Education

Georgia Tech has become one of the nation's top-10-ranked public universities and boasts a former U.S. president, TV personality and Hall-of-Fame athletes among its prominent alumni.

From humble beginnings as a small technological institute that opened in 1888, Georgia Tech is now renowned throughout the world for its excellence in technological education and research. A top-10-ranked public university, according to U.S. News & World Report rankings, famous Georgia Institute of Technology alumni include Jimmy Carter, G. Wayne Clough, Jeff Foxworthy, Sam Nunn, Randolph Scott, and Leonard Wood, along with many famous athletes. Georgia Tech has won four national college football championships, the first in 1917 under the legendary coach John Heisman. Today, Georgia Tech has a student body of more than 29,000 at the undergraduate and graduate levels and more than 155,000 living alumni. The institute has an annual economic impact of about $3 billion upon Georgia's economy. Authors and Tech alumni Matthew Hild and David L. Morton take you inside the journey of how this institute got to where it is today.

Wells College, founded in 1868 by businessman Henry Wells, boasts a storied history that spans over a century and a half. Using images and ephemera from the Wells College Archive and Special Collections, Tiffany Raymond, MLIS, and Daniel G. Renfrow, PhD, illustrate the college's rich history and the unique traditions that continue to inspire generations of students to pursue knowledge, leadership, and positive change in the world.

Established as a women’s college in Aurora, New York, Wells fulfilled the founder’s dream of making a “College Home” for students while simultaneously pioneering women’s education, providing opportunities for intellectual growth and leadership long before women’s rights were fully recognized. Throughout this history, the college has adapted to the evolving needs of the students and the wider society, including transitioning to coeducation in 2005 to better serve a diverse student body. Wells College’s commitment to academic excellence, social responsibility, and community engagement remains unwavering, making it a beacon of higher education in the picturesque Finger Lakes region.

Tiffany Raymond, MLIS, is director of the Louis Jefferson Long Library at Wells

College and a member of the class of 2010. Daniel G. Renfrow, PhD, is an associate professor of sociology and chair of the Social Science Division at Wells College. 

Florida State University has attracted a wide variety of students over the years. This pictorial history illustrates the history of this university and those who proudly call themselves Seminoles.

After the Florida State Legislature passed an act calling for the creation of two seminaries of learning in 1851, West Florida Seminary was established in Tallahassee. In the 1880s, the seminary's curriculum was reorganized along the lines of a conventional four-year college, and in 1901, the name was changed to Florida State College, better suiting its well-rounded liberal arts education and the traditional college experience offered to its students. With the passage of the Buckman Act in 1905, the school began a new chapter as the Florida Female College. After the name was changed to Florida State College for Women in 1909, it went on to rank as one of the premier women's colleges in the country. In 1947, in part to accommodate the influx of returning GIs, the school resumed its coeducational status as Florida State University. Combining traditional strength in the arts and humanities with recognized leadership in the sciences, Florida State University is one of the country's foremost research institutions today.

Auburn. The name resonates among generations who have studied, taught, or worked on the campus. Virtues such as loyalty, patriotism, service, and hard work have been encouraged on the campus from the school's inception.

No matter what the university has been formally named over the years-from East Alabama Male College to Alabama Polytechnic Institute-people have fondly called it Auburn since it was chartered in 1856. Professor George Petrie's Auburn Creed emphasizes the refrain ""I believe,"" which the Auburn family of Plainsmen, Tigers, and War Eagles have embraced. In this fitting tribute to a landmark Southern institution, vintage photographs depict people, places, experiences, and traditions beloved by the Auburn community. With a cooperative spirit, students and faculty alike applaud each other's successes in the classrooms and laboratories as well as in stadiums and on athletic fields. Numerous significant accomplishments in both academics and athletics are associated with Auburn and they are celebrated within these pages. Images of the campus as it has evolved over the years; memorable students, faculty, staff, and alumni; and unforgettable events have been gathered and preserved in this keepsake volume.

Gain insight into one of the nation's most prestigious military college, The Citadel, and discover the historic past of the South Carolina school.

Since its founding in 1842, The Citadel has provided generations of leaders to the state and nation. From its original purpose of providing an education to young men of South Carolina who would perform military duties for the state, it has evolved into an institution of national stature, highly regarded for both its academic reputation and its disciplined environment. Graduates of The Citadel have fought in every United States war since the Mexican War in 1846. Cadets have also achieved prominence in other fields, such as serving in leadership roles in state and national government, education, the professions, and business. With the help of over 200 black-and-white photographs, this work explores the development of The Citadel over the past 160 years, and included are sketches of its visionary founders, faculty members, and leaders. Descriptive vignettes highlight the success of the alumni and give insight into the experiences of the most important element of The Citadel: the South Carolina Corps of Cadets.

The school that eventually became the University of Tennessee was founded as one of the first three colleges established west of the Appalachians.

In 1794, two years before Tennessee even became a state, the legislature of the Southwest Territory established Blount College with a charter, and the small school struggled with a tiny student body and even smaller staff before changing its name to East Tennessee College in 1807. As the college grew, the trustees of the school scouted potential sites in Knoxville, settling on the site affectionately called "The Hill'? in 1828, and changing its name once again in 1840 to East Tennessee University. During the Civil War, classes came to an abrupt halt as students and faculty were recruited to serve on battlefields, and troops used campus facilities as hospitals and barracks. With a final name change in 1879, the University of Tennessee has exploded in growth in the 20th century, with campuses and programs across the state. In addition to a rich sports tradition, the University of Tennessee is considered one of the best colleges in the Southeast, and among the best institutions of higher learning in the country.

Syracuse University details the beginnings of this historic school, describing its rise to present day prestige.

Syracuse University was founded in 1870 as a private, coeducational university in Syracuse, New York. Classes began the following year in temporary quarters until the university moved to its current location on ""The Hill"" in 1873, occupying the Hall of Languages, which is still the iconic center of SU. Syracuse University provides a photographic journey from the late 1800s to the present, highlighting its growth from a small Methodist college to a university of national importance with more than 20,000 students and over 240,000 living alumni. Always committed to diversity, SU has embraced opportunity--be it with the Syracuse-in-China program in the 1920s, the enrollment of thousands of veterans after World War II, or cofounding the Say Yes to Education scholarship program for urban schools. Championship football, basketball, and lacrosse teams have also brought prestige to SU, and fans around the nation and world ""bleed orange"" along with those who work, teach, or study at the university.

Penn State University was founded in 1855. Then known as the Farmers' High School of Pennsylvania, the 400-acre campus had only one main building.

With almost 100,000 current students (including students at the Commonwealth Campuses) and having the largest dues-paying alumni association in the world, Penn State continues to be a world leader in education. Since its founding, picture postcards have been published to showcase the buildings and highlight the student activities while documenting the school's narrative.

130 years after its opening, the once small agricultural college has become Virginia's largest university- Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.

When Charles Minor opened the doors of his new land-grant institution in late 1872, there were only 29 students, 3 faculty members, and a single building in the town of Blacksburg, Virginia. From the humble beginning of donated livestock, seeds, machinery, and books, the university now known as Virginia Tech has emerged as a leading research university that is consistently ranked among the nation's best colleges. In addition to housing some of the top engineering and business schools, the university also has a tremendous athletic program that continually produces many of the nation's top ranked athletes. The Campus History Series: Virginia Tech illustrates the university's evolution through over 200 archival photographs, including rare and fun bites of campus history, such as the old cadet rat parades, the first ring dance, the Highty-Tighties, the Huckleberry, and even the evolution of the school's mascot, the Hokie Bird.

The eleventh-oldest college in the nation, the College of Charleston stands as one of the country's most historic academic institutions.

Over the past few centuries, the College has provided education and opportunity for students, faculty, and local Charlestonians against a rare Southern backdrop, with a campus that mirrors the architectural charm and elegance of the peninsula city. This volume, with over 200 black-and-white photographs, transports readers on an incredible visual journey across an nineteenth- and twentieth-century landscape of Charleston, a time and place unique in the city's and school's history. Documenting the school's antebellum days as the first municipal college in 1837, the turbulent years of the Civil War, the campus's growth and evolution in the earlier part of the twentieth century, and the traditions that continue today, this pictorial retrospective explores the many elements of the Cougar experience: the College's student life, the development and preservation of its buildings, its athletic teams and events, and the many diverse student-run organizations.

Located in what was considered the "lost provinces," the small school that became Appalachian State University provided a much-needed education for the economically depressed population of western North Carolina.

The regional university that today boasts over 17,000 registered students had its humble beginnings as Watauga Academy in 1899. Blanford Barnard "B.B." Dougherty and his brother Dauphin Disco "D.D." established the school for mountain children in the western North Carolina town of Boone. Dougherty, who remained president of the school for 56 years, envisioned an institution that would eventually serve not only the region but the state. Today, the school's reach extends well beyond North Carolina borders, attracting students and faculty from throughout the Southeast and the rest of the country. This book documents the visual history of Appalachian State, focusing on its varied transformations from a local academy and eventually into a top-ranked university.

Today's non-military, coeducational Linsly School continues to enrich students in grades five through twelve with values of honesty, sportsmanship, hard work, and discipline. Through rare and never-before-seen vintage photographs, The Linsly School chronicles the fascinating and inspiring story of the tribulations and successes of the school itself, and the people who worked, sacrificed, and dreamed to make it happen.

Home to the location where George Washington took command of the troops and to America's oldest Ivy League university, Cambridge is a city that feels like a town.

Hasty Pudding meetings were enlivened with mock trials spoofing happenings in Cambridge and among the faculty; by 1860 the trials had evolved into shows. In a corner of the Cambridge Common, across from Harvard Yard, a Gilded Age statue of a Puritan has been toppled several times. Letters home from Robert Kennedy were found stashed on a high shelf in a college room he occupied, over 30 years after he graduated.

From protests to the "Beer Garden Summit", author Jane Merrill shares the stories behind notable landmarks and some significant but little-known facts in and around town.

See how one man's belief in agriculture's promise led to the founding of what is now a powerhouse among Southern academic institutions, Clemson University.

The roots of agriculture run deeply in South Carolina's history; even its earliest settlers valued the rich and fertile land. However, after the Civil War devastated Southern land and economy, many questioned if the agrarian way of life could survive. Thomas Green Clemson, son-in-law of South Carolina's foremost statesman John C. Calhoun, believed in the promise of agricultural improvement through science and offered his estate, Fort Hill, to found the agricultural and mechanical college today called Clemson University. For more than a century, the institution that bears his name has served as a beacon for perhaps thousands of students, standing proudly in the solemn Carolina foothills. Through the years, faculty, students, alumni, and fans have realized Thomas G. Clemson's vision for higher education and strengthened the school to a mighty level. From the more than 600 students who applied the first year to join an all-male Cadet Corps, Clemson has developed into a household academic institution. Recognized for its commitment to academic excellence, cultural opportunities, and aesthetic attractions, the university is perhaps best known as home of the famed athletic teams, the Clemson Tigers. This volume offers young and mature readers alike a chance to meet and reminisce about Clemson's legends - with longtime Tiger fans perhaps even finding old friends they made along the way.