The stories I never got around to writing

Written by Elizabeth Weber.

Good Stories Which Somebody Should Write About

The Hamburg Show. This was a Swarthmore tradition for decades. Every year, students would put on a show which made fun of various people and institutions on campus. It lasted until sometime in the 1980s, I think. Old Phoenix issues cover Hamburg Shows (generally in the spring). Dean Bob Gross could also talk to you about this.
The Student Strike The second time in the history of The Phoenix when the paper came out daily. It happened when the US military began bombing Cambodia in the early 1970s. I never did research the details, but the daily Phoenix supplements are fairly easy to find in the bound volumes in McCabe (they're on 8.5 x 11 inch paper)
The Bartol Foundation Or Why Papazian Faces the Wrong Direction. Papazian was not originally built as a Swarthmore College Building; it was built in 1948 as the home of the Bartol Foundation; the research arm of the Franklin Institute. Many students served as Research Assistants, and some information on the place is in old Phoenix issues (especially when the building opened. There's also a file on the place in Friends' Library. The building was thoroughly renovated and became a college academic building around 1978.
Mary Lyons Buildings 2, 3, and 5 When Swarthmore College purchased the Mary Lyon School, it had 4 or 5 buildings. Mary Lyons 1 was a classroom building, and it still stands on Harvard Ave; it's faculty housing. Mary Lyons 4 was always a dormitory, and it's our beloved ML. Buildings 2 and 3 were built as an auditorium and a gymnasium, I think, and one of them had some famous murals. I don't know much about Building 5, or even if there was a fifth building. Buildings 2 and 3 stood between buildings 1 and 4, and were used buy Swarthmore at various times as student housing, storage, and other stuff. No students were living in them in the early 1980s, after Mertz was built. That's when one of them was badly damaged by fire, and the College decided to tear both of them down.
Central Heating If you look at pictures of Parrish before the Great Fire, you'll notice that the roofline is dotted with chimneys. At some point, they took out most of the fireplaces. I don't know when. Beardsley served as the College PowerHouse until the Physical Plant was built in 1919. Also, Parrish was originally designed to take advantage of natural light (it's pretty obvious whenever the building loses power...) Was it ever lit by gas? When was electric lighting installed?
Societal Change and Campus Architecture The grand plans for future development of Swarthmore drawn in the early 1930s showed plans for Women's athletic facilities on the other side of Chester Road. This didn't happen; eventually, all of the athletic facilities were built in one location. In Wharton, the partitions between A and B section, C and D, and E and F came down around the same time that the college went to coed dormitories, permitting 2 bathrooms on each floor. Coincidence? I think it's worth checking out...
Phoenix History The very first issues of The Phoenix are a scream. Long fictional stories with morals to be drawn, etc. The paper was originally a monthly, then became a bi-weekly, and finally a weekly. On 3/8/60, it began coming out twice a week, and there was a proposal three years later to separate the paper into independent editorial staffs. At some point in the 1970s, it began putting out a Sunday Literary supplement. The Phoenix Office used to be in Parrish basement; the 75th anniversary issue on 1/19/55 is well worth reading. Editors received salaries in the 3/3/53 issue. The paper became free to students on 3/17/53. The Phoenix hit the national news in February of 1953, when a pair of former layout editors made a dummy front page stating that Adlai Stevenson had accepted an offer to become president of the college and slipped the dummy front page in on the way to the printers--the national press believed The Phoenix. The Phoenix was suspended (censored, really) in 1949 when an editorial commented on the Kinsey Report. The Phoenix went on a strike of its own in the Spring of 1994, when a pair of editors was elected on a platform of taking the paper out of strike until Editors were paid or given academic credit for their efforts. (A half credit course on journalism was offered the following spring). Jonathan Seitz '96 is probably the best person to talk to about this--he was one of the editors at the time, and took the course the next spring.
The ever-present admissions debate: are we admitting too many well-rounded individuals at the expense of the unique individuals? This one never goes away. Pick up any volume of Phoenix from the past 50 years.
The farm The Barn used to have farm animals in it. One of the houses on Fieldhouse Lane was the Farmhouse. Was the farm used to produce fresh produce for the dining hall? The fieldhouse was built around 1935, and the grounds behind it were regraded at that point...
Dupont Science Library Or, Why Dupont 190 is Such a Weird Room. Before they built Cornell, the math wing of Dupont was a science Library. One large room, with a high ceiling in the center, and stacks towards the sides. You can find many details in the architectural brochures published when he building opened; Friends' Library has a folder on this.
The Jewish Admissions Controversy of the late 1940s Like a great many private schools at the time, Swarthmore had a Jewish admissions cap in the 1940s. There was considerable debate about this. The Dean of Admissions made some interesting statements on page 1 of the 4/28/48 issue of The Phoenix; another relevant issue is 12/14/49. Phoenix coverage also mentioned the issue of whether Jewish first year students should be assigned to room with other Jewish students, non-Jewish students, or should be assigned roommates without regard to religion. The Board of Managers discussed this issue; their minutes are in Friends' Library, but you need to get special permission from the President of the College to view them.

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