On Tuesday, March 27 at 3:30 p.m., the third annual Greenwood Library Showcase hosted presentations by Longwood faculty, staff, and students celebrating Longwood's history by reading books, publications and newspaper articles from the archives and special collections of the Greenwood Library. Faculty and students read excerpts from past articles of The Rotunda, from the State Normal School yearbook and from the Alumnae Magazine, each dating back all the way from 1900 at the earliest to 1975 at the latest.
The event was introduced by Dean of the Library Suzy Szasz Palmer, who read the library rules and regulations taken from the 1898 edition of the yearbook, and the 1942-1943 student handbook. Thereafter, Longwood University cheerleaders Amanda Prioletti, Amanda Painter, Alex Albertine and Sarah Sprague performed cheerleading routines to song selections from the 1928 booklet titled "Varsity Songs and Yells."
Longwood faculty who participated in the event included Professor of Sociology and Anthropology Dr. James Jordan, Assistant Professor of English Dr. David Magill and Assistant Professor of English Dr. John Miller. Longwood students who participated in the event included Amanda Tharp, Lynsie Russ and Alyssa Foley. Greenwood Library Information Technology Specialist Susan Carroll
also participated in the event. Archives and Records Manager Lydia Williams
said the purpose of the event was to bring attention to the books and publications stored in Long- wood's own archives that detail the broad history of the campus.
Palmer said, "My promoting this event is a way to tell students, faculty and staff who use the Library (and maybe reach some who don't) that while the Library is moving toward acquiring more digital collections, the print record of the past is very important."
Reading an article titled, "Believe it or Not, Longwood Does Progress with the Times" from an issue of The Rotunda printed on Feb. 5, 1975, Miller noted the changes Longwood had encountered from the early 1900s to the publication of the article.
"I'm theorizing the woman wrote the article be- cause of the impending co-education of Longwood - going co-ed - and the remarkable changes to me was just the amount of the change in super- vision that occurred," said Miller, including the strictness that used to pervade in students' lives at Longwood.
Jordan read an article entitled, "All the Way from FANGS to Chi, Longwood's Had its Secret Societies," from an issue of The Rotunda printed on Dec. 5, 1973. The article cited secret societies at Long- wood all the way back to the 1890s. "The article was about how these societies have changed over
time," said Jordan, later adding that what interested him about the article was that it was about "secrets. Sort of like hidden records of an archaeological site. Things underground. Things that
go far back into the past. Things with roots that modern day folks have kind of forgotten."
Later detailing the event, Jordan said, "I got out a mallet, and I was standing right in front of the Longwood bell in the library, and I gave that bell three good wollups. And I said, 'That was the only ringtone that there was at Longwood in the olden days.'"
"We don't hear things from the past very often. We see them. We touch them. But we really don't hear sounds very often, and that's a really important sound out of the past," said Jordan.
The event ended with a jazz performance by the Longwood Jazz Combo of "In the Mood" and "Old Time Rock 'n Roll," songs believed to have been played by past Longwood jazz bands at social functions. The Jazz Combo also played Longwood's Alma Mater.
Jordan recalled that no one in the audience stood up to sing the alma mater, and had decided in that moment to do such a thing with or without the audience. "I sang the alma mater to the accompaniment to the jazz band all by myself. And it was a weird moment. I thought, 'Darn it. It's our alma mater. It's our place, and I'm gonna sing the dang thing.'"
"I think it's important to know what went on
in the past, not only to remember it, but at least partly to act it out. It's not too much of a ritual to walk to the Colonnades at 10 'o clock to watch a [Chi] Walk, but you still have to act it out. And it reminds you of times, and places and people who were living lives a little bit like our own, but a little bit different ... And if we don't keep remember- ing that there was that life going on ... you forget those people were here. And if it hadn't been for them we wouldn't be here either," said Jordan.
Jordan added, "They deserve an awful lot for keeping this place going for 173 years. That's a long darn time. 173 years."
Miller said, "I think what makes a community is a shared knowledge for a common past ... that familiarity with history kind of brings us closer together and helps solidify our identity."
Miller said that he expects many changes in Longwood's future, but that, "At the same time, there seems to be this core set of principles, that community of integrity, that no matter what happens - whether the school goes co-ed, how it expands - that there's this kind of bedrock of core values that will help see the schools through difficult times and will continue to fashion a very vibrant community."
Jordan said, "The real truth ... is I want it to stay the way it is now. But I know it can't happen. It must change. And I hope it changes for the better - whatever the better may be I haven't the slight- est idea ... You'll figure it out."
