Contributed by Shelby Womack, Communications Assistant
A few weeks ago, Erin and I got to go on the annual trip to Staunton, Virginia, to visit the American Shakespeare Center. Two 11-hour car rides, three plays, some gelato, and a lot of junk food later, we were back on campus with lots of pictures and stories to tell. It got me thinking, what does Archives do with these kinds of trips? An English-major trip to Staunton may not be Homecoming or Makin’ Music, but it still seems like it’s an important part of student life. I talked to Erin and we agreed that these little field trips were probably as important, from a historical archiving standpoint, as those bigger campus events. If you remember to back when we did the StoryCorps chapel presentation, we said that the mission of StoryCorps was to record the lives of everyday Americans. They make the claim that the history of America isn’t just wars and presidents, but the stories and struggles of the citizens. This, although on a much smaller scale, is what we concluded about smaller student events at Freed. Yes, the over-all history is incredibly important, but so are the stories and mementos that show what life was really like for a student at Freed-Hardeman.
That being said, we do have records of student events and field trips in Archives. I dug through some of the boxes in the back room and found all sorts of things. Chorale especially had quite a few scrapbooks documenting their travels including photos, travel itineraries, quotes from the trip, funny drawings and poems from the bus ride, and thank-you letters from the congregations they visited. We had also scrapbooks from SNEA, a group for future teachers, and of course some from the social clubs. Some of the scrapbooks had little mementos like part of a donut box from a bake sale they had or posters they made to advertise a meeting. It all just gives you another perspective of Freed-Hardeman's history.
As far as the Staunton trip, we have some tickets, programs, and pictures, so maybe our little trip will be recorded in Archives too. For all our current and former students, have you recorded the trips, club meetings, and all those little events that made your Freed experience what it was? Tell us about it!