Thanks to our partners at Wake Forest University, five new scrapbooks illustrating student life from 1954 to 1957 are now available on our website!

Wake Forest College, now Wake Forest University, officially moved from Wake Forest to Winston-Salem in the 1950s. These newly digitized scrapbooks contain newspaper clippings related to the construction of the new campus, the move there, and student activities.

Wake Forest students did not shy away from sharing their opinions regarding the college’s decisions. When students believed that Wake Forest planned to de-emphasize the athletics program after the shocking resignations of Head Football Coach Tom Rogers and Athletic Director Pat Preston, they burned an effigy of President Dr. Harold Tribble in front of his home. Dr. Tribble came out of his house and addressed the crowd of students, promising them that there were no plans to de-emphasize athletics and that the athletics budget was the largest it had ever been.

Students also staged several protests when the Baptist Church decreed that they would not permit dancing on campus. They planned several demonstrations, including a walkout during a required Chapel meeting, a mass burning of an effigy of Baptist State Convention president Dr. J.C. Canipe, and a mass dance rally. These objections proved effective, forcing the Baptist Convention to return to the issue in their next meeting.

To explore these new scrapbook editions, click here.

To view more materials from Wake Forest University, visit their contributor page here.

To learn more about Wake Forest University as it is today, visit their website here.