Living Legacies

I’m more than halfway through my time as a student at Washington College, and I have developed a new interest in “legacy.” What does legacy mean at a college that is nearly 250 years old, founded with the blessing of George Washington? I believe the answer has never been more visible than in the Kohl Gallery’s recent exhibition, “Washington College Collects.” 

While doing research for this exhibit as a gallery intern, I’ve come to see Washington College in a new light, understanding the work faculty have done to honor those who have already passed through these halls and prepare the campus for those yet to come. As I looked into the past, using photographs from the College’s archives, each person began to reveal more of themselves. Photographs of two roommates, Lusby Nicholson ’07 and Robert Gill ’07, led me to a tragic story. Nicholson wanted to go to law school but died shortly after his graduation from Washington College, and Gill served as one of his pallbearers. 

Although I will only spend four years at this school, each moment here is a result of the 242 years that came before me, making that history a part of my story as well. Projected on the back wall of the Kohl Gallery exhibit was a silent video from 1931-1932, showing life at Washington College, including pranks, sports, long dining hall lines, and struggles to find parking. Elsewhere in the exhibit, a photo of a woman in her Reid Hall dorm offers a glimpse of life in 1988 that feels familiar to current students. 

Understanding people’s lives from the physical evidence they leave behind is hard, but it becomes less so when you recognize the many similarities on the campus and the shared experiences of students then and now. 

This is not to say the College is static or unchanging; it has undergone significant changes. The exhibit includes a photo of Washington College’s first female student, Mary Matthews, class of 1895, and the transcripts of the first African American man and woman to attend the College, Thomas Morris ’62 and Patricia Godbolt White ’64. It took 113 years after the College’s founding for Matthews to be allowed to attend. It took another 67 years for Morris and 69 years for White. As Washington College evolves, it is vital to remember both the errors and the triumphs of the past so that we build on our legacy. 

This also means accurately preserving Washington’s history. Despite the hard work of archive director Lindsay Sheldon and others on the team, preserving our history has been made much more difficult by two major fires. A fire in 1827 burned down the original College, a single building at the time. The handmade nail on display in the gallery is one of the only physical remains we have from the original 1783 building. A second fire, this time in 1916 at William Smith Hall, destroyed most of the College’s historical records and books, including the original ledger that recorded George Washington’s payment of a subscription to the College of £87 10 shillings. These fires not only required extensive rebuilding efforts but also destroyed the College’s records and archives, depriving us of much of our history prior to 1916.  

The goal of “Washington College Collects” was to help people understand what it means to preserve history and practice good stewardship. The exhibit is a call to action for visitors, who may be able to provide insights or clues that could unlock something new about the items on display. 

For example, we put an oil painting of a woman from our collection on display in the exhibit. The archives date it to the mid-1800s based on artistic techniques and the clothes she wears, but we have no idea who she was (see the painting in the "From the Archives" section of this magazine). Someone clearly valued her enough to commission a painting of her, but we know little else about her. With the support of visitors to the exhibition and readers of this magazine, the hope is to restore and identify this painting. 

The College continues to uncover more of our past while keeping safe what we have for the future. Given time and resources, the artifacts preserved in our archive can reveal even more.  

There are ways for you to preserve history as well. Simple things like writing on the back of each photo you print the names of the people in it, the location, and the date it was taken can make future identifications much easier. As part of the exhibit, an “Heirloom Surgery” event in March taught visitors how to take care of their own pieces of history and protect them against the wear of time. 

I am assured that, no matter what my legacy is, Washington College will help preserve it and keep it alive, as it has for so many of its alumni.