This booklet from the 1903 Model School commencement includes lists of graduating students, their home towns, and their area of study. It also contains the list of commencement exercises. Of some note is the mention of an essay given by honor student Charlotta Miller on the Black poet and author Paul Lawrence Dunbar, which has unfortunately not survived. The student roster also includes several surnames that appear in other classes from around this period, namely Britton, De Cou, and Bosworth; these students may be siblings of those sharing their name. Some students from the Class of 1904 also appear. No transcription.
New Jersey State Normal School (Trenton, N.J.)This small booklet likely comes from the same unknown "black paper backing" scrapbook as several other documents from around 1918. It details the fifth annual debate between several debating societies of the New Jersey State Normal School and several from Pennsylvania's Swarthmore College. The topic for the debate, which took place amid American intervention in the First World War, regards whether colleges should substitute military training for athletics during the war. No transcription.
unknownA review of a meeting of the Thencanic Society by Harry R. Wilson. Although the report is not dated, Wilson was Thencanic Vice-President in 1897, so this likely dates to shortly before then. "Mr. Camp" is once again chided for his behavior, while "Mr. H. Lawrence" and "Mr. [Charles] Hewitt" receive some tongue-in-cheek remarks. Transcript attached.
Wilson, Harry R., ca. 1880-1942A partially fragmented critic's report by one Milton R. Eastlack. Though sections of both pages are lost, the message is mostly comprehensible. Eastlack discusses the Society's new meeting room, corrects the orators' grammatical and rhetorical errors, and offers commentary on the students' behavior. Transcription attached.
Eastlack, Milton R., ca. 1870-Thencanic Critic Frankland Briggs lists the various behavioral problems at the Society's November 24th meeting, including a filibuster that delayed the end of the meeting by an hour. Transcription included.
Briggs, Frankland, 1877-1944A short note critiquing the behavior of the Society's membership. Transcription included.
Rue, John D. (John Davison), Jr., 1882-1969Another wry report on the behavior and manners of the Thencanic Society. Transcription included.
Murphy, E. T. (Edward Thomas), ca. May 1879-An overall positive report, the first by Robert Earle Anderson (who was 15 in 1896). He gives many of his fellow Thencanic members praise for their debate performance, but recommends one invest in some cough drops. Transcription included.
Anderson, R. Earle (Robert Earle), 1881-1967A very brief report, notable for its passing mention of the "Hawaian question"--whether the United States should annex the Republic of Hawaii, which had acted as an effective U.S. client state since overthrowing the indigenous monarchy in 1893 (Hawaii would be annexed as a territory in 1898). Transcription included.
Spilsbury, Raymond G. (Raymond Gybbon), 1880-1958A brief report in a messy hand, probably by Benjamin Messler (although the signature is almost undecipherable). The critic offers praise and a remark about the ever-turbulent Mr. Camp. Transcription included.
Messler, Benjamin E. (Benjamin Edmund), 1882-1952