Blount Library Blog

In the 1930s, the Great Depression was a global crisis.  Its effects were felt everywhere, including at Averett.

In an interview for a student research paper from the early 1970s, long-time Dean Mary Fugate remarked that student accounts at this time were sometimes settled via barter, resulting in stretches of time where meals regularly included beets, peaches, or some other produce the school had acquired in lieu of cash.  It is perhaps unsurprising, then, that cook Bea Nelson was often praised in other reminiscences for her baked goods - rolls and pies - items that would have stood out in a relentless flood of stockpiled goods acquired from student families.

In the same essay, Fugate is also quoted as saying that faculty salaries were cut at least twice during the Depression.  Evidence for salary issues exists in at least two places in the archives. First, according to contracts she preserved, Mary Fugate's salary, which had risen almost every year prior to the Depression, dropped by nearly 1/3rd - from $1900 per year to $1312 per year - between 1933 and 1938, and had still not fully recovered by 1943.  Second, in the faculty file of music teacher Laura Janos Fuessel - who appears to have been accustomed to living at the limit of her means - relentless letters to the administration are preserved that bemoan her low rate of pay and ask for cash advances to help cover her debts.  (It would certainly have come as a surprise to Ms. Fuessel to learn that she was actually one of the school's highest paid employees at that time.)

In this environment, where students had few luxuries and many couldn't even afford to make a short trip home during holidays, small acts of kindness coupled with free food could create lasting memories.  Such is the case with Mary Fugate's "Story Hour."

On Sunday evenings, Ms. Fugate - who, like most faculty in the 1930s, lived on campus in the same building as the students - invited any interested student to join her for an hour of stories and snacks.  The invitation was accepted gratefully by countless young women over the years.

It is unclear where the event was held specifically during the Depression years.  Dr. Hayes' A History of Averett College mentions that it took place in the 'radio room,' though it's unclear if that applies to all years, or was simply one of a revolving door of locations.  (Hayes' citation for the paragraph includes personal correspondence with three alumni - two from the class of 1930 and one from 1937 - but it is not clear which of the three mentioned the radio room.)

Wherever they met, the gathering was delightfully low-key.  Unlike official campus events, the evening's casual atmosphere was assured by the lack of a dress code, with the result of this particular freedom being that "[m]ore often than not it looks like a pajama party."  Over the course of the evening, Ms. Fugate herself would read the students one or more short stories - a particular favorite being the Henry Van Dyke Christmas piece "The Story of the Other Wise Man."  (A copy of this story was donated to the library in the mid-1980s by alum Nina Pruett [1928-30], with an inscription on the inside front cover reading "Remembering kind considerations of a busy person" and identifying this story as her favorite of the many that had been read.)  But the evening's best feature, as far as the students were concerned, were the treats.  Always a surprise, they were prepared by Ms. Fugate herself (with assistants, which included librarian Dorothy Shipman and assistant physical education instructor Katharine Carter in 1934-35), and were considered a wonderful addition to the bagged meals provided for the students on Sundays.

Mary Fugate's Story Hour - though, like most campus culture, it left minimal archival traces - is a sweet example of the sort of event that was only possible back when Averett was a small women's college.  Fond memories of almost familial experiences became much less common as the student body expanded and the faculty took housing off-campus (and often out of Danville entirely).

The largest non-Averett collection held by the Averett University Archives is the congressional papers of conservative Democrat "Dan" Daniel.  Consisting of more than 300 boxes of material, the "Dan" Daniel Collection contains countless letters, memos, speeches, and other files from Mr. Daniel's 19 years in the U.S. House of Representatives.  For "Constitution Day" this year, we are sharing a little of Mr. Daniel's behind-the-scenes materials referencing Constitutional amendments.

"Dan" Daniel was the Representative for Virginia's 5th District from 1969 to 1988.  In the wake of the Civil Rights movement, Vietnam, Watergate, and other mid-century political flashpoints, numerous potential Constitutional amendments were discussed in the House of Representatives.  These included: a mandatory balanced federal budget, illegalizing the busing of students solely to integrate schools, elimination of the electoral college, term limits for elected officials, prayer in schools, etc.  (This list comes from Congressman Daniel's own newsletter and materials and thus reflects, to a degree, his own leanings.)

The Daniel Papers reveal the meandering path of such discussions in the American political system.  Pressure for a change to the Constitution comes from at least four different directions in Mr. Daniel's materials.

1. Personal letters from private citizens
2. Formal declarations from political pressure groups
3. Formal declarations from state officials
4. The proposals of Congressmen themselves

The cluster of images to the right includes examples of each type, most of which reference subjects still being debated by the American public 50 years later.

In the upper left we have a 1973 letter from a private citizen (name and address redacted) very simply and formally requesting action to redefine the term of the Presidency - from a maximum of two four-year terms to a single six-year term.  In an attached letter (not pictured), Mr. Daniel privately voices his support.  This letter is particularly mundane; a few more passionate letters also exist, ranging from data-driven arguments to irritated rambling.

At the upper right we have a formal 1974 letter from the Young Democrats of Virginia (private contact information redacted) announcing the passage of a resolution at their recent convention calling for the elimination of the Electoral College, replacing it with direct election for President and Vice President, and requesting Mr. Daniel's support to that end.  The Congressman thanks them for the notification but is otherwise noncommittal.

In the lower left is Virginia Senate Joint Resolution 109, also from 1973, requesting that the federal government call a convention to amend the Constitution in order to illegalize the busing of students for the explicit purpose of integrating public schools.  Mr. Daniel - whose public opposition to integration dates back to his years in the Virginia House of Delegates - received this Resolution gratefully, and kept it in a file with multiple public comments (both solicited and unsolicited) on the issue.

On the lower right is Mr. Daniel's own newsletter - "Capitol Comments By Dan Daniel" - from Sept. 11, 1985, in which he lists numerous Constitutional amendments then under discussion in the House during that session, and tacitly supports the call for a Second Constitutional Convention - albeit with limitations on topics to be debated over his fears of a "runaway convention."  (In the newsletter he explicitly condemns the ACLU for opposing topic restrictions at any such convention.)

The "Dan" Daniel Collection offers Averett students a unique glimpse into the inner workings of the federal government, of which these small examples of the eternal tug-of-war over the Constitution are but a part.  Staff and students are always welcome to contact the archivist if they would like to do research in the "Dan" Daniel Collection, or any other materials held by the Averett University Archives & Special Collections.

As difficult as it may be to believe, Averett faculty, staff, and yes, even Presidents, were once - long, long ago - college students themselves.  Take, for example, the four picture on the left side of this post, each of which depicts a future President of Averett when they were youthful and energetic 20-somethings.

As the Averett archives was recently gifted a small collection of materials related to the college education of former president James P. Craft, for the next month the archives will put on display an array of items from the college lives of some of our former presidents.

James P. Craft (President from 1921-1927):

When I teach classes, it is generally true that the most common advice I have to give to my students is "you should be taking more notes."  Note-taking is an important activity, as the brain has to process information in order for that information to travel from the eyeballs to the hands.

I obviously would not have had to give that advice to a young Jim Craft.  While studying at Harvard from 1907-1909, he took so many notes in his philosophy courses that the result was a stack of paper more than four inches thick!  Again, these are lecture notes; this is just what good ol' Jim decided to write down from what his professors were saying.  He ultimately chose to have them professionally bound into a ponderous and immense hardcover tome so that he could keep them forever, show them to his friends, and I imagine, in the event of an unforeseen crisis, use them as a rudimentary sledge-hammer.

Well done, Jim.  Well done.

J.W. Cammack (President from 1927-1936):

If there's anything that I typically don't imagine a college President doing, it's playing varsity athletics.  Such a thing simply never occurs to me.

And even for those who did have a budding athletic career tragically cut short by a highly paid college presidency, one would expect any mementoes of such an athletic experience to wind up in the archives of the school at which they occurred...not at a random school for which that former athlete later worked.

Nonetheless, by a strange coincidence, the Averett archives holds a flier for an 1899 college football game between the Richmond College (now the University of Richmond) Spiders and the Hampden-Sydney Tigers.  In this game, future Averett President J.W. Cammack started for Richmond at Center.  Cammack's Spiders got beaten handily by Hampden-Sydney (17 to 5).  So it goes.  Every football contest has to have a loser.

J.W. Cammack.  What a loser!

Mary Fugate (Acting President for Spring/Summer 1966):

In the era of the computer and word-processing software, the ability to adjust the wording, margins, and any other little thing in a document, at any moment, has become so simple that most of us can't even imagine writing happening any other way.  It is thus very jarring to look at Mary Fugate's master's thesis - "The Attitude of the American People Toward the Theatre, 1783-1800" (Columbia University, 1927) - and realize that she not only had to live without a word processor, she didn't even use a typewriter!  The full 55-page manuscript was written entirely by hand.

And yes, she even used properly formatted footnotes.

As if the prospect of that revision process wasn't terrifying enough, imagine being required to write the whole thing out two or three times!  The copy that we have in the archive of her family papers is not the copy that she submitted to the school itself.  She wrote it out at least twice!

I humbly suggest that you honor Ms. Fugate's memory by spending a weekend hand-copying the longest paper you ever wrote multiple times.  Come to Blount Library and tell me how it goes.  I want to be the first one to sign the wrist braces you'll wind up wearing for the rest of the week.

Some additional group photos and long-shots for your enjoyment:

Pictured above are three 122-year-old roses from Newport News, Virginia.  They were picked on the 11th of May in 1903, and kept in honor of Robert C. Fugate, who had died of typhoid fever three days earlier - May 8th, at 2pm - at the age of 26.  Robert's niece was Mary Catherine Fugate of Abingdon, Virginia - then only a toddler roughly a year and a half old, but who would eventually become a history teacher, then the Dean, and briefly an interim President of Averett College.

Although the Archives and Special Collections of Averett predominantly hold material related to the history of Averett itself, occasionally we have accepted personal papers of historical relevance to the region and/or the daily lives of Averett-related individuals.  One of these personal collections is the family archive left to us by Mary Fugate [RG 52/4], which contains a significant amount of late-nineteenth and early-twentieth century family correspondence (most in their original envelopes), along with a few other treasures.  This collection includes numerous items from the final few years of Rob’s life, including: letters sent home from college (first Hampden-Sidney, and then the University of Virginia), report cards and other writing from his formal education, a business card from his all-too-brief career as a lawyer in Newport News, and even numerous letters and invitations from amorous young women.

The collection provides a remarkable window not only into the life of a young man around 1900, but also into a family processing its grief in the same way many of us do – preserving the remnants of a life unexpectedly cut short.  The collection's personal correspondence, receipts, and minutiae of a life lived culminate in a heartbreaking flurry of letters and telegrams detailing Robert's worsening case of typhoid fever in an era prior to a vaccine.  Rob died of the disease years before the development of medical antibiotics, and was infected roughly contemporaneously with ‘Typhoid Mary’ who, as an asymptomatic carrier, notoriously infected numerous people in the New York area.

The Fugate Family Papers are open for research, although the aging and brittle letters must be handled with great care.

At some point in the 1990s, U.S. radio stations and supporters began celebration National Radio Day on August 20th.  Although observance of the day isn't common - and tends to wax and wane even among radio enthusiasts (note that this website dedicated to the day gave up the ghost after 2019) -  as a trained media historian I'm always happy to use any excuse to call attention to Averett's archival collections related to mass media.

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Act 1: Who and When

Although it can be easy to assume that academia is too staid and intellectually high-brow to be drawn in by the appeal of popular culture and popular trends, nothing could be further from the truth.  One need look no further than the occasional news-making appearance of a course on Taylor Swift, to see that topics that are trendy in culture are also regularly fodder for academic study.

By the 1930s, one of the hottest topics was the new and booming field of commercial radio.  For a few decades before the rise of television, radio was more than the music, talk shows, and news that we associate it with today.  In those early years, radio stations would broadcast theater productions, live performances, game shows, and even early dramatic and comedic series - effectively pioneering the business model and scheduling behaviors that broadcast television would adopt by the 1950s.  Indeed, numerous early television series' were actually established on radio before they transitioned to television.

In this new media environment, Averett - like presumably many other colleges nationwide - began integrating the trendy topic of radio into its offerings in a variety of ways:

• No later than the 1936-37 school year, the catalogue began promising that students in the senior year of Voice training would take part in several public performances, including an "appearance on radio."  This reference to radio appearances would remain in the catalogue for nearly 30 years, finally disappearing in the mid-1960s.
• No later than the 1940-41 school year, the catalogue also started promising radio time to the choirs.  That year, the catalogue stated: "During the second semester, the choirs broadcast two morning programs weekly over the radio station which has been set up at the college for that purpose."
• By the 1943-44 catalogue, students in Speech courses also began interacting with radio on a weekly basis.  That year the introductory blurb for the Speech department declared that the facilities of WBTM were "used by Averett students for weekly radio productions."
• By the following year, 1944-45, radio made the leap to full-fledged course-work, when "Radio Technique" was added to the curriculum.  Although the course was not offered every year, it would remain in the catalogue all the way through the 1977-78 school year.  It was popular enough to be a year-long, 6-credit course from the mid-1940s to the mid-1960s.  (Although "Radio Technique" was not described as a full-year course in catalogues until 1948, in preserved Averett schedules it appeared in both semesters as early as fall 1946.)

Act 2: Where and What

As evidenced by the Choir entry from 1940 mentioned above, Averett was not simply interacting with radio.  An entire room had been converted for radio usage.  Unfortunately information is scant, and it is not clear exactly what level of technology was installed on campus - for example, it is never entirely clear if the room was actually able to broadcast live, or if it simply had practice equipment and local recording capabilities.  A Chanticleer article from January 1943 specfically mentions a "Speech Studio" as the location for campus radio try-outs; as the technology for such a studio would have used very similar equipment, it is likely that the Speech Studio was intentionally designed to double as a radio room.  The 1940-41 catalog quoted above implies that the radio room could be used to broadcast live (probably by connecting directly to WBTM).  A photo in the 1962 view book likewise implies broadcast ability, as the image includes an "On Air" sign, though this image may have been taken at a local station rather than on Averett's campus.

Although most of the actual content the students performed over the radio is now lost to history - a real shame, as it would be very interesting to know how they were managing the workload at a weekly pace in certain years - it would appear that a significant amount of the programming Averett students were creating were short versions of well-known plays.  We have Chanticleer student newspaper reports for four separate performances in spring of 1943: The Importance of Being Earnest (Speech Department, mid Feb.), The Singer of Eternal Melodies (Averett Players, Feb. 20), The Spectacles (Averett Players, Feb. 27th), The Violin Maker of Cremona (Averett Players, Mar. 6), and A Norse Folk Tale (Averett Players, May 1).  These reports indicate that there were at least nine radio performances that semester alone.

There were at least a few occasions, however, where the students performed little known or even original material.  An article from the Danville Bee indicates that, on 16 Oct. 1950 (broadcast at 10pm and, thus, almost certainly recorded rather than live), nine Averett students performed "The Listener's Digest" - a "parody on radio programs" written by students Sam Patterson, T.G. Harper, and Gurdine Link (the first two were male veterans attending on the G.I. Bill; Patterson in particular would continue to be an amateur playwright for the rest of his life).  It seems likely, therefore, that a number of the weekly programs - dubbed "Averett College on the Air" in this 1950 news report, and "The Averett College Hour" in an internal memo from 1960 - were not only performed but also scripted by Averett students.

Act 3: Why

While there is no preserved evidence explaining exactly why Averett began its foray into radio, it is likely that the big push for radio education occurred at the behest of Speech and Dramatic Arts instructor Elizabeth Otwell.  Otwell joined Averett in the fall of 1935, teaching here until spring 1941, and then returned for a second stint from 1945 to 1952.  Otwell was on the faculty when the Voice classes started performing on radio (1936-7), when the choirs started performing on radio (1940-1), and would have been the teacher of "Radio Technique" in all of its known 1940s appearances on the schedule.  All told, she was the primary teacher of Speech and Drama for twelve of the first fifteen years that radio was a part of Averett's clubs or curriculum.

Sadly, we have no archived syllabi for the "Radio Technique" course, and thus cannot state for sure what students were being taught.  However, Blount Library's circulating collection still contains a copy of Hilliard's Writing for Television and Radio, if you would like to read up on some of the basics of radio production (such as microphone usage, sound effects, etc).

Exeunt

For a campus that never experimented with the full-scale 'college radio' that has kept the medium alive on other campuses, the end of radio instruction at Averett came in a predictable way.  By the 1978-79 school year, decades after television had effectively supplanted radio, it had become impossible for the school to continue to justify a course focused exclusively on radio.  "Radio Technique" was thus dropped in favor of a course on "Broadcasting" (which allowed for some educational continuity by combining radio education with television education).  By the 1970s, it was increasingly common for Averett to use radio for faculty and staff programming (the "Averett College Scholarship Quiz" and "Current Issues Forum" most notably) rather than as a student educational tool.  By this point, the era of student-radio at Averett was over, likely many years after most students had ceased to be particularly interested as the zeitgeist had long since abandoned radio for newer technologies.

For the summer and the bulk of the coming academic year, Blount Library is putting on display numerous watercolors, oil paintings, and prints by former Averett art professor Carson Sutherlin Davenport.

Davenport taught at Averett for 25 years (1943 to 1969, with a gap year in the mid-1940s).  Although he engaged with a wide variety of approaches and subjects over the course of his career, Davenport's work is dominated by an angular and abstract style, and an obsession two particular themes: hillsides full of houses, and the ponies of Chincoteague island.  All three of the pieces depicted in the photo below are abstractions on one of those two subjects, as are numerous other pieces held by Averett University.

Any students, staff, and members of the general public are welcome to come take a look at the art.  The three pictured here are hanging on the main floor of the library.  A further ten are hung on the upper floor: seven in the art display room (ask a librarian if you'd like a closer look), and three on the wall near the entrance to the archives.

Averett holds numerous other Davenport works.  Please feel free to make an appointment with the archivist if you'd like to see more.

Near the end of April 2025, novelist and teacher Michael Hammonds passed away at the age of 82.  For more than 20 years (1989-2010) Hammonds was a professor of English and Journalism at Averett University.

Over the course of his life, Hammonds published ten novels - five westerns and five thrillers:

• Concerning the Death of Charlie Bowman (1971)
• Among the Hunted (1973; aka Marshal of Bitterroot)
• One to Ride the River With (1974)
• A Gathering of Wolves (1975)
• Incident on the Way to a Killing (1977)
• The OPEC Objective (1981)
• Came a Spider (1989)
• The Burning Man (1991)
• Edge of Fear (1992)
• Edge of Terror (1993)

An eleventh novel - about a young Native American woman searching for her identity - was the favorite of both Hammonds and his wife Jenne.  Sadly, he was never able to find a publisher for the novel, presumably due to the fading popularity of westerns by the late 1970s.

In multiple interviews during his time at Averett, he described his writing process.  Hammonds, who picked up the writing bug at the ripe old age of ten, would typically wake at 4am in order to get some writing done before arriving on campus to teach.  Wearing headphones blasting "harsh" music (it is never revealed what the music actually was), he would try to put himself into the mindset of a serial killer - the typical subject of his later novels.  Hammonds would generate a plot outline, compose early chapters, and decide upon the killer's hidden backstory, all at the same time - generating his stories from three different directions at once.

During his time at Averett, copies of Hammonds novels were acquired by Blount Library, eventually being deposited with the Averett Archives and Special Collections for safekeeping.  The covers of the ten editions owned by the Averett Archives are pictured below.

Coincidentally, the archivist read Edge of Fear just last year; it remains a solid little thriller about a teacher being stalked by a murderer.  The book has an additional appeal to an alum or historian of Averett, as it was clearly influenced by his time here.  Hammonds names numerous characters after Averett faculty and staff of the time (Sarah Campbell, Anne Hoffman, John Vinson, etc), and its protagonist is described as an English teacher at "Evergreen College" (which obviously sounds much like 'Averett College').

Although archival books do not circulate - and Blount Library thus has no copies of Hammonds' work to share with its patrons - you may digitally borrow six of them from archive.org using the links above.  Next time you're in a used book store, see if you can find one of his books in their stacks.

The above image is either an exam or a study guide for an exam on Ancient Greece (among other things) that was found nestled between the pages of a late 1920s ledger used by Averett's Student Government Association.  Presumably the exam is roughly the same age as the contents of the pages of the ledger (circa 1928-9); staining on the surrounding pages - caused by the acidity in the paper - certainly indicates that those pages have been absorbing the caustic stink of examination questions for a very long time.

Considering that longtime Averett Dean (and briefly Interim President) Mary Fugate was Averett's only history teacher for 20 years (1928-1948), it is almost certainly her work.  These exam questions (or some of them, at least) would have been an early assignment in a course that would have been known, at the time, as "History A."  Though content shifted a bit over the years, "History A" typically covered the history of 'Western Civilization' up to the early middle ages.

Although we cannot know for certain exactly how thorough the actual exam would have been, I encourage you to grab some sheets of paper and try answering the questions yourself.  (Don't forget to answer them "Logically," or zombie-Fugate will eat your soul!)  If you would like, the archivist will happily write an "F" on it for you, which will almost certainly be a fair and accurate representation of the quality of your work!

Like last year, the archivist has spent a not insignificant amount of time in the past several months creating advertising banners for the archival exhibits and blog posts published during this academic year.  These banners appeared at the top of the Blount Library website for about a month each.  In an effort to keep them from disappearing forever, here is a complete collection of all archival ad-banners used this year.  And this time, they're all clickable, and take you directly to the article being advertised!

Some are better than others (I certainly have my favorites), but all 16 are included here for posterity:

August-September 2024 Exhibit

August 2024 "Treasures" Mini-Display

September 2024 "Treasures" Mini-Display

October 2024 Exhibit

Halloween 2024 Blog Post

November 2024 Exhibit

November 2024 "Treasures" Blog Post

December 2024 "Treasures" Blog Post

Holiday 2024 Permanent Digital Exhibit page

January 2025 Exhibit

February 2025 Exhibit

February 2025 Archival Presentation  (no link; presentation was not recorded)

March 2025 Exhibit

March 2025 "Treasures" Blog Post

April 2025 Exhibit

April 2025 "Treasures" Blog Post

125 years ago (June 4th at 8:30pm, to be exact) Averett University - then known as Roanoke Female College - held Commencement exercises at the end of its 40th academic year.  All these years later, the ceremony is remarkably similar to current graduation practices.  Even a cursory comparison of the program (pictured to the right) to a 21st century version shows a remarkable level of consistency:

• Whereas we now open with a musical "Processional" and a religious  "Invocation," and close with a musical "Recessional," the college of 1900 opened with a "March" and a "Prayer," and closed with a choral piece by Wagner, along with Ernest Gillet's "Loin du Bal" (performed between the medals and the diplomas).
• Then, as now, the bulk of the program was filled with the conferring of degrees though, as Roanoke Female College was a very small institution - typically featuring only a handful of graduating students each year - the program was lengthened significantly by conferring certificates of "Promotion, Distinction, and Proficiency" on most if not all matriculating students.  Three medals and three other prizes rounded out the night's honors.
• The event also included speeches by prominent individuals - the President and the class valedictorian - although the tradition of inviting a high-profile guest speaker was apparently not practiced in 1900 (though evidence of guest preachers exists for graduation exercises in prior years).

Of particular interest on the night of June 4th, 1900, President Charles Fenton James gave an address that was surprisingly gloomy.  Slowly recounting his personal difficulties over his first eight years as College President, punctuated with occasional highlights of positive changes, he wound his way through stories of financial struggle, ill health, and worry before finally culminating with a hope that "the next session [will be] the most successful & prosperous of all."

Through this litany of despair, the listeners would have heard stories of numerous building renovations (the addition of a new front porch, a new fence, and the addition of bathrooms with hot and cold running water), changes to graduation requirements (using a then in-vogue 'points' system to determine when enough classes had been taken to justify a degree), and fluctuations in enrollment.  Bizarrely, this latter was explained by the inclusion of a visual chart - something nearly impossible to get across in a purely verbal speech.

This speech, seemingly conceived more to market the school to listeners in the audience than to congratulate graduates, provides invaluable data to a historian researching the late 1800s at Averett.  That said, it seems unlikely that the students especially enjoyed hearing it in 1900.

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The class of 1900 with President C.F. James.  Back row: Annie Pollock, Janie Terry (winner of President's Medal), Lucee Johnson, Ethel Reynolds (Valedictorian and winner of Weller Medal), Ella Vaden.  Front row: Elise Williams, Pres. C.F. James, Robbie Browning.  Not pictured: Jennie Button.

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Full Transcription of C.F. James's Commencement Address:

              The exercises of this evening mark the close of my eigth [sic] session as president of this institution.  And as there remains but one more under the existing contract between myself and the trustees and as I wish the ninth session to be the best of the nine as this has been the best of the eight, I hope you will follow me as I hurriedly sketch the history of these eight years in the hope of finding encouragement and inspiration for the future.

              When I came to Danville in 1892, it was in obedience to what I regarded as a Divine call.  It was not of my own seeking, for while the trustees advertised for a president, I, for one, did not send in any application.  I had resigned the principalship of Alleghaney [sic] Institute without any idea of again engaging in school work, but with the idea of returning to the pastorate.  But while I was waiting for a call to some pastorless church, or churches, Dr. Thames came to Roanoke, as the representative of the Trustees, to interview me on the subject of taking up the work which had been laid down by my honored predecessor, Capt. J. T. Averett.  That visit led to my making Danville & the College a visit, which was followed by a call from the Trustees and my acceptance.  Had I then foreseen all that was in store for me, I should almost certainly have shrunk back from the ordeal.  But I did not know.  It is best for us all that God only knows what the future has in store for us.

              In my ignorance I had miscalculated as to the patronage of the school, with the result that I became deeply involved in debt the first year.  We had a good local patronage, but only sixteen boarders, not counting two who were in the college only a few weeks.  That was discouraging.  But that was not the worst.  If prosperous conditions had continued throughout the country, the losses of the first year might soon have been overcome.  But, in the summer of 1893, there came a financial crash which almost paralyzed business and seriously crippled our schools.  And yet our college made progress during the next two years, the number of boarders increasing to 23 the second session, and 32 the third.

              It was confidently expected that the fourth session would be better still.  Teachers, pupils and patrons were all encouraged and the outlook was bright.  But the failure in the tobacco crop affected us most seriously, and the boarding patronage fell off to 28 the 4^th session and to 24 the fifth.

              But it was not only the depression in business resulting from the financial crash of ’93 & failures in tobacco crops that affected our patronage; we have been suffering from competition with the numerous lower-rate schools that have sprung up all over southern Virginia and North Carolina during these years of business depression.

              And yet notwithstanding these unfavorable conditions, we have struggled on through eight years and have just closed the best session of the eight.  A glance at the matriculation lists shows the ups and downs of our patronage.

This shows that the last three sessions have been the best three, and that the last session, the 8^th, leads in the total enrollment, excluding my own children, leads in the Literary Department, and in the Preparatory Department, and leads also in the Boarding Department, for while the number of boarders, 42, does not exceed that of the 6^th session, far more have remained through the session.

              I have every reason to believe that the next session will show a marked increase over any of the rest.

Improvements in grounds & buildings.

              I wish to call your attention to the improvements made in the grounds and buildings during these eight years.  Some of you know the condition of the buildings & grounds when I accepted your call in 1892.  The city authorities had taken off a slice of land on Ridge street [sic] and left that side without a fence.  And the rest of the fencing was practically worthless.  The buildings needed a thorough renovation inside & out, the furniture was old and unfit for use, and there was only one piano in first class order.  Now, the grounds have been newly fenced, the buildings have been repaired and painted, new furniture has taken the place of the old, the old stiff pianos have been rebuilt, valuable additions have been made to the capacity & comfort of the buildings, with the introduction of gas, hot & cold water & bath rooms.  There have been two small, but very important changes for the health and comfort of the pupils. One is the early introduction of Pasteur’s filter, which gives us the purest and best water, however muddy the river may be; and the other is the change in the Chapel, or study Hall, by which pupils sit with their backs to the light, the rostrum having been moved from the end next to the street and placed at the opposite side of the room.

              But one of the greatest additions and improvements is the long front porch.  It is hard for us to realize now how we ever got along without it.

              I must not fail to mention that our Literary Society has been adding to the library from year to year, until now they have a very respectable section of books of reference and for general reading.

System of Graduation by Points

              The courses of study and the requirements for graduation remain essentially the same, but we have changed the names of the Degrees from “Full Graduate” and “English Graduate” to “Master of Arts” and “Bachelor of Arts” respectively, and added one other, Bachelor of Letters.  We have also adopted the system of graduation by “points,” which is so much in vogue in the largest Northern Colleges, and which has been adopted by Richmond College and Washington & Lee University.  The special advantage of this system is that it gives the pupil full credit for all that she does in class work and in examinations.  (Explain.)

              I know that some of the friends of the College have felt discouraged at times and so have I; and yet I think that this exhibit [?] has much in it to encourage us.  These have been exceedingly trying years, and no one has felt it more than myself.  Never before, in all my experience, have I been so embarrassed & heavily burdened financially.  Under my contract with the Trustees, I pay them ten per cent of all tuition fees, whether collected or not, besides keeping up repairs and meeting all expenses for advertising, canvassing, concerts, commencement, and teachers’ salaries.  If business depression causes a falling off of patronage & revenue, or if some patrons fail to pay their bills, the loss is mine.  As I have already said, my first session involved me in debt.  And just when, at the close of my third session, I began to feel relieved and to take a hopeful view of the future, there came two bad years, instead of the prosperous one that all of us expected, and I found myself, at the end of five years, more deeply involved than ever before.  If I had not been through the four years [sic] war between the States, and other experiences which try one’s faith, I should have given up then.  But I hated to give up.  And I could not believe that the Lord had led me to this field to bury me in financial ruin.  So I resolved to struggle on, and three prosperous years have lifted much of my burden; but the long continued strain has been too much for my health.  Twelve months ago, in May, I had a serious collapse.  Last October I had another, followed at Christmas with a severe spell of pneumonia, which made my physician very uneasy.  He said my system was run down and that I needed rest.  I took a short rest in May, which helped me very much, and I am planning to take a longer rest this month as soon as I can get away to the mountains.  After than I shall be at work for the coming session.  I trust I may have your co-operation in this work.  And I feel that I have a right to ask it, for no one has worked harder or made more sacrifices for the College than I have.

              If I had died of pneumonia last winter, my debts would have been paid out of my life insurance, but my family would have had little or nothing left.  Through the goodness of Providence I have been spared to see the end of my best session, and I trust that through the same kind Providence I may be able to make the next session the most successful & prosperous of all.