 23, but snow-covered roads postponed it for a day. Students were stranded at home, at airports, and at various points between Marietta and the East Coast. Along with snow came bitterly cold temperatures (40 below wind chill), but that did not prevent campus snowball fights and sledding down the hill next to Mills Hall on trays borrowed from Gilman. All of this fun was capped with the infamous “Great Blizzard of 1978,” which hit Marietta on January 26 with damaging winds and power outages. In efforts to save dwindling energy supplies, Marietta College cut back sports events and consolidated many evening activities to just a few buildings. Classes, of course, remained in session. (Photo from "Marcolian," February 3, 1978.)

Marietta College students felt a special bond with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., following his March 2, 1967, visit to campus. Just over a year later, the tragic assassination of the civil rights leader sparked a local tribute led by students. On April 7, 1968, a silent procession of 400 wound its way from the college library, down Putnam Street, and into Muskingum Park, where the marchers gathered to hear speeches and sing songs in honor of Dr. King.

On January 9, 1789, the Treaty of Fort Harmar, an agreement between the United States government and Indian tribes with claims on the Ohio Country, was signed in a council house just outside the fort. Representing the Native Americans were the Iroquois Six Nations, Wyandot, Delaware, Ottawa, Chippewa, Potawatomi, and Sauk. Arthur St. Clair, Governor of the Northwest Territory, along with Josiah Harmar and Richard Butler, represented the Federal government. Negotiations were corrupted by St. Clair’s threats and bribery and did nothing to resolve conflicts between the two parties. It was not until the Treaty of Greenville in 1795 that violence was ended by forcing Native Tribes to relinquish rights to Ohio lands. (Sketch from the Samuel P. Hildreth Collection, Marietta College Special Collections.)

Some things never change! It’s finals week at Marietta College and, while the courses are different than they were 40 years ago, students still fill the library to “cram for exams.” This photo of studious scholars was featured in “The Marcolian” in December of 1983.

October is the month when spirits from the dark side of Special Collections creep out of the shadows to chill our bones! One such haunting presence is alumnus and former librarian Rodney Stimson, known to 19th-century Marietta College students as “Stimpy.” A member of the Class of 1844, Stimpy was a connoisseur of rare books. When he died in 1913, he left his personal collection of 19,000 volumes of Americana to the Marietta College Library.

Unknown to those who now use Stimpy’s ancient books is that he was also an authority on the supernatural. Among his cache are tomes about witchcraft, demonology and spirit-rapping. Stimpy’s presence is still felt among the stacks in Special Collections, watching over his cherished books. A hundred years ago, a former student who encountered the spirit of Stimpy, lurking in the library, wrote a poem in his honor:

“Every night a figure stalks,
Slowly down our campus walks.
It’s the spirit of a man of kingly strain.
Stimpy’s crooked bones now rest,
By the Mound he loved the best,
Forever there in honor to remain.”

On Tuesday, September 2, 1969, 484 freshmen, the Class of 1973, attended their first class at Marietta College. They came from nearby and far away: Ohio-168; New Jersey-61; Pennsylvania-58; New York-54; Connecticut-42; Massachusetts-35; West Virginia-22; and one each from Germany, Australia, Iran, and Great Britain. The most popular major was education, followed by history, biology, mathematics, English, and business.

On this day in 1787, “An Ordinance for the Government of the Territory of the United States North West of the River Ohio” was enacted by the Confederation Congress. Known as the “Northwest Ordinance,” it established a plan for government in the Northwest Territory. It set forth the process by which a territory would become a state, guaranteed freedom of religion, encouraged education, prohibited slavery, and promised fair treatment of the Native Americans. Manasseh Cutler, one of the founders of Marietta, provided a strong voice for the terms of the document. Rufus Putnam’s printed copy of the Northwest Ordinance, shown here, is preserved in Marietta College Special Collections.

The Ohio Company’s first band of “Adventurers” left Ipswich, Massachusetts, in wagons in December of 1787. They arrived in flatboats at the confluence of the Muskingum and Ohio rivers about 1:00pm on April 7, 1788. This list, in the hand of Rufus Putnam, names the men who were hired to “commence the settlement.” Happy 235th Birthday Marietta Ohio!

Waters of the 1913 Flood crested at 58.7 feet in Marietta, Ohio, on March 29, 1913, just 110 years ago. Pictured are scenes on the Marietta College campus, taken during the disaster.

Dr. Brandon C. Downing, Assistant Professor of History at Marietta College, will present a talk at Campus Martius Museum, 601 Second Street, on Thursday, March 23, at 7pm. Part of a new lecture series sponsored by the Washington County Public Library, Dr. Downing will speak on “Visions of the New Nation in the Northwest Territory.” This talk examines Marietta as a cultural heritage site that serves a crucial role in redefining American collective history by reconstructing a national identity based on the Northwest Ordinance, one of the most important, progressive, and far-reaching legislative acts in American history. By using the interlinked aspects of place, Marietta’s importance as the “first organized settlement of the Northwest Territory” illustrates how it became the birthplace of equality through the preservation of the public domain. The event is free and open to the public. For more information, call the Washington County Public Library at 740-373-1057 x606.

Professor Emeritus Dr. Hans Georg-Gilde passes away at 89 In the spring of 1981, Cressa Payne ’79 wrote to then-President Sherrill Cleland about how Marietta College — particularly the Organic Chemistry class taught by Dr. Hans-Georg Gilde — prepared her for the rigors of medical school at Ohio State University.

Learn more about Tablertown’s history from David and Kenton Butcher at the Black History Month program, Thursday, February 23, 5pm, The Gathering Place, Marietta College.

Black History Month - The Pull of the Ancestors: Reconnecting Lost Connections
When: Thursday, February 23, 5:00 pm
Where: The Gathering Place, corner of Seventh and Butler streets, Marietta

Marietta College’s Office of Diversity and Inclusion is sponsoring a program on local family history, “The Pull of the Ancestors: Reconnecting Lost Connections.” The event is open to the public.

Join Kenton and David Butcher, descendants of a white plantation owner’s son and an enslaved woman, as they describe their path to connecting with their Tabler ancestors in Germany. Michael Tabler, the son, fathered six bi-racial children and brought them all to Southeast Ohio, where they were the foundation of Tablertown, now known as Kilvert. The community is located 30 miles west of Marietta, in Athens County. The Butchers will discuss their experiences in Germany, as well as the historical research that led them to these ancestors.

David Butcher, a recent recipient of the Black Appalachian Storytellers Fellowship, is curator and founder of The People of Color Museum, which is dedicated to the cultural history of the region and the history of Tablertown. Kenton Butcher has a Ph.D. in English from the University of Pennsylvania and is also devoted to studying the family’s history.

Happy Birthday Marietta College! On February 14, 1835, “The Marietta College” was issued a charter by the Ohio Legislature to grant degrees. The school had already been educating students as The Marietta Collegiate Institute and Western Teachers Seminary (1832), and before that as the Institute of Education (1830).

Construction of the college’s first building began in 1832. It was “very spacious, and located on a high and healthful situation, far above the reach of our highest floods.” Originally three stories high, with a tall belfry in the center of the roof, it stood on the site of the present Irvine Administration Building. Following a fire in 1846, it was repaired to add a fourth floor and eliminate the tower.

Called "Old Dorm," the entire business of Marietta College was conducted in this building until 1850. Classrooms were on the first floor, and students lived on the upper floors in rooms with coal heat, “dingy wallpaper,” and straw-filled mattresses. According to one early MC alum, “The building had no modern conveniences and each student did his own housework. Outside each door stood a bucket for the ashes and coal and another for the waste liquids, and alas, only too often one or the other found its way out the window onto the head of some unsuspecting victim.”

“Old Dorm” was demolished in 1905 and while some lamented its passing, others thought that, given a little more time, it would have “crawled away itself.”

During Martin Luther King Jr. Day programs, campus and community learned more about Marietta College’s connections to the anti-slavery movement from our new historical marker on Putnam Street. The marker was made possible by Daniel and Renee Bailey ’84 Gallagher, Marietta College Office of Diversity & Inclusion, and Marietta College Legacy Library.

The Fight for Freedom – The home of John and Susan Eells once stood at this location, 508 Putnam Street, in Marietta. The family moved into the house in 1856 bringing with them a strong hostility to the institution of slavery. Marietta’s proximity to the Ohio River, and slaveholding Virginia, made it a natural place for the Eells to continue their abolitionist work, becoming conductors on the Underground Railroad. One of their important allies was freedman George Harrison, whose Harmar home served as a safe house for Freedom Seekers heading north. He also provided a strong voice and aggressive civil rights leadership for the African American community in Washington County. The work of committed townspeople, like the Eells and Harrisons, helped Marietta emerge as a vital trunk line for the Underground Railroad and a focal point for an abolitionist movement that became prominent in Ohio.

Marietta College Activism – The Eells found willing allies in many of the faculty and students from Marietta College. Since its founding in 1835, the campus had been a hotbed of abolitionist sentiment. Samuel Hall, valedictorian of the first graduating class of 1838, helped form the Washington County Anti-Slavery Society in 1836. These sentiments reached a crescendo in 1854 with the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act allowing for the expansion of slavery into the western territories. On July 4 of that year, the students passed a number of anti-Nebraska resolutions, flew an American flag upside down, and tolled a bell for 90 minutes over a somber campus. Their protest drew considerable attention in Ohio and across the nation. This zeal for justice later led George Harrison’s son, Charles Sumner Harrison, to become the college’s first African American graduate in 1876. For Marietta College, these early anti-slavery efforts established a standard of advocacy for future students to take up other issues aimed at extending the scope of civil and political rights for all marginalized people.

One hundred years ago, Marietta College was among a pioneering group of colleges and universities who offered “remote learning.” The idea of Dr. Arthur Clinton Watson, MC professor of psychology and education, the project offered a selection of courses over the college radio station, WRAP. Each week three lectures were given and students were granted credit if they completed the assigned reading, wrote satisfactory reports, passed examinations, and paid the tuition fee. The wireless radio equipment, operated by student Edward Bosworth Manley, could reach people in a wide area of Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia. Pictured is Ed Manley, MC Class of 1926, at his radio station in Erwin Hall.

Many will remember Marietta College biology professor Lee Walp (1906-2004) who, in addition to his expertise in botany, was an avid collector of children’s books and original illustrations. Walp corresponded regularly with several well-known authors and illustrators, such as Ed Emberley, Tasha Tudor, and Robert Lawson. Most of his approximately 5,000 children's books are now held in the Special Collections Research Center at his alma mater, the University of Michigan. However, his large collection of “Night Before Christmas” books, by Clement Moore, is preserved in Marietta College Special Collections. Every year in December, Professor Walp displayed a selection of these volumes, along with winners of the Caldecott and Newbery medals, in the library. This tradition is continued in his honor. Be sure to stop by and see this year’s exhibit in the foyer display case.

Author and historical researcher Michael Hill stopped by Campus Martius for a quick visit before he spends the day with Marietta College students and community members. His presentation this evening on "The Pioneers" begins at 7:00 PM in the Alma McDonough Auditorium, and is free to all.

The event willl be live-streamed here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6FiFLghz-3U

Attending in-person? Pre-registration is required at: https://www.marietta.edu/alumni/evening-michael-hill-registration?fbclid=IwAR2XgVqVloB-mAopNDhr98cp3HnoJAiaNlyhTnHJfW1SxGtZacarcpPlz70