One of the hardest parts of this position is the constant distractions from the task at hand. The scan above is a perfect example of that concept. While working on displays for the Giant Steps campaign kickoff at the Indiana State Museum, I pulled this tattered old volume out. It contains the first faculty minutes, which I used in the display. Halfway through the book, like Spiegel catalogs of old, it becomes the Treasurer’s book. The scan above is of the first page. A lovely image which highlights the start of Wabash as a prep school [Classical and High School]. In this area of the country there were almost no students with the requisite Latin and Greek to begin collegiate studies. So, at first, they were preparing the young men for college work.
The next page of the book holds a very humble entry: 1833 12 04 buy 1 small hand bell $1.25.
What is so very cool about that is that it is the entry for the purchase of the bell we call the Caleb Mills Bell. Yes, the very bell that rings in our freshmen and rings them out at commencement too. It was 185 years ago this December that classes began at Old Wabash and over those years many men have come and gone. It was a small start, and yet, this small place lives on today, stronger than ever and looking toward a great future!
Best wishes, safe travels for the holiday season.
See you all next year,
Beth Swift
Archivist
Wabash College
