Spartan Stories
Tales from the UNCG University Archives
Walter Clinton Jackson
“From a Tuning Fork to the Pearls off of Sir Walter Raleigh’s Coat:” Our College Museum
by Kathelene McCarty Smith In 1915, only a few years before the start of World War I, Walter Clinton Jackson, the head of the History Department of the State Normal and Industrial College (now UNC Greensboro), decided to create a campus Historical Museum, which would house important “relics of the state.” These artifacts were meant […]
The Road that Divided the Campus – Walker Avenue and its closing
by Scott Hinshaw From the earliest days of the school, Walker Avenue had bisected campus, forcing students to cross the busy street (often multiple times daily) to access buildings on both sides. The dining halls, science building, home economics building, gymnasium, and many residence halls were all located north of Walker, while the library, Curry, […]
Religious Activities at the WC
by Erin Lawrimore “In all the days of our years as a college, we have been mindful of the fact that, although a State institution and thereby bound by the American tradition of separation of Church and State, religion has a place of supreme importance in the life of every individual. Believing that a college […]
Walter Clinton Jackson and the Documenting of the Great War
This year marks the centenary of the United States’ involvement in World War One. Over the course of twenty months (April 1917-November 2018), the nation mobilized its military, natural resources, industry, and citizens to fight an overseas war in Europe. Realizing that maintaining public morale was critical to achieving victory, the federal government and the state of […]
The History of the College’s Yearbook Part II: 1930s to 1950s
by Kathelene McCarty Smith As the college moved into the 1930s, it underwent transformations that reflected the unsettled economic trials of the country. The stock market crash of 1929 threw the nation into a financial crisis, resulting in a drop in enrollment and faculty pay for the North Carolina women’s college. Faculty took an additional […]
Chancellor Jackson Retires in Style
When Dr. Walter Clinton Jackson stepped into the role of Chancellor of the Woman’s College (now UNCG) in 1934 he had big shoes to fill. Dr. McIver had built the State Normal & Industrial School from the ground up and President Foust had kept it growing and expanding after McIver’s death, but Dr. Jackson […]
Charlotte Hawkins Brown, Walter Clinton Jackson, and Segregated Facilities at WC
by Erin Lawrimore February is Black History Month. To celebrate, our Spartan Stories this month focus on remembering important people and events related to the history of African Americans and UNCG. Dr. Charlotte Hawkins Brown was a prominent African American educator who, in 1902, founded the Palmer Memorial Institute in Sedalia, NC (in eastern Guilford […]
Naming of Jackson Library
by Sean Mulligan Jackson Library in the 1960s When the State Normal and Industrial School (now the The University of North Carolina at Greensboro) opened in 1892, the library was confined to one small room, located on the upper floor of the Main Building (now the Foust Building). The library collection was relatively small, consisting […]
Walter Clinton Jackson, Race, and WC Resources
by Erin Lawrimore Throughout the first seven decades of its existence, the institution now known as UNCG grappled with a number of questions regarding facility use by students from neighboring colleges, particularly the nearby African-American institutions such as North Carolina A&T and Bennett College. Interior of the College Library, circa 1923 As early as February […]
