Major Notes, Millsaps College, Jackson, Mississippi 39210
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mfljofl noTK millsaps college magazine winter, 1 967 On Becoming 75 Report of Giving 1965-66 f^^ A. nifljofl noT-ES millsaps college magazine winter, 1967 MERGED INSTITUTIONS: Grenada College, VVhitworth College, Millsaps College. MEMBER: American Alumni Council, American College Public Relations As- sociation. CONTENTS 3 On Becoming 75 5 I Remember . 9 Mid-Year Report 11 Report of Giving 1965-66 23 Academic Complex 24 Events of Note 27 Columns 28 Major Miscellany COVER The artist's concept of the proposed aca- demic complex gives the campus a com- pletely new look. To the left is Founders and to the right is Murrah. For a discus- sion of the complex see Page 23. Volume 8 January, 1967 Number 3 Published quarterly by Millsaps College in Jackson, Mississippi. Entered as second class matter on Oc- tober 15, 1959, at the Post Office in Jackson, Mis- sissippi, under the Act of August 24, 1912. Shirley Caldwell, '56, Editor . 1 James J. Livesay, '41, Executive Director, Alumni Association Jim Lucas, "67, and Ronald Davis, '67, Photographers Oa7 Becoming 75 Two world wars. A depression. The coming of mechanized, instantaneous travel. The invasion of outer space, putting the moon, for which man has so long reached, almost at finger's touch. The rapid development of communications media. The birth of most of the people now inhabiting the earth .... The list is endless, and too well known to be of value here. But they've been eventful, these 75 years since 1892. For Millsaps they've included . Growth, populationally and physically. Buildings burned and replaced, ideas born and abandon- ed. The coming and going of faces, student and faculty. Names: George C. Swearingen, J. Reese Lin, J. M. Sulli- van, G. L. Harrell, M. C. White, A. P. Hamilton - - but here one runs into trouble, for the list is too extensive and too subjective to be included whole. And, at long last, national recognition of Millsaps' quality through the awarding of a Ford Foundation "regional center of excellence" grant. The years have come and gone and each year has had its own achievements and disappointments. Multiply these by 75 and one sees why a 75th anniversary is worth celebrat- ing. As long ago as 1850 Millsaps became a gleam in some- one's eye. The idea of establishing a good Christian college within the reach of every young man desiring an education, located in the state of Mississippi, was born in the mind of 17-year-old Reuben Webster Millsaps on a long and arduous journey to Indiana in search of his own education. Forty \, years passed before he was able to implement his idea, but the day came in the late 1880's when the desire to establish -,*«<*:> ' <>.-> a Methodist college in Mississippi became manifest. Reuben Webster Millsaps, grown prosperous through the years by his own sense of business and entitled to the rank • ^ ..-. « V»^ ^, .'.,; --IV: V '-- %- ' : - w;. of major through his participation in the War Between the States, offered to give $50,000 toward the establishment of such a college if the Methodists of the state would give a like "-SJ^rfll amount. And so, on February 21, 1890, a charter was granted for Millsaps College - - for the name Millsaps had been chosen despite the Major's protests. Jackson was selected as the site, and that year workmen began construction of the build- ings which would house the new school. The times change. The site chosen was not even in the city limits when construction began. Fields of corn and cot- ton separated the business district from the school. Jackson's population was 9,000, compared with its present 165,000. The campus itself occupied only the western part of the current holdings. Adjacent was Jackson College, a Negro school which occupied the Elsinore Plantation home and a classroom building. Tales abound, propagated by who knows i ff'^uji... The entrance to the campus circa 1926. whom, about how the Millsaps students — Sullivan-Harrell was renovated in stole - - is that too strong a word? - - 1964. chickens from their neighbors to serve — And, of course, the Ford Foundation for Sunday lunch. grant, which will open up a whole new At any rate, on September 29, 1892, era, was received last summer. the new college for opened its doors men But this says nothing of the academic with 149 students and four professors. Dr. strides made through the years - - the B. Murrah was named president and W. establishing of the comprehensive exami- professor of mental and moral philo- nation, the requirement of Graduate Re- sophy. cord Exams, the painstaking building of that the birth of Millsaps And was academic departments, the accomplish- College. ments of individuals and groups, the There have been some highlights in establishment of a reputation for scholar- the years since. ship, the superior contributions in drama — law school was established in 1895- A and choral music, the recent curriculum 93 and continued until the First World study and proposed revision. These are War. intrinsics. And these are the most im- — were accepted as full-time Women portant things about Millsaps. students in the seventh session. Each alumnus probably has his own — The Jackson College classroom list of things he considers significant building was purchased in 1902 and nam- about Millsaps College. This is as it ed Founders Hall. It is one of the few should be, since no two people have ex- early buildings remaining on the camp- actly the same set of values. us. Fire and shifting soil have done away with most of the others. And no two people will have the same — A preparatory school was establish- memories. Seventy-five years of im- ed but was discontinued in 1922. pressions would probably contain at least — In 1910 President Murrah was made one of these: a bishop of the Methodist Church and — The difficulty of staying in class on was succeeded by David Carlisle Hull, soft spring days when the warm sun and who left in 1912 and was replaced by the smell of new grass and flowers seem- Alexander Farrar Watkins. ed to draw you irresistibly out of doors. — — The Administration Building, the • Gallons of coffee consumed during first structure on the campus, burned in night-long paste-up sessions for the Pur- 1914 and was rebuilt and named Mur- ple and White. Seventy-five years rah Hall. — Trying to stay awake as the night — David Martin Key was named the slid on and the number of pages to be is a Jons. time. fourth president in 1922. read stayed the same. — In 1928-29 provision was made for — The awe of discovering how many years hold the boarding of women students. These some minute details about unrelated subjects — Sullivan-Harrell Science Hall was a particularly knowledgeable professor completed in 1928. memories which will Since then the follow- knew. ing buildings have been added: Buie — The frantic rush to finish a stage never he revealed. Gym, 193S; Whitworth Hall, 1939; the set before the play opened. Christian Center, 1950; Sanders Hall, 1951; Millsaps-Wilson Library, 1955; Boyd — The long treks to class through bit- Campbell Student Center, 1957; Frank- terly cold, rainy days. lin and Ezelle Halls, 1958; and the two — Another missed deadline for the new dormitories, 1966. Bobashela. — The depression came, with all its — The incessant music in the grill. hardships. A gas well brought in on the — A chance meeting with a professor campus helped to pay salaries and keep you hadn't had who called you by name. the school operating. — The seemingly omnipresent theory — Marion Lofton Smith was elected to that there's no point in having athletics the presidency in 1938, succeeded by if you aren't on a level with Ole Miss. Homer Ellis Finger, Jr., in 1952. Current — The sheer joy of putting everything president is Benjamin Barnes Graves, out of mind to enjoy a moment of leisure who has served since 1965. - - a dance or a movie or dinner off — In 1943-44 a V-12 program was estab- campus. lished on the campus by the Navy, help- Seventy-five years. More than an aver- ing to sustain the college during the age lifetime. The next seventy-five? One difficult World War II era. waits to see. I remember Major Millsaps By Mack B. Swearingen Major Reuben Webster Millsaps, for whom this college is named, would have been remarkable in any human context. My favorite memory of him is one of looking out a front upstairs window of our old house at 1501 North State Street, and of watching my father walk down the steps to the street and step up into the trim little buggy of a trim old man. This would be just after daylight, and the weather would be cold, and I could see my father's breath, and the old man's breath, and the horse's breath, and the breath of Doc, my father's English setter, who was as near- ly human as any four-legged organism could be. This, of course, is a hunting scene. The trim old man in the buggy was Maj- or Millsaps, and he and Father were up to their favorite pastime. They were going out early on an autumn morning to shoot quail, and I can not even guess how many mornings I heard Father get up and get out, and then - - after he had passed my door - - how many times I went up to the front of the house to watch him start out towards the north. He would come back in the afternoon with a dozen or more birds, and that night we would have a feast.