Contributed by Shelby Womack, Communications Assistant
Some of the most interesting things here in Archives I find on accident. I’m fairly new to the Archives & Special Collections and let me tell you, there are a lot of boxes back here. I have a very basic knowledge of where everything is, which means that when I write a blog article like the last one, I have to dig through half the boxes to find scrapbooks or flyers or whatever it is I’m looking for. I find all kinds of cool things this way, and consequently become very distracted. This last time, I was looking for mementos from student trips and events. The box said something about the Theatre Department and scrapbooks, so I figured there would be pictures of some field trip they took or programs from some plays. It turns out it was full of newspaper clippings and photos dating back to the early 1900’s. I found out later they were papers found in the attic of the Joyce Simon McDaniel building that belonged to Floyd Decker and E. Couch, the husband and brother of Barbara Decker, a former dorm supervisor in Brigance Hall.
It was incredible. The headlines said things like “Treaty Signed in Versailles Today,” or “America and Russia Now Believed Nearly Equal in Lunar Race.” There were articles and pictures documenting the World Wars, the Great Depression, the Cold War, and the Civil Rights Movement. The coolest part was that in the midst of all these important historical records were report cards and letters and postcards and all kinds of personal records. There were also clippings from Christian publications, articles discussing different controversial issues in the Church, and correspondence between churches. It was the history of the past 100 years from all different angles. It goes back to something I’ve talked about in quite a few of the blog posts; history is just as much the personal lives of everyday people as it is the wars and political workings. We are so blessed to have a record of all those major events from the perspectives of people in the Church who were just living their lives as best they could in the midst of all the turmoil going on around them. Lesson learned from all of this: keep records! Save newspapers and report cards and all those little and big things that shape your life. Save them so that someday people can look back and understand the history of our nation, the Church, and your own life just a little better.
