Crossroads, the newspaper of Belmont Abbey College, is now digitized on DigitalNC. Courtesy of our partner Belmont Abbey College, 44 issues are available to browse beginning with the very first off the press in November 1971. This collection spans from 1971-1979 with issues published every other month.
Belmont Abbey Cathedral as seen in the July 1973 issue of Crossroads.
Belmont Abbey College lies just west of Charlotte in Belmont, North Carolina. Crossroads was established to serve its students, faculty, and administration by providing information about campus activities. It covered issues affecting the college as well as more general issues in higher education. As a Catholic and Benedictine college, the newspaper’s editorial board supported Christian values and worked to uphold “Christian ethics, good taste, and journalistic quality” (Crossroads, November 1971, p. 2).
Among the news headlines are graduations, alumni news, fundraising campaigns, appointments of new abbots, and changes on campus reflective of this decade’s larger cultural movements. The first computer came to campus in 1968 and, in 1971, Crossroads featured an article charting the college’s subsequent adoption of new technology.
Image of Belmont Abbey’s first female student as seen in the September 1972 issue of Crossroads.
Co-education became another major turning point on campuses across the nation in the 1960s and 70s. Belmont Abbey’s first female student enrolled in the fall of 1972. This decision “broke a ninety-six-year tradition,” declared a March 1972 article.
In 1973, the Belmont Abbey Cathedral became part of the National Register of Historic Places. Within its walls is found a slave block converted to a baptismal font. According to this July 1973 article, the rock is inscribed: “Upon this rock, men once were sold into slavery. Now upon this rock, through the waters of baptism, men become free children of God.”
Image of Civil War era slave block-turned baptismal font as seen in the July 1973 issue of Crossroads.
To read about these and many other events in the issues of Crossroads, click here. To see additional materials from our partner, Belmont Abbey College, visit their partner page.
