Early Geneva History--Searchable newspaper index available

If you are interested in the history of Geneva, NY , you may might want to take a look at the Geneva Newspaper Index covering the years between 1806 and 1839. This index was edited by Gary B. Thompson and published in the 1980s. It is now available in a searchable/browsable index through on our Archives website.

Just want to try it out? I suggest trying searches on topics like slave, canal, rail. Headlines may give you a feel for how different life was in the early 19th century. A search on accident is also interesting and will yield headings like:

• boatman killed in wrestling accident.
• elephant falls through bridge
• man dies from treatment by quack
• man killed by waterwheel

Enjoy!

What's the story on the cannon?

Did you know there used to be a cannon on campus in front of World War I Memorial Bench? Our best guess is that it was melted down for scrape in World War II, but we haven't found any documentation. Do you know any more? If you have information please let us know.

--Linda

Linda Clark Benedict

Archivist

lbenedict@hws.edu

Hobart Class of 1881 speaks to the future.

At their 40th reunion, the Hobart Class of 1881 packed a box to be opened by the Class of 1981. The centerpiece of the box was a photograph album with pictures of faculty and class at graduation, augmented with small photos of the graduates in 1921. Also included were a fund raising challenge, a few letters, and a 1921 Hobart Herald. The contents are on display on the lower level of the Library in the window of the Rare Book Room, across the hall from the Archives and Special Collections office.

William Smith biography digitized

This short biography of William Smith was written circa 1924 by Anna Botsford Comstock. Enjoy!

J. G. Vail Portraits Online

J. G. Vail was a photographer in Geneva in the second half of the 19th century. The Colleges' Archives has a collection of portraits of local citizens in a format called cartes-de-visite. Through our participation in the Rochester Regional Library Council's Finger Lakes/Genesee River Valley Heritage project, we are able to make them available online using a digital collection solution called CONTENTdm. Each of Vail's cartes-de-visites has been scanned both front and back. In addition, the collection includes a selection of stereographs Vail took of Geneva and Hobart College. The Vail collection of images may be viewed at: http://cdm15109.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm4/browse.php?CISOROOT=/p277601coll11

Archives open for Reunion Weekend

The Archives will be open on Friday June 5th from 10am-3pm for Reunion. Stop by and take a look.

Senior student workers honored

Each year we honor our Senior student workers by purchasing a book of their choice for the collection. A book plate in their honor is placed in the front of the book.



This year's honorees:

Taylor Eliza Braendel, Killer Angels

Sarah Holland, Ecology of Woodlands and Forests: Description, Dynamics and Diversity

Hayley Mason, Outlaw Bible of American Poetry

Oliver Meeker, Lessons of the Vietnam War (containing chapter: Boat People and Vietnamese Refugees in the United States)

Kelsey Rioux, Wildlife and Society: The Science of Human Dimensions

Caitlin Seadale, Everyone Poops

Jennie Seidewand, Wall and Piece

Deana Stuart, Best Plays of 2004-2005

Mame Thiam, Cosmospolitanism

Daniel Thorson, Breaking Open the Head

Dale Watkins, Greenwich Village: Culture and Counterculture

Kristin Yerkie, Adolescents and Risk